Trade News

General Motors has named a new head of its OnStar in-vehicle safety, security and connectivity business, replacing Jeff Massimilla after a little more than a year.

Mike Devereux, a top GM sales and marketing executive in China, took over as vice president, OnStar safety and security, as of Nov. 1, a GM spokeswoman told Automotive News.

Devereux succeeds Massimilla, who had overseen OnStar since September 2021. GM did not comment on Massimilla's departure.

Devereux began working for GM in 1984 and has had multiple leadership roles, most recently as vice president for vehicle sales, service and marketing for GM China and SAIC-GM, a joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp., according to the automaker.

Massimilla did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Wednesday. In July, he introduced a new brand identity and logo for OnStar aimed at increasing the reach of its services.

His previous roles at GM included vice president for global c…

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Before BMW can begin cranking out electric vehicles at its sprawling U.S. factory near Spartanburg, S.C., the German luxury marque must develop a complex EV supplier network in the region.

Overseeing that critical development is the job of Joachim Post, a 20-year company veteran and BMW Group's head of procurement and supply chain.

Post helps ensure that 30 million parts reach the company's worldwide production hubs daily. As BMW switches factories to building EVs, Post is rethinking how new technologies and raw materials are sourced. The bottom line: Building EVs means suppliers must step up and manufacture the new parts for them.

"The industrialization of all the assembly, of all the components, is sophisticated and high tech and needs time," Post told Automotive News at a media event in Palm Springs, Calif., this week. "We are focused on that, but it will be tough."

Last month BMW announced a $1.7 billion investment to …

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve officials delivered their fourth straight 75 basis-point interest rate increase while also signaling their aggressive campaign to curb inflation could be approaching its final phase.

The Fed said that “ongoing increases” will likely be needed to bring rates to a level that is “sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time,” according to the Federal Open Market Committee’s statement released in Washington Wednesday following a two-day meeting.

In a new sentence in the statement, the Fed also said: “In determining the pace of future increases in the target range, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.”

The fresh language comes amid still-strong readings on inflation and jobs, even as sectors like housing and manufacturing have slowed substantiall…

Germany has called for a pause in the developing deep-sea mining industry, saying not enough is known about the likely impacts of mining the seabed for battery metals.

The world's fourth-biggest economy joins countries including New Zealand and France in calling for seabed mining exploration to stop until further research is done on environmental effects.

German automakers Volkswagen and BMW have previously said they would not buy metals mined from the seabed.

The move by Germany is likely to change the dynamic of negotiations at the International Seabed Authority (ISA) over deep-sea mining regulations, Deep Sea Conservation Coalition co-founder Matthew Gianni, who is observing the talks in Jamaica, said.

"It is indicative of states saying, 'we need to take control of this process,'" he said, adding some states represented at the ISA, a UN body in charge of drawing up rules governing seabed mining, had become more vocal about environmental conce…

Garrett Motion Inc., a key supplier of automotive turbochargers and other equipment, is exploring strategic options including a sale, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The Rolle, Switzerland-based company is working with an adviser on a possible sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. Garrett is expected to attract interest from companies looking to enhance their EV operations, one of the people said. Nothing is imminent, the people added.

Garrett shares rose 7.5 percent in New York trading Wednesday afternoon, giving the company a market value of about $491 million. It also has about $1.2 billion of debt, for an enterprise value of about $1.5 billion. 

A representative for Garrett declined to comment.

Garrett, originally known as Honeywell Transportation Systems, was spun off in 2018. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 after struggling with lo…

A pair of Midwest dealership groups expanded via dealership purchases from Michigan's Spartan Auto Group, which sold its remaining four stores in the state in two transactions.

Serra Automotive Inc., of Fenton, Mich., one of the largest privately held groups in the country, bolstered its presence in the state with its Monday purchase of Lexus of Lansing. The acquisition marks Serra Automotive's first Lexus store.

Serra Automotive bought the store from the Criscuolo family, which owned Spartan Auto Group.

The dealership was renamed Serra Lexus Lansing. Lansing, Michigan's capital, is located in the middle of the state.

Serra Automotive said it plans to relocate the Lexus dealership to a new facility in Okemos, east of Lansing, where the group already has BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche dealerships across a 20-acre site.

Serra Automotive said the move is pending Lexus' approval, but noted it plans to build the facility and move in 2024.

KAR Global CFO Eric Loughmiller will retire at the end of 2022, the company announced.

The wholesale auctions provider is conducting a national search for Loughmiller's replacement and aims to fill the role before he retires, KAR CEO Peter Kelly told investors and analysts Wednesday on the company's third-quarter earnings call.

KAR reported higher year-over-year revenue, more profits per each vehicle sold and a net profit from its continuing operations in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, though Kelly noted continued wariness about reduced conversion rates at auctions.

KAR reported a $500,000 net profit from continuing operations, which include its digital and hybrid wholesaling units such as BacklotCars, Openlane, Carwave and TradeRev. That's compared with a $26.9 million net loss one year ago.

However, KAR recorded a net loss of $5.8 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30. That figure factors in a loss of $6.3 million from the company's disco…

Bank information provider TurboPass hopes to break into the franchised dealership market with a new product allowing retailers to review payroll data for prospective auto borrowers, Patrick Jarman, director of marketing and strategic initiatives, said this last month.

TurboPass' business historically has involved helping auto shoppers easily share their bank account data with lenders and dealerships through an online tool accessible through a text message link. This allows the retailer or creditor to quickly verify the stipulation ("stip") information, such as income, the lender checks before granting a loan. TurboPass says it's able to cut a contract "in transit" — not yet funded — from days to hours. Dealers have requested more than 200,000 TurboPass banking reports in the past two years, according to the company.

The company's new PayStub Report option allows TurboPass' dealers and lenders to receive information and verify creditworthiness s…

It’s still early days in the race for electric vehicle supremacy, and while auto engineers have rushed to improve driving ranges and charging speeds, they remain split on the front trunk.

Roughly one-third of the 30 or so EV models for sale in the U.S. have supersized the feature in recognition of its novelty and utility -- after all, a “frunk” is one of few things EVs offer that a gasoline-powered vehicle cannot.

Another third of models, however, skip the frunk altogether, freeing up cabin space on a bet that customers accustomed to frunkless living will not demand one when they go electric.

Those that do offer novel uses such as Ford, which suggests filling their refrigerator-sized front trunk, that comes standard on two of its EVs, with seafood (see below) or even 1,000 chicken wings. The frunks even come with a useful drain to help transport food items.

Frunks are not new to the auto industry. Models with engines in the rear of the car, like…

Seating and electronics supplier Lear Corp. reported improved financial performance in the third quarter, fueled by better market conditions.

Lear said net income increased 440 percent from a year ago to $92 million in the third quarter, while sales rose 23 percent to $5.2 billion, due primarily to improved production volumes.

Core operating earnings increased 140 percent to $235 million for the quarter, according to the automotive seating supplier's earnings presentation Tuesday.

All of that was aided by global car production that increased 29 percent year-over-year to 20.8 million units, while U.S. production increased 24 percent to 3.7 million units.

"Our financial returns in seating lead the industry," CEO Ray Scott said in a call with investors. "Electrification and other added content in the vehicle will drive growth in e-systems. As we work through the challenging industry conditions, we are proactively taking steps to position Lear for …