Trade News

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Toyota Motor North America announced an agreement to put its fuel cell powertrain into Kenworth and Peterbilt big rigs.

The automaker and Paccar, owner of the truck brands, announced the deal Tuesday at the ACT Expo clean transportation conference here.

Toyota has leveraged the fuel cell technology it developed for the small-volume Mirai sedan for use in heavy-duty trucks.

Much of the work used Kenworth Class 8 truck cabs and chassis, including a demonstration project at Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., ports.

The companies see a growing market for zero-emission fuel cell technology as regulators in California and other regions begin to phase out diesel trucks.

California, for example, will require 5 percent of new Class 7 and Class 8 truck sales to be zero-emission vehicles starting next year. That jumps to 40 percent in 2032. The truck industry expects other states to follow California's lead, adding to the market si…

Volvo Cars' twin electric models will receive a new drivetrain and extended range this year.

The 2024 Volvo C40 Recharge and XC40 Recharge models get rear-wheel-drive variants that will arrive in U.S. stores by the fourth quarter.

The single-motor models feature an in-house developed permanent magnet e-motor on the rear axle and an 82-kilowatt-hour battery.

The energy-dense battery and 248-hp motor allow the C40 and XC40 to go 297 and 293 miles, respectively. The battery can also charge faster than the previous version, refilling from 10 percent to 80 percent in about 28 minutes.

Pricing was not disclosed.

Volvo dealer Matthew Haiken said the new variants address near- and long-term customer concerns about electric vehicles.

"Buyers today still consider range a key determining factor in purchase," said Haiken, owner of Prestige Collection, which operates two Volvo stores in East Hanover and Engl…

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Leveraging its experience offering fuel cell passenger vehicles, Hyundai Motor Co. plans to offer a hydrogen-powered heavy-duty truck in the U.S. this year.

Hyundai unveiled the production version of its Xcient Fuel Cell Class 8 truck on Tuesday at the ACT Expo just a block from Disneyland in California.

"Our hydrogen fuel cell technology has pioneered the industry with a real-world proven track record of its efficiency and durability," said Ken Ramirez, the Hyundai executive vice president who heads the company's global commercial vehicle and hydrogen fuel cell business.

The South Korean automaker further outlined its business plan for distributing the truck and tapping into a fueling infrastructure.

Hyundai launched the first version of the Xcient in 2020 in Switzerland, hauling goods for several large retailers. It now operates in Germany, Israel, South Korea and New Zealand, accumulating more than 4 million operating miles. …

Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday posted first-quarter net income of $1.8 billion, up from a $3.1 billion loss a year earlier, and reaffirmed its full-year guidance as the company bounces back from global supply chain shortages.

Ford posted first-quarter revenue of $41.5 billion, up 20 percent from the same period of 2022, and margins of 8.1 percent, up 1.4 percentage points. That was driven by a 9 percent increase in vehicle shipments, as well as a more favorable sales mix and higher net pricing.

“This quarter was much smoother,” CFO John Lawler said, comparing the results to the fourth quarter of 2022, where the company left $2 billion in profits on the table due to issues with its operational execution. 

Lawler said this quarter’s results were a “peek at what’s possible” from the company’s growth plans, called Ford +. 

In a call with analysts, CEO Jim Farley said he hopes Ford’s performance in the past quarter become a pattern of “boringly …

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Daimler Truck North America revealed a Freightliner medium-duty electric truck at the ACT Expo on Tuesday.

Orders for the eM2 will begin immediately, and Daimler said production will begin in fourth quarter at its Portland, Ore., manufacturing plant.

"For drivers who have already experienced this truck, they love it," said Katie Rabideau, eMobility product marketing manager at Daimler Truck North America. The truck was used in test programs with companies before launch. "It's incredibly intuitive."

A drive on a controlled course here at the ACT Expo, which stands for Advanced Clean Transportation, revealed a quiet ride, a comfortable seat and steering wheel setup, and a responsive throttle.

The eM2 release comes about a year after the commercial launch of the eCascadia, an electric version of a popular Freightliner Class 8 tractor. Rakesh Aneja, chief of eMobility at Daimler Truck North America, said the eM2 benefited from lesson…

TOKYO -- Japan's automakers are facing a sales crisis in China, data shows, as a rapid shift to electric vehicles has upended the world's largest auto market and led to a plunge in purchases of gasoline-powered cars.

Total sales of Japanese auto brands in China were down 32 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, more than double the pace of the overall market contraction, industry data analysed by Reuters showed.

While other automakers like Volkswagen AG have also been caught out by the sharp shift in China, Japanese automakers stand out because of their limited showing in the fast-growing category of electric and plug-in hybrid sales.

