Trade News

Illinois’ biggest electric vehicle producer is complaining that pending federal legislation intended to incentivize people to buy electric cars and trucks actually would hurt it, putting it at a competitive disadvantage.

In a statement and an interview, James Chen, vice president of public policy for Rivian, said the pending climate change bill, the result of a political deal between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., would give most breaks to other producers like Tesla and General Motors that have had longer to ramp up production or do some manufacturing overseas.

While Rivian applauds the intention of the pending bill, “as currently drafted, this legislation will pull the rug out from consumers considering purchase of an American-made electric vehicle,” said Chen, whose company employs roughly 6,000 workers at an assembly plant in downstate Normal. Though the company last week announced it was laying off 50 nonmanufacturing …

Reynold & Reynolds makes an acquisition to boost cybersecurity offerings. Public dealers show that inventory is still scarce. The world’s biggest auto supplier sees the chip shortage continuing well beyond 2022. Plus, Automotive News reporter Michael Martinez discusses the power dynamics on display at the UAW’s constitutional convention.

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An Illinois judge on Friday granted Carvana Co.'s request to halt the Illinois Secretary of State's latest revocation of its license to sell vehicles in the state.

The development comes days after the regulatory agency re-suspended Carvana's dealer license, a move aimed at prohibiting new sales by the online used-vehicle retailer. The agency at the time said it took the action because it found the company was not transferring vehicle titles within 20 days of sale or properly issuing temporary registrations.

But Carvana last week filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief against Secretary of State Jesse White, according to court records. That was ultimately granted by Judge Bonnie Wheaton of the 18th Judicial Circuit Court in DuPage County.

The agency is forbidden from "suspending or revoking" Carvana's certificates of authority and dealer plates, according to Wheaton's order.

"We sincerely appreciate the support from o…

Stellantis said it's investing $99 million at three plants to produce a new 1.4-liter turbocharged engine that has "flexibility for hybrid-electric vehicle applications."

The automaker is making the investments at its Dundee Engine Complex in Michigan, Kokomo Casting Plant in Indiana and Etobicoke Casting Plant in Toronto.

The company said Monday that the next-generation I-4 tigershark engine will power two future hybrid models in North America and will be the first hybrid engine for the company in the region. Production is expected to begin in early 2025.

Stellantis is putting $83 million into the Dundee Engine Complex, which will be retooled and function as the final assembly location for the new engine. The company said the Dundee plant will continue production of the 3.6-liter Pentastar Upgrade engine for the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Grand Cherokee L. Production for the current tigershark engine at the plant, which is a 2.4-liter design, will end…

Sonic Automotive Inc. CEO David Smith, following the June 22 death of his father and company co-founder Bruton Smith, has been elected chairman of the board of the dealer group, according to a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The filing said Sonic's board elected David Smith, 47, on July 27.

In the same filing, Sonic said former CEO Scott Smith was elected, also on July 27, to fill the vacant board seat left open by his father's death.

Scott Smith, 54, who co-founded Sonic with Bruton Smith in 1997, was the company's CEO from July 2015 until he resigned in September 2018 and was succeeded by his brother David. Scott Smith had been on Sonic's board from 1997 until 2018.

The regulatory filing noted that Scott Smith is a "greater than 10 percent beneficial owner of the company." Scott Smith's term on the board is set to expire at Sonic's 2023 annual meeting of stockholders, the filing said.

Scott Smith, who So…

Nikola Corp has agreed to buy battery supplier Romeo Power Inc. for about $144 million in stock, the electric truck maker said on Monday, in a move that will help jumpstart its efforts to make battery packs.

The offer values Romeo Power at 74 cents on a per-share basis, or a 35 percent premium to the stock's Friday close. The company's shares were up 22 percent in trading before the bell.

Romeo Power is one of the company's battery suppliers for its prototype electric trucks along with LG Energy Solution and Proterra Inc.

Nikola will be able to accelerate the development of its EV platform with the acquisition of Romeo Power, Chief Executive Officer Mark Russell said in a statement.

The company said in June it was evaluating the option of making its own battery packs in 2024 to boost volumes and reduce costs.

