Raphael Stevens

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    Porsche Taycan, the company's first fully electric model, outsells flagship 911 sports car

    Porsche reported deliveries for the first three quarters of 2021 on Friday.
    The sports car maker’s fully electric Taycan outsold its flagship 911 gas-burning sports car in the first nine months of the year.
    According to AlixPartners research, electric vehicles now comprise about 2% of all vehicle sales worldwide. That share is expected to rise to about 24% of worldwide vehicle sales by 2030.

    The all-electric Porsche Taycan Turbo.
    Source: Porsche AG

    In a sign that drivers are increasingly embracing battery electric models, sales of the Porsche Taycan surpassed those of the company’s influential, high performance 911 series, according to numbers the company released Friday.
    The Taycan is Porsche’s first battery electric vehicle, and was introduced in the fall of 2019. The company launched its 911 high-performance sports car in 1964.

    According to AlixPartners research, electric vehicles represent about 2% of all vehicle sales worldwide today, and the firm predicts that share will rise to about 24% by 2030. Governments around the world are offering incentives for automakers to transition to all electric and hybrid electric vehicles.
    According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, as of September this year, 16 national and sub-national governments had set targets to fully end the new sale or registration of internal combustion engine cars in the 2025 to 2040 time frame. That includes ten European countries, along with Canada, Costa Rica, Cape Verde, Singapore, and the states of California and New York.
    Deliveries of the Taycan hit 28,640, and deliveries of the 911 sports car hit 27,972 during the same period.
    The Taycan, a four-door, dual motor sports car, was seen as a high-priced competitor to Tesla’s newer Model S sedans at the time of its debut.

    While Tesla does not break out deliveries by model, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker reported deliveries of approximately 13,180 Model S sedans and Model X sport utility vehicles in the first three quarters of 2021.

    In July, Porsche issued a recall impacting about 43,000 Taycan vehicles after discovering a software problem that caused some Taycan engines to suddenly shut down. The company pushed a software update to fix the issue but owners had to take their cars to dealerships to get the fix rather than receiving an over-the-air software update.
    Porsche executive Klaus Rechberger said no accidents were known to have occurred as a result of the issue.
    In its statement on Friday, Porsche (which is part of the Volkswagen Group) also revealed its Cayenne series of mid-size, luxury crossover sport utility vehicles remained best-sellers for the company.
    Cayenne deliveries hit 62,451 in the first three quarters of 2021, followed by the Macan which hit deliveries of 61,944 vehicles. Besides the fully electric Taycan, Porsche sells a number of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, but the company did not break out sales numbers for each model.
    The entire auto industry has been impacted by semiconductor chip shortages and the ongoing pandemic this year.
    In Porsche’s Friday statement to shareholders, Detlev von Platen, Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing at Porsche AG was quoted as saying:
    “The order books are nicely filled and are, in turn, filling us with optimism and enthusiasm as we approach the year-end rush. However, the coronavirus situation remains dynamic and we are facing challenges in sourcing semiconductors. For these reasons, we are keeping a very close eye on current developments to ensure that we can continue to react in a flexible manner.”

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    Carl Icahn says the market over the long run will certainly 'hit the wall' because of money printing

    Carl Icahn said Monday that U.S. markets could see major challenges over the long term in the face of excessive money supply and rising inflation.
    “In the long run we are certainly going to hit the wall,” Icahn said. “I really think there will be a crisis the way we are going, the way we are printing money, the way we are going into inflation.”
    The Federal Reserve and Congress have unleased trillions of dollars in stimulus to rescue the economy from the Covid-19 pandemic.
    Icahn was adamant about not making a market timing call, but he believes one day over the long term the markets will pay the price for these policies.

    Longtime activist investor Carl Icahn said Monday that the U.S. markets could see major challenges over the long term in the face of excessive money supply and rising inflation.
    “In the long run we are certainly going to hit the wall,” Icahn said Monday on CNBC’s “Fast Money Halftime Report.” “I really think there will be a crisis the way we are going, the way we are printing money, the way we are going into inflation. If you look around you, you see inflation all around you and I don’t know how you deal with that in the long term.”

