Trade News

DETROIT — Bollinger Motors, the startup electric vehicle manufacturer in suburban Detroit that is trying to enter the red-hot commercial EV market, moved one step closer to its goal Monday.

The company said it has inked a deal with Roush Industries to manufacture Class 3 through Class 6 commercial electric chassis cabs and the platforms it has been developing for about two years.

The platforms range in size and will underpin the chassis cabs — half-trucks that are bought by commercial customers who then outfit them with numerous bodies. Chassis cabs, for example, are used by power companies for flatbed tow trucks, to haul produce and for other work purposes.

The deal calls for Bollinger to source and provide all the materials for Roush to assemble the platform or frame and the chassis cabs in Livonia, Mich., about 20 miles from Bollinger's engineering center.

The move comes after Bollinger in January canceled two boxy EVs, the B1 SUV and B2 pick…

Electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors Corp said Monday it needed $150 million in addition to the proceeds from its sale of assets to Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn to put its Endurance pickup truck into the hands of customers.

The company's stock, down more than 12 percent, is set for its worst day in more than two months.

Supply chain woes and rising material costs are limiting the industry's capability to produce sufficient EVs to meet soaring demand.

In November last year, Lordstown said it had entered an agreement with Foxconn for the sale of its Ohio facility for $230 million excluding certain assets such as the hub motor assembly and battery pack lines.

Lordstown Motors said it needed additional capital, apart from the proceeds from the deal with Foxconn, to scale up the production of the electric pickup truck, complete testing, and purchase materials and vehicle components.

The company also reported first-quarter results…

SEOUL/DETROIT -- Hyundai Motor Co.'s highly anticipated plans to build an EV assembly plant in the U.S. appear to be focused on Georgia.

The Korean automaker has held discussions with officials in Georgia, near existing plants for the Hyundai and Kia brands, people with knowledge of its plans told Reuters.

Hyundai COO Jose Muñoz told Automotive News on April 13 of the company's U.S. plans. The company on Monday declined to comment on any details, including site negotiations.

"We are excited to announce a new EV plant plan in the United States soon, but we do not have details to share at this stage," Hyundai said in a statement to Reuters when asked about its investment plans.

Hyundai has been in advanced discussions with state officials to build a dedicated EV facility in Georgia, three people with direct knowledge of the talks told Reuters. Details of the investment, including its projected cost and the number of jobs it would be expected to cr…

Shares in Rivian Automotive Inc. fell nearly 10 percent in premarket trading after a media report that Ford Motor Co. is selling 8 million of its shares in the EV producer at a discount.

Ford’s sale is being handled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., CNBC’s David Faber said in a tweet.  

The U.S. manufacturer owns about 12 percent of the EV startup, or just under 102 million shares after taking a stake prior to Rivian going public last year. An insider lockup period expired Sunday after the November share sale that saw the company’s market value briefly top $100 billion making the developer more valuable at the time than Ford and General Motors.

Rivian shares have since plunged after its pickup launch was slower than investors expected.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is also selling a block of 13 million to 15 million shares in the manufacturer for an unknown seller, Faber reported, citing unidentified people. Both blocks are priced at $26.90 -- a disc…

The past two years of pandemic and supply chain disruptions as competition from startup rivals grew have forced traditional dealership groups to take a closer look at the convenience and customer experience they offer.

That has led to a shift from a linear, store-driven sales process to more of a hybrid one — in which a consumer can start or finish a car deal online and jump in and out of the digital or in-store environments as often as necessary. That approach is often referred to as omnichannel retailing.

I wrote this week about the digital retailing initiatives by the nation's public dealership groups. Several are investing in — and targeting greater revenue from — their own branded online tools. They generally aim to leverage their brick-and-mortar stores and digital platforms to create a flexible, omnichannel experience that gives them the scale to reach a wide swath of consumers.

That hybrid approach may be an advantage for the public groups over …

Police recovered five just-built Chevrolet Camaros that were stolen from outside a General Motors plant in Lansing, Mich., last week after a high-speed chase that ended more than 50 miles away with the help of a helicopter and tire-puncturing "stop sticks."

Authorities from three counties chased the Camaros — mostly high-powered ZL1 models — at speeds reportedly topping 100 mph along Interstate 96 toward Detroit.

After the cars separated into two groups, several of them crashed and the occupants were arrested as they tried to get away on foot, Michigan State Police said.

Police said the cars were valued at about $375,000 and that no one was injured during the pursuit.

GM said it was working with police and would be increasing security at the plant, which has been targeted by thieves multiple times in recent years.

Vehicles were reported stolen from the plant in March and last August.

The nine peo…

DETROIT — Two of the largest automotive seating suppliers are building out new plants here and looking for new opportunities to capture more business from automakers increasingly conscious of their spending with minority-owned companies.

Magna International Inc. formed a joint venture with LAN Manufacturing Group called LM Manufacturing, which plans to open a plant in southwest Detroit next year to make seats for Ford Motor Co. light trucks.

On the city's east side, Lear Corp. is expected to open its plant at the former Cadillac Stamping site this year to make seats for General Motors and is exploring a joint venture.

"It's competition, in one word," said Michelle Sourie Robinson, CEO of the Michigan Minority Supplier Development Council, which certifies minority companies and joint ventures. "They're all trying to prove that they have the greatest competitive advantage and can do that work and provide the most value to the customer…

Dealers learned fairly early in the pandemic how to sell cars they didn't have.

What's proving tougher, though — judging from April's U.S. auto sales, at least — is trying to sell vehicles they might never get.

Lack of inventory remained the driving issue behind April's double-digit sales declines for five of the seven reporting automakers, including a drop of more than 40 percent for American Honda. Mazda North America had the smallest decline, at 3.3 percent.

Collectively, reporting automakers' U.S. sales fell more than 21 percent from a year earlier, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center. Analysts from LMC Automotive estimated that industry volume plunged 17 percent overall.

The losses might look worse because they are measured against April 2021 — a month when the seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of sales crested at 18.5 million as widespread vaccine distributions and relatively stable inventories attracted shoppers …

Lawmakers in Washington have a decision to make: Expand consumer subsidies on battery-electric vehicles, or let the current law run its course and allow the technology and hundreds of billions of dollars of investments to live — or die — unassisted by taxpayers.

We believe that while electric vehicles must ultimately stand on their own, battery technology and charging infrastructure are not yet sufficiently developed to support a widespread transition of the U.S. fleet. And while previously enacted tax subsidies helped to spawn the technology and give it legitimacy in the eyes of U.S. consumers, any subsequent taxpayer assistance must be better directed to assist those of lesser means to make the leap to EVs, instead of underwriting the second or third vehicles of the wealthy.

The existing subsidies were established in 2008 and expanded in 2009 to their current levels: a tax credit of up to $7,500 on qualifying vehicles. In 2009, the program — initially limite…

The 2023 Polestar 2 fastback is getting an 11-mile range increase because of software changes to the dual-motor variant, with a preliminary estimated EPA range of 260 miles. Polestar is also adding an upgraded heat pump for better cold-weather performance, an advanced air quality sensor and new design options across the interior and exterior.

The 2023 Polestar 2 single-motor model remains EPA rated at 270 miles of range.

With the software upgrade, the Performance Pack, available on the dual-motor variant only, adds 68 hp and 15 pound-feet of torque.