Trade News

Jose Munoz joins the board of directors of Hyundai Motor Co. Operating losses widen at Shift Technologies, even as the company reports a net profit. Half of U.S. new-vehicle shoppers will have a viable EV option this year. Kia unveils its three-row EV9. Plus, how a dealer manages complex operations in Manhattan.

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American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. is considering a $460 million electric vehicle research and supplier park adjacent to its Detroit headquarters in a project that would create 1,110 jobs, according to city documents.

The plan, called Project Orb, involves the redevelopment of the 50-acre former manufacturing property near the automotive supplier's campus at Holbrook Avenue and St. Aubin Street, along the Hamtramck border.

The "office/research and supplier park" would support the "concentration of the company's EV investment in Detroit and Michigan rather than competing international and other domestic locations," according to a project synopsis included in a city document.

The axle and auto parts manufacturer, whose largest customer is General Motors, is seeking $100 million in statutory and discretionary incentives from the state's Critical Industry Program — part of the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund signed into law in la…

The Federal Trade Commission is investigating two Illinois automotive groups for potential unfair, deceptive or discriminatory behavior, demanding years of finance-and-insurance documents as part of the inquiry.

Neither Liberty Auto City nor Leader Automotive Group have formally been accused of anything by the agency, which has been looking into them both for potential FTC Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act violations since at least last year.

FTC commissioners in both cases said they were exploring the groups' "auto sales and lending practices" for unfair or deceptive practices or prohibited discrimination "resulting in higher vehicle sales prices, periodic payments, 'add-on' charges, or other harm to consumers."

Leader Automotive attorney Ira Levin of Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella said in a statement Friday the company "does not typically comment on pending legal matters; however, we can share that we are working with th…

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares on Wednesday said climate change policies should not be used to influence global investment decisions and to put countries in competition with each other.

"Policies on climate change should not be a weapon to rebuild competitiveness in a global trade approach," Tavares said during Stellantis' Freedom of Mobility Forum.

Congress last year announced $369 billion in subsidies to support clean technologies and electric vehicles under the Inflation Reduction Act, while China has been giving local automakers incentives for domestic production of battery electric vehicles. 

The European Union responded last month with its proposed Green Deal Industrial Plan, concerned that the U.S. law could put companies based in Europe at a disadvantage and drive investments out of the region.

Sticks with electrification

The final decision by EU countries on Tuesday to allow sales of new combustion engine cars t…

Starting this summer, Cadillac will allow buyers of the brand's upcoming Celestiq ultraluxury electric sedan to personalize their vehicles through a concierge service at its Global Technical Center campus.

General Motors will convert a building on the campus in Warren, Mich., into Cadillac House at Vanderbilt, named for designer Suzanne Vanderbilt, who worked on Cadillac vehicles after joining GM Design in 1955, including a 1958 Eldorado Seville coupe dubbed Baroness and the Saxony convertible.

Cadillac will select buyers for the Celestiq beginning this spring, and the first personalization concierge visits at Cadillac House will begin in late summer, the brand said.

"Every Celestiq is personally commissioned and working on-site with our Cadillac designers provides clients an elevated experience," Bryan Nesbitt, executive director of global Cadillac design, said in a statement. "It's a unique opportunity to collaborate with our design team, enabling cli…

Online used-vehicle retailer Shift Technologies Inc. said it reduced headcount by about 30 percent and reported a wider loss from operations and shrunken revenue in the fourth quarter.

On a Tuesday earnings call, Shift Technologies CEO Jeff Clementz said the majority of reductions stemmed from the company's move to a "decentralized sales organization" in February. Corporate roles also were reduced, he said, though the exact number was not immediately clear.

The retailer reported a $60.7 million fourth-quarter loss from operations, wider than a $53.2 million loss in the year-earlier period. Revenue during the quarter plunged 67 percent to $65.6 million.

The company posted net income of $13 million compared with a net loss of $75.8 million during the same quarter last year. But the most recent quarterly results included a one-time gain of $76.7 million from the acquisition of used-vehicle consignment company CarLotz Inc.

