Stellantis Had a Record Year in 2022

The automaker, which doesn’t disclose quarterly results under French financial reporting rules, on Wednesday said net profits for the year surged 26 percent to 16.8 billion euros ($17.9 billion) while global revenue rose 18 percent to 179.6 billion euros ($190.9 billion).

North American results paced the company’s 2022 gains. Stellantis said North American adjusted operating income rose 23 percent to 13.9 billion euros ($14.8 billion). Revenues surged 23 percent to 85.5 billion euros ($90.9 billion). Deliveries rose 2 percent to 1.86 million vehicles.

In the U.S., Stellantis will distribute $14,760 each to eligible UAW-represented workers as part of a profit-sharing plan. About 40,500 workers are eligible for the bonus. The payout is up slightly from 2021, when workers received $14,670 each.

General Motors’ unionized workers will receive a profit-sharing bonus of up to $12,750 based on the company’s North American performance last year, while UAW members at Ford Motor Co. are getting an average of $9,176.

The online used-vehicle retailer, which is scheduled to release fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings Thursday, saw its stock share price double from $5 in mid-January to $10 by month’s end. That upward movement has been driven in part by investors who believe recent upticks in used-vehicle prices and demand may bode well for the company in the first quarter, according to analysts.

Wells Fargo equity analyst Zachary Fadem wrote in a Friday note to investors that while Carvana’s improved share price performance “suggests investors are moving past the most draconian bear case” of bankruptcy, 2023 “still looks squishy” for the retailer. The firm on Friday raised its price target for Carvana from $5 to $10.

Fadem wrote that Carvana’s fourth-quarter vehicle sales are likely to fall short of Wall Street expectations. Concerns about Carvana’s liquidity and how much gross profit it brings in per vehicle sold are likely to linger, he added.

In a research note Thursday, Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter wrote that slashed estimates are forcing the firm’s price target for Carvana to $21 — down from $45 — but the firm does not think Carvana will go bankrupt.

The automaker’s incoming president Koji Sato said the decision to accept the union’s demands in full at the first round of talks was meant not just for Toyota but “also for the industry as a whole, and in the hope that it will lead to frank discussions between labour and management at each company.”

Within hours of Toyota’s announcement, rival Honda Motor Co Ltd said it had agreed to union demands for a 5% pay increase. The average monthly base salary rise of 12,500 yen ($92.70) at Honda is the biggest jump since at least 1990.

Toyota and the union federation representing 357,000 Toyota group workers said the base pay rise was the biggest in two decades, though they both declined to provide the percentage increase.

With inflation running at around 4% - the highest level in 40 years following decades of deflation - Japan is under more pressure than ever before to raise wages to revive consumption.

Tesla Inc has begun assembling batteries in Germany but will focus cell production in the U.S. in light of Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives, a spokesperson said, one of the first firms to declare a strategy shift prompted by the package.

The U.S. electric-vehicle maker is also preparing to produce cell components such as electrodes, some of which will be sent from its site in Gruenheide in the state of Brandenburg, to the United States, the Tesla spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Cars produced at the Brandenburg site would in the “near future” contain batteries assembled locally, the spokesperson added.

“The focus of Tesla’s cell production is currently in the United States due to the framework created by the United States Inflation Reduction Act (IRA),” the company said.

“Our most important trading partner decides things in their own interest,” said Luisa Santos, deputy director-general of BusinessEurope, which represents companies across the EU. “They keep doing this. But they want us to support them on China.”

Tesla uses such cameras in its cars to help owners protect them against theft or vandalism, but the Dutch Data Protection Authority (DPA) investigated them as a potential violation.

“Many Teslas parked on the street were often filming everyone who came near the vehicle, and these images were being saved for a very long time. If every car were to do that, we’d have a situation where no one could go anywhere in public without being watched,” said DPA board member Katja Mur in a statement.

Tesla could not immediately be reached for comment.

The agency said Tesla had made changes to its “Sentry Mode” feature in which the cameras are activated since the DPA investigation began. These include the cars’ headlights flashing to indicate to passers-by that filming has begun and requiring approval from the car’s owners in order to begin filming.

Films are stored in the car, and not shared with Tesla, the DPA said.

On February 22, 1959, Lee Petty defeats Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish at the just-opened Daytona International Speedway in Florida to win the first-ever Daytona 500. The race was so close that Beauchamp was initially named the winner by William France, the owner of the track and head of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). However, Petty, who was driving a hardtop Oldsmobile 88, challenged the results and three days later, with the assistance of news photographs, he was officially named the champ. There was speculation that France declared Beauchamp the winner in order to intentionally stir up controversy and generate publicity for his new race track.