Does Tesla’s S-1 SEC filing leave you worried about the state of EV startups? The great thing about the seamy underbelly of the EV industry is that there’s always a shadier prospect out there to make even marginal cases like Tesla look good. Our perennial favorite in the EV vapor game is ZAP, the erstwhile maker of the Xebra EV (interestingly, the Xebra still shows up on ZAP’s webpage). Zap’s latest play in its never-ending quest for press-release fodder: a tie-up with (get this) a South Korean optics company, best known for its camera lenses and closed circuit TV security systems. Because sometimes you have to cross an ocean to find a sucker big enough to say things like:
Samyang decided to partner with ZAP because of its extensive industry knowledge in electric vehicle production and the breadth and maturity of its current line of electric vehicles
Hyundai’s fourth quarter profit quadrupled over last year’s fourth quarter results, reports Bloomberg, as net income hit $822m, up from $210m in the same period last year. Operating profit rose 44 percent to $722m. This comes despite an increase in the value of the Won, which has reduced profit on Hyundais exports, which make up half the firm’s revenue. And unlike other automotive firms reaping surprise year-end profits (like Ford), Hyundai’s gains come from increased sales rather than cost-cutting. Hyundai’s overall sales rose 14 percent to 3.2 million units last year, driven by growth in the US and Indian markets. Hyundai finished 2009 with just over five percent of the world market. Hyundai expects sales to rise 11 percent in 2010, and the firm is looking to take advantage of Toyota’s weakness by offering conquest incentives like those now offered by GM, Ford and Chrysler.
In case you were wondering, Ed Whitacre’s assessment that the Volt will “make a margin” at a price point “in the low 30s” is the GM Chairman/CEO’s second big lie in as many weeks. Well, lie might be a bit harsh. Gross and willful misrepresentation is probably more accurate. GreenCarReports‘ John Voelcker got in touch with a GM spokesman who confirms what we all pretty much knew from the get go: GM “has not officially announced final Volt pricing, a price in the low 30’s after a $7,500 tax credit is in the range of possibilities.” In other words, we’re back to the same old $40k-ish number that GM execs have been throwing around for ages. Unless GM is talking about the electric-only (non-range-extended) Volt that Bob Lutz recently confirmed. But what about the margin thing?
An interview with Forbes the boss of the Korean Development Bank, which GM-Daewoo still owes several billion dollars, reveals that GM’s South Korean unit had a debt-to-equity ratio of 912 percent as recently as last June. GM “rescued” its crucial small-car development center by buying up all $413m of GM-Daewoo’s recent share offering, keeping the the KDB from imposing its will on the automaker. That was enough to keep the wolf from Daewoo’s door in the short term, but if Daewoo is ever going to develop a new generation of GM small cars and global products, it will have to address its $2b KDB debt and raise additional funds. For now though, GM-Daewoo is just hoping to keep a little momentum going.
As the world recedes, South Korea grows. First Hyundai registers double digit growth in the United States and now other automakers want a piece of the South Korean action. The Korean Times reports that Renault-Nissan announced that they will increase the amount of their South Korean parts suppliers from 28 to 100 by 2013. 108 major subcontractors took part in a conference along with officials from Renault-Nissan’s purchasing organisation.
Reuters reports that Japanese manufacturers are running scared from Hyundai-Kia. A combination of a rising Yen and South Korea sealing more and more free trade agreements with other countries has helped Hyundai-Kia immensely. Of course, copying Toyota’s business model of building reliable cars at affordable prices has helped greatly, too. All this momentum from South Korea is getting Japanese car executives a little bit nervous. “I think there’s a sense of crisis in the whole (Japanese) industry,” Toshiyuki Shiga, chief operating officer at Nissan Motor. “Whether you take the Free Trade Agreements or foreign exchange policy, I get the impression that South Korea is tackling things well.”
A very strange spy scandal is brewing between (South) Korea and China. Acting on a tip of the (South) Korean National Intelligence Service (the Korean equivalent of the CIA and FBI rolled into one,) Korean state prosecutors accused China’s SAIC of stealing sensitive state secrets from Korea.
Then, they indicted seven senior Korean engineers at Korea’s Ssangyong on charges of leaking technology essential to develop hybrid cars. Read More >
It’s not that GM’s Korean Daewoo division doesn’t need more money. The problem is that the only bank willing to lend a dime, the Korean Development Bank, wants strings attached. Since GM came up with the cash to buy up Daewoo’s $413m rights offering, it says Daewoo is out of trouble for two more years. Or 18 months… depending on that troublesome global car market. Meanwhile, GM-Daewoo’s $5b worth of forward contracts will burn up $300m in cash every month, as the debt matures. Although KDB and GM-Daewoo’s other lenders refuse to roll any of that debt forward and have been firm about enacting safeguards before loaning the automaker more money, GM’s Nick Reilly says Daewoo can now negotiate from a position of relative strength. Emphasis on relative.
