Trade News

MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration has asked Mexico to probe alleged worker rights violations at a Mexican auto-parts plant owned by Italian-French carmaker Stellantis, the fourth such investigation under a revised trade deal.

The U.S. request for Mexico to look into possible rights abuses at Teksid Hierro de Mexico in the northern border state of Coahuila comes under the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that aims to improve conditions at Mexican workplaces.

Companies have been closely watching these early cases to see how tougher labor rules play out under the trade pact that replaced NAFTA. Under the USMCA, factories that violate worker rights could lose their tariff-free status on exports.

Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest auto group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously said it respects collective-bargaining rights.

Since 2014, Teksid -- which employs nearly 1,500 people…

Toyota Motor North America announced a series of top-level executive moves, including the pending retirement of its longtime head of sales, Bob Carter, effective this month.

A large number of the Japanese automaker's North American executive team will be reshuffled.

Carter, 62, has been executive vice president of sales for the Toyota and Lexus brands since 2017 and has worked primarily in sales and marketing capacities since joining Toyota as a warranty processor in 1981. He will retire June 30. 

“For over four decades, Bob has been an advocate for our dealers and customers, providing insightful leadership and sound and principled judgment in sales and marketing,” Toyota Motor North America CEO Ted Ogawa said in a statement. "Bob leaves a legacy of many 'firsts,' including Toyota and Lexus leadership in key segments, dealer satisfaction and profitability, and sales leadership in North America, to name a few." 

Carter will be succe…

J.D. Power has acquired U.K.-based automotive analytics company We Predict, the data analytics and customer intelligence company announced Monday.

We Predict's software uses machine learning and predictive analytics to assess vehicle ownership costs as well as predict warranty claims and repair costs. J.D. Power said it will utilize this to "enhance its vehicle quality and dependability analytics, expand repair cost forecasting and provide critical valuation data."

In an interview with Automotive News, Doug Betts, president of the global automotive division at J.D. Power, said his company will combine its customer data on vehicle quality with We Predict's objective data from dealerships to help accurately predict vehicle quality and dependability.

"What [We Predict] has is actual objective data, like data from thousands of dealerships that says, 'Here's a car, here's what broke, here's what got fixed,' " Betts said. "So if you think about putting those …

Apple Inc. on Monday announced it would more deeply integrate its software into the instrument cluster on the dashboard of cars that will start shipping next year.

Apple unveiled an updated version of its CarPlay software at its annual software developer conference. The new software will for the first time power the instrument cluster on a car's dashboard showing speed, directions and gas mileage. Apple said that automakers such as Ford are planning to use the new software and that cars with it will start shipping next year.

Apple also announced that users can buy now and pay later for purchases through Apple Pay Later, and the company added an edit button to iMessage.

The company also introduced tweaks to popular apps including better rendering of landmarks on its Maps software.

Twitter Inc. reiterated it would hold Elon Musk accountable to the terms of his proposed $44 billion takeover offer after the Tesla CEO again threatened to pull out of the deal over the issue of bots.

In a securities filing on Monday, Musk said he believes Twitter is breaching their agreement by not meeting his demands for more information about spam and fake accounts. Last month, Musk said he wouldn't proceed with his offer unless the social media giant can prove bots make up fewer than 5 percent of its users, as the company has stated in public filings. Musk has estimated that fake accounts make up at least 20 percent.

In a statement, Twitter said it "has and will continue to cooperatively share information" with Musk. The company said it believes the deal is in the best interest of all shareholders and intends to "close the transaction and enforce the merger agreement at the agreed price and terms."

Twitter's shares slumped 2.6 percent Monday, reinfor…

OYAMA, Japan — Toyota is teasing a more practical setup of its new hydrogen-burning engine in a vehicle that regular people might actually buy someday: the Corolla Cross subcompact crossover.

With the Yaris and Corolla hatchbacks that Toyota has been tinkering with until now, the hydrogen tanks fill up the back seat, relegating the already cramped cars to mere two-seaters.

But in the Corolla Cross, the sizable hydrogen fuel tanks fit under the floor, allowing the vehicle to seat five.

The Corolla Cross H2 Concept is just one of many advancements in hydrogen combustion that Toyota Motor Corp. rolled out over the weekend at Fuji Speedway, where President Akio Toyoda piloted a hydrogen-burning GR Corolla hatchback in a 24-hour endurance race.

