Trade News

Automakers, suppliers leap ahead into reducing CO2

Responsible citizens of the world have been talking for years now about reducing greenhouse gases and "decarbonizing."

But this week, we tell you that the global auto industry has leaped into that discussion — it has declared a kind of war on carbon, flipping over every rock to find ways to get carbon out of the equation of automaking.

In a lineup of stories from around the world, we point out that automakers and their supply chains are now reconsidering everything that might help them cut their output of greenhouse gas.

Hans Greimel tells us about the complexity of the attack on carbon now underway in Japan. The industry there is understandably anxious about the potential loss of millions of jobs and the economic hit Japan might take if automakers there suddenly switched wholesale to electric vehicles. And so companies are thinking as broadly as possible of solutions. A big one? Getting Japan's…

Only a few years ago, terms like “carbon neutrality,” “greenhouse gas” and “carbon footprint” were relegated to the world of scientists, environmentalists and green-leaning merchants.

Now they are on the lips of virtually every company in the global auto industry.

In boardrooms and shareholder presentations, in auto plants and component manufacturing settings from Tokyo to Paris, automotive executives and factory leaders are pursuing a shared goal: reducing their companies’ carbon footprints in the pursuit of cutting their individual CO2 emissions.

Automotive News looks at how this worldwide industry phenomenon has quickly taken shape and where it will lead automaking in the decade ahead.

--Lindsay Chappell

The VP for automotive and smart mobility at research firm Gartner discusses how new functions-as-a-service business models and a Right To Repair Law are changing the way everyone thinks about car ownership.

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New-car smell can pose serious health risks, according to a new study.

Researchers at Harvard University and the Beijing Institute of Technology tested the air inside new vehicles and discovered high levels of chemicals linked to cancer.

The study, published last week in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, found formaldehyde levels 35 percent higher than Chinese national safety standards and acetaldehyde levels more than 60 percent higher than Chinese standards.

The familiar smell associated with newly built vehicles is produced by off-gassing of plastics and adhesives. Although many Americans enjoy it, the smell is disliked in China and many automakers take measures to neutralize the aroma before selling vehicles there.

The researchers tested vehicles that had been parked outside and sealed for 12 days "under varying environmental conditions." They found that warm weather resulted in a higher concentration of chem…

The Chinese have a new love: camping. And in many cases they want to make their outdoor experiences as comfortable and premium as possible, elevating to the level of "glamping," or glamorous camping.

Several automakers at the Shanghai auto show dedicated large swaths of space to equipment aimed at satisfying this growing passion — which has been a post-pandemic global hit because it's an activity that can be enjoyed while socially distancing.

Another benefit is that it provides the visuals that social media evangelists crave.

However, one brand with a long history of providing vehicles designed for outdoor adventures was absent from the show: Jeep.

Jeep, one of the first Western entrants into China in the 1980s, last year ended its stormy joint venture with Chinese automaker GAC, which had been producing the U.S. brand's SUVs.

Jeep's dwindling presence in China has left the door open for Chinese brands to defi…

HEKINAN, Japan — Below the looming No. 4 boiler tower at Hekinan Station, Japan's largest thermal power plant, black mountains of coal — the power source of the past are piled high.

But inside this massive facility, in an effort to help Japanese industry reduce carbon emissions, the utility's operator is experimenting with a fuel of the future.

JERA Co., which delivers half the electricity to the Japanese industrial heartland that Toyota Motor Corp. and its supplier network call home, is burning a 20 percent mix of carbon-free ammonia along with the usual pulverized coal. If all goes well, JERA hopes to completely replace coal with ammonia-fired electric energy at the plant by 2050 and go completely green.

The audacious bid is a key part of an effort to turn Japan's auto sector fully carbon neutral by midcentury.

Tapping next-generation energy sources such as ammonia and hydrogen will help Toyota and Japan's other automakers, including Nissan, H…

At first glance, Akio Toyoda seems woefully out of sync with today's carbon-obsessed world when he fires up his GR Corolla race car and tears off down the straightaway at Fuji Speedway.

But even in an era all charged up about electrification, the Toyota Motor Corp. chairman insists his roaring, combustion-powered hot rod is just as gentle on the environment as any electric vehicle.

