Trade News

As competitors prepare to launch more electric vehicles, Honda has been focused on redesigning its crossover lineup and adding fuel-sipping hybrid variants. The automaker believes hybrids will help move customers into EVs in the future while driving down emissions as it approaches tighter regulatory requirements slated to take into effect in the U.S. in 2026.

Of more immediate focus is the redesigned 2023 HR-V. The subcompact crossover grew in size and will now have an equally important role alongside the Civic as a gateway vehicle to the Honda brand.

Honda also is launching a redesigned CR-V compact crossover with two hybrid variants at the top of its lineup. The Sport and Sport Touring hybrids are expected to make up half of all CR-V sales.

Honda has been dogged by one of the industry's tightest vehicle inventories among automakers that continue to report, but it continues to prioritize these launches.

Later in 2022, the redesigned Pilot will …

Nissan is on the tail end of a two-year product freshening that has lifted the brand's sales, customer sentiment and dealer profits.

The Japanese automaker has delivered redesigns of critical models, including the iconic Z sports car, the best-selling Rogue compact crossover and the workhorse Frontier pickup.

Now, Nissan is turning its attention to electrification. Nissan said that all "new-vehicle offerings" in key markets will be electrified by the early 2030s.

This fall, the automaker — an EV pioneer when it launched the Leaf more than a decade ago — will introduce its second all-electric model, the Ariya crossover.

Nissan Americas boss Jeremie Papin described the Ariya as "segment-defining."

"The attention to quality and the innovations we've brought — the central console, how the human-to-machine interface works, how the switches are built into the panels — is a step above what has been available in this segment so far," Papin told A…

SAN FRANCISCO — Rivian's retro-futuristic R1T pickup remains scarce on the streets of the Bay Area, but some locals have discovered a cluster of the highly acclaimed electric truck by the San Francisco airport.

There, in a commercial area near an Amazon warehouse, Rivian's South San Francisco Service Center is chock-full of R1Ts coming in for their first service, a windshield replacement or a new front seat as part of an airbag-related recall.

Curious locals and would-be shoppers sometimes congregate in the parking lot, checking out the hardware. Although the electric vehicle startup sells directly to customers online, the cheerful facility also serves as a delivery center and test drive location.

"Everybody ends up finding our location, so now we have people coming in to take a look at our vehicles. So that's also a selling point," said Nataly Tomafsky, field service manager at the outpost.

Rivian has been building the …

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Retail technology giant Reynolds and Reynolds Co. on Friday acquired Proton Dealership IT, which offers dealerships cybersecurity and information technology products and services.

Reynolds, a Dayton, Ohio-based dealership management system provider, did not disclose a transaction price. Leaders of the two companies said they began speaking about a potential acquisition in March.

Reynolds' deal to buy Proton comes as its dealership customers weigh how to comply with amended cybersecurity and IT guidance the Federal Trade Commission handed down in October. The FTC has set a Dec. 9 compliance deadline for dealerships to adopt its Safeguards Rule amendments. That weighed into the decision to step up services in that area, Reynolds President Chris Walsh said.

"It became evident that our customers are asking about these things and they're really trying to figure it out," Walsh said. "They're trying to make sure that they're compliant and that they're safe, a…

Buckeye Honda has worked to overcome inventory shortages by creating an interactive research hub where online shoppers can get an up-close look at a vehicle even if it's not in stock.

The Lancaster, Ohio, dealership deployed a virtual configurator on its site this spring called izmoEmporio that lets users personalize new Honda models with accessories and get 360-degree views of the exterior and interiors.

It has been operational for only a few months, but the configurator — a relatively rare offering on a dealership's website — is fostering engagement with online shoppers and helping the store sell more accessories. Management says consumers who use the tool are spending an average of two minutes on it, and the dealership considers them higher-quality leads than typical website visitors.

Consumers can access the technology on a phone, tablet or computer.

