Trade News

Tesla Inc. terminated an employee six days after he posted a YouTube video of his car running into a traffic pylon while using Full Self-Driving, or FSD, the carmaker's controversial driver-assistance system.

John Bernal, who worked on the data-annotation team for Tesla's Autopilot system, received a separation agreement from the company on Feb. 11, just under a week after he posted a video that now has more than 180,000 views. At the 3:30 mark, Bernal's Model 3 makes a right turn too sharply and runs into a green pylon separating a road and bike lane in downtown San Jose, California.

Bernal, 26, said in a phone interview that while his manager refused to put the reason for his firing in writing, he was told it was in part due to improper use of FSD. Tesla said in January the beta software was running on almost 60,000 vehicles in the U.S.

The carmaker, which disbanded its media relations department in 2020, didn't respond to a request for comment. CNBC r…

Stellantis is recalling 370,437 Ram and Dodge vehicles in the U.S. because of an issue with the electronic stability control warning light that can increase the risk of a crash.

The recall includes 2021-22 Dodge Durango SUVs, 2019-22 Ram 2500 pickups and 2019-22 Ram 3500 Chassis Cab trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating below 10,000 pounds, NHTSA said Thursday.

Stellantis said it was made aware by a supplier of an issue that causes the warning light to not activate if the system loses its throttle reduction capability. Although the defect does not disable electronic stability control, it can cause drivers to be unaware that their cars need servicing.

The company said it was unaware of any related injuries or crashes.

Owners will receive notification letters at the end of April and can bring their vehicles to dealerships to update the software.

The recall also affects 29,924 vehicles in Canada, 1,029 in Mexico and 7,986 outside North Ame…

Santander Consumer USA Inc. will replace Ally Financial Inc. as Mitsubishi's preferred finance partner, the closest thing to a captive finance company the automaker has.

"Santander will be a 'captive-like' finance partner," Santander spokeswoman Laurie Kight wrote in an email Friday.

The new arrangement takes effect June 1.

"Santander will be the direct/preferred lending partner, specifically with access to any Mitsubishi Motors subvented programs," Mitsubishi spokesman Jeremy Barnes wrote in an email Friday.

"Additionally, Santander is able to provide other financial services to our dealer partners as necessary, such as floorplanning."

Kight said Santander would have exclusivity with regards to Mitsubishi's incentive programs.

"Ally remains committed to our dealer customers’ success, supporting their businesses in this rapidly changing environment," an Ally spokesperson said in a statement. She called the independent lender "well po…

SHANGHAI - BYD Co. late on Tuesday said it would raise prices on its vehicles by 3,000-6,000 yuan ($471-942), citing the rising cost of raw materials.

The price increases will take effect from Wednesday, it said, adding that customers who had paid deposits on vehicles prior to then would not be affected.

"Due to the impact of continued rises in raw material prices, BYD has officially guided Wang Chao Business and Ocean Network Business to adjust prices on relevant EV models," it said in a statement on its official Weibo account, referring to its sales channels.

The announcement comes a day after Tesla Inc. raised prices in China and the United States for the second time in less than a week. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also said the U.S. electric carmaker was facing significant inflationary pressure in raw materials and logistics.

The cost of raw materials is surging, exacerbated by supply chain disruption following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia…

Online used-vehicle retailer Shift Technologies said Tuesday it is acquiring the dealer listing marketplace assets of Fair Technologies, a vehicle retailing platform, for $15 million in cash and 2.5 percent equity.

In its reasoning for the deal, Shift said it wants to establish an online marketplace presence where dealers and independent sellers can list their cars alongside Shift's inventory. The company said that will let its customers access a wider selection of vehicles for sale.

Shift wants the dealer marketplace ready to roll out in the second quarter.

"When we looked at our roadmap for the long-term, it felt like it would be at least two years before we could build this ourselves," Shift CEO George Arison said during a Tuesday earnings call with analysts and investors.

Fair CEO Brad Stewart approached Shift about the work Fair had done on its online marketplace platform, Arison said. The marketplace has been in development for 18 months and…

In a surprising twist, Russia's invasion of Ukraine will put "a substantial number" of additional new crossovers on the lots of U.S. Volkswagen dealerships in coming months.

Speaking Tuesday during Volkswagen Group's annual press conference, CEO Herbert Diess said the German automaker would shift more production to North America and China, at least temporarily, as a result of the war.

That's expected to mean increased output from VW-brand plants in Chattanooga and Puebla, Mexico, as well as the Audi plant in San Jose Chiapa, Mexico, all of which assemble crossovers sold primarily in the U.S. Chattanooga builds the three-row VW Atlas and two-row Atlas Cross Sport and is currently building non-saleable pilot versions of the ID4 battery-electric crossover, while Puebla assembles the VW Tiguan and Taos. The Audi plant produces the popular Q5.

The automaker's plants in China were also expected to benefit, as scarce microchips that would otherwise be…

DETROIT — Cadillac will open the order books for the Lyriq, its first electric vehicle, this spring.

