The fate of a major battery supplier remains in the hands of the president, yet another black media mogul is begging General Motors to do better, and the crowds could return to F1 at the UK Grand Prix this summer. All this and much more in Morning change for Friday, April 9, 2021
1st Gear: The president has to make a choice
If you haven’t watched the ongoing legal battles between battery suppliers LG Energy Solutions (formerly LG Chem) and SK Innovation, here’s what is long and short: SK Innovation is in danger of being excluded from the US market for a decade because punishment for misappropriation of LG’s trade secrets. President Biden has the power to eliminate this if companies cannot resolve this issue among themselves. The thing is, his last day to do that is Sunday, April 11, like Reuters reports:
The Biden administration, through the office of the US Trade Representative, is due to decide on Friday whether to take the step of reversing the US International Trade Commission (ITC), unless Korean battery companies reach a last-minute settlement.
The White House declined to comment Thursday.
ITC joined LG Chem in February in its trade secret claims, but allowed SK to import battery components for the Ford EV F-150 program for four years and Volkswagen’s North American EVs for two years.
If the ITC decision is passed this weekend, carmakers using SK components in vehicles sold in the US will not be able to import them for the next 10 years, with limited exceptions for some Ford and Volkswagen models. Complicating matters further, SK is building a factory in Georgia which it has threatened to abandon if the ban is complied with. As you can imagine, politicians in Georgia would much rather Biden let SK go with a slap on the wrist
Last month, Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp urged Biden to step in, noting that the SK plant would employ nearly 2,600: “Simply put: the livelihoods of thousands of Georgians are now in your hands.”
Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff held numerous meetings with Korean battery manufacturers and the Biden administration, confirmed his office and stressed “the urgent need for both companies to come to the negotiating table and agree on a solution to save the Georgia plant.” “A spokeswoman said.
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Last week, the ITC came out surprisingly return to his claims against SK, ruling that the company did not infringe LG’s patents. However, this did not remove SK from the whole issue of the misappropriation of trade secrets, and therefore, unless Biden overturns the ITC judgment, LG will leave very happy and SK can move away from the US completely.
Second step: Sean Combs is now calling GM, too
Sean “Diddy” Combs joined the group of black media leaders, calling on General Motors to do more business with black-owned media companies, publishing a open letter on its website, Revolta, on Thursday.
In its initial response to criticism, GM essentially opted for the “I have a black friend” defense, listing Revolt as one of the black-owned companies he supports simultaneously postponing the meeting, he initially agreed to take place with the group. Combs doesn’t have the same rosy picture of their relationship as Detroit Free Press details (including an excerpt from Combs’ letter and GM’s reply):
“When confronted with the leaders of several black-owned media companies, General Motors listed my network, REVOLT, as an example of the black-owned media it supports,” Combs wrote in the letter. “While REVOLT receives advertising revenue from GM, our relationship is not a successful example. Instead, REVOLT, like other black-owned media companies, fights for crumbs, while GM earns billions of dollars each year from the black community. ”
GM spokesman Pat Morrissey reacted to Combs’ letter by saying that GM had agreed to hold more meetings in the next few weeks with black-owned media and promised to increase the amount of advertising dollars it received. spends on black-owned media.
“In 2021, for example, we doubled our spending on black-owned media groups to 2 percent,” Morrissey said. “We will increase our spending with this important segment to 4% in 2022 and we will continue to increase our subsequent spending, with a target of 8% by 2025.”
A total of four percent by next year, congratulations GM! Wow! What do you want, a medal or something?
Third step: Today in the absence of chips
For the daily update of the semiconductor shortage, Hyundai is now suspending production for two days next week at its plant in Asan, South Korea. This is in addition to the downtime running until April 14 at its plant in Ulsan. from Reuters:
“We are closely monitoring the situation to take prompt and necessary action to optimize production in line with supply conditions,” Hyundai said in a statement.
The Asan plant produces 300,000 vehicles each year, including the Sonata and Grandeur sedans.
