Trade News

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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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 …

U.S. light-vehicle sales got off to a strong start in the first quarter, but the new-vehicle market showed signs of losing momentum by March as rising interest rates and transaction prices are putting pressure on what consumers can afford.

Supply constraints that have suppressed car and light truck availability for the last two years remain but are easing. Analysts say March sales should reflect an improvement from a year ago, but the pace has slowed since the start of this year, suggesting that economic headwinds and affordability concerns are forcing some buyers to the sidelines.

Most automakers are scheduled to report March or first-quarter U.S. sales results on Monday.

The seasonally adjusted annualized selling rate for March is forecast to come in between 13.8 million and 14.4 million vehicles. That would be an improvement from the 13.7 million rate in March 2022, according to Motor Intelligence, but well below the 15.2 million pace in February and…

In this week's edition of Automotive News, you'll find a data-centric story I wrote laying out how U.S. sales of certified pre-owned vehicles fell last year.

And fell they did — to 2.49 million vehicles, down 9.4 percent from 2.75 million in 2021, according to figures compiled by the Automotive News Research & Data Center. It was the lowest annual volume since 2014, when sales of 2.34 million certified vehicles were recorded.

Not surprisingly then, the majority of automakers saw their certified used-vehicle sales fall year over year. Dealers and brand executives overseeing automakers' certified sales operations detailed how changing industry conditions between 2021 and 2022 led to such a downturn.

They grappled last year with tighter supply of certification-eligible inventory, a direct result of stunted new-vehicle production in 2020 and 2021. The supply challenge worsened as more consumers took to buying out their vehicle lease when they realized th…

Honda Motor Co. is recalling more than 330,300 vehicles for side-view mirrors that may detach.

The recall includes:

• 2020-22 Honda Odyssey

• 2020-22 Honda Passport

• 2020-21 Honda Pilot

• 2020-21 Honda Ridgeline

Heating pads behind the side-view mirrors can lose adhesion, causing the glass to potentially detach, according to a Honda recall document.

Detached mirror glass can reduce driver visibility and increase the risk of a crash, according to NHTSA.

Affected models were produced at Honda's plant in Lincoln, Ala., Honda spokesman Chris Martin told Automotive News. Martin said he is not aware of vehicles affected outside of the U.S. and Canada.

Honda first received a market quality report that showed a potential trend of mirror vibration in December 2018 and began investigating. The trend increased in October 2020. The side-view mirror supplier changed the heater pad and mirror back-plate adhesive tape in July …

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday confirmed it will end sales of the Transit Connect small van in North America after the 2023 model year, plans that Automotive News first reported last year.

The automaker, which hasn't publicly commented on the plans until now, said in a statement the decision stemmed from the company's "efforts to reduce global manufacturing cost and complexity, alongside decreased demand for the compact van segment."

Ford currently imports the vehicle to North America from a plant in Valencia, Spain. Automotive News reported last year that Ford had planned to build a next-generation model for North America in Mexico, code-named V758, but scrapped those plans.

The next-gen model would have been built on the same platform as the Maverick compact pickup and Bronco Sport crossover, which are also assembled in Mexico.

Ford on Tuesday confirmed the Transit Connect will continue to be built in Spain and sold in European markets.

DETROIT — UAW President Shawn Fain struck a defiant tone in his inaugural address to members on the first day of the union's special bargaining convention, laying the groundwork for potentially contentious contract talks with the Detroit 3 automakers this year.

"We're here to come together to ready ourselves for the war against the one and only true enemy: multibillion dollar corporations and employers who refuse to give our members their fair share," Fain said to members. "It's a new day in the UAW."

Fain was sworn in as the UAW's fifth president in five years a day before the convention opened following a prolonged, contentious election.

He defeated incumbent President Ray Curry by fewer than 500 votes. As the count neared an end, Curry filed a protest alleging widespread disenfranchisement.

Fain has promised a more aggressive approach to bargaining with the Detroit 3 this fall. The union is expected to fight for better wages and benefits as wel…

The rethink of auto shows continues.

Organizers of IAA Mobility 2023 said Wednesday they've reached an agreement with venture capital firm Assembly Ventures to oversee a portion of the show's conference programming this fall in Munich.

The development underscores an evolving shift for IAA, which in recent years has changed locations and expanded to include e-bikes and scooters. Now, the conference's work with Assembly Ventures helps address topics at the center of an uncertain transportation industry.

Likewise, it puts an emphasis on the changing nature of traditional auto shows.

"Mobility is not just a bolt-on that automotive folks need to be aware of," Jessica Robinson, co-founder and partner at Assembly Ventures, told Automotive News. "This is integral to the future, and we're seeing this in how they're organizing this show."

Collaborating with a venture capital firm on programming made sense, IAA organizers said, because they have first…

Shawn Fain was sworn in as president of the UAW over the weekend before the quadrennial special bargaining convention started on Monday. U.S. dealership count rose last year even as sales skidded. Plus, independent auto dealer Amanda Gordon shares insights on the still-tight used-vehicle market.

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Two employees at Nissan of Newnan in Georgia have been arrested amid a police investigation into customer reports of fraud on vehicle purchase paperwork.

Two customers reported forged signatures on their documentation, with one alleging the forgery in connection with a vehicle service contract and other add-on items included in the deal without her knowledge. A third police report found a couple alleging the dealership lied to a financial institution about the trim level of the pickup they purchased, a practice known in the finance-and-insurance industry as "power-booking."

A spokeswoman for the city of Newnan would not confirm whether any arrests had been made in the case, citing the ongoing investigation into the dealership.

But attorney John Lovell of the Law Offices of John Lovell said his clients Joshua Cherman and Mohammed Karim Hassan had each been arrested on suspicion of single counts of theft by deception in connection with the case.

On …