Trade News

Swedish electric vehicle maker Polestar crouches on the starting line of a growth sprint that will see it launch three models and sell 290,000 vehicles by mid-decade.

It's an ambitious goal in the best of times. These are anything but for the auto industry, which grapples with supply chain bottlenecks, surging raw material costs and softening demand.

Now, Polestar is getting a $1.6 billion shot of new capital to cushion it against market turbulence.

Five-year-old Polestar's affiliate and shareholder Volvo Cars will provide an 18-month $800 million loan. The other major shareholder, PSD Investment Ltd., controlled by Chinese billionaire Li Shufu, is committing an equal amount through direct and indirect financing and liquidity support.

The financing "allows Polestar to focus on delivering more cars to more customers," CEO Thomas Ingenlath told analysts on a quarterly earnings call Friday. "We are on track developing the company, our product portfo…

State environmental regulators issued an air quality violation notice to Stellantis NV for exceeding its emission limit at Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit.

The plant, which makes Jeep and Dodge vehicles, was cited for an emissions rate of 5.01 pounds of volatile organic compounds per job in September, exceeding the limit of 4.8 pounds per job, according to a Monday report from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.

Stellantis said the violation stems from a retooling of the plant earlier this year for the new Jeep Grand Cherokee. The plant was operating at reduced volumes due to the ongoing microchip shortage.

"The reduced production volume means that total VOC emissions from the facility are actually well below our permitted allowable emission rate; however, emissions per vehicle have increased because we are making fewer vehicles," Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said in an email.

Tinson said the plant's painting pro…

Lauren Morrison says that as a young girl growing up in a small Alabama town, “I never could have imagined working at an OEM.” Instead, she says she wanted to be a school principal.

“But I was lucky, because in college I was at places that were intentional about inviting us to presentations for so many companies and industries,” she says. While a business student at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, Morrison attended a presentation about the future of vehicles and technology by a Ford representative. She was intrigued, and after consulting with a cousin who worked in the auto industry, applied for—and obtained—a summer internship, then a full-time position, at Ford.

In 2018, after five years at Ford, Morrison joined FCA/Stellantis, where she now serves as a multicultural marketing manager.

“I fell into the auto industry, but I really liked it,” she says. “I found I didn’t need to love cars or the technology. I found that having a love of co…

TOKYO – Toyota is flipping the script for the next-generation Prius hybrid.

The gas-sipping nameplate, a byword for eco-friendly driving since its 1997 debut, won't be a whole lot greener with the redesigned fifth generation. But it will sure be a whole lot meaner.

On tap is a new range of more powerful drivetrains with significantly more oomph and a zero to 62 mph sprint time as quick as 6.7 seconds. Total output, for the plug-in at least, should top 200 hp.

In a Prius.

What's more, it's all wrapped in head-turning, sports-car-inspired sheet metal that rides on a new platform that is lower and wider for spunkier handling. The Prius family's familiar and polarizing wedge shape has actually morphed into something sexy.

Toyota Motor Corp. executives unveiled the radical redesign here Wednesday with a bold Prius promise: a ton more power and pleasure but with all the same miserly fuel economy.

Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada, the so…

Capital One has laid off a small number of its 3,300 auto finance employees.

The layoffs occurred last week in response to the company's decision to cut back on writing new loans, according to a spokesperson for the lender.

"We continually assess our business to ensure we are well-positioned to offer innovative and competitive products and services to all of our customers," the spokesperson wrote in an email. "Rising interest rates, used vehicle prices and moves by competitors have created unique headwinds and compressed margins in the auto lending industry. Based on our assessment of the environment and our auto business, we pulled back on originations. To better align teams to match our current originations volume and ensure our organization remains strong and resilient, we announced changes that impacted some associates in our auto business."

Capital One took on $8.29 billion worth of new auto loans in the third quarter, down 28 …

SAN DIEGO — Used-vehicle prices are unlikely to crater in the coming months partly because of the strength of lingering new-vehicle demand, a J.D. Power expert said.

Approaching a "cliff edge" in used-vehicle prices likely won't happen because pent-up consumer demand on the new-vehicle side equates to probable sales of more than 4 million vehicles, said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power, who spoke Monday at the Used Car Week conference in San Diego.

If automakers could produce vehicles at 2018 levels, they would "clear this [backlog of sales] quite quickly" and "be back to a more moderate price environment," Jominy said.

