Welcome back to the latest episode of The Future of Automotive on CBT News, where we put recent automotive and mobility news into the context of the broader themes impacting the industry.
I’m Steve Greenfield from Automotive Ventures, and I’m glad that you could join us.
Italian newspaper, Il Sole 24 Ore, reported last week that talk of a merger between Stellantis and Renault Group has become more persistent, with economies of scale seen as a possible solution to managing the intense competition faced by traditional automakers
Response came quickly from Stellantis. Reports of a potential merger are “pure speculation,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said on Oct. 3 on a visit to one of the group’s factories in eastern France.
While there may or may not be credibility to this latest Stellantis/Renault rumor, I do expect that we’ll see more noise about possible automaker consolidation over the next 6 to 12 months.
Automakers are feeling pressure on a number of fronts. Consumer demand for battery electric vehicles hasn’t materialized, which means many automakers have either cancelled or slowed down investment in new battery plants as well as retooling production lines from internal combustion to EVs.
At the same time, OEMs are struggling with their software efforts. A couple of years back, automakers like GM and Ford made big proclamations about how the software defined car was going to unlock billions of dollars of new, high-margin revenue from converting vehicle features and options into monthly recurring subscription fees.
Yet we’ve seen software divisions like Volkswagen’s CARIAD laying off thousands of software developers and taking billion dollar losses.
Finally, there’s the existential threat from Chinese automakers, who are now building really great quality product at very low prices. While prohibitive tariffs may protect the U.S. market from the Chinese in the short term, the only way to prepare for this threat from the Chinese longer-term is to attempt to out-innovate them.
All of this means that many automakers may evaluate potential partnerships to share EV, battery and software development costs.
As just an example, back in February of this year, Mary Barra from GM and Jim Farley from Ford were open minded about a potential partnership to reduce shared electric vehicle technology costs. Ford has forecasted that they may lose over $5 billion this year in their EV division.
One note to the long-term industry observer. In the past, very rarely do automaker mergers ever deliver the benefits that are forecasted.
But, maybe this time will be different.
In any case, keep an eye out for other potential automaker partnership and merger news. I expect we’ll see more buzz around this topic over the coming months.
So, with that, let’s transition to Our Companies to Watch.
Every week we highlight interesting companies in the automotive technology space to keep an eye on. If you read my weekly Intel Report, we showcase a company to watch, and take the opportunity here on this segment each week to share that company with you.
Today, our new company to watch is CargoShot.
Every day, thousands of warehouse workers handle millions of shipments that are loaded and unloaded across many forms of conveyance. Products are frequently damaged or mishandled in transit, leading to fines, penalties, and damage claims. Carriers rarely pay, as it is difficult to prove the condition of freight at the point of departure.
CargoShot is an application that allows freight shippers to document “proof of condition” for all freight across shipping, receiving, and cross-dock operations. You now have the ability to verify compliance with all customer requirements including labeling, packaging, and freight condition. CargoShot captures proof of condition for all of your freight.
As a result, companies can save your company thousands of dollars in fines, penalties, and freight claims.
CargoShot provides a mobile application to document the condition of an asset as it moves through the supply chain. Cargoshot also provides a management dashboard that provides easy access to all stored data that can then be used to easily identify where and when the asset has been mishandled, and help identify and hold accountable the responsible party.
If you’d like to learn more about CargoShot you can check them out at www.CargoShot.com
So that’s it for this week’s Future of Automotive segment.
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Don’t forget to check out my book, The Future of Automotive Retail, which is available on Amazon.com. And keep an eye out for my new book, “The Future of Mobility”, which is almost done, and will be out soon.
Thanks (as always) for your ongoing support and for tuning into CBT News for this week’s Future of Automotive segment. We’ll see you next week!
