HIGHWAY INTELLIGENCE - THE EURO VI CHANGEOVER January, 2014 Executive Summary Heavy (>16 tons) truck registrations in Europe (EU + EFTA) 2013 were reported close to 239,000 units. As a result of the Euro VI deadline on December 31, we had forecast a full-year market just above 225,000 units but the actual level surprised us. Based on research of historical episodes, we had expected more restraint in production from the OEMs, but the December month was the strongest on record, and will probably rank among the top 5 months of all time. The pre-buying in 2013 will have a significant negative impact on 2014 demand; registrations could definitely fall by as much as 80% in January vs. December, but this effect should be brief and not upset the supply-demand balance in the road freight market. et. Die Umstellung auf Euro VI Die Zahl der europäischen (EU + EFTA) Neuzulassungen von Lkw über 16 t hat 2013 annähernd 239.000 Einheiten erreicht. Wegen der Euro-VI-Frist zum 31.12.2013 hatten wir bereits 225.000 Neuzulassungen prognostiziert, aber die tatsächliche Zahl hat unsere Erwartungen übertroffen. Basierend auf unserer Analyse der relevanten Erfahrungen der Vergangenheit hatten wir mehr Zurückhaltung der OEMs bei der Produktion erwartet, aber Dezember 2013 war ein Rekord-Dezember, der höchstwahrscheinlich zu den fünf stärksten Monaten der Geschichte gehören wird. Die vorgezogenen Käufe von Lkw über 16 t werden die Nachfrage 2014 maßgeblich negativ beeinflussen und die Neuzulassungen im Januar 2014 könnten durchaus um maximal 80% im Vergleich zum Vormonat fallen. Die Auswirkungen sollten aber zeitlich begrenzt bleiben und das Verhältnis zwischen Angebot und Nachfrage im Transportmarkt nicht wesentlich ändern. This Dieser Bericht ist eine gekürzte und aktualisierte Version des Berichts von Rementum Research & Management vom November 2013. Wenn Sie sich für eine vollständige Version dieses Berichts oder für andere Nfz-Forschungsergebnisse von Rementum interessieren, gehen Sie bitte zu www.rementum.de oder kontaktieren Sie uns unter den folgenden Angaben telefonisch oder per Email: Für den Inhalt: Ansprechpartner für unsere deutschen Kunden: Carl Holmquist [email protected] Tel: +46 40 20 53 80 Carlsgatan 12A SE-211 20 Malmö SCHWEDEN Douglas Floyd [email protected] Tel: 030-408 173 372 Fax: 030-408 173 450 Friedrichstraße 88 10117 Berlin Rementum © 2014. All Rights Reserved. Volume: 2, Issue: 1, Publisher: Rementum Research SHORT, BUT NOT SO SWEET Fig. 1: Sharp swings in 2012-13 European truck orders Source: Rementum Research, OEM reports KEY CONCLUSIONS 1.) Road carriers pulling vehicle investments forward due to legislative changes is a historical fact in several regions. 2.) A complicated and confusing EuroVI introduction in 2014 has created extensive pre-buying behaviour. Several surveys, including Rementum’s own, point at 15-20% of carriers pre-buying in 2013. 3.) OEMs have historically managed to remain fairly disciplined ahead of emissions standards changeovers. EPA 2010 and Euro VI are exceptions, however. 4.) We estimate the full-year magnitude of the pre-buying to 23,000 vehicles >16 tons. This should not impact the capacity balance, carrier earnings and underlying investment needs negatively in 2014. The underlying vehicles market is growing NOT ALWAYS AS PLANNED about their investment decisions. Authories are of course very aware of the temptation in adjusting one’s behaviour around cost-increasing changes in the legislative framework. Environmental legislators therefore often try to actively shorten the period of potential cost imbalances by offering different types of incentives for investments in newer, cleaner technology. Sometimes this intention from the authorities falls short. In the past fifteen years we have seen numerous examples of volatile investment patterns around the changeover dates to new engine emission standards. A certain time period ahead of the changeover net truck orders rise sharply (fig.1, as an example) for carriers to take deliveries of new vehicles, but with old engine standards, ahead of the deadline. Subsequently there is a sharp drop in orders for a period after the implementation of the new engine standard. This happened in the US in 2002 (with the expedited implementation of EPA 2004 regulations) and 2006 (ahead of the EPA 2007 implementation). In the former development a market rumour started in early 2002 2 that heavy truck engines developed for the EPA ’04 standard would malfunction, particularly in the winter season – as diesel fuel tends to increase in viscosity at lower outside air temperatures. The background to this rumour was probably that the introduction of the EPA ’04 standards had been brought forward by fifteen months, from the original plan of