His blue-and-yellow No. 32 race car has received a slew of tweaks since last year's season — to upgrade power, performance and reliability. And Toyota also unveiled technology for using liquefied hydrogen, inste…

To contend with the pandemic, dealers have embraced digital-retail processes much faster than otherwise expected. And they’ve greatly benefitted finance departments by speeding up the F&I process – long a notable pain point for consumers. What makes digital F&I processes better than traditional methods? Do dealerships that successfully adopt these processes share any common traits? And could these digital processes potentially even make F&I managers obsolete? A panel of industry experts – Jonathon Jordan from JM&A Group, Scott Penn from EasyCare, a APCO Holdings Brand and Jeff Strickland from Assurant – offers some penetrating insights and analysis as they answer these and other questions.

Q: What are some of the hurdles dealers face when trying to move consumers to an online F&I process?

Jonathon Jordan: The good news is that in today’s environment, consumers already are more accustomed to buying products digitally or via video-conferencing soft…

BACKGROUND:

Exposure to excessive heat increases the chance of heat stress and presents a risk to employee health. Heat stress occurs when the body is unable to maintain a safe body temperature due to external stress. Heat stress can lead to injury and illness. As temperatures increase, productivity decreases due to physiological limitations that lead to increased errors and fatigue. Unconditioned facilities in warm and temperate climates are particularly prone to these conditions. In order to mitigate the impact of heat stress and productivity loss, employers often compensate with increased break time and experience costly employee turnover. The combination of HVLS fans and evaporative coolers can be used as a cost-effective solution to reduce the number of uncomfortable hours in a facility and in turn reduce productivity loss; creating a safer work environment.

PROJECT SCOPE:

A 47,000 square foot unconditioned warehouse with a 28’ tall ceiling was used as a test fa…

LOUISVILLE, Colo. — Doug Campbell considers himself an unlikely leader for a battery startup on the cusp of big breakthroughs.

A little more than a decade ago, his first exposure to batteries came when he inherited a team of engineers working on lithium ion batteries for aerospace applications. He quickly cribbed the basics.

"I kid you not, I had to pull up Wikipedia," said Campbell, whose background was in business development. "I was like, 'OK, cathode, anode, I think I got this.'"

After spending the past decade as CEO at Solid Power Inc., Campbell and his solid-state battery company are on firm footing. The company, which went public via a special-purpose acquisition company in December, counts Ford Motor Co. and BMW as major backers. Samsung Ventures and Volta Energy Technologies are also investors.

Solid Power reached another milepost Monday, unveiling a fully operational production line that's now producing sulfide-based battery cells at th…

BYD Co. is once again the largest shipper of electric vehicles in the world’s top market, after rivals including Tesla Inc. were disrupted by Shanghai’s lockdown.

The car producer is also working on plans to deliver a longer-term advantage over competitors, aiming to become more directly involved in the mining of lithium, the raw material that’s crucial for EV batteries.

In March, BYD agreed to invest up to 3 billion yuan ($449 million) in Chengxin Lithium Group Co., a supplier that has projects and interests in China’s Sichuan province and locations including Indonesia and Argentina. In January, the automaker won a contract to produce the metal in Chile, the world’s No. 2 lithium producer.  

A Chinese media report last week suggested the automaker is dramatically accelerating this strategy by striking a deal to buy six mines in Africa capable of producing enough lithium for more than 27 million EVs. That could be sufficient to cover BYD’s lithium …

To fine-tune plans to distribute, sell and market its first electric vehicle, the GV60, Genesis Motor North America took the unusual step of partnering with a dealer.

And at the time, he wasn't even a Hyundai dealer.

The GV60 EV launched last week in Los Angeles with its first shipment to Genesis Santa Monica, a store owned by Mike Sullivan, president of LAcarGuy dealership group.

Sullivan has been selling electrified vehicles in the L.A. market for 15 years, including battery-electrics, hybrids and plug-in hybrids. Genesis wanted that experience.

His LAcarGuy stores include a number of brands that moved into electrification ahead of Genesis — such as Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, Toyota and Lexus. The dealership group learned the ways of EV retailing from selling the VW e-Golf and ID4, the Audi E-tron, Porsche Taycan and others. And Sullivan estimates that his Toyota store volumes made LAcarGuy the biggest seller of the Toyota Prius hybrid in the c…

BERLIN -- Mercedes-Benz is recalling almost a million older cars from around the world due to possible problems with the brake booster, the company said.

Models of the ML, GL and R-Class models produced between 2004 and 2015 are affected, it said.

About 70,000 of them are in Germany.

"We have found that in some of those vehicles, the function of the brake booster could be affected by advanced corrosion in the joint area of the housing," Mercedes said.

This could result in an increase in the brake pedal force needed to decelerate the vehicle and/or to a potentially increased stopping distance, it added.

Mercedes is starting the recall immediately.