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2023-06-19

Indonesia Plans To Become Major Player in Car Industry

SOUTHEAST ASIA: INDONESIA REPORT

Amid the global shift to EVs, Indonesia is vying to become the new leader in this segment.

Indonesia has already surpassed Thailand in passenger car production and has begun full-scale EV production ahead of Thailand. Thailand has begun to defend its position as the auto manufacturing hub of Southeast Asia by offering preferential policies for EVs, including subsidies for both domestic production and sales.

Indonesia’s greatest strength is its abundance of nickel, which is used in car batteries. It is said to have the largest nickel reserves in the world, and investment in this resource is growing rapidly. In April, the Indonesian government announced that it was considering investing in a nickel production venture involving Ford of the United States and that VW of Germany was also considering participation.

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2022-11-16

Hydrogen Truck To Help Decarbonize Mining Industry

A new hydrogen fuel truck is being tested by the mining industry in hopes of helping to decarbonize activities that have been exceptionally challenging to mitigate. The mining industry contributes 7% of the world’s total carbon emissions per year, (according to McKinsey). This represents more than twice the carbon emissions from the global shipping industry, for example.

The hydrogen-powered vehicle is meant to replace typical mining haul vehicles, which pollute heavily.

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2022-12-14

U.S. Powersports Industry Grows in 2021

Michael Aistrup
Michael Aistrup

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has released economic data for 2021 showing the outdoor recreation industry’s impact on the U.S. economy. Key highlights from the 2021 data on the U.S. outdoor recreation economy include: 1. $862 billion in economic output; 2. 1.9% of GDP, and 3. 4.5 million jobs.

Trips and travel have come back, record sales in many outdoor segments, manufacturing increasing, as well as the drive to continue to recreate for quality of life has allowed the outdoor industry to bounce back from the effects of COVID-19.

“The continued strength of the outdoor economy is no surprise to the marine industry, where we continue to see incredible growth with new and younger customers taking to our brands each year,” said Chris Drees, President of Mercury Marine, the world’s leading manufacturer of recreational marine propulsion engines.

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2020-02-25

Thailand Auto Industry Brakes Sharply

This article initially appeared in the February 2020 issue of PowerTALK News.

THAILAND–Vehicles produced in Thailand are exported to the world, including Asia, Oceania, the Middle East and Europe. However, the automobile industry is in trouble because of the double punch of the global economy slowing down due to the US-China trade friction and the spread of the new coronavirus.

Akihiro Komuro
Akihito Komuro

Exports, which account for half of Thailand’s automobile production, where Japanese and other automakers such as Toyota and Honda have production bases, have fallen, and vehicle production turned negative for the first time in five years in 2019. In addition, the spread of the new coronavirus is catching up. It is expected that the impact on Thailand’s automobile industry will be even greater if the shutdown of factories in China and production cutoffs are prolonged and parts procurement is delayed.

Source: NHK

PSR Analysis: From about September 2019, it has been reported that many Southeast Asian automobile industries, including Thailand, have begun to slow down, but this has been attributed to a slowdown in trade due to US-China trade friction.

Today, of course, there is the same problem, but the rapid spread of COVID-19 is a new problem. Many automotive industries around the world are supported by the supply of parts from China, and a slowdown in supply could severely impact car production. Especially in Southeast Asia such as Thailand and Indonesia.  PSR

Akihiro Komuro is a Research Analyst covering the Far East and Southeast Asia for Power Systems Research.

2021-10-23

Volkswagen Truck and Bus and CBMM To Develop Niobium Battery for EV

Volkswagen Truck and Bus, part of the Traton Group, and CBMM, a Brazilian giant of niobium mining, announced an agreement to develop batteries with Niobium for Electric Vehicles. It promises to recharge a Truck Battery in less than 10 minutes and provide a traveling higher range. Volkswagen will start tests in 2022 to develop a functional vehicle with Niobium batteries by the end of 2022.

Source: Revista Oeste     Read The Article

PSR Analysis: Primarily used to improve the strength of high grade steels, Niobium is also used for super conductors and has been tested by CBMM and Toshiba in batteries for three years with positive results. The solution applied for MHV may put Brazil in a strong position in MHV EV segment, since 97% of the Niobium reserves in the world are in Brazil.

Fabio Ferraresi is Director Business Development , South America, for Power Systems Research

2022-11-15

Cheering Festive Season for Auto Industry

INDIA REPORT

This year’s festive season fired up vehicle registrations but failed to match 2019 sales numbers. Vehicle sales, which peak during the festive season in India, account for about 40% of annual volume. Sales in the just-concluded season this year were better than in the past two COVID years but were far below the sales level of 2019.

“Auto Retail for October 2022 saw an overall growth of 48%,” said Manish Raj Singhania, president of FADA. With most of the month under the festive period, the sentiments were extremely positive across all categories of dealership outlets.”

Source: Economic Times     Read The Article

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2020-07-26

Powersports Industry Leading Economic Comeback

The Powersports industry–featuring ATVs, motorcycles and watercraft–appears to be leading the way on the road to economic recovery. According to Motorcycle & Powersports News magazine, this increased demand for powersports is helping values bounce back from historic lows.

Michael Aistrup
Michael Aistrup

According to Scott Yarbrough, senior analyst for motorcycle and powersports at Black Book: “After the first month of the COVID-19, shutdowns put a freeze on powersports values during the beginning of the spring selling season, and the second month saw dramatic declines.

This month values are up across the board, some by the largest amounts we have ever seen in a monthly update. A combination of surprisingly strong demand, coupled with drops in availability of units, has led to this resurgence in values,”

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2021-11-21

Chip Shortages Cause Worst Festive Season in Decade for Auto Industry

Aditya Kondejkar

2021’s festive period from Navratri to Diwali (October) marked the worst performance for India automakers in nearly a decade. Usually, sales of PVs peak during the period, however, the demand was much lower this year. 

Further, two-wheeler and tractor sales dropped by about 10%. The major reason for this drop is supply-side challenges on semiconductors and lack of demand in entry-level segments for both PVs and two-wheelers.

In the commercial vehicles space, the situation was somewhat better with an increase in demand for interstate movement of goods.

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2020-02-25

New India Budget Disappoints Auto Industry

This article initially appeared in the February 2020 issue of PowerTALK News.

Source: Business Today   Read The Article

Ritvik Kulkarni
Ritvik Kulkarni

PSR Analysis: The Indian Automotive Industry was largely left disappointed with the budget after no direct steps were taken to arrest the decline in automotive sales. Although keeping long term benefits in mind, the budget did introduce measures to boost the rural economy, which in turn will directly benefit the commercial vehicle industry which is an important driver for the economy.

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