Trade News

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…

BMW's fourth-generation X3 compact crossover will feature the brand's upsized signature kidney grille and slimmer LED lights, according to photos of a heavily camouflaged prototype spied in Germany.

The X3 is BMW's second-bestselling model in the U.S., accounting for 21.4 percent of total sales in the first half of 2022.

The redesigned model should go into production in August 2024 at BMW's factory in Spartanburg, S.C., with U.S. deliveries beginning in late 2024, according to AutoForecast Solutions.

BMW will offer multiple versions of the upcoming X3 globally, including all-electric, plug-in hybrid and M performance variants.

It's unclear whether BMW will build the next-generation battery-powered iX3 on the current model's Cluster Architecture platform or hold off until 2025, when the automaker unveils an all-electric Neue Klasse architecture.

The Neue Klasse platform will play "a crucial part" in ramping up EV sales for the company, BMW…

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — When they first came together during a college competition at the University of Wisconsin, three friends eschewed the school's three decades of internal combustion racing history and instead formed its first electric racing team.

Their inexperience was no hindrance.

"We threw ourselves into the deep end," said Max Liben. "It was, 'All right, how do you make an electric vehicle?' "

From that formative turn in the 2017 Formula SAE electric competition, Liben and his cohorts, Jason Sylvestre and Eric Maciolek, quickly learned. As a result of that competition and another the following year, they founded their own company based on those underpinnings.

The startup aims to pack a lot of power into a lightweight package by developing high-performance integrated motor drives that combine the motor, inverter and gearbox into a single unit in a cohesive fashion they say is unlike anything else available today, offering lighter weight and …

TOKYO — Akio Toyoda is a man of many hats.

In addition to being president of Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest automaker and the company founded by his grandfather, he is also longtime chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, now serving as the face of the Japanese industry for a rare third term.

On the race circuit, Akio is known as Morizo, the free-spirited, speed-demon motorhead. Off track, he is the "master driver," iron chef and top taste tester for the flavor of the company's cars.

At the premium Lexus division, Toyoda was once called the chief branding officer. But more recently, he goes by another moniker: Brand Holder, or BH as they say internally.

On paper, Koji Sato — the chief engineer responsible for the super sexy Lexus LC sports coupe — is the president of Lexus International. But Akio the Brand Holder has a big influence.

The informal title is used inside Lexus to communicate Toyoda's vision as the…

BURTON, Mich. — General Motors' largest parts processing center is fulfilling the needs of car buyers of the 2010s while preparing its operations for the automaker's all-electric future.

"This plant is what I like to call ambidextrous. It's got the right hand moving at the same time the left hand is moving," said John Roth, GM's vice president of global customer care and aftersales. "You have this running the day-to-day element that needs to happen while you're planning for this future of EVs and additional models that are going to join the GM lineup. You're always looking ahead and trying to adapt and learn."

GM's Customer Care and Aftersales division is responsible for processing parts for vehicles two years before launch to vehicles that were on the market 10 years ago. Today, that scope ranges from all internal combustion vehicles, plus alternative powertrain models such as the Chevrolet Volt and Cadillac ELR from the 2010s, to the electri…