    The Federal Reserve and Congress have unleased trillions of dollars in stimulus to rescue the economy from the Covid-19 pandemic. The central bank’s balance sheet swelled by more than $3 trillion amid its open-ended quantitative easing program, while the government has allocated over $5 trillion in stimulus to support Americans through the health crisis.
    Icahn was adamant about not making a market timing call, but he believes one day over the long term the markets will pay the price for these policies.
    On the back of these unprecedented stimulus programs, the S&P 500 has rapidly wiped out the pandemic-induced losses and rebounded to a new high. The equity benchmark is up more than 19% in 2021, sitting just 1.4% below its all-time high reached early September.
    The massive money supply has partly contributed to rising price pressures in the economy. Inflation ran at a fresh 30-year high in August amid supply chain disruptions and extraordinarily strong demand.
    The core personal consumption expenditures price index, which excludes food and energy costs and is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, increased 0.3% for the month and was up 3.6% from a year ago.

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    CEO of maker of U.S.-manufactured toys sees higher inflation persisting into late 2022

    American Plastic Toys CEO John Gessert predicted Monday that higher prices this year may still be around into late 2022.
    Gessert said he does not think inflation will prove to be transitory, as Fed chief Jerome Powell has said.
    “I can’t imagine going back to the people that have stuck with us and saying, ‘OK, we’re going to take $1 out of your hourly wage,'” he said.

    American Plastic Toys CEO John Gessert predicted Monday that this year’s higher prices — which have increased in the high single-digit to low double-digit percentages — may still be around into late 2022.
    Gessert told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he does not think inflation will prove to be transitory, as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has predicted. While acknowledging price pressures and wage inflation have been more persistent than he previously thought, Powell said he generally believes they will abate eventually as the initial boost of Covid-dampened business activity normalizes and supply chain bottlenecks ease.

    “It’s not going to be transitory because … I can’t imagine going back to the people that have stuck with us and saying, ‘OK, we’re going to take $1 out of your hourly wage.’ I just don’t see wage inflation retreating anytime soon,” Gessert said.
    While the company isn’t too affected by current supply chain snags, Gessert said, the worker shortage is so bad that the company has had to turn down orders because there weren’t enough employees to fulfill them.
    “I couldn’t in good conscience accept additional orders when I had to really work and do everything I could possibly to satisfy the orders that we’d already booked … six months ago in some cases,” he said.
    Demand for toys has gone up as parents looked to ensure their children had entertainment at home during coronavirus lockdowns.
    Orders are piling up on trucks with no one to transport them, according to Gessert. “We have some loads that have been actually on the truck for almost a week waiting for logistic companies, transportation companies to turn those loads,” he said, adding the worker shortage is the worst the company has seen in more than 30 years.

    The price hikes have put a strain on profit, according to Gessert.
    “That’s a little bit of a puzzle when you have to go back to retailers and offer them an item that used to retail for $20 or $25 and it’s now retailing for $30 or $35, maybe even $40, depending on their margin requirements,” said Gessert.
    American Plastic Toys products are sold on Amazon as well as in Big Lots, Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores, Five Below, Walgreens and Walmart. The company has five factories in Michigan and Mississippi.

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    Walmart+ members get first dibs on Black Friday deals, which will start in early November

    Walmart+ members will get early access to Black Friday deals this holiday season.
    Walmart is betting it can use that perk to boost its membership — particularly at a time when many holiday shoppers are already worried about out-of-stocks.
    Best Buy is dangling a similar holiday sales perk for consumers to sign up for its subscription service, Totaltech.