January 2004 (hence “EPA 2004”) to October 2002. This expedited launch was a partial retribution from the US EPA for the US heavy truck engine suppliers failing to comply with previous emission standards. The new engines had consequently been allowed one year less of proper winter testing before the launch and among US freight carriers the concerns were high about this drawback. In 2006 – ahead of the upcoming EPA 2007 introduction – the focus was on the relative merits and drawbacks for operators from using either Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) or Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) technologies to reduce NOx (more on these two technologies shortly). This debate – mainly between the “European” SCR proponents and the “American” EGR proponents - was not always transparent for an outsider and carriers consequently were confused Perhaps the most extreme period of erratic order patterns in North America could be seen in 2009 – ahead of the EPA 2010 deadline. In this case it was not an overall industry phenomenon, but rather a dramatic shift in market shares between OEMs. To meet the significantly tighter standards for NOx emissions, there was a very clear strategic choice to be made for engine developers: either build on one existing technology for NOx -reduction – particularly the method of using re-circulated exhaust gases (EGR) to reduce the amount of oxygen in the engine cylinders and thereby creating combustion at a lower chamber temperature, which tends to reduce NOx – or use a combination of several technolologies? Caterpillar came to the conclusion in 2008 that it would not meet 2010 standards based on EGR technology alone, as the most common applications of vehicles with “Cat” engines did not allow sufficient cooling of the cylinders. It consequently pulled out of the North American heavy truck market entirely. The company had gone from being a heavy duty diesel engine market leader to exiting the market in less than ten years. REMENTUM RESEARCH: THE EURO VI CHANGEOVER Navistar International, however, believed that the headwind for long-haulage vehicles cruising down the highway would sufficiently support the process of cooling the combustion chamber. It was proven wrong. As the EPA 2010 deadline crept closer, Navistar tried all possible methods to avoid an introduction of new rules allowing SCR-vehicles. This failed. So the last hope for Navistar was to run up a huge backlog of orders for the EPA 2007-compliant vehicles ahead of the 2010 deadline, as vehicles in production at the end of 2009 could still be delivered later in 2010. Allegedly the Navistar assembly lines were littered with half-finished chassis for months. The strategy worked, as can be seen in fig. 2, at least for some time. Navistar’s market share rose dramatically ahead of EPA 2010 and somewhat after. When the backlog of 2007-compliant vehicles was empty, however, all Navistar was left with was a non-compliant captive (and therefore usually more profitable) truck engine platform. Aggregated fines were massive for Navistar, and the market share started dropping again at a brisk pace. This drop may not have stopped yet. The company has a strained financial structure and credit rating agencies during the course of 2013 downgraded Navistar debt several times due to its eroding market position. LESS DRAMATIC IN EUROPE E urope has historically seen relatively limited impact from emission standards changeovers on truck order patterns. Euro III was introduced in the year 2000 without even much of a discussion. There was a heated debate among European vehicle OEMs around the Euro IV introduction in October 2005. It focused on the relative merits and drawbacks for operators from using either EGR or SCR technologies to reduce engine emissions. This debate was not always fully transparent for an outsider and carriers consequently were confused about their investment decisions. Despite this we cannot trace any dramatic impact on European order levels from that time. By the time implementation of Euro V was underway, in October 2008, SCR was established as a dominant technology and the global economy in one of its worst tailspins for decades. Pre-buying of Euro V vehicles was consequently of limited interest for European operators and order levels are difficult to analyse by isolating the general impact from the economy. Before 2013 the only really noticeable impact from regulatory changes on European registrations data was in April 2006, ahead of the introduction of compulsory digital tachographs. That massive spike in registrations was not affecting build schedules to the same extent, as major technological risks were obviously not present for the OEMs. We will later see - and the section on