$413 million isn’t a ton of money for one of the largest global automakers, but GM’s purchase of Daewoo’s entire share offering still doesn’t completely add up. After all, GM was barred from spending US taxpayer bailout money on overseas assets. And it’s not like GM wanted to increase its stake from 51 percent to 70.1 percent; GM-Daewoo tells Reuters GM had to step in with the cash when the Korean Development Bank, SAIC and Suzuki declined to participate in the rights offering. But under which sofa did GM find the cash? “The money came from GM’s global operations,” is all Daewoo’s reps will say about the matter. And though we could criticize GM for starving its overseas operations in order to keep the wolf from Daewoo’s debt-riddled door, the reality is that few of GM’s divisions are as important as Daewoo for GM’s global product development now that Opel is on the way out the door. The real problem is that this outlay is hardly the last one GM will have to make in order to keep its small-car development hub.
The recent arrest of a Ford employee on charges of industrial espionage may have been enough to scuttle Ford’s sale of Volvo to Chinese firm Geely. Or, as Bertel Schmitt reports, perhaps the spy story was just a convenient excuse to get more money out of the deal. But whether as a legitimate concern or strategic fearmongering, industrial espionage is hot right now. The Freep reports three former GM-Daewoo employees have been charged with spycraft, for allegedly transferring “critical GM technology” to Russian automaker tagAZ. The technology in question: engine and component designs for Daewoo’s outgoing (J-200 model) Lacetti, predecessor to the Cruze. And GM claims tagAz’s new C-100 sedan (above) looks a little too similar to the Lacetti in question. “It’s pretty close, if not dead on,” say GM-Daewoo spokesfolks. “The J-200 may not be a new vehicle for a lot of developing countries, but for a lot of emerging markets, it’s a very aspirational vehicle.” And it’s been a best-seller in Russia. TagAZ denies that it stole designs from Daewoo, saying it spent four years and $250m developing the C-100. But it also hired “a number” of former Daewoo engineers, according to GM, which is probably the most legitimate way to steal a good design. But with GM possibly wavering on the Opel deal, will this latest espionage raise doubts about the wisdom of selling Opel to another Russian firm? It probably should.
Reuters reports that GM’s deadline to participate in its Daewoo division’s $424m rights offering has passed without GM putting any money down. But the Korean Development Bank, which GM-Daewoo owes $2b (soon to be closer to $3b), isn’t freaking out yet. “Given that GM is not allowed to take money out of the United States, it seems to have a plan from the beginning to drop the rights and use its units to buy them,” say KDB spokesfolks. KDB will not participate in the offering until GM stumps up some cash, so the betting marker has been passed to GM’s units. But which unit will answer the call? Opel is days away from being sold, so you can rule that out. Holden is a possible white knight, but the Australian division is hardly a piggy bank with which to keep other operations afloat. Which leaves only GM’s South American, Chinese and Indian operations to pick up the slack.
Bailout and reorganization gave GM the fresh start it so desperately needed in the US, but other governments have been decidedly less sympathetic to GM’s plight. Germany saw an opportunity to free Opel from GM’s grip, and now the Korean Development Bank has GM up against the wall over the future of GM-Daewoo. Reuters reports Fritz Henderson flew to Korea to meet with Daewoo’s creditors and put a cheery face on the situation. But calling the talks “very positive” is more tribute to Fritz’s unflagging optimism than an indication that GM-Daewoo is almost out of the woods. GM has no choice but to fight for its only remaining small car development center, the only question is with what?
Ron: Is the new Chevy Cruze a rebranded Daewoo, or a genuinely novel GM product? I understand it will be assembled in the US.
Fritz Henderson: cruze is an all new vehicle developed as a true chevrolet. we will build the vehicle in our plant in lordstown, ohio.
Ron, that’s a great question, but you shouldn’t expect real answers from a GM livechat with Fritz Henderson. Yes, the Cruze was engineered in South Korea by Daewoo, but it’s not a developing-market-mobile with a bowtie like the first Cruze. And the Aveo. And the forthcoming Spark. It’s a global product, sold in different markets as the Daewoo Lacetti, the Holden Cruze and the Chevrolet Cruze. It’s even a pace car! But to answer your question, the major difference between the Daewoo pictured above and the US-market Cruze is engine options. Other than that… Dude, you’re getting a Daewoo!
GM’s Daewoo division is on the verge of being taken over by its largest creditor, the Korea Development Bank, reports the Korea Times. KDB CEOO Min Euoo-sung warns GM:
If General Motors does not play the role of the largest shareholder of GM Daewoo in an appropriate manner, we will start to retrieve loans that will mature this month. General Motors should accept both the financial and non-financial requirements of the creditors. If not, we will collect loans and will not participate in a paid-in capital increase
GM Daewoo lost about $2.6b in forward exchange transactions (a form of currency hedge) last year, exhausting its $2b line of credit with KDB. GM had asked KDB to roll these obligations forward and throw another billion dollars on the fire, a request it then reduced to $835m. The problem is that GM hasn’t raised enough money, or offered a larger equity stake in GM Daewoo. As a result, KDB is forcing GM to raise new equity, share licenses for jointly-developed vehicles and introduce a co-financial officer to look after KDB’s interests. Otherwise, the collections begin, with $100m due this month alone. And interestingly, money isn’t the only issue at play.
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