Growdy's Newsletter 2024-02-25

Unpopular Opinion: Phone Companies Want To Be Car Companies

(And Car Companies Need To Start Making Phones)

It might sound absurd initially, but 2024 is likely the year we notice that phone companies want to be car companies (and vice versa).

Last year, Chinese handset maker Xiaomi (the world's third-largest seller of smartphones) announced that it planned to build a car and start selling it in 2024. theverge.com

Nio, the Chinese car company, started manufacturing a handset. reuters.com

Samsung, the second-largest manufacturer of smartphones, is deeply invested in EV battery technology. They are working to provide batteries to GM, Stellantis and Hyundai. cnbc.com, reuters.com, reuters.com

As vehicles become “smartphones on wheels,” Samsung’s capabilities expand deeper into automotive manufacturing. samsung.com

Foxconn, the largest company you’ve never heard of, happens to “make roughly two out of every three iPhones, along with devices including the Google Pixel and Sony PlayStations.” Through some odd legal back and forth, Foxconn acquired an old GM plant through its dealings with failed Lordstown Motors. They had already introduced their unbranded EV platform years ago, but now they have a factory in the US to build them. techcrunch.com, bloomberg.com, electrive.com

Sony (who also makes phones) and Honda are working together to build three new electric vehicles by 2028. driving.ca

That’s good timing since that’s when we might see Apple’s car hit the road. bloomberg.com

A turf war is brewing between Google Automotive Services (GAS) and Apple Car Play. Both companies want to own the cockpit. GM noticed and decided it wanted to stand on its own two feet. wsj.com, motortrend.com, autoevolution.com

The 2000s saw the battle for the living room. Sony Playstation, Microsoft Xbox, and Nintendo fought valiantly only to lose to Apple (who won by introducing a new screen or two into our lives).

The last decade saw the battle for our pocket. Between Nokia, Motorola, Sony, Blackberry, Samsung, Xiaomi, and others, some brands have outright lost, and all others are currently losing to Apple.

You might wonder where Tesla is in this conversation. Rumours were that Tesla was working on a satellite smartphone in partnership with SpaceX. And that would have been awesome. But it turns out that SpaceX has opted instead to provide data services to T-Mobile for satellite-to-ground messaging (at least for the interim). And Elon thinks smartphones are an outdated technology that will ultimately be replaced by chips in our heads. cnet.com, twitter.com, medium.com, forbes.com

Wait, hold the phone! Having been left on the curb for the entire mobile era, Microsoft might be working on its own car. And no one cares. autoevolution.com

But back to Apple.

Apple’s $2.8 Trillion market cap is larger than ALL of the top 20 OEMs' market caps combined. They could swallow a couple of these companies with their cash on hand. cnbc.com, companiesmarketcap.com

What happens when Apple starts selling cars?

Are incumbent OEMs and existing dealer networks ready to compete with one of the best, well-funded retailers in the world?

How this might play out: a recent McKinsey study highlighted that brand loyalty evaporates when better options for connected car services are available. And you have to imagine that Apple’s connected services are going to be fucking fantastic. autonews.com

Brand consideration for the Apple car was already clocked higher than any other OEM (and the vehicle doesn’t even exist). bloomberg.com

Everyone has been overly concerned that digital retailing software, selling cars online, is a disruptive force in the automotive industry when it turns out to be the software in the vehicle that will upend it.

Beast Mode

You might not know him, but your kids do.

The 25-year-old MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) is arguably the most watched human on earth. The epically successful YouTube phenom has over 240 Million subscribers (and millions more when you add in his other YouTube channels and his TikTok following). youtube.com

Jimmy doesn’t think of himself as rich (even though he cleared over $700 Million last year). Also, his mom helps manage his finances (Mrs Donaldson for the win!) businessinsider.com

He is obsessively dedicated to his YouTube production business (which employs over 300 people) and his chocolate empire (yes, chocolate). He sleeps in his studio. He invests most of his earnings back into his businesses. And he vehemently believes his focus ensures he can not be outmatched at what he does. youtube.com, feastables.com

This 2022 video is a spectacular overview of the size and scale of MrBeast’s production capabilities at that time. youtube.com

MrBeast will be featured on the February 26th cover of Time Magazine. time.com

P.S. When I worked at Google and told you how fucking big YouTube was, I wasn’t making that shit up.

