Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google were the four leading global brands at the end of 2023, according to consulting firm Interbrand. They’re are also four of the world’s five most valuable companies.

The other is Nvidia, which for a time this week, surpassed Microsoft to become the largest company in the world by market cap.

But despite its $3.1 trillion valuation (it reached $3.3 trillion before a two-day slide), Nvidia doesn’t even crack the top 100 most iconic names on Interbrand’s most recent list, which is populated by such companies as McDonald’s, Starbucks, Disney and Netflix.

Nvidia’s historic rise in valuation — the stock has climbed almost ninefold since the end of 2022 — has been driven almost entirely by demand for its graphics processing units (GPUs) that are at the heart of the boom in generative artificial intelligence and, more broadly, by the hype over AI. Nvidia has over 80% of the market for chips used to train and deploy AI software like ChatGPT. A handful of huge tech companies are the primary buyers of its chips.

The speed of Nvidia’s ascent and its relative lack of contact with consumers along the way combines to put the 31-year-old company’s brand recognition on Main Street far behind its allure on Wall Street. No. 100 on Interbrand’s list for 2023 is Japanese camera maker Canon, with Dutch brewer Heineken at No. 99.

“As a product company recently moving onto a global stage, Nvidia has not had time, nor has it dedicated resources, to change its role of brand and strengthen its brand to protect future revenue,” Greg Silverman, Interbrand’s global director of brand economics, said in an email. The risk for Nvidia, Silverman added, is that its “weak brand strength will limit how valuable it will be, despite its market cap heights.”

A spokesperson for Nvidia declined to comment.

Nvidia’s annual revenue growth has exceeded 200% in each of the past three quarters. For fiscal 2025, revenue is expected to almost double from a year earlier to over $120 billion, according to LSEG.

The company’s data center GPUs, which made up 85% of sales in the most recent quarter, are installed in massive facilities, and typically require a team of expensive data science and supercomputing experts to configure them to efficiently create AI software.

By contrast, Apple, ranked No. 1 by Interbrand, makes the vast majority of its money by selling iPhones and other devices to consumers across the globe. Microsoft, ranked second, is an enterprise sales giant, but is ubiquitously known for its Windows and Office software. Third-ranked Amazon strives to be consumers’ everything store, and No. 4 Google is, for many people, the front door to the internet.

Rounding out Interbrand’s top 10 are South Korean electronics giant Samsung, along with three car companies (Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and BMW), Coca-Cola and Nike.

Further down the list, at No. 24, is Nvidia rival Intel, which is best known for making the processor at the heart of laptops and PCs and for its long-running “Intel Inside” advertising campaign. Even Hewlett Packard Enterprise, a company that builds servers, made the list at No. 91.

However, a competing survey shows that Nvidia’s brand value is catching up to that of its peers.

In a ranking of the 100 most valuable global brands published this month by Kantar BrandZ, Nvidia landed at No. 6, leaping 18 places from its prior survey. The brand’s overall valued jumped 178% in a year to an estimate of about $202 billion. Kantar surveys enterprise buyers to evaluate brands that primarily sell to other businesses to come up with a total estimate of brand value.

“Nvidia is pound for pound as relevant and meaningful to that B2B buyer that’s looking to make big, large purchases in-house for their company as Apple is to the consumer who’s buying an iPad or a Mac,” Marc Glovsky, senior brand strategist at Kantar, told CNBC.

And while Nvidia may not be a name known to your parents — or your kids — it does have resonance in a particular corner of the consumer world. Just ask your hard-core gaming buddy.

When Nvidia was founded in 1991, AI was a nascent field. The company’s primary focus was on designing chips that could draw digital triangles quickly, a basic capability that led to a huge expansion in 3D games.

For years, Nvidia, and its GeForce brand and green logo were well known to the type of people who tweaked their computers to run the most advanced games. Nvidia provides the chips for the Nintendo Switch console, which has shipped over 140 million units around the world.

Unlike Intel, Nvidia never put its name in front of consumers with flashy ad campaigns. And gaming is now just a nice side business for chipmaker. In the latest quarter, it accounted for $2.6 billion of revenue, or 10% of total sales, rising 18% year over year.