Hyundai announced last week that it would suspend production at Ulsan, its main South Korean factory, from April 7 to April 14 due to supply problems with chips and components.
[…]
Hyundai has managed to avoid a missing hit so far, largely because it has maintained a chip stock, unlike its global counterparts, Reuters reported in February.
Hyundai, like Toyota, eliminated production cuts due to prudent thinking. However, stocks are running out. With the silicon current flowing as long as it has existed, the lack that ultimately struck Hyundai is not surprising. Meanwhile, GM and Ford are still battered by the lack of chips, announcing a series of discounts per Associated Press through A B C:
GM said the cuts will take place in Spring Hill, Tennessee; Ramos Arizpe, Mexico; Ingersoll, Ontario; Fairfax, Kansas; Lansing, Michigan, Delta Township; and Lansing, Michigan, Grand River factories.
[…]
Also Thursday, Ford said it would close Chicago, Flat Rock, Michigan and the double-transit part of the Kansas City assembly plant in Claycomo, Missouri, on April 12.
Fourth step: GM and Ford return to China
GM delivered With 69 percent more vehicles in China throughout the first quarter of 2020 and Ford up 73% in the same time frame, according to Automotive News. These figures are encouraging, although for GM they do not yet indicate a full recovery in pre-COVID sales:
While extending a recovery that began in April 2020, first-quarter GM sales in China were still below the 813,973 vehicles that the Detroit automaker reported for the first quarter of 2019.
As for Ford, Q1 2021 marks the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year growth for the company. This is due to an effective plan of change detailed by The Motley Fool through Nasdaq:
Chen joined Ford’s Chinese carmaker Chery Automobile in October 2018 after several quarters of declining sales. Chen’s goal in taking over the reins was to review Ford’s products and business to better align with Chinese consumer expectations. He said the growth phase is just the beginning.
[…]
Most Ford product lines in China are familiar to Americans, but not to everyone. The company has focused on sales of Lincoln luxury vehicles (especially crossover SUVs) and familiar Ford brand crossovers, with a few added models that are unique to the Chinese market.
Locally manufactured Lincoln Corsair and Aviator SUVs contributed 217% year-over-year growth for the Lincoln brand, with sales of approximately 19,300. Ford brand sales rose 44.7% as sales of its SUVs more than doubled, led by Explorer, Escape and Edge, and a new China-only SUV model called Equator.
Speed 5: The British GP can try vaccination passports for spectators
Some Formula One races from the declining rounds of the 2020 season to the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 28 have had limited capacity crowds, depending on the discretion of each host country. The upcoming British Grand Prix, scheduled for July 18, may allow participation at full capacity, as long as spectators carry vaccination passports. On motortransport:
The British government has outlined a roadmap for a reduction in restrictions in the coming months, including permission for large outdoor spaces to allow up to 10,000 fans or 25% of total capacity – whichever is lower – from May 17.
Then there could be a further easing of restrictions from 21 June to allow capacity crowds at all major sporting events in the UK.
Silverstone has now given its full support to vaccine passport plans and COVID-19 testing before allowing fans to attend its events, making sure they can operate safely.
The circuit has joined bodies, including the FA, EFL, Premier League, RFU, ECB and Wimbledon, in writing to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and leaders of opposition political parties on the issue.
Even with passports and vaccine tests, I am still surprised that event organizers would have the chance to participate fully. The UK government has been much more careful than our leaders on the other side of the pond, with whom I am totally cool. sale of baseball games.
Reverse: Meet the first NASA astronauts
Neutral: Front license plates
I live in one of the 20 states that do not require front license plates and I recently transferred the car’s license plate. Which means I now have a big hole, which opens where the plate was, which I’ll probably cover with some sort of decorative alternative. The problem is that the vast majority of custom plates you find in places like Etsy and eBay are dressed in Punisher logos and American flags suffering from red-and-black, so whatever I choose will probably look bad. I am somewhat amazed that there is no market for vanity plates!