Trade News

Expectations were high for WM Motor Holdings, a Shanghai electric-vehicle maker backed by tech giant Baidu Inc. and started by a former Volvo executive. Now, it risks becoming yet another casualty of the slow-motion shakeout in China’s crowded EV market.

The company needs to cut costs to survive, founder and CEO Shen Hui wrote in a staff memo earlier this month seen by Bloomberg News. Salaries have been slashed, with employee pay reduced by 30 percent in October and some managers taking 50 percent cuts, another memo dated Nov. 21 showed.

At least 20 percent of WM Motor’s workforce has been laid off since November, and voluntary departures have resulted in the total count dropping by about 40 percent to fewer than 2,000 staff, people familiar with the carmaker’s situation told Bloomberg. Laid-off workers are still awaiting compensation, and payments to some suppliers and contractors have been delayed or only partially made, some of the people said.

The s…

Volkswagen Group wants to remain a strong player in Europe and China, but in the face of growing geopolitical tensions and an increasingly complex regulatory environment, the automaker is looking beyond the U.S. for markets with growth potential, Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz said.

“We are turning our attention to India to be more robustly positioned in this new world,” Antlitz said in an interview with Porsche Consulting Magazin.

“India has enormous growth potential in my view,” the CFO said.

The effort will mark yet another attempt by the company to break into the Indian market in a significant way.

The automaker’s earlier efforts to boost its presence in India have often been bruising experiences. An alliance with Suzuki ended in a fierce legal dispute before a single car was built and talks over teaming up with Jaguar-maker Tata Motors did not go anywhere.

But as U.S.-China tensions mount and the Asian giant’s seeming support of …

Sometimes less is more: Stellantis saw North American operations power profit gains for 2022, a year in which top brands Jeep and Ram saw their U.S. sales fall by double digits.

Adjusted operating income from North America surged 23 percent to $14.8 billion for the second year since the merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group. While the company reported that second-half shipments in the region fell 4.8 percent to 902,000, net revenues rose 15 percent to $45.8 billion. All this in a year where Jeep sales in the U.S. dropped by 12 percent and Ram sales by 16 percent.

Pricing power and higher-end content was the key.

Ram recorded its highest average transaction prices for the 1500 pickup at $57,000 and what it calls its heavy-duty trucks at $71,000. Stellantis said Ram has a 3.4 percent pricing power advantage against the benchmark. Stellantis touted Jeep's pricing power in the U.S. as 9.4 percent better than its benchmark.

The region's s…

The number of U.S. franchised dealerships in 2022 rose for the second year in a row after two years of declines, according to Urban Science's annual Automotive Franchise Activity Report.

There were 18,257 new-vehicle dealerships as of Jan. 1, 2023, up 27 stores from 2022, according to Urban Science's report, released Tuesday.

Urban Science found California added 25 dealerships, Texas added nine and Virginia added five, representing the states with the most dealership gains. Michigan lost the most stores with a decrease of nine dealerships, while Indiana lost seven and Minnesota fell by five.

While the number of dealerships increased, Urban Science said the number of franchises declined slightly. Urban Science said as of Jan. 1 there were 31,554 franchises, down 0.29 percent. The number of franchises fell 1 percent in 2021 to 31,646.

Amid lower vehicle sales and inventory shortages, the average number of new vehicles sold by U.S. dealerships, known…

Although Mary Kubitskey has been with General Motors for more than 30 years and has amassed an impressive resume — helping to launch OnStar, appearing twice on “The Apprentice” and more — she knows, she said, “what will be written on my tombstone.”

Kubitskey was a young brand advertising manager for the Pontiac G6 when she pushed GM to do a giveaway on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in September 2004. That moment when Oprah shouted “You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!” to her 276 screaming and crying audience members has become an iconic cultural moment, the subject of countless memes. The effort resulted in legendary numbers: an estimated $100 million in free press coverage and 87 percent awareness of the promotion among the American public, according to GM.

But for Kubitskey, who serves as senior manager-brand strategy, media and partnerships for Chevrolet, it was just one moment in a career she said she loves.

Growing up, she said, “I a…

Leasing is a basic F&I fundamental, and though it has been put on a shelf for the last couple years it's making a comeback because it offers customers flexibility, says Becky Chernek, founder of financing and insurance consulting firm Chernek Consulting in Oak Ridge, N.C.

"More and more dealers are seeing the opportunity that a lease now offers, and more and more F&I people need to wrap their head around it and train up on how to calculate a lease, how to present a lease, how to sell products with a lease, how to convert a customer from a cash deal or credit union deal," Chernek told Automotive News.

For some customers, she says, it might be better to put them in a 36-month lease if it makes sense, with higher residuals and a higher advance.

"If I can take that difference and put it into where it makes sense, not only to get them out from under that trade but into a vehicle they like and also payments that they can afford because the residual is …

LONDON -- Bentley will stop production of its 12-cylinder engine next year as the brand shifts to selling electric cars.

"The time has come to retire this now-iconic powertrain as we take strides towards electrification," Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark said in a statement.

The W12 has powered Bentley cars since the ultraluxury brand's reinvention by owners Volkswagen Group in 2003.

The engine gets its name because it has 12 cylinders arranged in a W formation rather than a V shape.

The first Bentley to use the engine was the 2003 Continental GT coupe and it still powers top-end versions of the GT, the Flying Spur sedan and Bentayga SUV.

The 6.0-liter, twin-turbo powerplant was initially built by VW in Salzgitter, Germany, but it was moved to Bentley's factory in Crewe, England, in 2014.

Bentley took over the design and development of the engine, initially exporting it back to Germany for use in the VW Phaeton and Audi A8 luxury sedans…

Stellantis, the parent company of the Ram, Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler and Fiat brands, posted robust profit and revenue gains in 2022 along with the largest payout to UAW employees among the Detroit 3 automakers.

The automaker, which doesn't disclose quarterly results under French financial reporting rules, on Wednesday said net profits for the year surged 26 percent to 16.8 billion euros ($17.9 billion) while global revenue rose 18 percent to 179.6 billion euros ($190.9 billion).

North American results paced the company's 2022 gains. Stellantis said North American adjusted operating income rose 23 percent to 13.9 billion euros ($14.8 billion). Revenues surged 23 percent to 85.5 billion euros ($90.9 billion). Deliveries rose 2 percent to 1.86 million vehicles.

In the U.S., Stellantis will distribute $14,760 each to eligible UAW-represented workers as part of a profit-sharing plan. About 40,500 workers are eligible for the bonus. The payout is up slightly fro…

Mercedes-Benz's manufacturing joint venture with Nissan in Mexico could be on the bubble.

A top Mercedes-Benz executive questioned the long-term prospects of the $1.4 billion manufacturing partnership with Nissan Motor Co.

The auto assembly plant in Aguascalientes, Mexico, known as COMPAS, builds the Mercedes GLB crossover and Infiniti QX50 and QX55 crossovers.

On an earnings call from Germany last week, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius referred to the Mexico manufacturing partnership as "stable" for now.

"We have a good partnership with Nissan, and it's supposed to stay this way for the next three years," Kallenius said. "What will happen after that, we haven't decided yet."

The sprawling factory in central Mexico is the cornerstone of an extensive industrial partnership, announced in 2010, for Daimler and the Nissan-Renault alliance to share vehicles and powertrain technologies.

The Euro-Japanese industrial collaboration was willed…