Trade News

Toyota Motor Corp. is working to foster candidates capable of eventually taking the top job, President Akio Toyoda told shareholders at an annual meeting.

The world’s No. 1 automaker is taking steps to find and develop potential successors, Toyoda, 66, said in response to a shareholder’s question at corporate headquarters Wednesday.

Anyone following in his footsteps must have “unshakable conviction on why Toyota exists” and a firm understanding of the company’s philosophy, Toyoda said, adding that his goal will be to “rejuvenate” management with the move.

Toyoda has sought to reform Toyota's corporate culture, spending more time with younger executives, and cutting back some senior positions.

The brief question-and-answer moment shines light on a topic that’s been top of mind for some Toyota investors and analysts over the past few years: Who is in line to replace the automaker’s current president who, over the past 13 years, has captained its ri…

TOYOTA, Japan -- Toyota Motor Corp. pushed back against critics who say it has been slow to embrace electric vehicles, arguing it needed to offer a variety of powertrains to suit different markets and customers.

At its annual general meeting on Wednesday, the world's largest automaker by sales doubled down on its position that it would stick with technologies including fuel cells and full-hybrid vehicles that have for the past two decades made it a leader in cleaner cars.

Once a favorite with environmentalists for the Prius full-hybrid it popularized more than two decades ago, Toyota has come under fire from some investors for not phasing out gasoline-powered cars and its lobbying on climate policy.

"The goal is carbon neutrality," Toyota Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda told the meeting, responding to questions submitted by Danish pension fund AkademikerPension, which also asked Toyota to refrain from lobbying to undermine the transition to fu…

Tesla Inc. has had a “very tough quarter” as it struggles with supply-chain snags, CEO Elon Musk warned in an internal memo, imploring workers to help get the EV maker back on track.

“This has been a very tough quarter, primarily due to supply chain and production challenges in China,” Musk said in an email to employees over the weekend that was seen by Bloomberg. “So we need to rally hard to recover!”

The company’s Shanghai plant, which had slowed production in recent weeks amid severe Covid-19 restrictions, is returning to full strength and its Austin, Texas, facility is ramping up production as well, Musk said. Last week, he noted, Tesla’s Berlin factory built almost 1,000 cars, while its Fremont, Calif., plant notched a record day of production.

Musk often sends companywide emails near a quarter’s end to push staff to sprint to the finish, and Tesla is known to deliver many units in the the final weeks. In a subsequent memo, he told workers to be pr…

BERLIN -- Volkswagen Group resumed a three-shift operation at its EV factory in Zwickau, Germany, starting Monday, June 13.

Output at the plant, which builds full-electric cars for the VW, Audi and Cupra brands, is expected to increase to up to 1,300 vehicles a day, Automotive News sister publication Automobilwoche reported.

After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, production was interrupted for three weeks in March due to disrupted supply chains, with production falling at times to 900 vehicles a day.

VW's Saxony division, which operates the plant, said the supply of parts is now stable enough for the factory to return to three-shifts.

This will help to clear an order backlog for EVs built at the plant, VW Saxony CEO Stefan Loth said in a statement.

The plant is VW Group's largest location for electric vehicles in Europe. VW brand's ID3, ID4, ID5 compact EVs, the Audi Q4 e-tron, Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron and the Cupra Born all roll off the pro…

Ferrari has named Carla Liuni, an executive with experience in jewelry, luxury goods and at consumer goods corporation Proctor & Gamble, as chief brand officer.

Liuni, 55, starts her new post in September and will report to CEO Benedetto Vigna. She will be based in Milan.

Vigna said Liuni’s experience in building global luxury brands would be an asset for Ferrari, which is preparing for the transition to electrification and will soon release its first SUV, the Purosangue.

Since coming to Ferrari from STMicroelectonics in September 2021, Vigna has overseen multiple changes in the company’s management structure. He will unveil Ferrari’s strategy for the coming years at an event in Maranello, Italy, on Thursday.

“It is increasingly critical to be able to build and maintain a relevant brand identity that resonates with our community and is reflective of the world in which we live,” Vigna said in a news release. “Carla has the experience, the le…

Michigan battery startup Our Next Energy is moving beyond what founder Mujeeb Ijaz calls "a scientific curiosity."

The company, which aims to double the range of vehicles compared with today's standards, is placing its hybrid battery technology into a BMW prototype.

The two companies said Tuesday they've signed an agreement to integrate ONE's long-range battery technology, which reduces the use of scarce and expensive materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, into an iX electric SUV. They expect to complete the prototype vehicle by the end of the year and demonstrate its ability to achieve 600 miles of range.

