Trade News

Toyota has offered a series of make-goods to hundreds of owners of the new 2023 bZ4X — including an offer to buy back the electric compact crossover — as recompense for asking them to stop driving the recalled vehicle because of concerns that the wheels could fall off.

The Japan-built bZ4X went on sale in the U.S. in late spring as Toyota's first EV since the RAV4 EV it built in cooperation with Tesla in 2014. However, just weeks after the launch, Toyota issued a stop-sale and recall notice. Japan's safety regulator said sharp turns and sudden braking could cause a hub bolt to loosen, raising the risk of a wheel coming off the vehicle.

An estimated 260 of the vehicles were in the United States, and a remedy has not yet been determined to allow the vehicles to again be safely driven, Toyota said. Consumers were asked to immediately contact their dealership, which would pick up the vehicle and drop off a loaner at no charge.

In a letter late last month to …

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. took another supply chain-related hit to its bottom line in the second quarter but offered a better-than-expected financial outlook through the end of the year.

Gross profit fell 9 percent to $173.5 million in the quarter, with sales up 12 percent to $1.4 billion, according to the Detroit-based supplier's earnings, released Friday.

Commodity price increases and other cost pressures including labor and freight hampered the company's financial performance, as it has done to the broader automotive supply base.

"Financial results were impacted by rising input costs and the continuing supply chain volatility," CEO David Dauch said on a Friday call with investors. "We cannot control the macro environment, but we can manage our business."

The microchip shortage and production stoppages hurt operations in the second quarter, but not as badly as the prior period, CFO Chris May said on the call.

Materia…

Toyota’s fiscal first-quarter results take a hit. Lucid cut its production plans for a second time this year. Uber looks to develop robo-trucking. Side-impact tests get tougher on midsize sedans. U.S. auto sales in July were a little better than in June, but not much – when might the sales pace return to something close to normal?

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Inventory shortages are arguably one of the biggest challenges facing dealers today. Dealers have had to go back to the basics of leveraging the phone and get creative to avoid turning away prime customers. Overcome the inventory challenge by leveraging these five phone handling strategies, but also use them to prepare your team for the future challenges to come when the market shifts.

Download this FREE e-book from Car Wars to ensure your team is conquering the current inventory hurdle and preparing for when the tides turn. You will discover:

Five in-depth strategies to prepare your dealership for phone handling success Best practices when it comes to organizing and searching through calls Creative selling strategies, such as virtual appointments or holding back inventory, to ensure customers are given a variety of buying options FREE word tracks for turning difficult customers into lifetime customers

Miniaturized radar target simulators (mRTS) are enabling design and test engineers to emulate complete traffic scenes to train their ADAS and autonomous driving algorithms.

Scientists from Keysight Labs combined mRTS technology with the concept of pixelation to create "rixels". A 64-by-8 array of these mRTS rixels are used to form a wall of RF front ends in the Keysight Radar Scene Emulator, which can emulate dynamic real-world traffic scenarios experienced by automotive radar sensors. 

Key takeaways: 

apply DevOps (development and operations) model across software application development cycles emulate and reproduce test scenarios in the lab understand the technology concepts of how automotive OEMs could emulate the scenes for lab testing test autonomous driving systems with radar sensors faster and with highly complex, multitarget scenes

Volkswagen of America has detailed its U.S.-produced versions of the 2023 ID4 compact crossover, which will come standard with a smaller 62-kilowatt-hour battery pack and start at $38,790, including shipping and excluding any federal or other tax credits.

With its smaller battery, the base model rear-wheel-drive crossover will now come with a manufacturer-estimated 208 miles of range, based on a simulated EPA test cycle, and deliver 201 hp, VW says. An optional 82-kWh battery lifts the estimated range to 275 miles in rwd configurations.

The U.S.-produced 2023 ID4, due in dealerships in the fall, will be available in three trim levels and with optional all-wheel drive. A 12-inch touch screen infotainment system comes standard in the updated interior, as does a suite of driver-assistance and safety features, the German automaker says.

