Trade News

Volkswagen Group has sealed an agreement with Canada to secure access to raw materials such as nickel, cobalt and lithium for vehicle and battery production, people familiar with the accord told Bloomberg.

The memorandum of understanding will be signed during German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s current trip to Canada and is designed to shorten supply chains for VW’s facilities in the U.S. and avoid difficulties linked to tariffs and tax regulations, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. The move has partly been prompted by new rules that President Joe Biden signed into law last week, the person added.

Volkswagen and Canadian government leaders have scheduled a virtual press conference for Tuesday "to announce an agreement to jointly advance electric mobility in the country."

Spokespeople for VW did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by Bloomberg.

The Biden administrati…

In 1978, Lyn St. James read an article about the Ford Mustang in Car and Driver. The story had a sidebar about Ford’s interest in marketing the Mustang to women by providing competitive and racing opportunities. 

St. James had been racing for fun for years and earned her competition driver’s license at age 27. She was ready to get more serious and was looking for a sponsor. “I wrote letters to everyone at Ford who was quoted in that article, asking them to sponsor me,” she says. She got a letter back from Ford, congratulating her on her racing success and telling her to keep them informed about her career. So she did. She raced whenever she could and sent her results to the Ford team. After a dogged pursuit, in 1981, she became one of the first female race car drivers to receive a full-season sponsorship.

Her subsequent story is legendary: St. James was the first woman Rookie of the Year at the Indianapolis 500, in 1992 — and she had six more Indy 500…

TOKYO -- Japan's Hino Motors said it will suspend shipments of small trucks after confirming that a widespread data falsification scandal included those models, highlighting deepening problems at the Toyota Motor Corp. unit.

Truck and bus maker Hino's President Satoshi Ogiso told a Monday news conference that during a transport ministry investigation additional misconduct regarding emissions was found that affects more than 76,000 vehicles.

The scandal, which came to light in March, was previously not believed to have impacted the smaller trucks, which have been sold since 2019.

Toyota owns 50.1% of Hino.

"We are extremely disappointed that Hino again betrayed the expectations and trust of its stakeholders," Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in a statement.

Hino said in a statement that some 76,694 vehicles of its Dutro small truck model were impacted, bringing the total number of vehicles involved in the scandal to more than 640,000.

…

Tesla Inc. will start charging $15,000 for the driver-assistance features it calls "Full Self-Driving," raising the price of the controversial product for the second time this year.

The hike for customers in North America will take effect Sept. 5, CEO Elon Musk tweeted Sunday. The current $12,000 price will be honored for orders made before that date, he wrote.

Tesla’s use of the name Full Self-Driving, or FSD, has been criticized because the features require active supervision and don’t make its vehicles autonomous.

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles has accused the company of misleading consumers about FSD and its more limited Autopilot system. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also has opened two separate investigations into whether Autopilot is defective.

Musk, 51, said in June that solving issues with the company’s self-driving technology will be pivotal to the company’s valuation.

“That’s really the differenc…

Robert BoschNorth America

Vice President of Electrification

ErichBanhegyi

Big Break: Being project leader of the team that designed Bosch's first hybrid drive — an e-motor and clutch — which debuted in 2010.

Age: 43

Valeo

Regional Operations Quality Director

FernandaBarrales

Big Break: Moved from sales into a more technically challenging management career track in project management and manufacturing.

Age: 41

Honda Developmentand Manufacturingof America

Chief Engineer, Senior Manager

AnnieBoh

Big Break: Gaining buy-in from upper management to lead the business development of Honda's wind tunnel facility in the U.S.

Age: 42

Stellantis

Vice President of Jeep…

That hot new electric Kia GT is a glimpse into today's industry drama

Kia unveiled its new EV6 GT model Friday at the annual high-end auto event in Monterey, Calif. We tell you about it on Page 1 this week because it's interesting news — but also because it serves as a portal into the many dramas of today's car business.

The EV6 GT is an electric car from a mass-market brand, but it's stoked with 576 hp and a 3.4-second zero-to-60.

There are other performance EVs suddenly coming out, and you can see them scattered through this week's issue. Check out Vince Bond Jr.'s Page 1 piece on the newly revealed Charger Daytona SRT from Dodge. It's an electric muscle-car concept. Who knew there would be such a thing?

But why not? Electrification is a new ballgame. The industry is flying into it and you can read about all the new EVs just now being unveiled on several pages of this issue.