BMW i Ventures, the automaker's venture-capital arm, led ONE's $65 million funding round last October, so the official agreement between the battery startup and the German automaker was expected.

Tuesday's development affirms that support and signals further collaboration ahead.

"We're on a path where every piece of the puzzle tha…

LMP Automotive Holdings Inc. has sued two dealership owners, seeking a combined $3 million in deposits the auto retailer made to acquire stores and property in New York and Texas. The lawsuits follow LMP Automotive terminating the deals this year.

An affiliate of the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., retailer filed a lawsuit May 27 in federal court in Albany, N.Y., against James Zappone, Zappone Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram in Clifton Park, N.Y., Zappone Property Management and an escrow agent seeking return of the $1 million deposit LMP had made for the acquisition.

On Friday, just two weeks later, LMP filed a lawsuit in federal court in Houston against Houston dealerships Tom Peacock Nissan and Tom Peacock Cadillac, partners David Peacock and Aldo Paret, and affiliated real estate companies seeking the return of $2 million in deposits it made to buy the dealerships and real estate.

The lawsuits are the latest in a string of challenges for the fledging auto retailer a…

General Motors' electric van unit, BrightDrop, said it acquired technology startup Marain Inc. to "analyze, forecast and identify multi-modal solutions for fleet customers."

BrightDrop launched as a GM subsidiary in January 2021 to produce electric products, software and services to "empower delivery and logistics companies to move goods more efficiently." Since then, BrightDrop has developed the Zevo electric van and Trace e-carts and partnered with large delivery companies such as FedEx and retailer Walmart.

In a statement released Friday, BrightDrop said it will use Marain's software to help improve the flow of goods and services through the delivery cycle and "maximize uptime." The statement said the technology will allow BrightDrop to model its products' efficiency gains compared to competitors

"The integration of Marain's technology offers a myriad of possibilities for evolving our software offerings down the road to better support our customers' n…

As Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc. prepares to liquidate under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the company's rollercoaster ride is a sobering lesson for startups and investors in the EV space, according to industry observers.

ELMS excited investors with its concept of electric last-mile delivery vans, reaching a $1.4 billion market value shortly after it started trading a year ago. But it soon was confronted with a harsh reality: making cars is hard.

"You can attract a lot of capital, but eventually you have to produce a car or van or truck, which is very hard to do and expensive," said Steven Wybo, senior managing director at Riveron. "It costs billions of dollars. They were kind of doomed from the start unfortunately."

The company, founded in 2020, announced late Sunday that it planned to liquidate, but it has yet to make the formal filing, according to bankruptcy records.

Its stock was trading at 19 cents per share as of Monday afternoon, losing nearly…

DETROIT -- General Motors CEO Mary Barra said on Monday the automaker is "selling every truck we can build" and expanding North American truck-building capacity, even as U.S. gasoline prices hit record highs.

Barra made her comments during the automaker's annual shareholder meeting.

GM is pursuing a two-track strategy: Investing heavily in electric vehicles for North America, China and other markets, and funding those investments by trying to maximize profits from its North American combustion pickup truck and large SUV lineups.

Barra said GM is planning higher-priced versions of its Silverado large pickup and its large SUV models.

GM and its Detroit rivals Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis rely heavily on sales of large pickups and SUVs for global profits. High U.S. gasoline prices in the past have undermined consumer demand for relatively inefficient models.

Nominal pump prices hit an average of above $5 a gallon for the first time ever last …

Kellen Walker gives you the top headlines. Jeep is ready to go electric in Europe, but not so fast in the U.S. Wholesale used cars got a bit cheaper in the first quarter. EV truck start-up Electric Last Mile files for bankruptcy. Plus, WiTricity CEO Alex Gruzen talks about Siemens’ new $25 million strategic investment in the company to help boost wireless EV charging technology.

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WASHINGTON - General Motors, Ford Motor Co., Chrysler-parent Stellantis and Toyota Motor North America on Monday urged Congress to lift a cap on the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit, citing higher costs to produce zero-emission vehicles, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

The CEOs -- GM's Mary Barra, Ford's Jim Farley, Stellantis' Carlos Tavares and Toyota North America CEO Tetsuo Ogawa -- said in the joint letter to congressional leaders that they have pledged to invest more than over $170 billion through 2030 to bolster electric vehicles' development, production and sale.

The $7,500 tax credit phases out after a manufacturer hits 200,000 vehicles sold. Both GM and Tesla Inc. have already hit the cap and are no longer eligible for the consumer tax credits.

"We ask that the per-(automaker) cap be removed, with a sunset date set for a time when the EV market is more mature," the automakers said in the letter.

"Recent economic pressures and s…