When it comes to Nvidia’s most important products, companies and institutions vying for its AI chips have to go through an extensive quoting and sales process, often through a computer-equipment company, like Dell or HPE. Those vendors sell complete systems, including memory, a central processor and other parts. Even experts who want to train AI models are more likely to rent Nvidia access through a cloud provider than build their own server clusters.

Still, Nvidia’s name recognition is rapidly increasing. Among retail investors, Nvidia has emerged as the most widely held stock, according to data collected and published last month by Vanda Research.

And while the name didn’t make Interbrand’s top 100 list for 2023, the firm’s data shows its brand awareness quadrupled in the past 12 months, which will help when it’s time for the next ranking, Silverman said.

Maybe by then people will know how to say its name, a topic that’d been the source of debate on obscure gaming forums. The company pronounces it en-VID-ia.

WATCH: The ‘Magnificent Seven’ should have another good earnings season

A car loses value as soon as you drive it off the lot, but electric vehicles are taking this adage to a new level. That’s becoming a major barrier to wider adoption, according to some industry and investment experts. 

A recent study from iSeeCars.com showed the average price of a 1- to 5-year-old used EV in the U.S. fell 31.8% over the past 12 months, equating to a value loss of $14,418. In comparison, the average price for a comparably aged internal combustion engine vehicle fell just 3.6%.

While lower used EV prices could increase their desirability to some buyers, they can also reduce demand for new electric vehicles, according to Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars.

“The value a new car loses in the first few years is the single most expensive aspect of owning a new vehicle,” he said, explaining that “as more new car shoppers become aware of the massive drop in EV values they will be less interested in buying one.”

Speaking to CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Monday, David Kuo, stock analyst and co-founder at the Smart Investor, said that the inability of EVs to retain value had kept him from investing in the industry. 

According to Kuo, EVs are analogous to other consumer electronics like laptops and cell phones in that they tend to lose value and relevance quickly after being sold. 

“The same [depreciation] is going to happen to electric vehicles; it’ll probably cost you $20,000, $30,000 to buy one, but in a year’s time it will depreciate much faster than an internal combustion engine car,” he said.  

Industry insiders have also flagged EV resale problems. Speaking to Bloomberg late last year, representatives from VW and Toyota said depreciation was hurting the value proposition of their battery-powered vehicles. 

Kuo further argued that the software and computing capabilities of used EVs may become outdated and incompatible with updates by the time they are sold or even beforehand. That will be a “lightbulb moment” when buyers realize they paid too much in the first place, he added.

Despite EVs’ apparent depreciation issue, its causes might have less to do with the technology itself and more to do with market conditions.  

According to iSeeCars, dramatic drops in used electric vehicle values in the U.S. have largely been driven by aggressive price cuts by Tesla amid a broader price war in the EV market. 

Tesla is the dominant EV seller in the U.S. and as a result of lower prices for its new EVs, buyers are less likely to entertain the same price levels for used alternatives. 

“If [Elon Musk] continues to reduce Tesla prices in an effort to stimulate sales, he’ll continue to pull the entire market down, as he did over the past 15 months,” iSeeCars’ Brauer said.

In an October earnings call, Musk defended the price cuts, emphasizing the importance of cost to consumers.

“It’s not an optional thing for most people; it is a necessary thing. We have to make our cars more affordable so people can buy them,” he said.

In the following quarter’s earnings call in January, chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja said the company would continue to focus on its cost reduction efforts in 2024.

Since then, the EV price war between Tesla and Chinese competitors has shown little signs of letting up. 

Additionally, overproduction of EVs relative to demand has created excessive supply, making it unlikely for new and used EV prices to rebound in the near term, according to Brauer.

What is an ongoing issue for the EV market, however, may be a boon for electric and combustion powered hybrids, which are showing increasing strength in new and used vehicle markets. 

The average price for used hybrid vehicles fell only 6.5% or $2,135 last year — a fraction of the decline of the average EV. 

“Hybrids are an excellent stepping stone between gasoline and electric cars, and I expect to see them increasing in popularity over the next 10 years,” Brauer said. 

Heads up, hybrid fans: Ford Motor is working on a whole bunch of new hybrid models.

“You’re going to see a lot more hybrid systems from us,” CEO Jim Farley said Thursday after the company reported second-quarter earnings that revealed widening losses on its electric vehicles unit.