Navistar’s problems with meeting EPA 2010 demands highlights this - that the behaviour of OEMs in triggering speculative pre-buying is critical for the actual fluctuations in orders and deliveries. Fig. 2: Market share development, North America, trucks >8t Source: Rementum Research, JD Power, OEM data REMENTUM RESEARCH: THE EURO VI CHANGEOVER ENTER EURO VI The lack of major previous pre-buy- ing periods in Europe makes the 2013 pre-buying of Euro V vehicles all the more interesting to understand and analyse. The first Euro VI-compliant vehicles were actually brought into operation by Scania already in early 2011, but most OEMs showcased their new engine generations at the September 2012 IAA exhibition with production starting in spring 2013 (although not for the higher engine output ranges). The old EGR vs. SCR debate was back, although with a nuanced twist. The problem with insufficiently cooled EGR was increased considerably compared with Euro V (hence the need to introduce SCR). This has created vehicle design issues – such as a need to increase grill sizes to increase air inlet. For the higher hp-ranges (13- and 16 litre engines) non-cooled EGR has been introduced. Most of the OEMs were convinced that only a combination of the two emission-reducing technologies could produce desired results, but Iveco has remained firm that its Euro VI vehicles will only use AdBlue (after-treatment fluid) to reach the standards. The additional cost of AdBlue should be more than offset by reduced fuel consumption, according to the OEM. ASSESSING THE COSTS It is obvious that the Euro VI intro- duction has created an exceptional challenge for the heavy truck OEMs. Irrespective of the chosen technological solution there will be additional costs associated with Euro VI vehicles. A survey by Royal Bank of Scotland in early 2013 gave a clear indication of Euro VI purchase price increases in the range of EUR10-12,000 (or 10-12% vs. Euro V) for an average vehicle. The number of independent fuel consumption tests are limited and, if available, inconclusive. Few OEMs expect a dramatic impact on fuel efficiency, but when introducing the Euro VI standards, European authorities predicted a 3% increase in overall fuel consumption. Later reports (such 3 as from TNO Science and Industry in 2006 and 2008) indicated an increase in fuel consumption of up to 8%. In addition; service and maintenance life cycle costs will be higher than previously. Combined with a reduced payload in the magnitude of 150-200 kilograms, these effects will clearly be noticeable for many carriers. Although scientifically challenging to discuss an “average” vehicle, we need to have some standard benchmark in order to estimate the full economic implications for the carriers using Euro VI vehicles relative to the Euro Vs. Basing the analysis on a “plain vanilla” heavy 4x2 over-the-road tractor in long-haulage international transport is one option. For the case of simplicity we have assumed no impact on the fuel economy from the changeover. As can be seen in fig. 3; in this particular case the cost of capital is not significant in relation to the major costs of operation, being the driver and the fuel. This will of course change, to an extent, if the other cost factors vary. In a market were driver wages are lower and interest rates are higher, the propensity to pre-buy Euro V vehicles should be higher, all else equal. The same goes for vehicles with lower annual mileage (less total fuel consumption), but the opposite should hold for vehicles with relatively expensive configurations. The best answer we can state about pre-buying based on the question “how much is the additional cost” is consequently, “it depends”: - In Eastern Europe the propensity to pre-buy Euro V should be higher (due to relatively lower labour costs). - In Southern Europe the propensity to pre-buy Euro V should be higher (higher interest rates). - In local distribution applications the propensity to pre-buy Euro V should be higher (lower mileage). - In larger fleets the propensity to prebuy Euro V should be higher (maintenance costs will rise relatively more). Larger fleets are also more likely to have access to financing at any given time and could therefore invest more opportunistically. THE MAIN PROBLEM These are only general conclusions on incremental cost effects. In reality there are literally hundreds of other factors that will decide whether a freight carrier has an incentive to prebuy Euro V vehicles: - Governmental subsidies - Preferred vehicle brands - Access to capital - Etc, etc. Just looking at the first of these points, subsidies, we must conclude that the regulatory environment has been unusually vague in 2012-13. Taking the UK as our first example; Derogation is a