Equilar Inc analyzes executive compensation data for Automotive News

To examine compensation trends for CEOs and other select executives, Automotive News asked Equilar Inc., an executive compensation data firm, to compile and analyze pay data from corporate filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The data prepared by Equilar include information for leading automotive-sector companies selected by Automotive News.

For each executive, total compensation is calculated as the sum of base salary, cash bonus payouts, gains from option exercises, gains from the vesting of stock awards and other compensation. Other compensation typically includes benefits and perquisites.

Base salary, bonus payout and other compensation values are taken directly from the Summary Compensation Table of each company's proxy statement. Information on gains from option exercises and from the vesting of stock awards is taken from the Option Exercises and Stock Vested Table of the same document.

Readers should note that gains from option exercises and the vesting of stock awards do not necessarily mirror the amount that an executive earned from selling stock, if any, during the fiscal year. Once options are exercised and stock awards vest, they may be retained by the executive as common shares of stock.

The total compensation figures in this survey will not match the value reported in the Summary Compensation Table because that includes the grant date value of equity awards, whereas this survey includes the realized value. This survey also excludes the pension and deferred compensation column in the Summary Compensation Table, which may cause a further disparity in the total compensation figures.

Change in pay for each executive is calculated using compensation data from the prior fiscal year. These data are collected in the same fashion described above.

For some CEOs, principally recent hires or newly promoted executives, change in pay is listed as "N.A."

In addition to annual compensation data, information on executive retirement plans is provided. The amounts listed in the pension column reflect the lump-sum value of accumulated pension benefits accrued by an executive. Amounts listed in the deferred compensation column reflect the year-end balance held by an executive in nonqualified deferred compensation accounts.

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Why no auto executive will temper autonomous vehicle expectations

Even while his company tested a self-driving vehicle at the 2017 CAR Management Briefing Seminars, Magna CEO Don Walker tempered expectations about the technology. “A full autonomous vehicle is a long way off for lots of reasons," he said. Photo credit: GREG HORVATH

I've been hoping this summer that someone somewhere at an automaker or supplier would be brave enough to say that autonomous vehicles -- which still have no path to profitability and still have no clear customer base clamouring for them -- aren't going to happen anytime soon.

I don't recall anyone saying it last week at the CAR Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Mich. I haven't heard it recently on the record from auto company executives and suppliers, both of whom are heavily invested in trying to bring about self-driving vehicles, even if they harbor personal doubts. And some do.

After interviews, when the tape recorder is off and there is time for off-the-record chitchat, several executives have expressed doubts on the technology, the timing, the readiness of the infrastructure or consumer willingness to pay for the technology as new-vehicle prices are soaring. Last month, according to Kelley Blue Book, the average new light vehicle in the U.S. sold for US$35,359.

But automakers and suppliers are in a tough spot.

If Wall Street analysts perceive that a company is falling behind competitors, shares will get hammered. A year ago at the CAR conference, Magna CEO Don Walker, in unusually candid remarks for a senior executive, offered some insight into what industry executives say on the record and what they really think about self-driving vehicles.

He said: "Quite frankly, auto companies can't tell publicly what they really believe. They know what's going to happen, but they have to say what is going to be popular to be perceived as a progressive company. ... We've got a lot of feedback from many of the car companies, and they actually believe this to be right."

“A full autonomous vehicle is a long way off for lots of reasons," he added.?

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But the big money being spent trying to make a vehicle drive itself with 100 percent safety 100 percent of the time is -- in my view -- starting to damage some car companies' ability to compete.

Take Ford, for example. The F-series truck is Ford's perennial cash cow and the vehicle that pretty much pays all the big bills. If something happened -- an earthquake that disrupts supply, a huge spike in material costs -- and F-series margins disappeared, Ford would be in trouble fast. A fire in May at a supplier cost Ford eight days of production of the F series, a vehicle that is expected to bring in around US$44 billion in revenue this year.

Ford plans to invest US$4 billion in self-driving vehicles by 2023. But nowhere in Ford's announcement of that big number can I find when it expects to make a profit from the technology.

One lesson that never seems to resonate is that full-line automakers need a balanced portfolio of vehicles with an array of powertrains. And like a financial portfolio, some of those investments will make money and some won't. But to hedge your bets, you keep at least a few of the unprofitable ones around -- cars, for instance -- because things can change in a minute in the auto industry. Remember US$4 a gallon gasoline a decade ago? Or about $1.40 a litre in Canada at the time.

I am not saying automakers shouldn't spend money on self-driving technology. But autonomous vehicles should be about 10th on their priority lists. We live in a fast-changing world of tightening emissions regulations, burgeoning tariffs, a market shifting rapidly away from traditional cars, financial analysts with too much influence and other pressing issues.

There also needs to be more global collaboration among automakers, suppliers, regulators and everyone else with skin in the game to develop the key technologies to ensure that every vehicle on the road has the same basic building blocks. That would cut down on redundant engineering, improve safety, reduce costs, speed development and keep engineers where they are needed most: developing products that pay the bills today.

Ultimately, the industry needs to lower expectations. There still are too many unknowns about the practical application of self-driving vehicles. We don't even have national legislation governing the use of these vehicles in the U.S.

If we are going to be honest about self-driving cars, let's agree the best shot these vehicles have for even limited use in the next 15 years will be in geofenced areas, universities, hospital campuses, military bases and amusement park parking lots -- places where traffic is controlled, consistent and predicable.

This is one race where finishing first just means you are going to lose more money faster.

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