The comments run slightly counter to recent messaging from the Detroit automakers, which have touted the performance and popularity of all-electric favorites as the industry moves to meet EV targets. The hybrid hype, however, falls more closely in line with global hybrid leader Toyota, which has faced criticism for what some saw as resistance to the EV transition.

To be clear, Ford isn’t turning away from its much-touted EV push, though it said Thursday that its EV ramp-up may take longer than it had previously anticipated.

But even as it spends billions to ramp up EV production, it’s planning to bring more hybrid options to market, driven by the success of its current gasoline-electric options.

“We have been surprised, frankly, at the popularity of hybrid systems for F-150,” Farley said during Ford’s second-quarter earnings call. More than 10% of F-150 pickup customers are opting for the hybrid model, Farley said, and that percentage has been increasing.

Ford also offers a hybrid version of its small Maverick pickup. That has been an even greater success, Farley said, with more than half of Maverick buyers — 56% — choosing the $1,500 optional hybrid powertrain over the standard four-cylinder engine.

But why double down on hybrids just as the industry is making a big push toward pure EVs?

“What the customer really likes is when we take a hybrid system that’s more efficient for certain duty cycles and then we add new capabilities because of the batteries,” Farley said.

Among those new capabilities: Ford’s “Pro Power Onboard” system, which gives customers the ability to tap the truck’s electricity via outlets in the pickup bed to power tools at a job site — or a refrigerator at a tailgate party — eliminating the need to carry a separate generator.

“We’re seeing a lot of customers like that combination of using the batteries for something beyond just moving the vehicle,” Farley said. “And so we’re just listening to the market.”

Ford has heavily promoted the capabilities of its battery-electric F-150 Lightning pickup, which offers the ability to power an entire house for several days.

It may be that in hearing from customers, Ford has determined the popularity of that capability is outrunning the willingness to go all electric. As executives noted Thursday, EV adoption is moving more slowly than expected.

So, in the meantime, Ford can offer power-hungry but EV-wary drivers an in-between option, with hybrid options across its internal-combustion lineup.

“But don’t think of them in the traditional sense of an Escape hybrid or a [Toyota] Prius,” Farley said. “They’re probably going to come to light differently than most people think.”

“And customers like that.”

Detroit – Toyota Motor Stocks concluded their best week since 2009 on Friday, as the automaker laid out an aggressive plan for all-electric vehicles of the future and company scion Akio Toyoda became leader of the Japanese company’s board.

Toyota shares closed on the New York Stock Exchange Friday at $164.35 per share, down 2.3% for the day but still up 10.6% for the week. This 5-day gain is the best week for the stock since April 2009 when shares rose 14.5%.

Such a height is not typical for a stock. It’s only the third double-digit weekly gain in more than two decades for relatively well-performing but otherwise ordinary stocks. Shares of the company are up 20% so far in 2023.

The positive rise this year comes as recent supply chain problems eased for automakers, including Toyota, and after Toyoda, the company’s founder’s grandson, announced plans to transition from CEO to chairman after more than 13 years leading the automaker. the cars.

Toyoda, who stepped down as CEO on April 1 and was succeeded by Koji Sato, has faced criticism from some environmental groups and investors for not getting involved in electric vehicles and continuing production of hybrid and plug-in hybrids like the Prius. and Prius Prime.

As investments in electric vehicles increase, Toyota executives have argued that such cars and trucks are one solution, not the answer, to meeting tough global emissions standards and achieving carbon neutrality.

To address skeptics about its strategy, this week the automaker in Japan offered a rare peek behind the curtain at its future plans.

“Management has rarely announced details of technology under development in the past, and we felt an obligation to ensure competitive strength through electrification and reflection under the new management team,” JPMorgan analyst Akira Kishimoto said in a note to investors this week.

Ahead of its annual meeting on Wednesday, Toyota outlined plans for a new generation of electric vehicles for rival industry leaders Tesla and BYD based in China. The company said it plans to launch its next-generation electric cars starting in 2026, including cars with “solid-state batteries” by 2027 or 2028.

Solid-state batteries can be lighter, have a greater energy density and provide more range at a lower cost than today’s EVs that run on lithium-ion batteries.

