Good morning and welcome back to Speed Lines, The Drive's roundup of what matters in the world of cars and transportation. It is, unfortunately, Monday again. I can't do anything about that, but I can bring you the news: inventory fears in states hit hard by coronavirus, skepticism over Tesla's latest autonomy claims (imagine that!) and what the new 2021 Ford Bronco really aims to do.
Inventory Is Beyond Tight
It's been a long and fraught year in the world of car-selling, and we're barely even halfway through it. Though new car sales have been largely terrible as the coronavirus and skyrocketing unemployment have kept many buyers home, some shoppers are still after big deals and many others are switching to cars over concerns about public transit. Truck sales in particular have been one of the only bright spots for dealers and automakers in 2020.
But the problem is inventory. As we've discussed many times on Speed Lines this year, plants aren't at full capacity yet and some may even shut down over coronavirus fears or local lockdowns. That's bad news for dealers, buyers and the car companies alike. Now, especially in states that didn't lock down earlier but are seeing virus surges of their own, inventory is becoming a big problem, reports The Detroit News:
That story says GM is having the biggest headaches, between the United Auto Workers union strike last year and plant shutdowns in the spring and early summer. And in Texas—the country's second-biggest car market—residents are awaiting the possibility of another lockdown as cases increase. That's a concern, considering that market had been pretty steady until fairly recently. People are even buying used due to lack of inventory.
This will be a trend to watch throughout the rest of the summer.
Yes, The Bronco Exists To Kill The Wrangler
The new Bronco isn't just a Wrangler competitor—it's deliberately created to steal sales away from this strong-selling, lucrative, iconic vehicle that until now hasn't really had many direct rivals. (There's the Toyota 4Runner, maybe, but it's not really apples-to-apples.)
That's the hope of dealers like Scott Tarwacki in Michigan, anyway. He told as much to Automotive News:
Even Ford COO Jim Farley has boasted that the Bronco is meant to be a "much superior product" to the Wrangler, the story says. So make no mistake what the Bronco is about: stealing business from one of Fiat Chrysler's most lucrative products.
Level 5? Probably Not Yet, Experts Say
Tesla's Q2 earnings call is Wednesday afternoon, and I'm sure CEO Elon Musk will have something to say about the company's surging stock price. He may also drop more information about his recent and very bold claim that Tesla is close to achieving Level 5 autonomy—self-driving that does not require human intervention—later this year.
But as you might guess, the experts call shenanigans, reports Automotive News:
One prominent Duke University scientist even said she thinks Musk "doesn't really understand what Level 5 is." I suppose we'll see this week, but the entire autonomy industry seems united in saying that Musk's claims aren't remotely viable yet.
On Our Radar
Mercedes A-Class production is booted back to Germany (Automotive News)
German Car-Rental Company Sixt Seizes Opportunity in U.S. (WSJ)
Ford to work with Intel's Mobileye for better collision avoidance technology (Reuters)
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Your Turn
Are you buying a new car this summer? Have you encountered inventory issues yet?
