Trade News

The billionaire Agnelli family's companies agreed to pay 949 million euros ($1.08 billion) to settle an investigation by the Italian Tax Agency.

Exor SpA, which controls Ferrari and is Stellantis' biggest shareholder, agreed to pay 746 million euros for so-called exit tax claims relating to its 2016 merger with its Dutch subsidiary, Exor Holding NV, according to a statement.

“The settlement agreement does not and should not be interpreted as a recognition, or even partial acceptance by Exor of the subsequent interpretations advanced by the Italian Tax Authorities,” the company said.

The statement added that Exor “remains convinced that it acted in accordance with the rules.”

Separately, the Giovanni Agnelli B.V. holding company agreed to pay 203 million euros relating to the same exit tax.

The Agnelli family holding owns 52 percent of Exor, according to Bloomberg data.

Lexus, which previewed four battery-electric vehicles in December, is sharing more images and stretch specs on one of them — a high-performance electric sports car.

The BEV Sport concept signals the future of the luxury brand, Lexus says, while also reviving the spirit of the high-performance LFA, a halo model Lexus discontinued in 2012 after a run of 500 cars.

The company says acceleration from 0 to 60 mph may land in the low two-second range, and cruising distance could exceed 435 miles, with the possible use of solid-state batteries.

Lexus plans to have a lineup of EVs in all segments by 2030 and to be EV-only by 2035.

Tesla is facing a new round of regulatory pressures for unintended braking by its electric vehicles, allegations of racism at its California factory and ongoing scrutiny of CEO Elon Musk by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for public comments that could affect the company's stock price.

Tesla and Musk fired back last week, claiming the SEC "seems to be targeting Mr. Musk and Tesla for unrelenting investigation largely because Mr. Musk remains an outspoken critic of the government."

The allegation by Tesla's legal counsel Alex Spiro was made to the judge who presided over a 2018 settlement between the automaker and the SEC over Musk's false tweet that he had secured funding to take Tesla private.

"The SEC's outsized efforts seem calculated to chill [Musk's] exercise of First Amendment rights rather than to enforce generally applicable laws in an evenhanded fashion," said the letter by Tesla lawyer Alex Shapiro to U.S. District Judge Alison Na…

BRIMLEY, Mich. — Magna International Inc. has developed a battery-electric, four-wheel-drive powertrain system that it says can offer automakers the chance to electrify their pickups without having to completely upend their architectures.

The technology will also work with light commercial trucks.

The EtelligentForce, as it's called, uses Magna's eBeam electric axle drive system, which can replace traditional beam axles on a truck without requiring an overhaul of its suspension or brake systems.

The technology will be ready for mass production by 2025, Magna CEO Swamy Kotagiri told reporters here at a winter proving ground last week, when it showed a formerly gasoline-powered 2020 GMC Sierra 2500HD outfitted with the electric powertrain system.

He said Magna is now making the pitch to automaker customers that it will be able to provide them with the electric powertrain system as the EV market beckons, but without havi…

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission denied it’s targeting Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk with endless probes, as he claimed in a letter to a judge earlier this week.

The SEC reached settlements with Musk and Tesla in September 2018 after suing Musk over his infamous “funding secured” tweets in which he claimed to have investor support for taking Tesla private at $420 a share.

This month, Tesla disclosed in a regulatory filing that on Nov. 16 the agency sought information about the company’s governance processes and compliance with the settlements.

Alex Spiro, Musk’s outside counsel, claimed in a letter to U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan that the agency was targeting Musk and the electric car maker with “unrelenting investigation” because the CEO is “an outspoken critic of the government.” He said the commission issued subpoenas without court approval.

The SEC responded Friday, with its lawyer Steven Buchholz writing to the judge that the commi…

The semiconductor shortage, along with pent-up demand for new and used vehicles, has created the perfect storm for mismatched supply and demand. And dealers are taking advantage of vehicle shortages by adding big markups to vehicles or ladling on thousands of dollars in add-ons.

Whereas the sticker price used to be the upper end of the transaction price on dealership lots, it's now the starting price. But not at the Capistrano Volkswagen and Capistrano Mazda dealerships owned by Miles Brandon in Southern California. As tempting as it may be, Brandon is sticking to his decades-old pledge not to sell above sticker price.

"I feel sticker is a fair price," he said.

Brandon's first temptation to add market adjustments to high-demand vehicles came in the late 1990s after he bought Capistrano Volkswagen in the coastal town of San Juan Capistrano. The launch of the New Beetle was nine months away and shoppers were asking whether the dealership would take order…

As e-scooters increase their presence in U.S. cities, it's becoming more of a priority that they have smart technologies to protect sidewalk pedestrians. In most instances, scooters are meant to stay on the street like a bicycle and off the sidewalks.

E-scooter makers such as Bird and Lime have responded by developing and testing technology that detects when someone is riding an e-scooter on the sidewalk.

Now competitor Superpedestrian Inc. is about to expand its version of pedestrian safety technology. The Cambridge, Mass., robotics company says its system can help improve driver behavior even when the operator is riding in a legal area.

This month the company secured $125 million in financing to help scale its scooter service.

Superpedestrian designs and builds its Link e-scooters for shared use in 59 cities in 10 countries in the U.S., Europe and Turkey. There are 35,000 Link scooters worldwide. The company designs and engineers the vehicles…

TOKYO — EV latecomer Toyota hasn't even launched its first serious electric vehicle yet. But the company is already preparing a full fleet of all-electric cars for the day its EVs go mainstream.

That time is not so far away. By the end of the decade, Toyota plans a wide EV lineup encompassing pickups, sports coupes, sedans, luxury cars, urban runabouts, even delivery trucks.

President Akio Toyoda opened the curtain on a diverse 16-vehicle lineup in December. It was a dramatic riposte to critics who said his company was too slow and timid on battery electrics.

The plethora of new prototypes and mockups — parked on stage as full-size 3D models, not teased as digital renderings as some rivals have done — was meant to show just how serious Toyota really is.

The divergent designs of the cars on display said a lot about Toyota's new EV roadmap.

Global design chief Simon Humphries says that EV diversity, in bot…

Startup Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc.'s troubles are continuing after its independent registered public accounting firm resigned amid a controversy that sent the company's stock value plummeting this month.

Chicago-based BDO LLP resigned from the audit of the Troy-based electric vehicle maker's finances, which drew public scrutiny this month when a probe found senior executives improperly purchased discounted equity in the company right before it went public.

"BDO has concluded that the company has not taken timely and appropriate remedial action with respect to the potential illegal act(s)," the accounting firm said in a letter last week to ELMS.

BDO's withdrawl as lead auditor was disclosed in an 8-K form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, dated Feb. 8 and posted on the ELMS website earlier this week.

Electric Last Mile denied the claim that it failed to take timely and appropriate remedial action, and it also questioned BDO'…

Small, publicly traded LMP Automotive Holdings Inc. had a goal to roll up dozens of dealerships. It stumbled on a few deals, bought eight franchised stores last year, entered into numerous contracts for more and even purchased a $5.6 million airplane.

But now those deals are collapsing. LMP is exploring alternatives, including selling its portfolio of franchised dealerships and four used-vehicle centers after it was unable to secure financing to close seven pending transactions. Combined, those transactions would have cost the fledgling company more than $296 million.

LMP CEO Samer Tawfik said in a news release Wednesday that the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., retailer planned to terminate those deals, which the company less than two weeks earlier had said would begin closing this month.

"Given the record M&A activity in our sector and multiples being paid for these transactions, LMP's board of directors has directed management to immediately pursue strate…