Why? Because its turbocharged 1.6-liter three-banger slurps up clean-burning, zero-emission hydrogen, not carbon-laden gasoline. Toyoda has been putting the technology through its paces since 2021 as his company joins an increasingly pitched global battle against carbon dioxide.

Automakers, suppliers, labor unions and governments may debate the best and fastest ways to mitigate emissions of this greenhouse gas and blunt its impact on the global climate. But there is one matter few disagree on, and the Toyota boss best sums up that zeitgeist: "Carbon is our enemy."

Not…

Automakers have sent retailers enough new vehicles to restore a 30-day supply to three major publicly traded auto groups, based on first-quarter earnings reports.

"New-car inventory is building," Sonic Automotive Inc. President Jeff Dyke said on the company's first-quarter earnings call on Thursday, April 27.

One auto group saw the time for increased incentive spending drawing near, while another reported discounting well-stocked vehicles below sticker.

However, some brands remain severely tight on inventory, according to public group executives, with more than one company singling out Toyota as in scant supply.

"As we look to May, the asymmetrical market positions of each manufacturer could become more apparent," Thomas King, president of J.D. Power data and analytics, said in a statement Thursday. "Brands with higher inventory levels may participate in the tradition of Memorial Day promotions and discounts to generate sales, while other …

Under pressure from their customers to decarbonize, automotive suppliers are rethinking how they design, build and dispose of their products and are making changes to their operations so that they can become more sustainable.

The changes range from relatively small tweaks, such as installing more eco-friendly lighting in offices, to completely altering the types of products they build or where they build them.

Here are examples of how suppliers are changing their ways to become better environmental stewards.

Forvia, the world's seventh-largest parts supplier, in November launched a brand, Materi'act, focused on the development and manufacturing of sustainable materials. It makes products ranging from green steel and sustainable carbon fibers to compounds created from recycled and bio-based materials. Those materials include an alternative to leather made of pineapple fibers, as well as compounds developed with hemp and its agricultural byproducts…

Creditors holding about 90 percent of Carvana Co.'s bonds have been pitching the beleaguered used-car company on ways to pare down debt and improve liquidity, including a proposal for a debt-for-equity swap, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

The group, represented by White & Case and PJT Partners, recently offered to swap a substantial amount of unsecured notes for equity in Carvana, the people said, asking not to be named discussing a private matter. The bondholders also said they would allow the company to pay some of its interest with additional debt, a feature known as payment-in-kind.

The proposal isn't final and terms could change. Carvana has not formally engaged with the group's offers, the people added, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

Bondholders had earlier signaled their interest in moving their existing unsecured positions into new first-lien debt and allowing the company to pay interest in k…

When Craig Courtney became finance director in 2017 for Taylor Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Bourbonnais, Ill., about 55 miles south of Chicago, his vacation days often were spent leading church mission trips to the Dominican Republic.

With just one full-time F&I manager and one assistant, no department guidelines and a dot matrix printer, Courtney wanted to ensure his department was prepared to handle the dealership's F&I operations anytime he was in the Caribbean with no cell service. So Courtney wrote and printed an 18-page manual on everything — from how to book a sale and lease to detailed updates on every open deal. He told his two staffers: "It's just so you don't get lost."

In late 2019, Courtney further regulated his store's F&I operations introducing e-contracting to speed up contracts in transit and Darwin digital F&I menus to make the sales process more consumer-friendly.

With updated systems and a new F&a…

Lucid Motor's Gravity crossover is heading into a new phase of development before its 2024 launch. The luxury three-row electric vehicle will begin testing in camouflage on U.S. roads, the automaker said.

New images reveal the Gravity's visual similarity to the highly aerodynamic Air sedan that's been on sale since late 2021. Lucid has promised to set records for range and efficiency with its first crossover.

The EV maker, which has said preorders for the Air are falling, is expected to open order books for the Gravity in the first half of this year. Pricing has not been announced. The Air starts at $89,050 with shipping.

"This luxury electric SUV will offer comfortable seating for up to seven adults and their gear, the driving dynamics of a sports car, and greater electric range than any SUV," Lucid said in a statement.

Derek Jenkins, Lucid's senior vice president of design, said last month that the Gravity would have…