scheme that allows existing vehi- Fig. 3: Cost split for a typical European long-haulage road tractor Sources: Navistar International 4 cles not meeting incoming legislation to be registered after the legislation comes into force. This is carefully controlled and is only available under certain pre-defined rules and for a limited time period. Although Euro 6 becomes mandatory for new trucks registered for the first time from 31st December 2013, derogation means it will still be possible to register Euro 5 trucks for up to one year after that date subject to the following: The vehicle meets all other legislative requirements applicable at the time of first registration. This means that any vehicles manufactured during October, November or December 2013 must be registered before 31st December 2013. A vehicle purchased and manufactured before 1 October 2013 could consequently, under certain conditions, be legally registered up until 31 December 2014. Recently DAF’s UK managing director, Ray Ashworth, commented in Transport Engineer: “We sold 3,500 trucks in December, compared with less than 700 the year before. And 700 of those were sold and registered in the last week before Christmas, ready for bodying over the next few weeks.” Ashworth continued: “The high volumes also suggest that many vehicles that could have been derogated to enter service during 2014 have actually gone on the road already,” he adds. His point is certainly borne out by the strength of the UK market in the heavy sector at 16 t and above, which turned out to be more than 30% larger than in 2012 and the highest since 1989. The purpose of the UK engine changeover legislation is not entirely clear to us and probably not to all carriers either. In Holland the government already in 2011 announced there would be a subsidy for Euro VI purchases, but the introduction in early 2012 was postponed due to uncertainty about the expected return. Mid 2012 the Dutch government clarified that EUR 39m, or a maximum of EUR4.5k per vehicle, was earmarked for subsidies, with more than 80% to be paid out in 2013 as the availability of Euro VI engines was still limited. REMENTUM RESEARCH: THE EURO VI CHANGEOVER The perhaps most important long-haulage road freight traffic incentive in Europe is the German Maut, or highway toll for commercial vehicles. With well over 35m registered border crossings annually, the country set out an ambitious target to drive the introduction of Euro V vehicles in Germany over a four-year time period. Starting in 2006, a reduced Maut was offered for those vehicles compliant with Euro V standards, although the deadline for new vehicles was not until 2009. This of course helped the phase-in of new emission standards across many parts of Europe. This time around, when the technological challenge seems significantly higher, the situation has been marked by confusion. In a truck dealer survey, made by the financial research company OTR Global in July 2013, a German MAN dealer stated: “Customers seem to be insecure over what to buy. The toll incentive law has been postponed, and we have elections in three months, so the toll won’t take effect before summer 2014.” As of late November the German elections were over, a coalition government looked likely to be formed, but there was still no clear indication of what subsidies would be offered for Euro VI vehicles on German roads in 2014. In December 2013 German heavy truck registrations all of a sudden reached the highest level since September 2008. MARKET IMPACT Already before November 2013 we could conclude that the phase-in of Euro VI engines was not running smoothly. Although the technology had been available for over two years, albeit not in all engine ranges, less than 4% of registrations in that period were estimated to have been Euro VI vehicles. This was less than half the level estimated at the same time at the run-up to Euro IV. Many stakeholders have been forced to manage this uncertain situation and tried to steer road carrier behaviour in a manner most likely to benefit them. OEMs and asset finance companies are only two examples of stakeholders Fig. 4: Question: Has Euro VI changeover affected your investments? Sources: Rementum Research that have their private agendas when it comes to managing the EuroV/VI changeover. DAF CEO, Harrie Schippers, was interviewed by Commercial Motor magazine in July 2013 on this issue: “In the UK, Daf has chosen to roll out Euro-5 for as long as possible”. While this makes sense in terms of market sentiment, it’s not without risk and could depress the Euro-6 price as OEMs with only Euro-6 to offer have to compete at Euro-5 prices. Is Daf running the risk of launching a Euro-6 product in 2014 into an already discounted market? Schippers