Takeru Kato, president of the Toyota Factory for Battery Electric Vehicles, said Toyota is targeting a driving range of 1,000 kilometers, or 620 miles, for its electric cars. He explained that the facility aims to produce about 1.7 million cars by 2030.

“The strategic focus on differentiation (in terms of technologies and business model) rather than scope in 2025-30 and the company’s strong ability to develop technologies to that end are long-term positives, in our view,” UBS analyst Kohei Takahashi said Tuesday. In an investor note.

After the announcements, Toyota shareholders on Wednesday approved the company’s new leadership and rejected a shareholder motion asking Toyota to review its climate-related lobbying activities — voting in line with the company’s recommendations.

CNBC channel Michael Blum And Lim Hwi J Contribute to this report.

DETROIT — As automakers chase Tesla-like profits from new electric cars, they’re faced with an existential question: How best to bring authorized auto dealers with them as they transition to electric vehicles.

some like general motors, asking luxury goods dealers to do everything in electric vehicles or go out of business. Others like Ford Motor Offers dealers different “EV certification” levels Most other automakers, or OEMs, know they need to change their sales process to fit the evolving industry, but they’re still trying to figure out how to do it.

“I think we all build this plane as we fly,” Michael Alford, president of the National Automotive Dealers Association, a trade association that represents more than 16,000 new licensed dealers in the United States, told CNBC. “Depending on the OEM, the level of involvement or intensity of involvement varies.”

Automakers and licensed dealers have a complex relationship underpinned, in many states, by laws that make it difficult, if not illegal, to bypass franchised dealers and sell new cars directly to consumers. (Tesla and other more recent electric vehicle startups have worked around such regulations to cut costs.)

Both automakers and licensed dealers want to increase profits, but they are separate companies that rely heavily on each other for success. Dealers depend on automakers for product to fill and transport parts, and automakers in turn depend on dealers to sell and service vehicles as well as act as doormen for customers.

How this historic relationship fits into an all-electric future is expected to be at the forefront of discussions among automakers and dealers at the National Auto Dealers Association show, which takes place Sunday in Dallas. The event annually attracts thousands of franchise dealers to hear about the auto brands.

For merchants — from mom-and-pop stores to large publicly traded chains — electric vehicles will mean training new employees, infrastructure, and significant investments in their stores so they can service, sell, and ship the vehicles. Depending on the size of the merchant, these upgrades can easily cost hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Of course, they want to be sure that their investment will pay off.

“The style and the substance of this theme has evolved, and I think it’s very clear this year that OEMs have fully understood that we are essential going forward,” said Alford, who runs Chevrolet and Cadillac dealerships in North Carolina.

No more automakers offering EVs, they’re rethinking the selling process, including selling new cars largely, if not entirely, online. Tesla was among the first automakers to adopt online sales for a large portion of its business, though it still has physical dealerships, information sites, and service stores.

A larger online shift could reduce dealers’ role in rigorous handling and maintenance and as delivery centers going forward and eliminate the need for lots of cars that they then sell to consumers.

“On the whole, the franchise system remains valid even for electric cars by traditional automakers, even though they are all looking for ways to modify it to be more competitive, as they say, with the Teslas of the world,” said Michelle Krebs. Cox Automotive executive analyst.

Automakers believe that doing so will provide consumers with a more streamlined and coherent sales process, but they also consider dealers as their partners and offer “strategic advantages” when it comes to other sales and maintenance issues.

Honda Motor It said it plans to move more sales online, including 100% online sales of its luxury electric vehicle Acura brand. Mamadou Diallo, Vice President of Sales for American Honda, said the plan is to facilitate the online ordering process, but with the car being picked up or delivered by dealers. He said that these procedures are still in preparation.

“We want to move forward in ensuring we provide convenience with what customers are looking for, with no intention of going beyond our distributor body,” Mamadou said Tuesday during a media call.

Jay Vijayan, who helped build Tesla’s digital and IT systems, doesn’t think selling electric vehicles exclusively online will work. A combination of point-of-sale is best, he said, which is why Tesla and new startups are selling online as well as opening new showrooms and service centers.

“an Apple Still opening new stores, right? Every company that thinks it will go direct is also opening new stores in the auto space, said Vijayan, founder and CEO of Tekion, a cloud-based dealership services provider.