Production and margins will come under pressure in China as automakers cut output and prices of gasoline-powered cars to keep inventories in check, analysts say, in a worrying sign of the competition Japanese automakers could increasingly face outside their home market.

"Especially Japanese automakers face a li…

Photographers have captured camouflaged images of what appears to be the redesigned 2024 GMC Acadia three-row crossover during road testing in Michigan.

The Acadia is expected to return to the larger footprint it had early in its life cycle when it was built alongside the Buick Enclave and Chevrolet Traverse large crossovers at General Motors' Lansing Delta Township assembly plant in Michigan. It was downsized by about 7 inches in length for the 2017 model year, when production was moved to GM's assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tenn.

A GMC spokesperson declined to comment on future products.

GM confirmed the Acadia's return to Michigan in 2020 when announcing a more than $100 million investment at the Delta Township plant. GM President Mark Reuss hinted at the upcoming Acadia at the automaker's investor day in November, saying that it would arrive in 2024.

"This comes in a little bigger than the old Acadia," Reuss said at the time.

He descr…

Tesla raises prices while Ford drops the cost of the Mach-E. Hyundai and Kia continue their U.S. sales hot streak. Plus, Mike Ramsey of research firm Gartner says automakers need to take a page from consumer electronics companies to compete in a new tech landscape.

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AutoNation Inc. is partnering with Alpine to compete in Formula One, the companies said Tuesday.

The retailer will sponsor the BWT Alpine Formula One team in the Miami Grand Prix in Florida, AutoNation said in a statement.

"AutoNation and Alpine are connected in our love for cars, speed, and drive to win," Mike Manley, AutoNation CEO, said in the statement.

The racing partnership comes as the French sports-car maker prepares to expand into North America. The two companies are engaged in talks about U.S. retail opportunities, the statement said.

"AutoNation is a tremendous retailer with an industry-leading customer experience and is also an experienced partner in motorsports," Laurent Rossi, Alpine CEO, said. "This makes for a fantastic partnership in one of the most exciting markets in the world."

AutoNation, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ranks No. 2 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail sale…

Gentex Corp., supplier of high-tech rearview mirrors, dimmable glass and automotive electronics, is investing in and collaborating with an Israeli company that has created a small thermal camera.

Such a device can be used to improve the safety of self-driving cars and to help reduce accidents involving pedestrians.

Adasky was founded in Israel in 2016. Its mission: bring to market affordable thermal cameras that fill in gaps left by the sensors in automated driving systems. One camera Adasky offers is less than 2 inches in length but can "see" as far ahead of a vehicle as 984 feet and classify living beings at more than 650 feet, according to the company.

The camera is shutterless and does not need to recalibrate when weather, light and road conditions change.

"Over the last few years, we've been investing heavily into our sensing capabilities, and the ADASKY technology was a great fit to complement our existing suite of sensing products," Gentex …

Bert Boeckmann, a pioneering California dealer who made customizing vehicles popular at his Galpin Motors group, died Friday, April 28. He was 92.

Boeckmann joined Galpin Ford in 1953 as a salesman and worked his way up to ownership. He grew the group's Ford store into the brand's top-selling dealership by 1989, a distinction the store held for nearly three decades.

He was featured as a "legend of retail" in Automotive News in 2016, although Boeckmann downplayed the term.

"If I hear somebody use the word 'legend,' I tell them, 'I'm still breathing,' " Boeckmann said at the time.

Born Aug. 21, 1930, in South Gate, Calif., Boeckmann did not initially plan to become a car dealer. He attended the Reserve Officers' Training Corps in college and thought about serving as a military officer. He told Automotive News in 2013 that he joined Galpin Ford at the urging of a friend and ultimately wound up staying longer than his friend.

He was promoted …

A federal judge in Detroit on Monday threw out a jury verdict ordering Ford Motor Co. to pay Versata Software Inc $104.6 million for breaching a 2004 licensing contract and misappropriating trade secrets.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman said that while Versata Software, which licensed software to Ford from 1998 to 2015, offered sufficient evidence of a contract breach, it did not offer evidence to let jurors calculate damages accurately.

He also said jurors had no basis to determine how long Ford would have needed to develop three trade secrets it allegedly stole, and that this also required voiding the damages award.

Leitman ordered Ford to pay Versata $3 for breach of contract.

Versata sued Ford after accusing the automaker of copying its software because it was tired of paying licensing fees, and after Ford rejected an offer in 2014 to license its major software for $17 million a year.

"Overturning a jury verdict is difficult by desi…