isn’t worried. “We invested a lot of money on Euro-6, but I’m glad we took the decision to incorporate some of the fuel-economy improvements we had planned for Euro-6 into our Euro-5 range,” he says. “Our Euro-5 ATe models offer a very attractive alternative to Euro-6 right now. We’re breaking new records in many European countries with the best fuel consumption ever on certain test routes, and in markets such as the UK, that’s extremely important. “We see that there’s a lot of demand for Euro-5 from those customers who want to have the benefit but not the cost increase of Euro-6. A Euro-6 truck with all the additional content will see a significant price increase; I don’t see how we can avoid that.” The DAF assembly plant in Eindhoven raised its day rate from 142 trucks to 190 trucks in August. In early November the manufacturer reached 205 trucks per day, an all-time high, and for the first time in DAF REMENTUM RESEARCH: THE EURO VI CHANGEOVER history; more than 1,000 vehicles were assembled in the same week. This behaviour by the OEMs is crucial in understanding the unusually large impact on heavy truck deliveries in 2013. The two markets in Europe showing by far the sharpest jump in registrations at the end of last year are the Netherlands and the UK. DAF is the market leader in both. CARRIER SURVEYS To get an independent assessment of the tendency among European carriers to pre-buy Euro V vehicles, Rementum in the late summer of 2013 conducted its own survey among approximately 200 larger (>100 vehicles) road carrier fleets. Generally speaking we can confirm the picture presented in a 2012 Texaco/Motor Carrier survey: carriers do not seem particularly inclined to state the Euro VI introduction in 2014 as a major reason to invest more in 2013. Actually, the vast majority of the respondents to our survey have not been investing above normal last year; 87% have invested as normal or below. When it comes to the question on whether Euro VI has had an impact on investment decisions, only 17% of the respondents state so (fig. 4). This is broadly in line with the 20% of respondents in the 2012 Texaco/Motor Carrier survey stating an intention to pre-buy Euro V engines. These results are not sufficient to more precisely quantify 5 the pre-buying, however. For instance, there may be respondents that have pulled forward investment decisions in H2 ‘13 but they may still be investing below normal in the 2013 FY, due to the poor economic start to the year. TIME SERIES ANALYSIS AND ECONOMIC FACTORS Can this widespread indifference towards the complicated and confusing Euro VI emission standards changeover really be true among carriers? Both “yes” and “no”: Yes, if we look at the carrier economics again there may not be so strong incentives to pre-buy after all. In total, we must say, the overall economic case for pre buying Euro V vehicles is not extremely compelling. That said; as demonstrated above, there can be very significant differences in incentives between different carriers. This depends on the factor cost mix pointed out earlier. A response rate of 15-20% of carriers conducting pre-buying of Euro V vehicles could be consistent with such an analysis. EPA 2004 AND 2007 The circumstances around the United States EPA 2004 emission standards changeover have already been described more in detail earlier in this report. We have analysed this episode numerically and the result can be seen in fig. 5. What can be clearly seen is that monthly net class 8 orders rose very sharply in the spring of 2002. About a year before the changeover the order level was just above 11,000 units. Six months later the average monthly order level had risen close to 70%, to just below 19,000 units. At the time of the changeover, and the immediate months afterwards, order levels receded to the 11,000 level (-40% from the pre-buying phase). But if we extend the window just a few months after the EPA 2004 engine introduction, orders are well exceeding those seen a year ahead of the changeover. About 15 months after the new emission standard introduction net class 8 truck orders were surpassing the pre-buying levels in mid-2002 and kept rising. are starting to decline sharply, bringing heavy truck orders down as well. Consequently we see very limited - if any - impact on order levels ahead of EPA 2007 as the US is heading in to one of its worst recessions in decades. What does this tell us about pre-buying in a period marked by considerable uncertainty regarding engine economics? 1. It certainly does happen. The 2002 increase, and subsequent fall, in orders is exceptional in such a short time frame. Going back to the start of 1996 we have not been able to find such a pattern in order levels anywhere else. 2. OEMs in general have not been willing, or able, to meet such a short surge in demand. Looking at fig. 5, we can clearly see that the swings in volumes delivered are not near the order levels. 