Wall Street analysts largely view direct-to-consumer sales as a way to improve profit. However, there has been a growing hassle for Tesla when it comes to servicing its cars.

Ford CEO Jim Farley has said he wants auto dealers to cut selling and distribution costs by $2,000 per vehicle to be competitive with Tesla’s direct-to-consumer model.

Ford is among the automakers receiving the most dealer support for its EV push, which includes EV certification levels that can cost more than $1 million per shop, depending on the size of the dealership.

The Detroit automaker is facing legal challenges to the certification program from dealers who argue the plan violates franchise laws. A group of 27 Illinois dealers filed a protest with the state’s Board of Automotive Review, and four New York dealers sued the automaker last month, according to Automotive News.

Ford dealer Mark McIver said he signed the highest level of EV certification at his dealership near Kansas City, Kansas, but was concerned about the cost and timing of the program.

“I think we’re all concerned that what they want for us now, by the time we really get some vehicles, is going to be outdated and need to be upgraded or replaced,” said McEver, who also owns a Lincoln dealership. .

Aside from the investments, dealers who choose to sell Ford electric vehicles will need to adhere to five criteria to stay in good standing: clear, non-negotiable prices; Freight investment Train staff and improve the car buying and ownership experience for customers, both digitally and in person.

On Saturday, Ford plans to explain some changes to its EV certification levels, according to two people familiar with the plans. The changes, as first reported by Automotive News, would narrow the differences between the two program levels. The bottom tier comes with a lower capital investment but also a smaller Ford EV allocation.

Despite this, Ford, unlike its arch-rival General Motors, is allowing dealers to opt out of selling electric vehicles and continue to sell the company’s gas-powered cars.

General Motors has offered buyouts to Buick and Cadillac dealerships that don’t want to sell electric cars. About 320 of the 880 Cadillac retailers made purchases. Buick purchases are underway, according to a spokesperson.

Toyota MotorFor its part, it has no plans to overhaul its franchise dealer network as it invests in electrified cars, CEO Akio Toyoda told dealers to thunderous applause in September.

“I know you’re worried about the future. I know you’re worried about how this business will change. While I can’t predict the future, I can promise you this: You, me, we, this business, this model given is,” said Toyoda, who is stepping down as CEO to become Chairman in April: “I’m not going anywhere. It stays as it is.”

DETROIT — Wall Street and industry analysts remain alert for signs of a “demand-killing” scenario for the U.S. auto industry this year, as interest rates rise and consumers grapple with vehicle affordability issues and recession fears.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, automakers have experienced unprecedented pricing power and profits per vehicle amid sustained demand and low inventory levels due to supply chain and parts disruptions affecting vehicle production.

Those factors have created a supply problem for the auto industry that Cox Automotive and others believe could turn into a demand problem — just as automakers are slowly improving production.

“We’re trading a supply problem for a demand problem,” Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke said Thursday.

Cox has 10 predictions for the U.S. auto industry this year that point to that outcome. Here they are, along with reasons why investors should consider them.

Although tax credits for electric vehicles under the Inflation Reduction Act have not been finalized, the incentives for commercial vehicle owners and fleets promise to be a big boon.

Unlike consumer vehicles, which qualify for up to $7,500 in credits, fleet and commercial vehicles do not have to meet the strict US requirements for household parts and batteries.

“Here, we actually think most of the growth will be in new car sales in ’23,” Smoke said.

Cox predicts new vehicle sales in the U.S. will be 14.1 million in 2023, up slightly from nearly 13.9 million last year.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced franchise car dealers to embrace online retail more than automakers ever could, as consumers demanded it and many brick-and-mortar dealerships closed due to the global health crisis.

This trend is expected to continue in the coming years as many automakers have pledged to better align production with consumer demand.

Due to the lack of new vehicles available and higher costs, consumers are holding on to their vehicles longer. This is expected to increase the back-end services business and revenue for dealers compared to their sales. Dealers make significant profits from servicing vehicles. The increase is expected to help offset potential declines in sales and financing options.

“We see that as one of the benefits for dealers,” Smoke said. “The service department usually does a good job [and] is somewhat countercyclical during economic downturns.”