The retailer closed on that …

BYD Co. doesn't have any current plans to enter the U.S. passenger car market, founder Wang Chuanfu said, throwing cold water on the prospect of the Chinese electric-vehicle maker challenging Tesla Inc. in its home market — for now.

The auto titan, which reported that net income more than quintupled last year after it sold a record number of EVs, said at a post-earnings briefing on Wednesday that its home market of China has already entered a "full-expansion phase" for new-energy vehicles.The US is the next biggest EV market after China, where a price war has erupted between BYD, Tesla and other EV makers. Backed by Warren Buffett, BYD has been expanding its footprint overseas, including into Norway, Denmark, the UK, Thailand and Australia. Wang predicted that the development of clean-energy vehicles will lead to a reshuffling within the global auto industry.

Given that BYD isn't entering the U.S. passenger EV market for now, Wang doesn't foresee any impact fro…

SHANGHAI - Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc. began trial operation on Tuesday of faster, more efficient battery swapping stations in China in its push to make battery swapping a viable alternative to rival EV makers' rapid-charging technology.

With capacity to store up to 21 battery packs each, Nio's Power Swap Station 3.0 can speed up battery swapping to less than five minutes and lower the service cost per swap, Shen Fei, Nio senior vice president for power management, told reporters at an event in Shanghai last Thursday. The comments were embargoed for release on Tuesday.

Tesla's rapid-charging Supercharger allows EV users to top up vehicles to a range of 200 miles in 15 minutes.

Battery swapping allows drivers to replace depleted packs quickly with fully charged packs, rather than plugging the vehicle in to a charging point. Swapping could help to ease the strain on power grids at peak times when drivers recharge, but industry analysts and exec…

A Texas Porsche dealership employee who said he was fired after warning co-workers of a case of COVID-19 at the store in 2020 has received his job back, more than $100,000 in back pay and $15,000 in compensatory damages.

A settlement agreement was filed March 20 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas that says the employee, Michael Pacho, is unconditionally reinstated at Porsche South Austin.

The U.S. Department of Labor filed the federal lawsuit in October 2021 against Hi Tech Imports after an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigationdetermined the dealership violated the OSHA Act of 1970. OSHA law states employers can't punish workers for raising a health or safety concern with their employers, among other protections.

In December 2020, Pacho learned a co-worker tested positive for COVID-19 and asked Hi Tech Motorcars management to warn other employees. When they didn't, he emailed all employees himself, according to…

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden is pressing automakers including Tesla Inc. and General Motors for more information about their supply chains amid concerns about forced labor in China. 

The Democrat from Oregon sent letters to the automakers and top suppliers Tuesday. Wyden is requesting details about their efforts to ensure that none of the materials in their cars come from regions like Xinjiang, where the U.S. and others have alleged that China has pushed ethnic minorities into jobs programs. 

The scrutiny comes amid a U.S. crackdown on goods from Xinjiang. Under a law passed in late 2021, materials even partially made in the region can’t be imported to the U.S. The Senate Finance Committee, which Wyden chairs, launched an investigation last year into whether major automakers are using parts made with forced labor from Xinjiang. 

In the letters sent Tuesday, Wyden asks whether the car companies maintain a list of “foreign-language names” of suppli…

New UAW President Shawn Fain has to ready itself for “war” with big companies. U.S. auto sales look like they’re losing momentum in part because of rising prices, which Toyota said could top $50,000 on average before long. Plus, the tension between convenience and safety in the world of micro-mobility.

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Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

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Researchers from French cybersecurity firm Synacktiv won $350,000 and a new Tesla Model 3 at a security conference by hacking into the gateway and infotainment subsystems of the vehicle in less than two minutes.

During the Pwn2Own 2023 hacking conference held in Vancouver, British Columbia, last week, Synacktiv's so-called ethical hackers were able to "fully compromise" the electric vehicle, gaining control of its safety systems and breaking into its infotainment system.

They hacked into the Tesla's head unit instead of the entire vehicle for safety reasons. The head unit controls the car's infotainment and navigation systems.

"Of course, we'd like to do this on a car itself but there's just too many variables that would make it potentially dangerous for those around the vehicle, including the building vehicles parked by, so we don't want to take that chance. We prefer a nice controlled environment," Dustin Childs said in a video of the event available …