Trade News

Stellantis made it known in 2021 that the freshly merged company was going to make major investments to electrify its broad portfolio.

This year, it became clearer where the tens of billions of dollars are heading. Brands that were uninterested in going electric while part of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles portfolio now have far more ambitious plans to move away from internal combustion engines.

Jeep is delivering two battery-electric utility vehicles in 2024 for the U.S. The Recon is a Wrangler-inspired trail cruiser that won't pollute the environment during off-road adventures, while the Wagoneer S is a stylish midsize crossover.

Dodge is reinventing itself for the electric transition with eco-friendly muscle. The performance brand previewed its future with the Charger Daytona SRT Concept, which delivers a growl that stands out from all the silent EVs out there today.

Ram is bringing out an electric 1500 pickup in 2024 after it launches a batte…

Dodge is going to look quite different in a few years.

The long-running Challenger and Charger muscle cars that tear up asphalt with an array of high-powered engines will roll down the line for the last time next year at Brampton Assembly in Ontario.

They'll give way to a new generation of electric performance in 2024, which the brand previewed with the Charger Daytona SRT Concept.

The upcoming Hornet, a fresh compact crossover entry, will be Dodge's first electrified model when it reaches dealerships next year. A gasoline version of the Hornet will join the lineup before the end of this year.

Charger: Dodge unveiled the electric Charger Daytona SRT Concept in August, providing a look into the brand's future. The noisy EV comes with an industry-first "exhaust" system for the segment and an 800-volt battery. It's slated to be released in 2024.

The final year of the muscular sedan in its current form will see numerous heritage-influe…

Six dealerships traded hands in five separate transactions in the first, second and third quarters.

Here's a look at the deals involving import and domestic dealerships and stores in Texas, Louisiana, Oregon and Minnesota.

McGavock Auto Group dealership acquired after failed sale to LMP

One of McGavock Auto Group's Texas dealerships that was slated to be included in a failed sale to auto retailer LMP Automotive Holdings Inc. has sold to a different owner.

Steve McGavock and his son Brent McGavock of McGavock Auto on June 1 sold McGavock Nissan Abilene to Dillon Clark and partners Trey Patterson, William Sparks and Richard Traweek, Dillon said.

The store was renamed Clark Nissan of Abilene and is Dillon's first dealership.

LMP in September 2021 said it planned to buy four Nissan dealerships in Abilene, Amarillo, San Marcos and Lubbock and an Infiniti store in Lubbock from Steve McGavock, principal of McGavock Auto.

The deal wa…

Daytona's Garage, an offshoot of a Stellantis dealership in Florida, has a "let's figure it out" approach when it comes to making dreams a reality for buyers with ambitious visions for customizing their vehicles.

This openness makes Daytona Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram's custom shop a loyalty-builder that generates excitement among customers, said dealership owner Randy Dye.

"We owe it to the customer to be able to help them beyond just selling the car and providing warranty work," he said. "So that has created a bit of fun, a bit of excitement, a bit of enthusiasm for the customer."

Sometimes, Daytona's Garage technicians end up getting ahead of the curve with their creations. Around six years ago, the team injected a jolt of horsepower into a Durango R/T that wouldn't become factory-available until the Durango Hellcat arrived in 2021.

It all started when a customer came in looking to equip a newly purchased R/T with a special hood. So the team went…

Increasing rumblings across social media suggest California has so many electric vehicles that last week's extreme heat drove the state's power grid to the brink. And so, these arguments contend, it is ludicrous to mandate additional EVs because the grid obviously can't handle it.

This commentary is just plain wrong and is being lazily offered up by some of the same voices that have shared other debunked EV myths. Batteries did not die in the 2021 snow-induced traffic shutdown in Virginia and it did not cost 10 times more to charge when cold weather caused the grid to fail in Texas. The upfront environmental impact of producing an EV does not outweigh the benefits of operating it over time.

So, is EV charging really pushing the California power grid to the brink?

No. It has nothing to do with EV charging.

The state is experiencing extreme heat, and for a few hours in the late afternoon, the electricity demand for cooling …

A manufacturing error led to a recall of Mercedes-Benz vehicles, according to NHTSA.

The rear door window trim bars may detach in several 2020-22 GLE and GLS models, including AMG and Maybach variants. An estimate in a Sept. 12 statement indicates about 161,000 vehicles are affected.

Dealers will inspect and fix the trim bars for free, a statement said. Owner notification letters will be sent on Nov. 11. Detached bars could cause a road hazard or increase the risk of a crash, NHTSA said.

“The fixation of the trim bar at the rear door windows might not meet specifications. Thus, the trim bar might separate from the vehicle while driving,” Robert Moran, a spokesperson for Mercedes-Benz, said in an e-mailed statement.

