Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Wednesday, Sept. 3.
In less than a month, the $7,500 U.S. EV tax credit comes to an end. August sales results suggest automakers and dealers will generate robust third-quarter results as buyers rush to beat the Sept. 30 expiration.
Here are a couple examples from the August sales reports:
Ford Motor Co. said Mustang Mach-E sales during the month surged 35 percent to 7,226 vehicles.
At Hyundai Motor America, Ioniq 5 deliveries vaulted 61 percent to 7,773 vehicles while Ioniq 6 sales bumped up 30 percent to 1,047.
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Obviously, we won't get a full look at the results from all the automakers until third-quarter sales are reported Oct. 1, but the limited figures we've seen today show the tax credit deadline is moving EV metal.
The temporary bonanza could even slip into October for vehicles with completed sales contracts, as we reported in this story on Tuesday.
The soon-to-end EV gold rush has increased optimism among dealers during the current quarter.
As John Huetter reports, franchised dealers didn't indicate sales conditions soured significantly during the quarter, according to new Cox Automotive retailer polling data.
"We're seeing a market that's not collapsing," Cox chief economist Jonathan Smoke said Sept. 2.
Dealers viewed their third-quarter market as favorable and were positive about the three months to follow, Huetter wrote.
"Business seems to be the same each month and, without changes such as more advertising or inventory, we don't anticipate anything changing," a Chevrolet dealer in the Midwest told Cox.
Of course, the long-term prospects for EV sales growth remain questionable. The red ink flowed at Volvo's EV spinoff Polestar Automotive Holding during its most recent quarter. Bloomberg reported that the company hemorrhaged $1 billion during the quarter, much of it stemming from a $739 million writedown on the Polestar 3 crossover because of higher U.S. tariffs and disappointing EV demand.
In other news, today's Future Product report focuses on Honda Motor Co.
And speaking of Honda, Astemo — a Japanese supplier partially owned by Honda — is bringing a regional headquarters to suburban Detroit. The 26-acre development should yield a $95 million investment and about 200 jobs, our affiliate Crain's Detroit Business reported.
That's it for now. If you want to see this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
