Nearly two months after its debut at the Super Bowl, DeLorean Motor is inching closer to revealing itself to the public.
The electric-vehicle maker, which shares the name of the vehicle from the "Back to the Future" film franchise, started getting buzz after a 15-second spot in the Big Game this year.
DeLorean Motor isn't the original company of that name -- the one that was founded by John DeLorean in 1975 and shut down seven years later. But the new company does have the rights to the original DMC name and branding. The new company was incorporated at the end of November.
DeLorean Motor has a lot of work to do if it wants to catch Tesla (TSLA) as well as the legacy automakers and young challengers in the EV space.
DeLorean is going with the "less is more" mode of advertising for its rollout.
On Tuesday, DeLorean released the first sneak peek of its EV.
The company says that the concept car will premiere in full on Aug. 18 at the Awards Ramp at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
DeLorean says that the vehicle will be revealed over the duration of the nine-day Monterey Car Week at Pebble Beach in August "through a series of activations and events" during the auto show.
GM and Honda Want to Sell Low-Cost Electric Cars
At one point during Tuesday's conference call, a reporter asked for a definition of the word "affordable." The question was posed to Ken Morris, executive vice president of electric, autonomous and fuel cell programs at General Motors (GM), and Rick Schostek, executive vice president of corporate operations at American Honda (HMC).
The two executives had announced that their companies would develop a series of affordable electric vehicles based on a new joint platform, allowing the production of millions of cars starting in 2027.
Morris said the vehicles are expected to be priced below $30,000, which would make them cheaper than most electric vehicles on the market.
The average price of a 2022 Chevrolet Bolt starts at $31,995, but the future of this mass-market electric vehicle is somewhat clouded, given the Bolt's low delivery numbers last year. The Ford F Electric Mustang is going for $43,895 and Volkswagen's ID. 4 starts at $41,230.
Several commenters dismissed the automakers' plans for an EV under $30,000.
"GM and Honda will never produce enough EVs in the next 5 years to drive the price below $30K, and if they do, they’ll be losing thousands on each one they sell," one person tweeted.
Tesla is the EV maker that the other automakers are pursuing like greyhounds racing after an electric rabbit.
Consumers Have Good News for EV Makers
Manufacturers of electric vehicles are frustrated. Despite their desire to produce more vehicles, their hands are tied because disruptions to supply chains triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic persist. Those are now exacerbated by the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a major nickel-exporter country. Nickel, palladium, and aluminum are important in the manufacture and assembly of electric vehicles.
These factors thwart the desires of car manufacturers to meet demand. This has raised an unprecedented fact: Now the question is not whether consumers are interested in electric vehicles, but rather whether car manufacturers can meet demand.
Signals from the second-hand market reinforce this new dynamic.
"This has shifted a lot of people who were intrigued by electric or somewhat interested in electric but hadn't made the decision," CoPilot CEO and Founder Pat Ryan told TheStreet. CoPilot tracks prices at car dealerships nationwide.
"They're going to leave this crisis electric buyers will leave this crisis with a much larger market ready to buy EVs," Ryan said.
Interestingly, strong demand is also occurring as manufacturers continue to raise prices to preserve margins in the face of soaring raw material prices. In other words, consumers do not seem to be put off by the high cost of electric vehicles.
Here are more of the top electric vehicle stocks to watch this week:
Tesla
Tesla shares edged lower Tuesday as authorities in Shanghai extended lockdown orders in China's biggest city, potentially extending the closure of the carmaker's workhorse gigafactory. With Covid cases in the city of 26 million surging past 13,000 -- the highest since the pandemic began more than two years ago -- Shanghai officials extended their nine-day lockdown order while ramping up testing and vaccinations, to nearly all parts of the country's financial hub. Tesla, meanwhile, will likely need to prolong the closures of its Shanghai factory, which has been dark since March 28, as restrictions on travel in and out of the city intensified.
Elon Musk has become Twitter's (TWTR) largest shareholder. And he was given a seat on the board of the microblogging website. The Tesla chief executive on Monday made the surprise disclosure of the stake in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. In this document, declaring that the Tesla chief executive held 9.2% of Twitter, one particular detail is noteworthy. Musk acquired his Twitter stake on March 14, according to the disclosure. He said the investment was passive. And he chose a disclosure form that suggests he didn't plan to take control of the company or to influence the people who control it.
TheStreet Quant Ratings rates Tesla as a Hold with a rating score of C+.
General Motors
General Motors is lining up the pieces to counter and attack its rivals in the electric-vehicle market. The Detroit giant recently started production of the long-awaited Lyriq SUV/crossover, the car meant to compete with Tesla's Model Y SUV and Ford's (F) Mustang Mach-E SUV. The Lyriq, Cadillac's first electric vehicle, is ahead of schedule: GM intends to start delivering the first units before midyear. The automaker resumed production of its entry-level EV on April 4.
