Trade News

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Airports give robotaxis runway ahead

Airports are a linchpin in the long-term success of robotaxis. Roughly a quarter of all ride-hailing customers seek trips to or from airports, a substantial portion of business. Perhaps perplexingly, few self-driving companies have tested their systems in this realm.

So it felt like an underappreciated moment when Waymo unveiled testing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on Wednesday. Waymo said it would start allowing employees to hail rides between downtown Phoenix and the airport, with backup human safety drivers aboard. Initial service will start with the company's Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles pictured above.

It's an incremental step, but an important one. When I visited Waymo last fall, the locations missing from the company's coverage area in metro Phoenix (the international airport and the campus of Arizona State University) stood out as much as the technical competence wi…

Rules. Every racing series from quarter midget to NASCAR to IndyCar requires teams to adhere to what seems like a byzantine labyrinth of rules.

The requirements — which govern everything from the size, thickness and placement of decals to the engine's size and power output — help ensure cars from different teams are close to identical in specification. That can make for extremely close races, where the skill of the driver and the team's strategy of managing the race becomes more important than raw horsepower.

The section that governs aerodynamics in the 2022 IndyCar series rulebook covers 10 pages. After reading those regulations, you might think there isn't much Honda's aerodynamic engineers working in the company's new $124 million wind tunnel in East Liberty, Ohio, can do to improve the performance of Honda-engined cars running in the NTT IndyCar Series races such the Indy 500 on Sunday, May 29.

You'd be wrong.

Whil…

TOKYO — Valeo, a pioneer in commercializing lidar technology, is developing a more advanced version of its laser-emitting safety systems for debut in 2024 that promises a twelvefold increase in resolution, a tripling of range and a much wider viewing angle that can see details the human eye, cameras and radar cannot.

The lidar lineup, called Valeo Scala, is part of a big ramp-up Valeo sees through 2030.

The first generation, Scala 1, debuted in the Legend Hybrid EX sedan that Honda began leasing in Japan last year. Scala 2 goes into the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which received international approval for Level 3 automation last December. That system, bundled under Mercedes' Drive Pilot system, arrives this year in Germany. The company also plans to seek regulatory approval in California and Nevada.

Scala 3, the version planned for 2024, will enable autonomous emergency maneuvers at highway speeds up to 80 mph, Valeo says.

The French supplier say…

China’s used light-vehicle market skidded 25 percent to some 882,100 in April after slipping 15 percent in March amid a flare-up of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.

The market has never racked up double-digit declines two consecutive months, the trade group said last week. 

CADA blamed the unprecedented contraction on strict measures such as lockdowns adopted by cities to curb the latest COVID-19 outbreak.

Every market segment shrank severely in April, with used sedans sales tumbling 28 percent to some 650,700, according to CADA.

Used multi-purpose vehicle deliveries slipped 27 percent to around 63,500, while second-hand minibus sales fell 23 percent to about 25,800.

The volume of used crossovers and SUVs also slipped 12 percent to roughly 142,100. 

In the first four months, sales of used light vehicles in China shrank 7.4 percent to approximately 4 million, according to CADA.…

Two auto retailers continued their growth with dealership purchases in May and April, a Nissan dealer and partner added two stores in the first quarter and another group bought a store and sold another early this year.

Here's a look at the deals involving import, luxury and domestic stores and dealerships in Tennessee, Iowa, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Washington.

Umansky Automotive Group of Memphis, Tenn., continued its expansion in the state this month with the purchase of two Bill Gatton dealerships.

Umansky on May 10 bought Bill Gatton Acura and Bill Gatton Mazda in Johnson City, Umansky Automotive owner Dan Umansky told Automotive News.

Bill Gatton died in April at age 89. Umansky said Gatton had agreed to sell him the dealerships before he died and the transaction was finalized by his estate.

Umansky renamed the dealerships Johnson City Acura and Johnson City Mazda.

These aren't the first dealerships the group purchased from Ga…

Beijing is expected to offer subsidies to spur vehicle sales in rural areas, bidding to shore up an auto market that sank to a ten-year low in April amid resurging coronavirus outbreaks, according to an official media report.

Beginning in June, consumers that purchase vehicles priced at 150,000 and below will qualify for 3,000 yuan ($444) to 5,000 yuan in subsidies, China Securities, a financial newspaper run by state-owned Xinhua news agency, reported this week.

The subsidy will be available to buyers of gasoline-powered vehicles as well as electrified vehicles, the Beijing-based newspaper noted.

