Trade News

The Las Vegas Convention Center once again came alive with the world's biggest auto accessory party, the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show, back for a second year after a brief pandemic hiatus. Several automakers and aftermarket companies showed concept versions of their latest cars and light trucks. Here are some highlights from SEMA's once-again-annual show.

Acura has resurrected the Integra sport sedan in the U.S. after 21 years. To celebrate, Honda's luxury division partnered with three of the nation's top tuners, allowing them to showcase the new Integra's potential for personalized performance.

Ford unveiled 10 vehicles at the show, including F-150 Lightnings, Broncos and a Bronco Sport. The Bronco modifications were meant to emphasize the SUV's off-road prowess. One Lightning was modified to serve as a race-support vehicle, while another was called the Lightning Swiss Army Knife to highlight its versatility and functionalit…

Driverless cars have been just around the corner for nearly a decade.

Yet after ambitious promises by CEOs of automakers and startups and buy-in from investors to the tune of more than $200 billion, there is not yet one fully autonomous vehicle on public roads in the U.S. today. And it isn't even all that close.

Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley said as much recently when the automaker pulled the plug on Argo AI, a once-promising startup on which it bet $1 billion five years ago, when then-Ford CEO Mark Fields predicted driverless cars would be widespread by now.

"Profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off," Farley told investors.

While not necessarily surprising, Argo's unwinding has had a chilling effect on the AV tech sector and thrust the future of fully autonomous driving further into uncertainty. But that does not mean AV work has stalled, said Reuben Sarkar, president and CEO of the American Center for Mobility near Ypsi…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Long awaited, hydrogen’s moment may be here for transportation and beyond

Hailed as a "magical" solution. Derided as a perennial fantasy. Embraced as an "earthshot."

Many have eyed hydrogen's tantalizing potential as an abundant and pollution-free energy source for transportation and beyond. Jules Verne described a method in which "water will one day be employed as fuel," and wrote hydrogen and oxygen will "furnish an exhaustible source of heat and light" in his 1874 novel The Mysterious Island.

Nearly 150 years later, hydrogen's applications are no longer confined to science fiction. But despite the straightforward chemistry involved in its production, the ascendance of hydrogen to the realm of a society-altering energy source remains elusive.

Now, after decades of pilot projects and sporadic deployments, hydrogen appears on the cusp of economic viability and widespread use. Spurred by the simultaneous global challenges…

Nissan warns dealers of production cuts at a key U.S. plant. Rivian takes a big net loss in Q3. Elon Musk encourages Tesla’s competitors to keep advertising on Twitter. Plus, Sono Motors co-founder and CEO Laurin Hahn talks about his company’s plan to sell its solar electric car for around $25,000.

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WASHINGTON — Three House lawmakers have joined a push in the Senate to delay certain sourcing and manufacturing requirements in the Inflation Reduction Act's tax credit for consumers buying new electric vehicles.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., introduced a bill — known as the Affordable Electric Vehicles for America Act — in September that would create a longer phase-in for the tax credit's North American final assembly requirement as well as its critical mineral and battery component provisions.

U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell of Alabama, Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri and Eric Swalwell of California — all Democrats who won midterm reelections in their states — introduced a companion bill this month.

Sewell said the bill is a "win-win for Alabama, ensuring that automakers and car buyers alike can take advantage of these tax credits immediately."

The mounting effort in Congress comes as the U.S. Treasury Department prepares to issue proposed guidance by Dec. …

There's a phrase that keeps getting tossed around in the autonomous vehicle business: trough of disillusionment.

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said it on General Motors' recent earnings call, and Aurora Innovation CEO Chris Urmson used a variation of to describe where the industry is right now. Their comments came after Ford and Volkswagen-backed Argo AI shut down and after a year-long rout in self-driving tech stocks.

What's happening is a brutal shakeout among companies trying to monetize a new technology. Money poured into startups during bubbly days before and during the pandemic. Many of those investments aren't panning out. Companies with cash, technology chops and patient ownership are still in the game. Any company missing just one of those three pieces are going away.

The remaining players are still getting funded and are still eyeing a big prize if they can scale up a business before investors lose interest.

"The laggards are falling behind while…

Modern car buyers can get everything they need to make a purchase decision without coming to the lot. With just a few keystrokes, they can visit multiple dealership websites, research options, lock monthly payments and even complete the deal paperwork. By delivering an efficient, personalized experience when they finally come to your store, you’ll be seen as a trusted expert and not just another typical dealer out for a quick sale.

