The auto industry was as horrified by the coup as everyone

Yesterday was bad, Elon Musk could soon be the richest man in the world in paper and rhodium. All this and more The morning shift by January 7, 2021.

I would say yesterday was one of the dumbest days in American history, but everyone has said it. That’s too much credit for a bunch of people anyway. Keep calm and ride, as they say.

1st gear: automatic people react

GM CEO Mary Barra tweeted:

Ford CEO Jim Farley also tweeted:

The U.S. Lawyer for the Eastern District of Michigan (who sued the UAW corruption scandal) also tweeted:

UAW President Rory Gamble made a statement:

The National Manufacturers Association also weighed in, as everyone was waiting for what the National Manufacturers Association had to say:

It will all soon be a distant memory, and you have a feeling it was always going to end like this, with a cheap and unnecessary crime that temporarily delayed adults in the performance of their duties. Four people have now been reported dead.

2nd gear: car sales are bad in Europe

The reason is the pandemic. Aside from a group of people who stormed the Capitol, we still have to worry about the pandemic.

Of Bloomberg:

Registrations fell about 25% last year in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain, the five largest European car-buying countries, according to industry associations and government ministries. transport. The resurgence of Covid-19 has led several governments to re-implement lockdown measures that may slow demand until early 2021.

New car registrations in Germany fell by around 20% in 2020, based on preliminary data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority, which will release detailed figures on Friday. Figures released earlier this week show sales plunged 32% in Spain, 29% in the UK, 28% in Italy and 25% in France. The UK auto industry trade group said the country’s decline was the worst since 1943.

Data shows the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on the European auto industry last year compared to China and the United States, where car buying was more resilient. Persistent weakness in demand poses a risk to the euro area economy, which relied heavily on the manufacturing sector to stage a recovery in the second half of last year.

“We are in a deep crisis,” said Pierre-Louis Debar, head of statistics for the French automotive group CCFA, in an interview. “It’s bigger than anything we’ve seen in the past.”

3rd gear: Rhodium? Rhodium!

Rhodium is used in catalytic converters, and many countries are concerned about cleaning the air these days. This has caused the price of rhodium to skyrocket.

Of The Financial Times:

Automakers in Europe and China are increasingly using rhodium to comply with stricter clean air laws, at the same time as the supply from South Africa, the largest producer, has been disrupted by the spread of Covid-19.

Supported by the economic recovery in China, the world’s largest automotive market, benchmark rhodium prices hit a record high of $ 17,790 per ounce, up more than 200% from their March 2020 low. ‘a kilogram of rhodium is worth almost half a million pounds.

“You’ve got a huge rush for metal,” said Nicholas Hops, co-manager of the Coronation Resources Fund. “If you don’t have enough rhodium, you can’t comply with emissions laws and we know how draconian these fines are.”

4th gear: Elon Musk

Tesla’s value on paper is huge, over $ 700 billion. Ford’s value, for context, is around $ 34 billion. On paper, Tesla’s worth makes CEO Elon Musk the richest person in the world.

Of Bloomberg:

A 2.8% rise in the electric carmaker’s share price on Wednesday propelled Musk to under $ 3 billion from Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, who currently sits at No. 1 on Bloomberg. Billionaires Index, a ranking of the 500 richest people in the world.

The South African-born engineer’s net worth was $ 181.1 billion on Wednesday, slightly lower than Bezos, who has been in number one since October 2017. As CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX , Musk is also a rival of Bezos. , owner of Blue Origin LLC, in the race for private space.

The milestone caps an extraordinary 12 months for Musk. Over the past year, his net worth has skyrocketed to over $ 150 billion, possibly the fastest growing wealth in history. Its rise was fueled by an unprecedented rally in Tesla’s stock price, which jumped 743% last year on consistent earnings, inclusion in the S&P 500 and enthusiasm Wall Street and retail investors.

Elon’s salary is mostly tied up in stock that and may or may not materialize, depending on Tesla’s future. But it’s always nice to be the best of something.

5th gear: sales of the model Y in China are important

There are wait times there for the car, which has basically met sales expectations. These expectations were enormous.

Of Bloomberg:

A base version of the electric vehicle purchased now will ship in the second quarter and a performance variant in the third quarter, Tesla’s website showed. When Tesla announced the price last week and started sales, it announced that deliveries would take place this month.

A good start for the vehicle would be a boon for Tesla as it seeks to maintain its lead in the premium segment over rivals such as Nio Inc. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Model Y has the potential to outperform every other vehicle it makes, and the company has priced the vehicle below certain other makes to maintain a competitive advantage.

“Based on the order intake and our production plan, we have adjusted the delivery time of the Model Y of the last orders to the second quarter,” a representative from Tesla said via WeChat on Thursday.

Reverse: balloon? Ball!