Shanghai and the northeast city of Changchun, two of China’s major auto production centers, were locked down in April as the Chinese government pursues a zero-tolerance policy to control COVID-19.

The move sent April new-vehicle sales across China tumbling 48 percent to 1.18 million, a 10-year low for the month. 

The market has contracted 12 …

"Jimmy Car Car" is taking his show on the road. Or rather, the man who still answers to that childhood nickname — Ford CEO Jim Farley — is now doing a show about the road.

Farley, 59, has taken on podcast hosting in addition to his role leading America's second-biggest auto manufacturer. His weekly show "Drive" debuts May 25 on Spotify.

Ford Motor Co.'s CEO has interviewed celebs (podcaster Dax Shepard and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel), a fellow chief executive (Harley-Davidson's Jochen Zeitz), race-car drivers (actress Emelia Hartford) and royals (the Duke of Richmond) for the show, as well as one GOAT (quarterback Tom Brady). In seven snappy 20- to 25-minute episodes, Farley will delve deep into what drives his guests.

This all might sound like a marketing ploy by Ford, but the automaker says it isn't contributing a penny to production. Farley did interviews in his spare time on Saturdays from a conference room just outside his office atop the company'…

Executive Editor Jamie Butters gives you the top headlines and talks about the Nissan EV consumer experience, the automaker's role in reaching ambitious climate goals and offering customers long-term value with Nissan Americas chief Jeremie Papin.

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WASHINGTON -- Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it was recalling 39,000 SUVs after reports of 16 fires, and has advised owners to park their vehicles outdoors and away from structures until a fix is completed.

The recall, which covers some 2021 model year Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator vehicles, was prompted as an engine compartment fire could occur while the car is parked or being driven, even with the ignition off, the No. 2 U.S. automaker said.

There was one injury but no accidents related to the fires, it said, and 14 of the 16 affected vehicles were owned by rental car companies.

Click here for coverage of all U.S. vehicle recalls.

A remedy was still under development and Ford was working to establish the cause.

This year, Ford has issued 30 U.S. recalls covering 3.5 million vehicles -- the most of any automaker.

Ford this week issued two other recalls, including 310,000 2016 Super Duty F-250, F-350, F-450, and F-550 trucks be…

Tesla Inc. fans and supporters in the financial community are calling on Elon Musk to stop divisive political attacks and to walk away from his contentious Twitter acquisition for the long-term health of the automaker.

The calls come as Tesla's stock price plummets with the rest of the market and the controversial CEO steps up his criticism of the Democratic Party, President Joe Biden and Twitter executives.

"In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party," Musk wrote on his Twitter account Wednesday. "But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold."

Musk also called Yale University "the epicenter of the woke mind virus attempting to destroy civilization" in response to a critical comment from a Yale professor. The Twitter topic "Poor Elon," in which users mostly mocked the world's richest person for his…

TOKYO – The troubled, ever-evolving Tokyo Motor Show will rebrand itself yet again in an attempt to breathe life, energy and attendance into Asia’s onetime premier auto expo.

When the show returns in 2023, it will open under a “Japan All-Industry” banner, said the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, which has hosted the event since its inception in 1954.

In announcing the update May 19, JAMA Chairman Akio Toyoda said it was important to bring together different sectors at a time when collaboration is needed to achieve carbon neutrality.

“We want to rename next year’s Tokyo Motor Show the Japan All-Industry Show, going beyond the mobility industry, with all of Japanese industry working as one team, including startups,” Toyoda said. “We aim to make a totally new show, transforming it in both name and reality.”

Toyoda did not elaborate on the scope of how many sectors and companies might be included.

In April 2021, JAMA canceled the bi…

Honda's all-electric Prologue crossover is taking shape as the Honda brand prepares for an electrified future that targets half a million EV sales in North America by 2030.

The 2024 Prologue, Honda's first volume EV, will leverage General Motors' Ultium platform and batteries as part of a partnership between the two automakers. Honda has said it expects to sell 70,000 Prologues.

The Prologue's exterior styling was handled by the Honda Design Studio in Los Angeles with influence from a Japan-based design team. Honda will design the interior as well.

"We announced a plan two years ago, positioned as a smart strategy, to co-develop an electric vehicle with GM," Mamadou Diallo, American Honda's head of sales, said in a statement. He said the collaboration with GM resulted in an attractive vehicle and a more efficient product development and manufacturing process.

According to a digital rendering, the Prologue mixes clean lines with a long wheelbase, …