Battery material costs have risen over the past few months, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine forcing electric vehicle maker…

DRESDEN, Germany — Hundreds of workers are scurrying through Robert Bosch's newly opened microchip factory here now, hurrying to turn out more chips to a world that's starving for the tiny things.

The newly trained employees are wearing hair nets, gloves, lab coats, disposable booties and face masks, all intended to keep every speck of contaminant off every chip. And by year's end there will be still more workers on the job, working in the eerie yellow light of the new hyper-clean plant that Bosch spent $1 billion to build.

Bosch Chairman Stefan Hartung said operations at Dresden were accelerated to meet the situation.

"They are being ramped up faster than planned, after having started a whole six months earlier than scheduled," he said at the new line. "Given the supply bottlenecks in our industries, we don't want to lose any time."

But the more telling industrial site might be the big dirty vacant lot next door. That's where B…

Toyota has traditionally been very disciplined about its product cycles, with redesigns scheduled well in advance and midcycle freshenings — both minor and major — splitting those periods up evenly like a pie at a family dinner.

But the broader market growth of battery-electric vehicles and the continued dwindling popularity of sedans have thrown Toyota's previously predictable long-term planning into flux.

What is known is that Toyota will expand its BEV offerings, continue its redesigns of body-on-frame pickups and SUVs and bring new vehicles, such as the Crown, to the U.S. to boost the lineup and keep consumers coming back.

bZ4X: The battery-electric compact crossover launched in the first half of 2022, but it tripped out of the gate when a stop-sale order was issued because of a problem unrelated to its electric powertrain. It's the brand's first product to ride on Toyota's e-TNGA dedicated electric vehicle platform. Toyota's BEV product life…

Acura has a small lineup but big aspirations. Though the premium brand has not been specific about its electrification goals, parent Honda Motor Co. is targeting a large shift to electrification in North America in this decade.

Acura has said it's planning a pivot to electric that's even more aggressive than Honda's, and it anticipates that EVs will represent as much as 60 percent of its annual sales.

Acura has also said it will skip hybrids altogether and move right into electrification, but there is still a chance that some of its nameplates — MDX, RDX, Integra — will get some sort of hybrid powertrain to bridge the gap between gasoline and electric. And while it was expected that the Integra would be the final all-new internal-combustion model for Acura, the brand might still bring a subcompact gasoline-powered crossover from China to sell in the U.S. for one generation.

Electric crossover: Acura plans to debut its first electric crossover in 2024, …

Japanese luxury brand Lexus will eventually become Toyota Motor North America's full-electric brand, beginning early next year with the introduction of the RZ. But the transition from now to the company's 2035 target date may start slowly.

According to Toyota Motor Corp. CEO Akio Toyoda, Lexus will have a battery-electric vehicle in each of its segments by 2030 and will go full-electric — selling only BEVs — by 2035. That means that its current internal combustion engine and hybrid products will have only one, or perhaps two, full product cycles left before they switch powertrains or are replaced by similar battery-electric models.

Toyoda showed several Lexus-badged electric vehicles at a December event in Japan. But which of them will end up on sale in the U.S., and when, remains unclear.

RZ: The RZ electric compact crossover is powered by a dual-motor powertrain that pairs two new e-axles developed by Toyota Group supplier Aisin Corp. — a 150-kilowat…

Infiniti Motor Co. is working on fixing its Achilles' heel — a sparse and aging product portfolio.

Last year, the Japanese luxury brand redesigned its bestseller, the QX60, and introduced the QX55 two-row sporty crossover.

Infiniti's next focus: bring electrification to the lineup.

At the brand's make meeting at the NADA Show in March, Infiniti Motor Co. Chairman Payman Kargar offered a peek at the road ahead.

"We are working on the next generations of the models we are going to have for the midterm and long-term plan of the brand," Kargar told Automotive News after the meeting. "We want to make sure that every single model we bring to the market will be a wow product."

Parent Nissan Motor Co. has announced it will build an Infiniti-branded sedan at its Canton, Miss., plant starting in 2025.

That model will replace Infiniti's entry model, the Q50 sports sedan. The vehicle teased in a brief video features a sedan-like profile, a slo…