High interest rates make vehicle purchases much more challenging for mainstream buyers and less economical for wealthier consumers. Such conditions are expected to cause those who have the money to purchase a vehicle to buy it without financing it.

Smoke said the average interest rate on a new vehicle loan is more than 8%. For used cars, it is close to 13%.

Vehicle affordability was already an issue when interest rates were low. This issue is becoming more of a concern as the Federal Reserve raises interest rates to fight inflation. Cox reports that car availability is at an all-time low.

The increases have led to jumps in average monthly payments of $785 for new cars and $661 for leases, Cox said. The average list price of a new vehicle remains above $27,000, while average transaction prices for new vehicles ended last year at around $49,500.

“The long-term concern is that it causes production to skew even more toward luxury and away from affordable price points, meaning that even the U.S. auto market has a long-term affordability problem,” Smoke said.

Used car prices have skyrocketed in the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic due to low availability of new cars and trucks. Wholesale prices peaked in January 2022. They fell 14.9% last year and are expected to fall another 4.3% by the end of the year.

The declines are still not enough to offset the 88% increase in the index’s pricing from April 2020 to January 2022.

Inventories of used vehicles have stabilized at nearly 50 days — close to 2019 levels before the coronavirus pandemic depleted supplies.

Cox reports that sales of all-electric vehicles rose 66 percent to more than 808,000 units last year in the U.S., so it’s not a big jump to reach 1 million amid dozens of new models slated to hit the market. Electric cars account for about 5.8% of new vehicles sold in the US

Add in hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that are mated to a traditional engine, Smoke said about 25 percent of new vehicles sold this year are “electrified” vehicles. This will increase from 15% to 16% in 2022.

Automakers are expected to rely more heavily on sales to commercial and fleet customers, such as rental cars and government agencies, than in recent years to boost overall sales.

Automakers have prioritized more profitable sales to consumers amid low inventories in recent years. But with consumer demand expected to fall, companies are expected to turn to fleet sales to fill that demand gap.

Expectations for lower demand come as the auto industry slowly ramps up vehicle production, leading to higher inventory levels.

Inventory levels have been at record lows for the past two years due to supply chain issues and parts affecting production.

Cox reports that inventory levels vary widely by brand, particularly with Detroit automakers Stellantis — availability of sufficient vehicles. Toyota has the lowest vehicle delivery days, according to Cox.

Combine all the previous forecasts in addition to economic concerns, and it’s a lot of pressure on the US auto industry next year.

It also comes at a time when automakers are investing billions in electric vehicles and new technologies like advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicles.

“We’re hoping for an economic soft landing, but either way we believe the auto market is going to hold up next year,” Smoke said.

Toyota Motor won’t be giving up its flagship Prius hybrid anytime soon, even as it invests billions in all-electric vehicles amid criticism that it hasn’t moved fast enough in the emerging segment.

The automaker revealed late Tuesday new versions of the Prius hybrid and Prius Prime, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Both are considered “electrified” vehicles, not fully electric. They continue to use gas powered engines along with electric components that make the vehicles more fuel efficient.

Toyota hasn’t released U.S. specifications for the 2023 Prius models, but the cars are noticeably different in style than the current versions. The exterior is sportier, less fancy and looks more aerodynamic. But the overall silhouette is still recognizable as a Prius.

Continuing with the Prius while other automakers pledge to go all-electric in the coming years is part of Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s electrification strategy. Auto scion believes that electric vehicles are not the only solution for automakers to achieve carbon neutrality – which the company hopes to achieve by 2050.

Simon Humphreys, Toyota’s senior design manager, did not shy away from recent criticism of the company’s current plans to develop hybrids alongside battery electric vehicles, or BEVs, and other potential technologies.

“With the current focus on BEVs, it seems like not a day goes by without hearing, ‘So how long are you going to keep making hybrids?’ disclosure in Japan.

Since the launch of the Prius in 1997, Toyota claims to have sold more than 20 million electrified vehicles worldwide. The company says these sales have avoided 160 million tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to the impact of 5.5 million all-electric battery vehicles.

Toyoda and other company executives said that all-electric vehicles are not viable for many drivers — especially in the foreseeable future — because not all parts of the world will adopt EVs at the same rate due to the high cost of the vehicles as well as a lack of infrastructure .