3. The economy still has the last word on heavy truck demand. The US economy had started a very significant economic recovery about a year before the EPA 2004 changeover. Pre-buying orders were consequently placed early, with a growing market in mind. This economic strength also resulted in renewed momentum in vehicle demand shortly after the post-EPA 2004 dip. We can also not ignore the order levels developing throughout 2013 (see fig. 1, above) One obvious suspicion when looking at the results from our study and the one conducted by Texaco/Motor Carrier in 2012 is that carriers may have a good reason to understate the amount of pre-buying when discussing the matter in public. In figure 6 (page 7), we can clearly see the impact of EPA 2004 on class 8 deliveries, as the truck retail sales growth pauses in early 2003, despite a strong improvement in carrier earnings. It subsequently catches up in early 2004. This pattern is even more pronounced around EPA 2007. During 2006 North American carrier earnings A final option in truly assessing the heavy truck market impact in 201314; truck order and delivery data from historical episodes of pre-buying, can provide us considerable insight to what should be expected from the current Euro V phase-out. As stated earlier, the periods of pre-buying in Europe have thus far been few and relatively limited in scale. In North America, however, we have experienced a couple of quite significant pre-buys. Below we will display graphs on and discuss the available order and delivery data from these historical episodes. Fig. 5: Average monthly class 8 orders and deliveries around EPA ‘04 These three observations and particularly the last one - on the overriding role of the freight economy – are Sources: Rementum Research, ACT Research 6 REMENTUM RESEARCH: THE EURO VI CHANGEOVER crucial to draw qualified conclusions about the 2013 Euro V pre-buying; the sharply rising order volumes from the early summer of 2013 are not only coming from carriers pulling investments forward. As we have written several times in our monthly market reports; there is a positive underlying trend in European carrier earnings, due to rising freight volumes, an improving capacity balance and relatively stable developments in factor costs. The situation is consequently similar to that around US EPA ’04. The window of pre-buying in Europe has been shorter, however, due to the sluggish state of the European freight economy in Q1 2013. Therefore, we estimate that only Sep- Dec. heavy truck registrations have been significantly affected by the Euro VI introduction in 2014. In our November edition of this report we estimated the total impact to be about 3-4,000 units (>16t) per month in that period. Today (late January) we know that the OEMs took a more opportunistic approach to a market inflated by pre-buying. The immediate impact on our deliveries estimates for 2013-‘14 is an additional pull-forward effect of about 10,000 units (>16t); totally 23,000 units in 2013 (see fig. 7 for an indication of magnitude). We have consequently lowered our 2014 European OE deliveries forecast to 355,000 >6t units (previously 370’); an approximate decline of 7%, compared to our preliminary deliveries data for 2013. We expect continued underlying freight volume improvements throughout 2014 (fig. 8). The exceptional registration figures in Q4 2013 does not significantly alter the picture of a gradually tightening supply-demand balance in the road freight market so European deliveries in 2015 should reach over 385,000 units >6t. Fig. 6: North American carrier earnings and vehicle investments Fig. 7: Average monthly heavy truck registrations around Euro VI Fig. 8: European carrier earnings and vehicle investments Malmö, 27 January 2014 Sources: Rementum Research, ACEA, ACT, Carrier earnings reports This document has been prepared by Rementum Research & Management AB for information purposes only and should be viewed solely in conjunction with the oral presentation provided by Rementum. It is not an offer or solicitation of any offer to purchase or sell any financial instrument. Whilst reasonable care has been taken to ensure that its contents are not untrue or misleading, no representation is made as to its accuracy or completeness and no liability is accepted for any loss arising from reliance on it. Rementum AB staff are not permitted to invest in securities issued by companies mentioned in the presentation. Copyright (2014) Rementum Research & Management AB (corporate id no. 556841-0491). 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