The top-end awd version of the S Plus trim starts at $55,290, including shipping and excluding tax cr…

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Greg Brannon's message to the auto industry is probably not what many technology suppliers want to hear these days.

It's that the industry's race to fully automated driving is misguided, and most consumers don't want it.

Brannon, director of automotive engineering and industry relations for the membership-based driver services organization AAA, brought his argument to the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminars here this week, where automated driving is a hot topic.

"There's just no business case for full autonomy for individual ownership," Brannon said during the event. "What we're trying to say is, let's do a better job of the safety technologies that people can go out and purchase today, the features they really want and are willing to pay for."

Brannon told the audience that his blunt view was not merely his own. A survey of AAA's 62 million members found that 77 percent of respondents said they wan…

Wheel supplier Superior Industries International Inc. reported a positive quarter on Thursday, with a staggering jump in net income and a tamer climb in sales despite hurdles such as supply chain issues and commodity costs.

The Southfield, Mich.-based company's net income increased 535 percent from the second quarter of 2021 to $10.8 million. This is a continuation of a turnaround for the company, which posted a net loss of $43.2 million just two years ago in the second quarter of 2020.

Net sales rose about 24 percent to $431.5 million. Wheel sales fell around 4 percent quarter over quarter, with the company blaming reduced light-vehicle production and inflation.

CFO Tim Trenary said the income increase could be primarily attributed to rising aluminum costs being passed to customers.

"This business environment is so extraordinary," Trenary said. "We've been clear that we expect our customers, who have demonstrated retail …

German supplier Hella KGaA Hueck & Co. opened a lighting factory in Changzhou last week to supply automakers in eastern China.    The $10.2 million plant is run by Hella’s automotive lighting joint venture with Beijing Hainachuan Automotive Parts Co., a subsidiary of BAIC Motor Group Co.

The factory, with a production area of some 12,000 square meters, will mainly make lighting products featuring advanced technologies used in the front of vehicles. 

For example, Hella said it has started producing a continuous light band for a domestic Chinese electric-vehicle maker, without identifying the customer. 

The light band, consisting of a single module, is more than two meters long and extends across the entire face of the vehicle.

The Changzhou factory employs nearly 150 people and the workforce will double in the medium term, according to the German supplier. 

The new plant is the third factory Hella has establ…

SHANGHAI – Government lockdown measures aimed at containing a surging coronavirus outbreak wreaked havoc on China’s car dealerships in the first half of the year.

Stores with mass-market international brands were hit hardest during the period, when lockdown measures stymied showroom traffic and disrupted light-vehicle output and shipments. 

Moreover, there seems to be no immediate end to their woes, as demand for luxury brands remains robust and domestic automakers fortify a formidable presence in the electrified vehicle market, according to a China Automobile Dealers Association report released this week. 

The report, based on a survey CADA conducted in July, shows 27 percent of dealerships in China were profitable in the first six months, down from 54 percent for all of 2021.

Among stores with global mass-market brands, only 12 percent made money in the first half. 

By contrast, 14 percent of stores with Chinese brands and …

Vehicle listings company TrueCar saw a steep revenue drop in the second quarter and deepened its net loss as it reported pressure from a shortage of inventory and rising vehicle prices.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based TrueCar on Tuesday reported a net loss of $11 million in the quarter ended June 30, wider than a $7.3 million net loss in the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue sank 36 percent to $42.3 million, which company leaders attributed to pressure on its close rates because of inventory and pricing conditions. TrueCar's pay-per-sale transaction revenue made up a smaller share of its dealer revenue in the second quarter than a year earlier, the company reported.

"A recovery in the global supply chain is likely still multiple quarters away in our view, and uncertainty remains high due to geopolitical events and headwinds like a slowing U.S. economy and rising interest rates," CEO Mike Darrow told analysts on an earnings call Wednesday.

"We continue to e…

Ford reports sales jump while rivals slump. More questions about the proposed EV tax credit extension. A big supplier cuts jobs to brace for recession, while one automaker brushes off the notion. And Cadillac rolls out new marketing for its EV crossover, looking to reach new shoppers and give them a feeling of exuberance.

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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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