But there's also uncertainty in the mix.

We tell you th…

The Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands have startled the industry with their rapid rollout of future electric vehicle strategies. A swath of EVs, many designed on Hyundai Motor Group's new flexible shared architecture, the Electric Global Modular Platform, or E-GMP, are now in the works.

The automakers plan to invest more than $16 billion to introduce new battery-electrics by 2030, including 11 Hyundai brand models and six luxury Genesis vehicles.

At the same time, sibling brand Kia intends to have eight battery-electric vehicles in its U.S. lineup by 2029.

That includes the EV6 compact crossover that went on sale this year, the redesigned Niro EV, the EV9 three-row crossover that it will build starting in 2023 and possibly a midsize electric pickup.

But with the signing into law of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Korean brands' aggressive product plans may be under a cloud. The sweeping law changes the rules for how federal EV tax credits will be…

Kia is busy plotting its road to electrification. The Korean brand has said it will debut 14 EVs globally by 2027, with eight EVs for the U.S. by 2029, and convert half of its new-vehicle sales from gasoline to electric by the early 2030s.

Kia also has been revamping its crossover-heavy lineup with freshenings and redesigns spanning the 2022 and 2023 model years. The fifth-generation Sportage compact crossover, which went on sale early this year, now offers buyers hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants. The staggered rollout of the eco-friendly powertrains still awaits an exact on-sale date for the plug-in hybrid version.

The Niro, Kia's "trifecta of electrification," bowed as a redesign for 2023. The hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric models, increased in size and performance, have garnered more attention thanks to interest in the brand's new EV6 electric compact crossover. The EV6 burst onto the scene in a quirky commercial starring an electric dog during t…

After earning dealer buy-in for standalone stores in the U.S. and gaining recognition as a premium nameplate by U.S. consumers, the stars are aligning for Genesis, the luxury brand of Hyundai Motor Co.

Genesis will now embark on an aggressive transition into an all-electric brand, something it says was planned from the start. In three years, it will begin phasing out internal combustion engines to usher in a new lineup of only EVs by 2030.

The launch of the GV60 electric compact crossover this year marks the first of six EVs Genesis will launch by 2027. It's built on Hyundai Motor Group's scalable E-GMP platform that enables ultrafast 800-volt charging capability and generous range.

Next up is the Electrified G80, an electric version of the midsize sedan that will go on sale in coming months. The Electrified GV70, also an EV retrofitted to the existing compact crossover, will be the first all-electric vehicle to be built at Hyundai's factory in Montgom…

The Hyundai brand has committed to providing buyers with different sizes of fast-charging EVs that are well equipped, interestingly styled and — most importantly — affordable.

Hyundai also is focused on "eco-friendly" options, including hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants that will bridge the market's transition to full electrification while lowering emissions across the lineup. Having a wider menu of options lets consumers dabble in alternative fuel and gives them a chance to save money amid gasoline price uncertainties.

Hyundai launched its first dedicated EV this year, the Ioniq 5, a compact crossover built on its E-GMP platform that enables ultrafast charging capability and reliable range. Along with other product offerings, such as the recently freshened three-row Palisade, the Tucson compact crossover and the Elantra midsize sedan, the Ioniq 5 has helped boost Hyundai's market share this year.

Next up for Hyundai EVs is the Ioniq 6, a fast-back mi…

DETROIT — Dodge couldn't quietly join the electric-vehicle party, it had to crash it and make some noise in the process.

The brand, known for a brash attitude and roaring engines, is making clear it won't water down that audacity in the battery-power era. In contrast to the parade of near-silent EVs introduced in recent years, the Charger Daytona SRT, an electric muscle car concept Dodge showed last week, is just as loud and fast as today's 700-plus-hp Hellcats.

"Dodge is going to get lost if we're trying to do the same thing as everybody else, so let's go, let's invent, let's create, let's do something different than [what] anybody else out there is doing," Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis said. "Let's show them that electrification can still shock people."

Kuniskis said the brand needed to do an EV the "Dodge way" with patents, innovations and performance that would "reverberate through the entire industry." Engineers inventing the future…

The former Obama White House official says his company's goal to "electrify everything" isn't just optimistic, it's also a practical and realistic vision for the future. He says President Biden's signing of the Inflation Reduction Act is a game-changer that will propel America toward that new reality.

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