    A Walmart worker organizes products for Christmas season at a Walmart store in Teterboro, New Jersey.
    Eduardo Munoz | Reuters

    Walmart will not only dangle discounts on giant TVs, air fryers and Legos this holiday season. It will also push its subscription service, Walmart+.
    The retail giant said Monday that the program’s members will be first in line for Black Friday deals this holiday season. Those customers can start shopping online sales four hours earlier than other shoppers throughout the month of November.

    By granting that special access, Walmart is betting it can boost its membership — particularly at a time when many holiday shoppers are already worried about out-of-stocks caused by global supply chain challenges.
    One-third of consumers are concerned about stock availability and not being able to buy what they want or need during the holiday season, according to Accenture’s holiday shopping survey of approximately 1,500 U.S. consumers in August. The same percentage said they plan to do holiday shopping earlier this year.
    A sizeable number — 36% — said they already have noticed empty shelves when shopping in stores and 26% said they have noticed more out-of-stocks when shopping online, according to the survey.
    Best Buy is using a similar strategy this holiday. It’s nudging people to sign up for its subscription service, Totaltech, by saying members will get access to hard-to-find items this holiday.
    Walmart sees Walmart+ as a way to drive loyalty and win more of customers’ wallets, much like Amazon has done with Prime. It launched Walmart+ about a year ago, shortly before the last holiday season. The membership program costs $98 a year or $12.95 on a month-to-month basis. It includes benefits, such as fuel discounts, access to an app that allows customers to skip the checkout line and free unlimited grocery deliveries to the home for orders of $35 or more.

    The big-box retailer won’t say how many people have signed up. Deutsche Bank estimated last month that Walmart+ membership has grown to 32 million U.S. households, based on its monthly surveys of consumers. In a research note, it said those surveys also indicate that the pace of membership gains seems to be picking up.
    Along with the Walmart+ perk, Walmart said it will stretch out its Black Friday deals throughout November — like it did last holiday season. The event, called Black Friday Deals for Days, will be broken into three sales events that feature different items, from toys to electronics. The offers will start online and continue in stores. The first deals day is Nov. 3 on Walmart’s website and Nov. 5 in stores.
    Amazon, Target and Best Buy have announced plans to start holiday deals even earlier. Amazon began its first holiday sales event, Holiday Beauty Haul, on Oct. 4. Target kicked off its holiday push online and in stores with “Deals Days” Oct. 10 to 12. And Best Buy will start its Black Friday deals on Tuesday.

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    Fintech firm N26 is now worth more than Germany’s second-largest bank

    Berlin-based fintech firm N26 has raised $900 million in a new funding round led by Third Point and Coatue.
    The round values the eight-year-old start-up at $9 billion, higher than the market cap of Germany’s second-biggest listed bank.
    N26 expects it will be ready to go public within the next 12 to 18 months, co-CEO Maximilian Tayenthal said.

    N26’s logo seen displayed on a smartphone.
    Rafael Henrique | SOPA Images | LightRocket via Getty Images

    LONDON — German digital bank N26 said on Tuesday it has raised $900 million in a new funding round that values the firm at $9 billion.
    That’s nearly three times N26’s valuation in its last private fundraising round and means it’s now worth slightly more than Commerzbank, Germany’s second-largest listed lender. Frankfurt-listed Commerzbank has a market cap of 7.6 billion euros ($8.8 billion).

    N26, which counts billionaires Peter Thiel and Li Ka-Shing as investors, raised the fresh cash from Third Point, the hedge fund led by U.S. billionaire investor Dan Loeb, and Coatue, while Dragoneer also invested.
    Founded in 2013, N26 is one of several start-ups in Europe seeking to challenge established banks with app-based checking accounts and little to no fees. Competitors include Revolut, which was recently valued at $33 billion, and Monzo.
    Maximilian Tayenthal, N26’s founder and co-CEO, said the company plans to spend the extra cash on hiring 1,000 people globally and on launching new features like cryptocurrency trading.
    “We want to bring in more people with a focus on product, technology and security,” Tayenthal told CNBC in an interview.

