Trade News

Magna International Inc. is building a fleet of cooler-size robots for Cartken, an autonomous delivery technology startup.

Although Cartken announced the contract Wednesday, Magna started building the robots last month.

It made an initial order of 50 Cartken Model C robots at its plant in suburban Detroit and is increasing capacity, Matteo Del Sorbo, executive vice president at Magna, told Automotive News.

The agreement calls for Magna to build thousands of the six-wheel robots, but the companies did not provide an exact number or a dollar value for the contract.

Cartken sees a market for robots for autonomous deliveries at hotels, universities, warehouses and other locations. The Oakland, Calif., company is the developer and won't be providing the service.

Other companies will use the robots to do the actual deliveries. It is a business model similar to self-driving car companies such as Argo and Motional.

"This partnership is a sig…

Stellantis will keep its second shift going in Windsor, ON. Auto safety regulators offer new cybersecurity guidance. Volvo tries to open doors to younger buyers. Plus, Carnegie Mellon autonomous vehicle expert Dr. Phil Koopman dissects Cruise's rocky rollout in San Francisco.

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Elon Musk can use a whistleblower's claims in his legal case against Twitter Inc. but the billionaire cannot delay the trial over his attempt to walk away from his $44 billion deal for the company, a judge ruled Wednesday.

"I am convinced that even four weeks’ delay would risk further harm to Twitter," wrote Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware's Court of Chancery, in affirming the trial will start next month.

“We are hopeful that winning the motion to amend takes us one step closer to the truth coming out in that courtroom," said Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk, in a statement.

Musk's legal team argued on Tuesday that justice demanded delaying the five-day trial so Musk could investigate claims by whistleblower Peiter Zatko, known as "Mudge," that Twitter hid weaknesses in its security and data privacy.

Musk's initial case against Twitter claimed the company misrepresented the prevalence of spam or bot accounts on the platform.

Las…

MEXICO CITY - Mexican automotive production and exports rose in August compared with the same month a year earlier, data from the national statistics agency (INEGI) showed on Wednesday.

Production increased 31.36 percent to 316,815 vehicles and auto exports rose 16.93 percent to 248,704 units, the data showed.

According to INEGI monthly production also rose in May, June and July, 2022 compared to a year ago.

WASHINGTON — The nation's top auto safety regulator on Wednesday released updated guidance to the automotive industry for improving cybersecurity in new vehicles.

The latest version updates NHTSA's voluntary guidance from 2016 and covers a range of cybersecurity issues as cars become more connected and potentially more vulnerable to hacking.

"As vehicle technology and connectivity develop, cybersecurity needs to be a top priority for every automaker, developer and operator," said NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff, who is leaving the agency this month to join the California Air Resources Board as its executive officer.

"NHTSA is committed to the safety of vehicles on our nation's roads," Cliff continued, "and these updated best practices will provide the industry with important tools to protect Americans against cybersecurity risks."

NHTSA in January 2021 — during the last days of the Trump administration — sought public comment on draft guidance …

Stellantis has named Chris Taylor its chief digital information officer, a newly created position as the automaker works to become a "mobility tech company."

Taylor reports to Xavier Chéreau, chief human resources and transformation officer, and Ned Curic, chief technology officer. The move was effective Sept. 5.

Stellantis said Taylor will drive its digital strategy and technologies and "be responsible for improving IT project execution and organizational efficiency."

"Chris brings deep knowledge of cutting-edge digital technology to support our sophisticated business needs, both at Stellantis and for our customers," Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement. "His background in cyber security, new business models and customer-centric solutions will drive the business value we require to meet our aggressive Dare Forward 2030 targets."

Taylor has nearly 30 years of global information technology experience in multiple industries, including a…

For many years, China’s electric vehicle market was primarily driven by policy. The combination of fuel economy regulations, a new-energy vehicle quota system, government fleet mandates and direct purchase subsidies all added regulatory pressure and incentives for both automakers and consumers to go electric.