To help dealerships succeed in this brave new world, CDK Global developed a six-part guide to understanding what prospective buyers want and how to give it to them. Topics include:

The Car Dealership Sales Process: What Shoppers Want From Shopper to Buyer: The Customer Journey Car Dealership Sales Tools: What You Need Dealing with Dealership Inventory Shortages: What to Say Inbound Phone Leads: To BDC or Not to BDC Winning Car Dealership Sales

Today’s customers have the resources necessary to educate themselves and make decisions on thei…

A Buick electric crossover prototype has been photographed undergoing road tests, signaling that the General Motors brand is nearing the start of its transformation to a zero-emissions lineup.

The heavily camouflaged electric vehicle, spotted in southeast Michigan, looks similar in size to the Chevrolet Blazer EV or Equinox EV that GM revealed this year. The prototype appears to share styling elements with the Buick Electra-X crossover concept that GM introduced in China in June, notably the headlight layout.

A spokesman for Buick declined to comment on future products. Buick spokesman Mikhael Farah said Buick "will have an all-electric portfolio in North America by the end of the decade, with our first EV arriving in showrooms in 2024. Buick's future EV products will carry the Electra name, drawing inspiration from Buick's history while appropriately positioning it toward a zero-emissions future."

Buick has said all of its EVs will ca…

Chinese battery maker Sunwoda Electronic Co. has been selected by Volkswagen Group to produce battery packs for the German auto giant’s hybrid vehicles.

The deal to supply VW Group with high-voltage batteries will help it win more such agreements with major global automakers, Sunwoda said this week.

The company didn’t disclose additional details about the deal with VW Group.

Sunwoda, a lithium ion battery maker based in the south China city of Shenzhen, started to supply battery cells, modules, packs and battery management systems to auto manufacturers in 2008.

The company has supplied batteries to Renault SA, Nissan Motor Co., Dongfeng Motor Group, GAC Motor Co., SAIC Motor Corp. and SAIC-GM-Wuling – SAIC’s light-vehicle joint venture with General Motors.

In the first nine months of 2022, Sunwoda shipped 5.9 gigawatt hours of batteries, ranking fifth among Chinese battery suppliers for electrified vehicles and hybrids, according to Korean …

The Buick Century went on sale in China last week as General Motors seeks to expand its presence in the market for premium large multi-purpose vehicles.

The Century is the second large MPV GM is producing at its passenger-vehicle joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp., following the Buick GL8. 

It is equipped with GM’s Ecotec 2.0T turbocharged gasoline engine, a nine-speed Hydra-Matic transmission and 48-volt mild-hybrid system.

The Century is 5,230 mm long, 1,980 mm wide, 1,867 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 3,130 mm. It is similar in size to the GL8, but will slot above the GL8 in price and content.

It features advance connectivity features such as a virtual cockpit system running on a 30-inch display, a 32-inch sliding screen in the partition wall with an integrated camera system and a high-resolution color head-up display.  

The Century's starting price is 529,900 yuan ($73,090) while the GL8 is 232,900 yuan.

The GL8 has rem…

GRAZ, Austria — Fisker Inc. is poised to begin production next week as promised a year ago, although some features, including those that are common on many competing vehicles, may not be ready until 2024.

Early next year, the company plans to add lane-keep assistance, blind-spot monitoring and automatic high beams to its launch edition Fisker Ocean One. By late 2023, it expects to add lane centering and traffic-jam assist. Its Power Bank package for vehicle-to-home and vehicle-to-vehicle charging should roll out over the next two years, according to materials provided to journalists.

CEO Henrik Fisker said his priority is getting vehicles with unique features made and shipped to a growing backlog of customers, especially since over-the-air updates allow for less-critical features to be added later. He has stressed the need for rapid development of models so they can employ the latest technologies, rather than the much-longer processes that automakers have hist…

WASHINGTON - A U.S. judge on Wednesday granted final approval to a class-action settlement worth at least $80 million to resolve claims Volkswagen Group and its Porsche unit skewed emissions and fuel economy data on 500,000 Porsche vehicles in the United States.

The settlement, first reported by Reuters in June, covers 2005 through 2020 model year Porsches. Owners accused the automaker of physically altering test vehicles that affected emissions and fuel economy results.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer also approved $24.5 million in attorneys' fees and costs.

Owners of eligible vehicles will receive payments of $250 to $1,109 per vehicle.

Porsche said on Wednesday that it has "been working to develop a solution and to ensure customers are appropriately compensated."

"We are committed to providing our customers with transparent fuel economy and emissions data, and the agreement ensures that customers are fairly reimbursed for any fuel eco…