    IPO ambitions

    N26 now has 7 million customers across Europe and the U.S. and is on track to process $90 billion in transactions this year. The company recently acquired a banking license in Brazil, with a team of 40 employees already on the ground in São Paulo. N26 expects to roll out its app publicly in the country within the next year, Tayenthal said.

    N26 now has enough “financial leeway” to prepare for an initial public offering, Tayenthal said, adding that he expects the firm to be “structurally IPO-ready” within the next 12 to 18 months.
    “We have no hurry to go public,” Tayenthal said. “With increasing profitability, the kind of money we are raising right now, it really takes away any time pressure.”
    With plenty of money available in private equity markets, many tech companies are opting to stay private for longer. Stripe, for example, raised funds at a $95 billion valuation earlier this year, making it one of the most valuable start-ups in the U.S.
    Several European fintechs have managed to reach multibillion-dollar valuations amid surging investment activity. Revolut was recently valued at $33 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank, for example.
    However, some investors have expressed concern about their ability to make a profit.
    N26 is still loss-making, racking up losses of 216.9 million euros in 2019. Its European business lost 110 million euros in 2020, down from 165 million a year earlier. Tayenthal said N26 isn’t under pressure from investors to make a profit anytime soon.

    Growing pains

    Like other fintech companies, N26 has dealt with growing pains lately. The firm faced outcry from staff at its Berlin office last year, who at the time said that trust in management was at an “all-time low.”
    Meanwhile, N26 was fined $5 million by BaFin, Germany’s financial services regulator, for being late to submit suspicious activity reports that are used by authorities to investigate money laundering.
    On Tuesday, the bank said it had reached an agreement with BaFin to limit how many customers it onboards each month to a maximum of 50,000 to 70,000. The watchdog is expected to publish the decision in an upcoming order, N26 said.
    Tayenthal warned the move is likely to slow N26’s growth significantly in the short term.
    “For a couple of months, it will be material to the business,” he said.
    As for work culture, Tayenthal says the firm has worked to improve employee representation at the company over the past year. The company has also begun to foster a shift toward flexible work during the Covid-19 pandemic, he added.
    “We were actually very strong believers in having everyone in the office as much as possible. We are moving away from that,” Tayenthal said.
    “There [are] obviously certain roles where you need to be in the office more regularly. And we also believe in bringing people together occasionally, but we are going to move to a more flexible model.”
    N26 isn’t the only fintech embracing remote work. Revolut has said it will allow employees to work overseas for up to 60 days a year. Such moves are in contrast with major Wall Street banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, which are encouraging workers to return to the office. Some big European lenders are taking a more flexible approach.
    N26 said it would expand its staff equity ownership scheme to cover all employees. Germany last year unveiled plans to reform its rules on employee stock options, a typical perk at many tech start-ups.

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    Ford to spend $315 million converting British factory into electric vehicle plant

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    The vehicle transmission facility will be turned into an electric power unit production plant, the U.S. motor giant said.
    Ford wants to start making the units at the site in northwest England in mid-2024.
    The investment is subject to and includes U.K. government support.

    A general view of the Halewood Ford transmission assembly plant after Ford announced a 230 GBP investment on October 18, 2021 in Halewood, England.
    Christopher Furlong | Getty Images

    LONDON – Ford announced Monday that it intends to spend £230 million ($315 million) transforming a factory in northwest England into a site that will make components for electric vehicles.
    The vehicle transmission facility in Halewood, Merseyside, will be turned into an electric power unit production plant, the U.S. motor giant said.

    Ford stressed that the investment is subject to and includes U.K. government support, which reportedly amounts to £30 million.
    “This is an important step, marking Ford’s first in-house investment in all-electric vehicle component manufacturing in Europe,” said Stuart Rowley, president of Ford Europe, in a statement.
    “It strengthens further our ability to deliver 100% of Ford passenger vehicles in Europe being all-electric and two-thirds of our commercial vehicle sales being all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030,” he added.
    Ford said it will start making the electric power units at Halewood in mid-2024, adding that it plans to produce around 250,000 of them at the site each year.
    Last year, the U.K. government created a £500 million pot to try to persuade electric vehicle manufacturers and battery makers to expand their operations in the U.K. It wants sales of new petrol and diesel cars to end in the U.K. by 2030.