The policies still matter, but recent BloombergNEF analysis shows EV adoption is now running well ahead of what’s required purely from national regulations and policy targets. City-level policies are still playing an important role because they make it difficult to get a new license plate for internal combustion vehicles in China’s major cities, but even that isn’t enough to explain why adoption is rising so quickly.

There are many factors at play when a consumer technology starts to take off. Technology maturity, cost competitiveness and word of mouth all play a role. In China’s EV market, there’s another factor at play, namely that homegrown EV startups…

Four dealership groups, including a growing Canadian auto retailer expanding in the U.S., completed third-quarter, second-quarter and first-quarter transactions across four states.

Here's a look at the single-store deals involving domestic, import and luxury dealerships in Texas, New Jersey, Alabama and Louisiana.

Two deals involved a group ranked on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups.

Foundation Automotive buys again in Texas

Quickly expanding Canadian dealership group Foundation Automotive Corp., fresh off entering Tennessee in July, bolstered its Texas presence with its latest acquisition.

Foundation Automotive on Aug. 30 bought Mercedes-Benz of Wichita Falls from Patterson Auto Group. The dealership's name remains.

The German luxury dealership was one of three Patterson Auto stores not included in Foundation's February acquisition of five franchised dealerships from Patterson. That deal included BMW, Buick-GM…

Two Detroit area companies have been ordered to pay $10 million for manufacturing, selling and installing aftermarket devices that bypass car emissions controls.

Diesel Ops LLC and Orion Diesel LLC were caught through a national crackdown by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency against companies violating the Clean Air Act.

The federal agency identified the violations against the diesel parts suppliers in December, and the proposed civil penalty was granted by the U.S. District Court in Detroit on Aug. 29, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Additionally, the owner of the companies, Nicholas Piccolo, was hit with a $455,925 civil penalty for failing to respond to an information request pursuant to the Clean Air Act as well as a nearly $1 million judgment for fraudulent transfers in violation of the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act.

A permanent injunction was also implemented against future sales of defeat devices by the de…

VW has triggered Porsche's long-awaited public offering. Tesla could cut battery costs big time. The West’s exit from Russia is opening opportunities for local and Chinese automakers. Plus, a look at the history and future of the skateboard chassis.

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Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

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Stellantis will continue to build minivans on two shifts at the Windsor Assembly Plant in Windsor, Ont., until at least the end of June 2023, according to the union representing hourly workers there.

Unifor Local 444 President Dave Cassidy made the announcement in a Facebook video message on the Labor Day weekend, saying the automaker informed him of the decision on Sept. 2.

The automaker confirmed the plan, but didn't say why it extended the shift.

Stellantis said in October 2021 that it would eliminate the second shift in early spring of 2022, but it has since extended the life of the shift three times.

“Which is great news,” Cassidy said in his video. “We’ve been continuing to fight and argue over that second-shift issue. 

“We will continue to have dialogue and debates to make sure that it’s right off the radar prior to us going back to our three shifts.”

Stellantis eliminated the third shift two years, cutting about 1,400 jo…

The newest all-electric Mercedes model — the EQB compact crossover — arrived in the U.S. this summer.

The electric version of the GLB is similar to its internal combustion sibling and can be equipped as a three-row, seven-seater.

It is available in a pair of four-wheel-drive versions: The EQB 300 4matic, with peak output of 168 hp and 390 Newton-meters of torque; and the 350 4matic, with output of 215 hp and 520 Nm of torque (57,988 euros).

A less-expensive two-wheel-drive version is expected later.

Competitors include the Audi Q4 e-tron and e-tron Sportback; the Volvo XC40 Recharge and the coming Genesis GV60.

We've rounded up some early reviews from the automotive press.

"Despite running on a standard front-wheel-drive platform, this compact SUV feels like it was designed to be an EV from the get-go.

It's largely the same as the regular GLB, with the long display housing two 12-…