Trade News

Self-driving tech startup May Mobility has added to its Series C investment round and now raised funding totaling $111 million. The money will enable the company to add engineers and incorporate its system on a new vehicle platform.

The fresh funds will underpin the company's ongoing work with Toyota Motor Corp., which has been a longtime backer of the Ann Arbor, Mich.- based organization. May Mobility's work on autonomous Toyota Sienna minivans, called the Autono-MaaS will continue, with a commercial launch of service expected this year.

Further, May Mobility says it will begin preliminary work integrating its self-driving systems on the Toyota e-Palette, a battery-electric vehicle expected to someday operate in Toyota's Woven City — a prototype city of the future — and beyond.

New funding comes from State Farm Ventures, a subsidiary of the auto insurance company of the same name. Terms of its participation were not disclosed. May Mobility had said…

SHANGHAI -- Zhejiang Geely Holding Geely on Tuesday unveiled a new electric pickup truck, targeting growing demand from city residents as coronavirus curbs fuel an interest in outdoor activities such as camping.

The Volvo owner also launched a new brand, Radar, at an online event on Tuesday where it showcased the first pickup, the RD6. It did not disclose the selling price but said it would have a driving range of more than 600 kilometers per charge.

"In an optimistic estimation, the annual sales of pickup trucks can reach 3 million units in China by 2030," Radar CEO Ling Shiquan told Reuters in an interview.

"More people are pursing a healthy lifestyle with more outdoor activities while the governments are also relaxing restrictions for pickups in cities. Those changes are supporting the growth of pickup trucks," Ling added.

Pickups are considered a niche segment in China where they are mostly used by farmers. They are still banned from most urb…

CDK Global Inc. CEO Brian Krzanich has resigned from the company following the completion of its sale last week to investment firm Brookfield Business Partners.

CDK said in a regulatory filing Tuesday that Krzanich, 62, notified the company last Wednesday that he would step down from his roles as president and CEO of the dealership technology giant based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., as of Monday, July 11. CDK said former CEO Brian MacDonald, who led the company from January 2016 to November 2018, took over the CEO role on an acting basis as of Monday.

"CDK is a mission-critical software platform for automotive commerce with a bright future, and I am excited about our path forward and accelerated growth," MacDonald, 57, said in a statement Tuesday.

The change is among several executive-level changes CDK disclosed Tuesday in the regulatory filing.

As of Monday, Joe Tautges, 46, no longer serves as COO but remains with the company as a special adviser t…

One automotive enthusiast site, Jalopnik, is calling it the rightful heir to the Toyota Land Cruiser.

Electric vehicle startup Rivian's quick follow-up to the R1T pickup is launching this summer: the R1S, which takes the same basic formula and running gear from the truck and packages it in a five- or seven-seat SUV.

The two models feature the same front end, dash, cabin and front seating. But one novelty in the R1T, the "gear tunnel" that stretches horizontally between the rear doors and the pickup bed, creating a decent amount of cargo space, has been scrapped on the R1S to move the rear wheels forward and make room for passengers in back.

Both the truck and SUV weigh around a hefty 7,000 pounds and rely on a 128.9-kilowatt-hour battery pack; four electric motors, one in each corner, to produce 835 hp — yes, 835 — and 908 pound-feet of torque.

It has 316 miles of range, according to EPA estimates, and fast-charging cap…

Volkswagen Group of America said Tuesday it will partner with battery recycling company Redwood Materials Inc.

Redwood, which was started by Tesla Inc. co-founder JB Straubel, already has partnered with Toyota, Ford, Volvo and Tesla to recycle batteries used by electric vehicles. Redwood also has partnerships with Panasonic and Amazon.

VW said in a statement that its tie-up with Redwood will create a network to recycle Volkswagen and Audi EV batteries in the U.S.

The announcement comes amid Volkswagen's commitment for 55 percent of its U.S. sales to be EVs by 2030. The statement said the companies will use Volkswagen's dealership network to recycle the batteries. At the stores, batteries will be analyzed; if they cannot be repaired, they will be shipped to Redwood's plant in Nevada.

"The collaboration can support local battery capacity and expertise as Volkswagen continues its transition to an electrified portfolio," the statement read.

Vol…

EV startup Lordstown Motors Corp. replaced its CEO with insider and automotive industry veteran Edward Hightower on Tuesday in a management shake-up aimed at ramping up efforts to start production of its pickup truck.

Hightower, president of the company since November, takes the reins from Daniel Ninivaggi who will become executive chairman and focus on partnerships and capital raising.

The former Ford Motor Co. and General Motors executive takes the helm at a crucial time for the 4-year-old company, which plans to start production of its Endurance pick-up truck with Foxconn in the third quarter.

While demand for electric vehicles has surged globally, supply chain disruptions and rising material costs have made it tough for companies to raise output and meet red-hot demand.

Lordstown Motors has also struggled with funding and had to sell certain assets to Taiwan-based Foxconn in May to secure capital essential for production.

The company …

SEATTLE — As gasoline-electric hybrids go, the market hardly got to know the Ioniq, introduced in 2017, before Hyundai decided to pull the plug on the Toyota Prius rival.

Blame the market rush to full EVs, the pandemic or even the chip shortage that has left showrooms bare, but the Ioniq — a clever portmanteau that marries "ion" with "unique" — never seriously challenged the Prius.

With some good fortune, I recently spent some quality seat time in one and came away with a lot of respect for one of the auto industry's shortest-lived models.

Late last month, my wife and I flew to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as a starting point to explore Washington's three national parks.

When making the rental-car reservation months ago, I selected the option that allowed us to pick from an aisle of vehicles. It was a bit of a gamble, but the last time we scored a Hyundai Venue and enjoyed it.

We knew the trip would require a lot of driving from on…

The Chinese new-vehicle market expanded significantly in June after anti-pandemic measures were lifted and tax incentives became widely available, with wholesale volume jumping 24 percent to nearly 2.5 million following steep declines in May and April.

The market rebound was driven by deliveries of new light vehicles, which surged 41 percent to top 2.2 million last month, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released on Monday show.

The sales surge came after Shanghai -- China’s financial center and industrial hub -- lifted a two-month lockdown and the central Chinese government rolled out temporary tax incentives for gasoline vehicles on June 1. 

Under the incentive program, vehicle purchase taxes were halved to 5 percent for new gasoline new light vehicles with engine sizes of up to 2.0 liters and priced at 300,000 yuan ($44,709) or below.

In June, the market for new commercial vehicles including buses and trucks rema…

Volkswagen Group’s software unit Cariad believes one of the ways the automaker can monetize future software developments is by offering customers pay-as-you-go autonomous driving technology.

“There is a new business model already out there -- a subscription model, or function-on-demand -- where you can drive autonomously if you want, for the next 50 miles. We would support that, “ Cariad CEO Dirk Hilgenberg told Bloomberg in an interview.

Although VW does not yet offer either Level 4 or Level 5 self-driving options, Hilgenberg said it was possible to see that the service would allow the automaker the opportunity to offer other services to consumers who are freed from driving the vehicle.

“You have to make sure to have what we call a digital services platform that lets the outside world in -- Google, Apple, Amazon -- where you can bring your accounts to stream and be entertained, or where you can work with office products, do a videoconference or prepare…