General Motors' luxury brand will begin taking new orders for the 2023 Lyriq and the 2023 Lyriq performance all-wheel drive on May 19, Rory Harvey, vice president of global Cadillac, told reporters Tuesday.

Unlike reservations, the Lyriq orders will be logged directly into dealers' systems, Harvey said. The process will be the same as placing an order for a CT4, Escalade or any vehicle available today through Cadillac.com or a dealership's website.

Limited production of the standard Lyriq with rear-wheel drive is slated to begin March 21 in Spring Hill, Tenn. Shipments to dealers will begin in May, Harvey said. Production of the performance Lyriq will begin late this year.

Cadillac set a target for 200,000 handraisers for the Lyriq at the start of production, a level the brand has never achieved, Harvey said. Cadillac defines a "handraiser" as a c…

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Mercedes-Benz won't cut spending on future electric vehicles even as it copes with supply-chain cost pressures exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the German automaker's CEO said Tuesday.

Ola Källenius, speaking during the company's opening of its first U.S. EV battery factory, also affirmed the company's 2022 financial outlook remained in place despite the conflict.

"We always protect the investment into future technology and future products," Källenius told Reuters. "That is the seed which we will harvest. Not even in COVID year of 2020 did we cut back on R&D for crucial projects."

Mercedes is working with suppliers in Ukraine whose operations have been disrupted, he added, but it was "too early to tell what the wider ramifications will be."

Rocketing gasoline prices since Russia's invasion of Ukraine has amplified the challenges for established automakers that still rely on fossil fuel-powered vehicles for prof…

Dealership broker Dave Cantin has his arm raised in a victory pose by boxing champion Sugar Ray Leonard, right, at the Dave Cantin Group NADA party at the Lavo Nightclub in the Palazzo Resort on Saturday night.

The Dave Cantin Group gathering was in support of DCG Giving Inc., a child and adolescent cancer research and treatment charity.

Dealers and guests were ushered into the Mitsubishi Dealer Reception on Saturday after giving the secret password through this small sliding window on a metal door in the janitor's closet of the Barbershop at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Inside the Mitsubishi party

This is why it's called the Barbershop.

Subaru of America CEO Tom Doll, third from left, and sales Vice President Jeff Walters, right, entertain Don and Laurie Hicks at the Subaru Dealer Reception on the Chateau Rooftop at Paris Las Vegas.

Subaru of America dealers and guests enjoyed a beautiful view of the Las Vegas Strip from th…

What happens to online sales momentum when a global shortage of inventory crashes into a pandemic?

In short: It keeps growing. That's what some of the nation's public auto retailers reported last month as part of their fourth-quarter earnings results, describing increased sales on their own branded digital platforms, expansion into new markets and additional customer capabilities.

Lithia Motors Inc., for instance, shared that sales through its Driveway tool in December topped its monthly goal by 32 percent. Group 1 Automotive Inc. reported that sales on its AcceleRide platform grew 77 percent in 2021 to nearly 20,000 transactions.

Separate from the public retailers, dealership leaders I've talked to in recent weeks have told me they haven't eased up on digital sales and are working to make the process easier.

But many dealership lots are still thinly stocked as automakers haven't yet been able to produce enough vehicles to catch up with demand. Th…

(All figures in U.S. dollars.)

Honda Canada is planning a $1.1-billion retooling of its Alliston, Ontario, operations to produce hybrid vehicles as part of its plan to shift towards of a fully electric product line by 2040.

The automaker is set to announce details at a news conference in Alliston on Wednesday.

The federal and Ontario governments each will kick in $103 million to the project.

In January, Honda Canada CEO Jean Marc Leclerc said the automaker would start building the hybrid version of the CR-V at its Alliston campus this summer.

The company had been retooling a portion of Plant 2 at the four million square-foot assembly site to make way for production midway through the year.

The first vehicles assembled will be for the 2023 model year.

Honda of Canada Mfg. has built the gasoline version of the CR-V crossover in Alliston since 2012. At neighboring Plant 1 it assembles the Honda Civic sedan, and it bui…

Three Bristol, Tenn., dealerships owned by longtime dealer Bill Gatton have sold to different buyers.

On Jan. 31, Umansky Automotive Group, of Memphis, Tenn., bought Bill Gatton Honda and renamed it Bristol Honda, said the group's owner, Dan Umansky. It marks the retailer's first dealership in the city, he said.

"That's a Tennessee market we've been looking to get into," Dan Umansky told Automotive News. "This makes our fifth Honda store."

Umansky said his group has dealerships across California, Wisconsin, Virginia, Mississippi and Tennessee. In June, the group bought five dealerships in California.

Dutch Miller Auto Group, of Huntington, W.Va., on Jan. 31 acquired Bill Gatton Nissan, group CFO Brad Blake confirmed. The dealership is now called Dutch Miller Nissan of Bristol.

It's also the first store in the area for Dutch Miller, which in addition to dealerships in West Virginia has a presence in Charlotte, N.C., according to its website.…