“An authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer will check the installation of the trim bars on the rear door windows and rework them, if necessary. Mercedes-Benz is neither aware of any case of material damage nor personal injury in connection wit…

WASHINGTON — This week four federal agencies agreed to work collectively to decarbonize the transportation sector — the nation's largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and a main cause of air pollution.

The EPA and Energy, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development departments signed a memorandum of understanding to combine efforts to advance affordable low- and zero-emission transportation options for all Americans and support President Joe Biden's goal of achieving net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050.

The agencies plan to coordinate on policy while working closely with states, local communities, labor unions, the private sector and other key stakeholders. They've set high-level goals such as reducing air pollution, enabling an equitable transition to clean transportation, securing domestic supply chains, supporting U.S. jobs and leading the global decarbonization effort.

"A modernized transportation sector, equipped with accessible clean…

Uber Technologies Inc said it was investigating a cybersecurity incident, after a report that its network was breached, forcing the company to shut several internal communications and engineering systems.

A hacker compromised an employee's account on workplace messaging app Slack and used it to send a message to Uber employees announcing that the company had suffered a data breach, according to a New York Times report Thursday that cited an Uber spokesperson.

Cybersecurity has been an issue for Uber in the past. It suffered a significant hack in 2016 that exposed the personal information of about 57 million of its customers and drivers.

Shares of the ride-hailing firm were down nearly 5 percent Friday, amid broader U.S. market declines.

It appeared the hacker was able to gain access to other internal systems, posting an explicit photo on an internal information page for employees, the Times report added.

"We…

DETROIT — While automakers and dealers were showing off new electric vehicle offerings 30 miles down the road at the Detroit auto show, thousands of executives, engineers, salespeople and journalists gathered in Novi, Mich., at the Battery Show this week to discuss how the EVs of the future will be powered.

It's an urgent topic. Automakers are setting aggressive EV sales targets, and the federal government is pressing for 50 percent of new-vehicle sales to be zero-emission by 2030. California is moving to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles beginning in 2035.

But the battery supply chain to make it all possible remains fragile. Automakers and battery companies are largely reliant on materials that are sourced and processed overseas. And even there, the amount of mining taking place only scratches the surface of what will be needed in the near future.

Executives, analysts and economists at the Battery Show discussed how to address those challen…

DETROIT — A shade reminiscent of a volcanic explosion represents North America's latest car color trend, auto coatings supplier BASF said at the Detroit auto show.

BASF showcased the shade Lava at the show Wednesday. The color represents a crossroads of high technology and sustainability, BASF designers said.

Lava, a charcoal gray with red undertones, is one of several key colors assigned to global regions, including a coppery beige for South America, a pearl-like ivory for Asia Pacific, a rich yellow for China, and a metallic gold for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

BASF's Automotive Color Trends team creates an annual palette to stir creativity in the auto industry.

The latest collection, called New Array, is meant to inspire automotive designers' future mass-production plans. BASF estimates the 2022-23 palette could be "on the road or in your driveway" in three to five model years.

BASF customers can expect to sample more than 50 s…

While the federal government hurries to approve state plans to support an electric vehicle charging network across the country, President Joe Biden is busy visualizing the end goal.

"The great American road trip is going to be fully electrified," Biden said Wednesday in a speech at the Detroit auto show, his first visit to the event since he was vice president in the Obama administration. "Whether you're driving coast to coast along the I-10 or on I-75 here in Michigan, charging stations will be up and as easy to find as gas stations are now."

The president last year set an ambitious target for battery-electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cells to make up 50 percent of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. by 2030. And, to speed up EV adoption, his administration is working with states to build 500,000 EV charging stations with funding from the $1 trillion infrastructure law.

As of Wednesday, the Biden administration has approved 35 of the 52 EV infrastructur…

Automakers have us wondering lately what in the world their designers might do with the front ends and hoods of vehicles once engine compartments are rendered obsolete by EV batteries. But that's a styling challenge for the future.

At last week's Detroit auto show, we were struck by a more immediate design changewith vehicle portals. Doors and rear hatches are suddenly showing new expressiveness, for no particular reason. Those simple old rectangles of the past — perfunctory vertical passageways in and out of cars and trucks — appear to be a new object of loving attention among stylists and concept artists, brand strategists and mobility disruptors.

Is it in any way related to the shift to EVs? Doesn't seem to be. What it really looks like is just good old-fashioned artistic expression. It's what those people are paid to do.

Cadillac Lyriq: The rear door evokes the glory of Cadillac.

Lexus BEV Sport concept: A door t…