Humphreys reiterated the company’s position, saying that “Prius is an eco-car that’s affordable for everyone. To achieve carbon neutrality, everyone in the world needs to participate.”

“This is a car that should be driven by all people, not just a few. That is its greatest strength and that is its reason for existence,” he said.

In the US, the 2022 Prius starts at around $25,000 – far less than most all-electric vehicles – and gets up to 56 mpg, certified by the EPA. The 2022 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid starts around $29,000 and gets 133 MPGe, which takes into account the car’s 25-mile all-electric range as well as the fuel economy of its gas-powered engine.

Tesla has produced more than three million cars, CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Sunday. Of that total, Tesla’s factory in Shanghai has produced one million cars, according to the tweet.

“Congratulations to Giga Shanghai for creating the millionth car! The total number of Teslas made is now over 3 million,” Musk tweeted.

Musk’s announcement comes after months of lockdowns and parts shortages in China that have threatened Tesla’s car production, and suggests Tesla’s Shanghai factory is producing a significant number of new vehicles after opening in 2018 and subsequent years of investment .

The overall vehicle achievement noted by Musk on Sunday comes as Tesla’s reported shipments, the closest proxy for sales, have risen in recent quarters. In July, Tesla said it delivered 254,695 vehicles in the second quarter, up 26.5% year over year.

But the milestone also underscores how small Tesla is compared to the auto giants. For example, Toyota delivered over 10 million cars in 2021 alone. Tesla said earlier this year that it plans to increase car deliveries by 50% annually.

In addition to its Shanghai plant, Tesla manufactures cars at factories in Fremont, California; Austin, Texas; and near Berlin in Germany. musk said in July that the Fremont factory, the company’s first, produced 2 million cars.

In June, Musk said he wanted to get the Shanghai plant “back in the saddle” and complained that Tesla’s factories in Berlin and Austin were “money furnaces” losing “billions of dollars” due to supply chain and manufacturing problems.

Tesla shares are down nearly 25% in 2022 as investors reevaluate fast-growing companies in the face of inflation and macroeconomic concerns. Musk sold more than 7 million shares of Tesla last week, worth about $6.88 billion, as he is simultaneously mired in litigation over his efforts to scuttle a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion.

DETROIT — General Motors’ US vehicle sales fell about 15% in the second quarter of last year as the automaker continues to battle supply chain issues, but showed improvement from early in the year.

Before announcing its sales results, the automaker said it had about 95,000 vehicles in its inventory built without certain components as of June 30, most of which were built in June. Despite the problems, the company maintained its guidance for the year.

GM’s second-quarter sales were slightly better than auto analysts’ expectations, who had expected a decline of 16% to 17%. Compared to the first quarter, GM’s sales of 582,401 vehicles increased 14%, indicating improved production and supply of vehicles from GM.

“We appreciate the patience and loyalty of our dealers and customers as we strive to meet significant pent-up demand for our products, and we will work with our suppliers, manufacturing and logistics teams to deliver all units located in our plants as quickly as possible,” said Steve Carlisle, President of GM North America in a press release.

GM reported that its vehicle inventory at the end of the second quarter was about 248,000 units, down 9.5% from the end of March. The automaker had about 274,000 vehicles in stock in the U.S. to end the first quarter.

General Motors outperformed Toyota for the first six months of the year, after the Japanese automaker outperformed its Detroit rival in 2021. It was the first time since 1931 that General Motors was not the best-selling auto company in the United States. . However, it’s something Toyota executives said at the time would not be sustainable.

Automakers such as General Motors have been scrambling to rebuild dealer inventories hit hard by production cuts amid a global shortage of semiconductor chips and other key auto components.

The problems caused automakers to intermittently shut down factories or slow production for weeks, if not months. Production shortfalls coupled with strong consumer demand drove auto stocks to record levels.

Since June 2021, Cox Automotive reports that monthly sales volume has been stuck in a narrow window, averaging 1.1 million units per month and peaking at 1.3 million in June 2021.

Auto analysts and forecasters expect US sales during the second quarter to be about 3.5 million, down between 19% and 21% from a year ago.