More than 300 vehicles covering the full spectrum of Honda's lineup have been configured on t…

A federal grand jury has indicted Erik Charles Maund, 47, a former partner at Maund Automotive Group in Austin, Texas, and three other individuals on murder-for-hire charges in the deaths of a Nashville couple, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

In addition to Maund, Gilad Peled, 48, and Bryon Brockway, 47, both residents of Austin, along with Richlands, N.C., resident Adam Carey, 31, have been charged with murder for hire, conspiracy to kidnap resulting in death and kidnapping resulting in death, Mark H. Wildasin, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, said in a news release.

The superseding indictment from the DOJ also alleges that following his arrest, Maund agreed to pay for the killing of a co-conspirator, who had requested additional money.

"Peled informed Maund that one of the co-conspirators involved in the kidnapping and murders wanted more money as payment for the criminal acts. Maund agreed to pay the co-conspirator …

The details in the U.S. Senate's EV tax credit deal could rile some automakers. The biggest Asian and North American suppliers report tough quarters. GM gets into the green bonds business. Plus, PartsEdge sales and marketing manager Kaylee Felio talks about how parts departments are managing supply chain issues amid threats of a recession.

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DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is once again struggling with quality problems that are leading to recalls and driving up warranty costs. And that has top executives renewing a vow to fix the problem.

“These issues simply shouldn’t happen,” Kumar Galhotra, head of Ford Blue, the company’s traditional business in internal combustion engine vehicles, said at a BNP Paribus conference Thursday. “Fixing quality is our No. 1 priority as a company.”

Jim Farley has been promising to slash billions from warranty repair costs since he became CEO in October 2020 and the company made progress last year. But this year, it’s backsliding. Ford had to recall 100,000 hybrid models for a fire risk and stop delivering the popular Mach-E due to a defect that could cut power to the vehicle while in motion. Federal investigators are probing catastrophic engine failures on the hot-selling Bronco SUV.

“We continue to be hampered by recalls and customer satisfaction actions,” Farley t…

WASHINGTON — A Republican senator is trying to repeal a provision in the infrastructure law passed by Congress last year that would require a passive technology to prevent drunken or impaired drivers from starting their vehicles.

The infrastructure law orders NHTSA to issue a final rule by November 2024 requiring new vehicles to be equipped with an advanced drunken-driving and impaired-driving prevention technology. Once the rule is issued, automakers would have two to three years to implement the technology as standard equipment in all new light-duty cars and trucks.

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D. — who previously sought to block the provision before the bill was enacted in November — introduced legislation Wednesday to amend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and reverse the requirement. Rounds' bill is supported by Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Automotive News has reached out to the three senators for comment.

Mothers Ag…

Xiaomi Corp. is facing difficulties getting regulatory approval for its electric vehicle project in China, an unexpected hurdle for the smartphone giant’s $10 billion automotive ambitions.

The Beijing company has been talking to officials at the National Development and Reform Commission about the licensing for months without success, according to people familiar with the matter.

Xiaomi is one of the later would-be entrants to a Chinese EV sector already teeming with rivals, including longer-established names BYD Co. and Nio Inc. But billionaire co-founder Lei Jun, who has said EVs will be his final startup endeavor, hopes Xiaomi’s expertise in connected technologies and building loyal user communities can translate in the world’s biggest EV market. But the longer the delay in securing a license, the bigger the head start its rivals will gain.

The smartphone and electronics maker is pursuing new growth areas after logging its first sales decline on reco…

Magna International Inc. reported a $156 million net loss in the second quarter as the diversified Canadian auto supplier grappled with higher commodities and energy costs and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The net loss compares with second-quarter 2021 income of $424 million and comes despite a 3.6 percent year-over-year gain in sales to $9.36 billion.

The loss for the quarter ended June 30 includes a one-time impairment charge of $376 million related to Magna's operations in Russia, which remain substantially idled because of the war. Magna operates six plants in the country that employ 2,500 people.

Adjusted income before interest, taxes and other expenses came in at $358 million, Magna said, compared with $557 million in adjusted net income in the second quarter of 2021.

"Continuing challenges have impacted our Q2 earnings," Magna CEO Swamy Kotagiri said in a Friday conference call with analysts. "However, results were in line …