Sandy Munro On Which Automakers Are Getting It Right Besides Tesla

In another piece highlighting some comments Sandy Munro made in an extended Q&A session at TeslaCon Florida, this one includes a few videos about the EV transition, big legacy automakers he believes in and ones he doesn’t, and even short commentary on the large potential customer Sandy decided to turn down.

In the first video below, Sandy notes that his initial prediction was that we’d be at 50% EV market share in 2030. He has moved that up to 2028. “I think there will be survivors. I think it’ll be a whole lot smaller,” he said with regards to the auto industry landscape. As far as individual automakers, he believes in Ford, whereas he thinks GM and Volkswagen will be shadows of their former selves. “And they’re going to have to divest a whole lot, in a hurry. I don’t know what those characters are gonna do, but they’re in deep trouble. You saw what happened with Fiat — they’ve fallen off the table; nobody wants them. [Sandy’s referencing my presentation here, which referenced this auto industry sales report.] Stellantis — the new company, which is Fiat and PSA — I believe that they’re gonna need money. They need money, they’re gonna have to sell something off. Something they’re probably going to sell off is Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep. And when they sell that off, I’ll buy stock. I’ll buy enough stock that I will have a word, I will have a word on their board or something. I’d like to see Chrysler survive, and they’ll never survive under Stellantis, never.”

“This is an amazing time,” Sandy adds. “Like I said, big names that used to be in the 1800s, 1890s and whatnot, they vanished completely when 1910 showed up. It’s amazing — we’re in that exact same situation. We’re going to see a lot of giants fall, and a lot of midgets suddenly become 18 feet tall. There’s a lot of big changes that are going to happen.”

Sandy also noted the surprise in how well Hyundai & Kia have done with EVs, referencing them getting to second place among legacy auto groups in BEV sales.

Let’s jump to the second video, which is from a different portion of the Q&A but focuses again on individual automakers. Ryan McCaffrey of the Ride The Lightning podcast asked Sandy for his opinion on which automakers besides Tesla are “getting it right” on the EV transition. Sandy says he’s “not gonna throw too many people under the bus, but….” Watch the clip or jump down below it for some of his commentary in text:

He first mentions Rivian — he bought a Rivian truck and is “very, very happy with it.” He also highlighted Arcimoto and Aptera, which he sees as opening up whole new markets. (Notably, he also works with these companies, but as you’ll see in the next video, he won’t work with companies he doesn’t believe in.) He then talks a bit about the case for Arcimoto and Aptera, but you’ve surely seen those arguments by now.

From the “old guard,” Sandy’s only backing Ford. It’s the only legacy automaker he thinks really gets it and is on the right path. I’ve wondered for a while if I was off my rocker, but I’ve been bullish on Ford and happy with its approach since Ford rolled out the Mustang Mach-E, and even more so later with the F-150 Lightning came out. My favorite piece on that is my interview with Darren Palmer, General Manager of Battery Electric Vehicles at Ford Motor Company, last year. For more on that, including an audio podcast, see: “Talking With Ford’s Head Of Electric Vehicles About Ford F-150 Lightning & Team Edison.”

In the third and final video for this story, Sandy reveals that he has declined to work with some automakers on EVs (which is the only thing he and his company will work on now). The video starts with Ryan McCaffrey asking Sandy whether his new-ish YouTube channel was helping his business, helping to get him more business. After mentioning that he steered away from some companies interested in his services, he decided to go ahead and name one giant automaker he declined to work with. Even with a potential contract of over $1 million, he just decided this auto company wasn’t at an adequate starting place.

I can’t do the commentary justice, especially since some body language and tone might be notable here. Go ahead and click play if you want to find out the automaker’s name. Or perhaps jump down into the comments where people will probably be discussing it. Naturally, Sandy Munro’s opinion is not perfect and final. Many will disagree with his assessment on this automaker. Though, he’s far more informed than most of us and a true expert in automotive topics, so his views on this topic seem worthy of a listen and some serious consideration.

One final installment of this Sandy Munro Q&A series is coming. Stay tuned!

And if you have any questions for Sandy that haven’t been answered, let me know and I’ll pass them on or perhaps bundle them into a package for an exclusive CleanTechnica interview.