Trade News

FLINT, Mich. — There's a taped black line on the carpet at the entrance to the Algonac High School FIRST Robotics team's pit area at the recreational center at Kettering University. That's where about five students are working feverishly to fabricate a bracket that will keep their robot's arm from retracting too far when it competes in the Michigan State Regional robotics competition against 39 other schools.

Just a few tense minutes remain before the next match, and the sense of urgency is real as a drill whirs and a hammer knocks a fastener into place. The Full Metal Muskrats — the name of the Algonac High School team — have to get it right. Mechanical issues cost points and can derail a school's goal of making it to the state finals next month.

Sebastien Cournoyer, a plant manager at Cargill Corp. and one of the team's mentors, stands behind that black line a few feet away and watches as students secure the bracket. "I know it's not going to work," he said …

Subaru is sticking to a successful playbook in redesigning the third-generation Crosstrek for 2024. The subcompact crossover has been a bona fide success since its 2012 debut, racking up U.S. sales of more than 1 million.

The recipe is largely the same: All-wheel drive, plenty of ground clearance, a roof rack and storage packed into a tidy utility body. But there are plenty of new features and ingredients sprinkled throughout to make mountain getaways more comfortable and connected.

Base and Premium Crosstreks are powered by a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder direct-injection engine that produces 152 hp and 145 pound-feet of torque. Sport and Limited models are equipped with a 2.5-liter engine with 182 hp and 178 pound-feet of torque. Both are paired with a continuously variable transmission, On Premium, Sport and Limited models, a manual mode with steering wheel paddle shifters allows drivers to control the transmission via eight preset ratios.

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DETROIT — General Motors will stop building a $1,500 OnStar subscription into the price of all Buick and GMC vehicles, instead making the safety and connectivity service standard only on high-end trims but optional on most other models.

For the 2024 model year, three years of OnStar Premium will be included on all GMC Denali trims and Buick Avenir trims and all versions of the GMC Hummer EV. Lower trims instead will come with three years of OnStar Remote Access, which links the vehicle to a mobile app. The change largely reverses a decision by the automaker in mid-2022 to package OnStar Premium with every Buick and GMC vehicle, giving buyers no ability to have the $1,500 cost removed.

A GM spokeswoman said the switch is meant to pair premium OnStar features with premium vehicle trims.

GM began including a three-year OnStar premium subscription with both connectivity and safety features in the middle of the 2023 model year as a way to add value for consu…

The late Cal Worthington's iconic Ford dealership sold, a store part owned by a race-car driver changed hands, a dealer shed her only dealership and a group entered its second state, all in transactions that closed in the fourth quarter and first quarter.

Here's a look at the deals involving import and domestic brands and stores in Wisconsin, Indiana, Virginia and California.

Nouri/Shaver Automotive expands with purchase of iconic Worthington Ford

A Southern California dealership with a long family legacy has new owners for the first time since 1963.

Bob Nouri and Pete Shaver of Nouri/Shaver Automotive Group on Feb. 28 purchased Worthington Ford from Nick Worthington and Dave Karalis, Nouri confirmed to Automotive News.

The Long Beach dealership became the last bearing the name of Cal Worthington, who died in 2013 at 92. Cal Worthington at one point owned 29 dealerships across the country. He bought Worthington Ford in 1963.

Cal Wor…

HONG KONG -- CATL's plan to raise at least $5 billion in Swiss global depository receipts (GDR) has been delayed as Beijing regulators raise concerns over the large scale of the offering, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The world's largest battery maker, formally known as Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (CATL), had expected to receive a green light for the listing in Zurich from the Chinese securities regulator by the end of January, said one of the sources. But the process is taking longer than expected, all three sources told Reuters.

The delay has come to light a week after Chinese President Xi Jinping told CATL that he had mixed feelings about its status as the biggest player in a soaring business tracking the rise of electric vehicles around the world.

Xi's comments came in a rare public intervention about one of China's most globally competitive sectors.

In a response to a presentation by CATL's Chairman Robin Zeng…

A federal judge in Florida last week ruled that Hyundai Motor America was within its rights to terminate two Napleton Automotive Group dealerships.

Hyundai served the dealerships notices of termination because it alleged that reputational harm was suffered after Napleton executive Edward Napleton Jr. was charged with sexual battery of an employee. Napleton Jr. is the son of company president Ed Napleton. Napleton Jr. was sentenced to five years probation under a "best interest" plea that does not admit guilt.