General Motors is among several major automakers set to report US auto sales for the second quarter on Friday. Here are the results for the others released:

• Toyota Motor said its second-quarter sales fell 22.9% from a year earlier to 531,105 units.
• Hyundai Motor Company, including its luxury brand Genesis, reported second-quarter sales of 198,136 units, down 23% for the second quarter from a year earlier.
• Kia’s sales in the second quarter were 182,146 units, down 16.8% compared to the second quarter of 2021.
• Sales of Porsche sports cars and SUVs totaled 1,987 during the second quarter, up 2.8% from the previous year.
• Mazda reported sales of 60,535 vehicles during the second quarter, down about 43% from the second quarter of 2021.

Renault has released details of a concept car with hybrid electricity and hydrogen, with the French carmaker describing hydrogen technology as “one of the options for more comfortable electric vehicles”.

Renault Scenic Vision’s design includes a hydrogen engine, an electric motor, a battery, a fuel cell and a hydrogen tank. The 2.5-kilogram tank is located in the front of the car and, according to Renault, will take about five minutes to fill up.

According to a document released on Thursday outlining the concept, the Scenic Vision’s 40-kilowatt-hour battery is recyclable and will be produced at a facility in France by 2024.

In a statement, Gilles Vidal, Renault’s director of design, said the concept “presupposes the exterior design of the new 100% electric Scénic model for 2024.” The company said the electric-hydrogen propulsion was “part of a longer-term vision after 2030”.

The general idea is for the Scenic Vision’s hydrogen fuel cell to help expand the car’s range during longer journeys. “In 2030 and beyond, once the network of hydrogen stations is large enough, you will be able to drive up to 800 km. [a little over 497 miles] … without stopping to charge the battery, “said Renault.

Described by the International Energy Agency as a “universal energy carrier”, hydrogen has a diverse range of applications and can be used in a wide range of industries.

It can be produced in several ways. One method involves the use of electrolysis with an electric current that separates water into oxygen and hydrogen.

If the electricity used in this process comes from a renewable source, such as wind or solar energy, then some call it green or renewable hydrogen.

Renault’s hybrid is expected to use green hydrogen, although most hydrogen production is currently based on fossil fuels.

Renault’s hydrogen-hydrogen concept illustrates how car companies are looking for ways to develop low- and zero-emission offerings that can compete with the range of petrol and diesel vehicles.

“Several systems in addition to electric motors are being studied today to meet the requirements of long-distance driving,” said Renault. “Hydrogen technology is one way to make electric vehicles more comfortable.”

In the field of hydrogen mobility, the Renault Group has already set up a joint venture with Plug Power called Hyvia. Among other things, it focuses on hydrogen fuel cells in light commercial vehicles and the implementation of hydrogen refueling facilities.

Renault’s idea to develop a passenger vehicle using hydrogen technology is not unique.

Toyota, for example, began working on fuel cell vehicles – where hydrogen from a tank mixes with oxygen to produce electricity – back in 1992. In 2014, the Japanese business launched the Mirai, a hydrogen fuel cell sedan.

Other large companies such as Hyundai and BMW are also considering hydrogen, as well as smaller companies such as the UK-based Riversimple.

While the above companies are looking at the potential of hydrogen, some high-ranking figures in the automotive sector are not so sure. In February 2021, Herbert Diss, CEO of the German Volkswagen Group, weighed in on the topic. “It’s time for politicians to embrace science,” he tweeted.

“Green hydrogen is necessary for steel, chemicals, aviation and should not be found in cars. Too expensive, inefficient, slow and difficult to deploy and transport. After all: no #hydrogen cars are visible. ”

Despite the unveiling of the Scenic Vision concept on Thursday, even Renault CEO Luca de Meo seems cautious when it comes to hydrogen prospects, according to comments released by Autocar.

Elsewhere, in February 2020, the Brussels-based Transport and Environment campaign group highlighted how much competition hydrogen will face in the transport sector.

T&E pointed out that green hydrogen will not only have to “compete with gray and blue hydrogen”, which are produced using fossil fuels. “It will compete with petrol, diesel, fuel oil, kerosene and, of course, electricity,” T&E said.

“Wherever batteries are a practical solution – cars; vans; urban, regional and perhaps long distance trucks; ferries – hydrogen will face a tough fight due to its lower efficiency and, as a result, much higher fuel costs.