    Elsewhere this year, Nissan and Stellantis, the world’s fourth-biggest car maker, have also announced electric vehicle investments at their U.K. plants. BMW already makes the electric Mini at a site in Oxford.
    U.K. Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said in a statement: “Ford’s decision to build its first electric vehicle components in Europe at its Halewood site is further proof that the UK remains one of the best locations in the world for high-quality automotive manufacturing.”
    Ford said 500 jobs at the factory will be safeguarded as a result of the investment. More

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    Covid-related scams have bilked Americans out of $586 million

    Scams linked to the Covid-19 pandemic have cost Americans $586 million since the beginning of 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
    The typical victim lost $392, as measured by the median fraud loss. Online shopping scams were the most prolific type of fraud.
    Pandemic scams are on the decline. The number of daily consumer fraud reports is at its lowest level since mid-March 2020.

    boonchai wedmakawand | Moment | Getty Images

    Consumers have lost $586 million to fraud linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data from the Federal Trade Commission.
    Americans filed more than 269,000 fraud complaints from the beginning of 2020 to Oct. 14, 2021, according to most recent federal data. (Consumers cited Covid, stimulus or related terms in the complaints.)

    The typical victim (as measured by the median) lost $392, in a range of schemes targeting online shoppers, travelers and others. The losses skew higher for older Americans: Seniors over age 80 lost $1,000 each.
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    However, pandemic-related scams appear to be declining, officials report.
    There were 273 consumer complaints filed Thursday (as measured by the rolling 14-day average), according to FTC data. That’s the lowest level since March 16, 2020.
    It’s also about eight times less than the 2,100-daily-complaint peak in early April this year, around the time Covid vaccinations were beginning to be deployed more broadly and the federal government was issuing $1,400 stimulus checks authorized by the American Rescue Plan.

    Online shopping accounted for the largest number of reported scams to the FTC, at about 57,600 complaints.

    Americans increased their online shopping activity during the pandemic, since they were spending more time indoors.
    But many were victims of “opportunistic websites” claiming to sell popular, in-demand items — anything from hand sanitizer and gloves to electronics, clothing and even puppies, according to the FTC. Customers ordered the items but then never received them.
    Price-gouging was also prevalent. It was the most commonly reported pandemic-related issue in 2020, according to state and local consumer agencies polled by the Consumer Federation of America. Consumers complained of being charged exorbitant prices for sought-after products such as hand sanitizer, toilet paper and masks.

    State and local agencies also received Covid-associated complaints in a wide range of other categories, such as evictions, canceled events and travel, schools and child care, the report said.
    Victims lost the largest amount of total money ($81 million) to vacation and travel scams, according to FTC data. Most fraud relates to refunds and cancellations, the agency said.
    The true scope of consumer complaints and losses is likely much higher than official statistics indicate, since the data is self-reported by consumers.

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    Toy retailer Camp takes over former Toys R Us store as it puts experiences to the test this holiday season

    The upcoming holiday season will put New York City-based Camp’s business — part experience, part retailer — to the test.
    On Tuesday, Camp is opening a store in the former Toys R Us shop at the Garden State Plaza mall, in New Jersey.
    Camp is betting that experience-based retail will come back stronger than ever, particularly among families with young kids.

    Children inside the Camp retail location in New York, June 4, 2019.
    Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    A year after Toys R Us liquidated, the brand’s new owners vowed to make its stores more of an experience for kids: A place where children could test out toys at their own liberty and play games with friends.
    That experiment was tried, and failed, at the Garden State Plaza mall in New Jersey. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, few consumers were venturing outside of their homes to head to the mall — let alone to mingle in a crowded environment with children. The last-standing Toys R Us locations operated by Tru Kids shuttered earlier this year.