The wrongful termination suit was brought against Hyundai by North Palm Hyundai and West Palm Beach Hyundai — both owned by Napleton Automotive Group — claiming that Hyundai violated Florida law when it tried to end their franchise agreements.

"The order issued by Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida confirmed the propriety of Hyundai's decision to terminate these two dealerships," Mitch Widom, an atto…

General Motors has agreed to hike salaries by 10 percent this year at its largest Mexico factory, the local union said on Monday, making for one of the biggest recent raises in the sector in Mexico.

The increase, at GM's pickup truck plant in the central city of Silao, will go into effect for one year as of March 25 and tops last year's deal for 8.5 percent pay raises, said the Silao union, SINTTIA.

"This overcomes the two-digit barrier that has not been reached in the automotive industry in many years," SINTTIA said in a statement.

It added that the above inflation increase, as well as other benefits, will help workers recover purchasing power.

GM did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Workers at GM's Silao plant elected SINTTIA in February 2022 after ousting their long-time labor representatives, hoping the new union would fight for better pay and conditions.

In other recent salary deals in Mexico, automakers agreed to…

Ever since Michigan passed its right-to-work law in 2012, union bosses have been longing for an opportunity to overturn it.

As residents of a right-to-work state, Michiganders are free to join and pay dues to a labor union, and they're free to choose not to.

The bosses that control Michigan's biggest unions would rather workers not have that choice — they want dues to be mandatory.

Any other private organization, be it a church, a civic group or a political party, would be laughed right out of Lansing if they asked the state legislature to mandate contributions to their groups.

But in politics, money talks. Union bosses spent millions of dollars on Michigan's elections this year, and now they're eager to cash in.

It's a shame, but not a surprise, that among the union bosses calling for the reinstatement of compulsory union dues is Ray Curry, president of the UAW, who called right to work a "travesty."

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Volkswagen Group plans to build its first North American battery cell manufacturing plant in St. Thomas, Ont., as the automaker establishes a regional supply chain to build electric vehicles for Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

The company and its in-house battery subsidiary PowerCo on Monday announced the landmark investment in the southwestern Ontario city midway between Toronto and Windsor.

Financial details were not immediately available.

Volkswagen said the plant is scheduled to begin producing battery cells in 2027. It shared few other specifics. The value of the investment and further details about production capacity are expected to be announced at an event in St. Thomas in the coming months.

Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen’s technology chief as well as chair of the PowerCo board, said the investment will drive the automaker’s battery strategy forward “at full speed.”  

“Our gigafactory in Canada sends a strong message: PowerCo is on t…

A Chinese automaker’s plan to pay cash rewards to people exposing Internet trolls has backfired, with social-media critics saying it should have spent the money making better cars.

Great Wall Motor Co., best known for making SUVs and pickup trucks, on Friday announced a 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) program to reward people who alert it to organized or paid internet trolling against any Chinese automaker. If the tip-off’s accuracy is verified by the company and a law enforcement agency, a reward will be paid based on the value of the information.

The plan is in response to an unhealthy social-media discourse surrounding the auto industry, according to Fu Xiaokang, a vice president at Great Wall. He cited an example of paid trolls disputing claims a manufacturing defect caused an EV-battery fire, instead blaming the driver for setting the vehicle alight in an attempt to mislead consumers about the safety of electric cars. He also said Chinese media has turned a…

Electric-vehicle maker Rivian Automotive Inc. and its largest shareholder Amazon.com Inc. are in talks to end the exclusivity part of their electric van deal, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday citing people familiar with the matter.

Online retailer Amazon had placed an order for 100,000 electric delivery vans from the Irvine, Calif.-based EV maker in 2019, as part of the company's plans to cut carbon emissions. It has taken deliveries and inducted the EDVs into its fleet, with over 10 million packages delivered using the vans.

Amazon informed the EV maker it wanted to buy about 10,000 vans this year, which was at the low end of a range it previously provided Rivian, the report added.

Rivian said it continues to work closely with Amazon. Shares of the EV maker fell 2.5 percent to $13.82 in midday trading.

"While nothing has changed with our agreement with Rivian, we have always said we want others to benefit from their technology in the lo…