US Plans To ‘Pump The Breaks’ on EV Targets

Although this hasn’t happened yet, the New York Times, Reuters, The Verge and every auto-related news outlet reported that Biden’s camp is expected to “lessen” the 2030 EV targets. nytimes.com, reuters.com, theverge.com

On the North American front, when you play around with S&P Global’s EV demand tracker, you can see that Canada and Mexico are in the green, while the US is slightly down YoY in January. spglobal.com

Subaru Worker Crushed, Killed. Production Halted

A factory worker at Subaru’s Yajima assembly plant north of Tokyo was killed after a 25-ton mold fell and crushed him. Production across three factories in Japan was suspended. “The production includes factories that manufacture the Forester, Crosstrek, Impreza BRZ, and WRX for export to the U.S. and Canada.” torquenews.com

“Japan’s Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday that Subaru informed suppliers the suspension would be extended through Feb. 22 and that only a partial startup would happen from Feb. 23. A full ramp-up would happen from Feb. 26, Nikkei said.” autonews.com

China’s Automotive Expansion

From the school of things you didn’t know you wanted your new electric vehicle to do, the Nio ET9 EV can shake off snow like your dog does when it comes in from the rain. electrek.co

NPR did a good piece on the progress of Chinese brands in Europe. npr.org

Stellantis looks to bring Chinese partner Leapmotor production to Italy. autonews.com

Stellantis CEO says, “fuck it, we’ll take on China” (maybe I’m paraphrasing there.) autonews.com

Xpeng plans to invest millions and hire thousands of engineers to build more advanced AI capabilities “as it seeks to survive what it describes as a "bloody sea" of competition in the world's largest auto market.” reuters.com

BYD launched an updated PHEV model and dropped the price to under $12K USD (whoa, that’s cheap). reuters.com

Must Know Musk News

SpaceX launches Intuitive Machines built Odysseus lunar lander. It landed, then tipped over, but is still operational. This is the first time in 50 years that a US-built craft has landed on the moon. It is also the first time that two private companies accomplished this feat cbc.ca, reuters.com

In “Pie-gate” 2024, Tesla ordered thousands of mini pies from a black-owned bakery during Black History Month. Then, they cancelled the order. Bakery issues plea on Facebook. Elon agrees to make things right in an “X” post. theverge.com, facebook.com, twitter.com

Elon may have partially conceded that “X” should just be Twitter again (but still called “X”). fastcompany.com

Energy storage could become a more significant business for Tesla than cars. thecooldown.com

Elon was offered OpenAI shares but turned them down for “ethical” reasons. businessinsider.com

Neuralink's first implant patient can now move a mouse (the device, not the animal) with their mind. reuters.com

Cybertrucks are not rusting. autonews.com

Tesla isn’t welcome in Oklahoma. electrek.co

And Germans near Gigafactory Berlin voted against factory expansion. electrek.co

Energy

In 2023, 444 GW of new solar capacity was dropped into the world. BloombergNEF projects it could reach 574 GW this year, 627 GW in 2025, and 880 GW in 2030. pv-magazine.com

Ute Nation plans a huge $1.5 billion, 975 MW solar project that will cover 5,500 acres and require two million panels. cleantechnica.com

The US military is “all in” on green energy. cleantechnica.com, gsa.gov

Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline will go online in Q2 of 2024. “Still, oil sands production is rising so rapidly that some market players think Canada could again run out of pipeline space in less than two years, said RBN Energy analyst Martin King.” theglobeandmail.com

ICYMI

A security researcher found a breach on one of BMW’s cloud instances. “BMW’s development environment was ‘accidentally configured to be public instead of private due to misconfiguration.’” techcrunch.com

But Wait, There’s More

“Air Drake” makes a rare landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport (flies typically in and out of Hamilton Airport). insauga.com

Rivian lays off 10% of salaried staff. businessinsider.com

BMW gets excited about humanoid robots. reuters.com

GM will resume assembly of BrightDrop EV vans in April. autonews.com

Ford hit the pause button of F-150 Lightning deliveries. reuters.com

Marques Brownlee eviscerates the Fisker Ocean in a recent review video. teslarati.com, youtube.com

Sam Altman wants $7 trillion (that’s a lot of loonies) to produce next-generation AI chips to ensure he can keep evolving and improving ChatGPT and other OpenAI services. wsj.com, theguardian.com

OpenAI also announced Sora, a new “text to video” service they are still testing but hope to make available publicly once the bugs are shaken out. businessinsider.com, openai.com

Y Combinator wants startups to try to put an end to cancer. They outlined their updated “Requests For Startups” and are particularly interested in ways to scale up early cancer detection. techcrunch.com, ycombinator.com

Sexy new electric snowmobile looks like it was made for Buck Rogers. thenextweb.com

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