Used-car market trackers report that wholesale prices peaked in November and December 2021, Jominy said. In the lead-up to that, prices for the average used vehicle went from hovering around $15,000 all the way to $28,000, he said. Since then, prices have trended about $3,000 lower, Jominy said.

But …

Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley said insourcing work from suppliers will be crucial to keeping jobs at the automaker as the industry shifts to electric vehicles composed of far fewer parts.

As Ford undergoes "the biggest change to our industrial system since the '20s there are also some storm clouds," Farley said Tuesday at the Rainbow PUSH Global Automotive Summit in Detroit.

"It takes 40 percent less labor to make an electric car. So as a family company, we have to insource so that everyone has a role. We have a whole new supply chain to fill out, and diversity has to play an even greater role in that than we've had."

Jobs, minority inclusion and union representation were among the key points in a discussion between Farley and the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the event.

The transition to EVs is especially important for Black-owned businesses whose primary role in the industry is to supply automakers, event Chairman John Graves said.

With EVs made …

Auto dealerships have another six months to beef up their consumer information security following a Federal Trade Commission Safeguards Rule extension announced Tuesday.

The last-minute reprieve moves the date for dealerships and other financial institutions to comply with the revamped Safeguards Rule, from Dec. 9, 2022, to June 9, 2023. The Safeguards Rule is part of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act regulating business customer information practices.

FTC commissioners voted 4-0 in favor of the extension. FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson on Monday issued a separate statement noting that she still opposes the FTC's 2021 decision to change the rule in the first place.

The agency cited reports — including from the Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy — of a lack of qualified personnel to oversee the changes and businesses having difficulty sourcing necessary technology.

"These difficulties were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic," the FTC wr…

WASHINGTON — Two fatal crashes, both involving Tesla Model 3 sedans with driver-assist technology, were reported during the Sept. 16 to Oct. 15 period, according to federal data released Tuesday.

Both crash deaths happened in California, though many of the details are redacted or considered confidential, NHTSA data shows.

Tesla's Autopilot driver-assist system has been under escalated scrutiny by the federal regulators after a series of crashes in the U.S. that resulted in more than a dozen injuries and one death.

Through Oct. 15, NHTSA has received reports of 18 fatal crashes involving vehicles equipped with advanced driver-assistance systems since it began forcing automakers, suppliers and tech companies to disclose the data last year.

The agency's order applies to vehicles equipped with Level 2 systems — those with driver-assist features such as lane-centering and adaptive cruise control — and Level 3 to Level 5 systems, which are not yet avail…

Automatic emergency braking and forward-collision warning technology is taking a bite out of front-to-rear crashes. The FTC refunds millions of dollars to consumers in a case against Napleton Automotive. Electric truck stops of the future will need as much energy as a small town. Plus, a preview of this week’s LA Auto Show with VP of Marketing David Fortin.

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WASHINGTON — Automatic emergency braking systems can reduce rear-end crashes in pickups, but few are equipped with the safety feature as standard technology, according to a study released Tuesday by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

The study used data gathered from police-reported crashes in 25 states from 2017 to 2020 and looked at the rate at which pickups rear-ended other vehicles per year.

The rear-end crash rate was 43 percent lower for pickups equipped with the technology than for those without it, the findings showed. Rear-end injury crash rates were 42 percent lower.

"These numbers confirm that [automatic emergency braking] is reducing crashes for pickups, just as it is cars, SUVs and large trucks," said study author Jessica Cicchino, vice president at the insurer-funded institute. "The faster automakers can make sure that every pickup they sell has this important safety feature, the better."

Automatic emergency braking aimed at…

Porsche is accelerating toward a greener future with the arrival of its first electric crossover — a battery-powered Macan that will pack a big battery and output.

The more than 600 hp electric Macan will be the "sportiest model in its segment," Porsche says.

Software supplier-related issues have delayed the compact luxury crossover by about a year. Production of the electric Macan will begin at a plant in Leipzig, Germany, in early fall 2023, analysts say, with U.S. deliveries expected in the first quarter of 2024.

The Macan EV — the sports car maker's second all-electric model, after the Taycan — is critical to Porsche's aims to generate more than 80 percent of new-vehicle sales globally from EVs by 2030.

The combustion engine variant is Porsche's best-selling U.S. model, accounting for nearly a third of sales in the first nine months.

Porsche expects to build as many units of the electric Macan EV compact crossover as the combustion en…