Production of the Chevy Bolt sedan and Chevy Bolt EUV SUV has been suspended for several months over battery issues. The company had decided to halt production of the two EVs while it replaced defective batteries in cars that already had been sold, according to a recall notice.
In fall 2023, the Bolt will no longer be GM's entry-level EV. That distinction will go to what will be the Chevy Equinox EV. Yet another catalyst for GM: Demand for electric versions of the Hummer is exceeding the automaker's most optimistic projections. In particular, reservations accelerated during March.
TheStreet Quant Ratings rates General Motors as a Buy with a rating score of B.
Rivian
The first quarter was brutal for Rivian (RIVN). The stock took a beating on Wall Street after the company failed to deliver on its vehicle delivery promises. His difficulties in managing production ramp-ups due to part shortages at its suppliers have made things worse and cast doubt on its future.
A PR problem was born of its decision to increase the prices of its R1T pickups and R1S SUVs without warning and then to cancel this decision in front of the anger of its customers. The episode left traces both for its image and for its finances.
The young electric vehicle manufacturer hopes that the rest of 2022 will be less abrupt. Rivian, which counts Amazon (AMZN), Ford, and billionaire George Soros as shareholders, is on Time's list of the 100 most influential companies. The company has just launched a plea to convince investors to arm themselves with patience because Rivian is a "growth company." Rivian was founded in 2009 and went public in 2021.
TheStreet Quant Ratings does not have a rating for Rivian.
VinFast
Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast has decided to challenge Tesla, Ford, GM, and Lucid Group (LCID) on American soil. VinFast will build a factory in North Carolina this year. This production site will be located in Chatham County’s Triangle Innovation Point mega-site, covering an area of 800-hectares, with 3 main areas: electric cars and buses production and assembly, EV batteries production, and ancillary industries for suppliers, the company said in a press release.
Construction of the site will start after obtaining the necessary permit, says VinFast, which hopes to start producing cars there in July 2024. The initial capacity is expected to be 150,000 vehicles per year. The group will initially invest $2 billion to sell cars to Americans.
TheStreet Quant Ratings does not have a rating for VinFast.
Faraday Future Intelligent Electric
Faraday Future Intelligent Electric (FFIE) was long seen as the electric vehicle maker that would challenge Tesla's dominance. The company has even embraced the title of Tesla's No. 1 competitor. It is clear that the two groups no longer seem to play in the same courtyard. Tesla is now more concerned with exceeding one million vehicles produced per year. And to drive the point home, Tesla's market capitalization exceeds $1.12 trillion while that of Faraday is barely at $1.60 billion, at last check.
The gap between the two companies has continued to grow against Faraday. It could widen further as Faraday faces a wall of investigations. The firm announced this past week that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened an investigation into Faraday's statements about pre-orders of its only electric vehicle in the period leading to its public offering. Faraday came public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or a SPAC, named Property Solutions Acquisition Corp. that provided the embattled automaker with $1 billion.
TheStreet Quant Ratings does not have a rating for Faraday Future Intelligent Electric.
Toyota Motor
Japanese vehicle manufacturer Toyota Motor (TM) seems to be off the radar. This position seems to suit the company. It's as if the manufacturer of Corolla and Camry sedans likes the spotlight to be shone on its main rivals and meanwhile the group focuses on its activities. Since the beginning of the year, attention has been on Tesla, Ford, GM, Volkswagen (VWAGY), and new players such as Rivian, Lucid, and Nikola (NKLA). Their announcements in electric vehicles punctuate the daily life of the automotive industry. We almost forgot that in 2021, Toyota ended its domination of the American automobile market by GM.
Toyota Motor sold 2.3 million vehicles in the United States in 2021, up 10.4% from 2020, compared with 2.2 million for GM, down 13%. Critics of the Japanese automaker and supporters of the Detroit group had pointed out that it was only temporary. However, three months later, Toyota has just repeated the feat. The automaker sold 514,592 vehicles in the first quarter of 2022 on American soil. This number is however down 14.7% compared to the same period in 2021 but it is good enough to keep GM at bay. GM only sold 512,846 cars, down 20 percent, in the U.S. during the first three months of the year, according to a press release.
TheStreet Quant Ratings rates Toyota Motor as a Buy with a rating score of A-.
Ford
Ford is transitioning to electrification like other legacy vehicle makers. To gain market share quickly in this competitive sector, the group led by CEO Jim Farley is developing electric versions of its legendary models and also electric versions of its bestsellers. This is the case of the F-150 pickup, one of the best-selling vehicles in North America since its launch. Its electric version, the F-150 Lightning is eagerly awaited in the coming months.
Ford has recently confirmed that the first deliveries scheduled from spring are on schedule. Basically, there will be no delays as consumers who have placed an order might have feared due to the continued disruption of supply chains, shortage of chips, and soaring prices of raw materials.
TheStreet Quant Ratings rates Ford as a Buy with a rating score of B.
