Trade News

Publicly traded retailers Penske Automotive Group Inc. and Lithia Motors Inc. each announced single-store acquisition deals on Tuesday.

Penske said it has acquired a Hyundai-Genesis dealership in Noblesville, Ind., near Indianapolis, its first of those brands in that region, from dealer Terry Lee. Financial terms of the deal, which closed Monday, were not disclosed.

The dealership, which was built in 2015 and houses a Hyundai showroom on one side and a Genesis showroom on the other, had been called Terry Lee Hyundai-Genesis of Noblesville. Penske did not disclose a name change.

"It is bittersweet to leave an industry I have worked in my entire life, but I know Penske Automotive will continue to serve the community and customers with the same high standards I and my team strove for," Lee said in a statement.

The acquisition brings Penske to a total of four Hyundai outlets and two Genesis outlets, Anthony Pordon, Penske Automotive's executive vice p…

U.S. sales at Hyundai and Kia dropped by double digits a second-straight month in April compared with a year earlier, when industry volume soared, as key parts shortages and jammed supply lines continue to undermine light-vehicle output and shipments.

Deliveries fell 20 percent at Hyundai and 16 percent at Kia last month, mostly on weaker car sales.

With an expanded crossover linuep, its first pickup and the new Ioniq 5 electric vehicle, Hyundai has focused on retail sales, which tallied 61,668 last month. The company reported zero fleet deliveries in April for the fourth  month.

At Genesis, April volume rose 53 percent to 5,039, a monthly record, and the brand's 17th straight increase. The brand's two crossovers, the GV70 and GV80, each outsold combined deliveries of the brand's three sedans.

U.S. new-vehicle sales are expected to fall around 20 percent in April, analysts predict, as automakers struggle to rebuild depleted dealer inventorie…

FRANKFURT/MILAN -- Stellantis has agreed to buy the Share Now car-sharing business from BMW and Mercedes-Benz as the two German automakers focus on the software part of their mobility alliance.

Stellantis wants to position itself as a global leader in car-sharing, using this step announced on Tuesday to expand its existing business in the area.

Share Now, the European market leader, allows customers to use smartphones for short-term rentals of cars including BMW, Mini, Mercedes, Smart and Fiat vehicles in cities.

Brigitte Courtehoux, who heads Stellantis' mobility division Free2move, said the deal was part of the group's plans to grow net revenue from that business to 700 million euros ($735 million) in 2025 and to 2.8 billion euros in 2030, up from 40 million euros last year.

"We will really accelerate in terms of revenue," she said.

Stellantis w…

José Muñoz, Hyundai Motor Co.'s global COO, is being tasked with expanded oversight for the Korean automaker.

Among the additional duties: product and sales management in Africa, Europe, India and the Middle East, the automaker said Monday

Muñoz will retain his role as CEO of Hyundai Motor North America and Hyundai Motor America responsible for operations strategies, growth and performance in North, Central and South America.

But he now will additionally oversee Hyundai's global talent recruitment and retention in its new technology-based businesses, and will work more closely with Hyundai's venture capital firm in Silicon Valley to identify tech-focused talent in design and programming.

Muñoz, 56, who joined Hyundai in 2019, additionally will join the company's board of management, pending the approval of Hyundai's general shareholder meeting in March 2023.

"Jose is a definitely proven leader and we expect his expanded role will greatly e…

Elon Musk is in talks with large investment firms and high net-worth individuals about taking on more financing for his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter Inc TWTR.N and tying up less of his wealth in the deal, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The banks that agreed last month to provide $13 billion in loans secured against Twitter balked at providing more debt for Musk's acquisition given the San Francisco-based company's limited cash flow, Reuters reported last month. Musk committed to providing $21 billion in cash for the deal.

The CEO of Tesla Inc. could use the new financing to reduce his contribution to the equity check for the deal, the sources said.

Musk has also pledged some of his Tesla shares to banks to arrange a $12.5 billion margin loan to help fund the deal. He may seek to trim the size of the margin loan based on the new investor interest in the deal financing, one of the sources said.

Major investors such as private e…

The Biden administration said it will spend more than $3.1 billion to support the domestic manufacturing of advanced batteries used in EVs and energy storage.

About $3.16 billion in grants will be made available to produce key metals for the batteries, such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, Dave Howell, principal deputy director in the Energy Department’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, told reporters in a briefing on Monday.

The grants are intended to reduce U.S. reliance on competitors led by China, the leading producer of lithium-ion battery cells, and further President Joe Biden’s plan to see electric vehicles comprise half of all new U.S. car sales by 2030.

“This announcement will help boost domestic battery manufacturing, make our country more secure and spread the creation of good-paying jobs,” said Mitch Landrieu, the White House’s senior advisor and infrastructure coordinator.

The program will also help fight climate change…

Ford Motor Co. is recalling 252,936 Explorer large crossovers because of a defect that can cause the vehicles to roll away while in park.

NHTSA said last month that the affected vehicles are certain 2020-22 Explorers, 2020-22 Explorer Hybrids, 2020-21 Explorer Police Interceptors, 2020-21 Explorer Police Interceptor Hybrids and 2020-22 Explorer Plug-in Hybrids.

The defect is caused by the rear axle horizontal mounting bolt fracturing during acceleration. The fractured bolt causes a severe noise that customers describe as "loud, grinding, binding, or clunking," NHTSA said.

If the bolt breaks, it can cause the driveshaft to become disconnected, resulting in a loss of transmission torque in the rear wheels.

NHTSA said this torque is needed to hold vehicles in park, and without it, vehicles may roll away while parked. This can cause an increased risk of crashes or injuries.

Ford said it was not aware of any reports of accidents or injuries rela…

Editor's note: The provincial government in Ontario, Canada, and Stellantis have updated the original expected investment figure to $2.8 billion. An earlier version of this story used a smaller dollar figure.

Stellantis said it will spend $2.8 billion (USD) to retool a pair of assembly plants and build two new R&D centers in Canada.

Stellantis on Monday said its Windsor and Brampton plants will be converted into what the company described as “flexible, multi-energy vehicle assembly facilities ready to produce the electric vehicles of the future.”

The company will also build two new R&D centers in Windsor, focusing on electric vehicles and EV battery technology. 

The governments of Canada and the province of Ontario each will give Stellantis up to $398 million toward the projects.

Stellantis, during contract negotiations with Unifor, committed to spend up to $1.1 billion to retool its Windsor factory.

Stellantis sa…

SHANGHAI — When Tesla Inc.'s Shanghai plant and other auto factories were shut over the last two months by emergency measures to control China’s biggest COVID-19 outbreak, the burning question was how quickly they could restart to meet surging demand.

But with the Shanghai lockdown grinding into its fourth week, and similar measures imposed in dozens of smaller cities, the world’s largest boom market for electric vehicles has gone bust.

Other companies from luxury goods makers to fast-food restaurants have also offered a first read on the lost sales and shaken confidence in recent weeks, even as Beijing rolls out measures to help COVID-hit industries and stimulate demand.

The pressing question now is: how and when will Chinese consumers start buying everything from Teslas to tacos again?

In China's once-hot EV market, the recent turmoil is a stark example of a one-two economic punch, first to supply and then to demand, from Beijing’s hard-li…