    But as anxieties around the coronavirus ease, one company is betting that experience-based retail will come back stronger than ever, particularly among families with young kids. New York City-based Camp hopes that its approach is better than that of Toys R Us, too. And the upcoming holiday season will put Camp’s business — part experience, part toy retailer — to the test.
    On Tuesday, Camp is opening a store in the former Toys R Us shop at Garden State Plaza mall, which is operated by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. It will mark Camp’s seventh location, joining ones in Manhattan, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Norwalk, Connecticut. Three more expect to open before the end of the year, and by the end of next year, it expects to double its store count.
    “When Toys R Us operated, the toy industry was, for the most part, Toys R Us, Walmart, Target and Amazon,” Camp CEO and founder Ben Kaufman said. He’s also the former chief marketing officer at BuzzFeed. “Right now, the toy industry is even more consolidated. Walmart, Target and Amazon are driving the majority of share.”
    “We aren’t big needle movers for toy vendors in terms of volumes, just yet, because we don’t have enough locations,” Kaufman went on. “But we are needle movers in terms of taste-making and basically putting a stamp of ‘this thing is cool.'”
    A trip to one of Camp’s stores is a unique experience in and of itself. The front of the shop looks like a traditional toy purveyor: Shelves of puzzles, Lego sets and L.O.L Surprise dolls, coupled with sweet treats. But behind another door, kids can roam around a sprawling playroom that features rotating and themed experiences, including a lava interaction and another sponsored by “Paw Patrol.”

    A child draws with markers on a pad at the Camp retail location in New York, June 4, 2019.
    Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    According to Kauffman, Camp derives its revenue from three different streams: brand sponsorships, ticket sales for rotating experiences and merchandise transactions. Since the company isn’t soley reliant on thin margin toy sales, Camp’s stores are more likely to be profitable, he said.
    “We have a high-margin line of business in ticketing, as well as a high-margin line in sponsorship,” Kauffman said.
    Camp also collaborates with toy manufacturers and brands to market-test products. It recently teamed with Moose Toys to help it launch Magic Mixies. The toy — which prompts kids to mix a variety of ingredients that bubble and mist, and then wave a magic wand to reveal an interactive creature — has landed on several lists of must-have holiday toys. Kauffman said Camp’s stock sold out within 48 hours.
    “That just shows you how we can be a traditional retailer, and buy and sell, but we can also act as a media and marketing platform for brands,” Kauffman said.
    But the past few months haven’t been all that easy for Camp. When the pandemic struck and the business was forced to shut its stores temporarily, Camp still didn’t have a presence on the internet.
    It was able to get a website up and running before the 2020 holidays, and debuted a unique gift exchange service for kids, called Camp White Elephant. Kauffman said around 25,000 families were using it last Christmas Eve.
    Moving forward, Camp said it’s focused on building out its website to be accessible for younger users — not just their parents. It offers a new feature called the Present Shop, where children can enter information such as a budget and who they are shopping for, and Camp will suggest gifts and help them make a purchase. Adults can pay for the items by giving their kids a special code.
    “It recreates the feeling we had as kids walking through a mall with a $20 bill, trying to decide what we want to get for ourselves, or our dad, mom or sister,” Kauffman said.
    And while Camp will be competing with Amazon, Walmart and Target for toy sales during the holidays, the company hopes to win some of the dollars that consumers plan to spend on experiences — not just gifts.
    This holiday season, 43% of U.S. consumers say they’re planning to redirect their spending away from physical goods and into experiences and services, an Accenture survey found. That percentage was 50% for Gen Z and 53% for younger millennials. Accenture’s survey was conducted in August and counted 1,515 online participants. 
    “This is going to be a very human holiday,” said Jill Standish, senior managing director at Accenture and head of the firm’s retail group. “So a prioritization around experiences and very personal things is what we’re going to see.”

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