Trade News

President Joe Biden’s pick to run the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration won a key congressional committee’s approval Wednesday, advancing the nominee toward a vote of the full Senate.

Steven Cliff has been the agency’s interim chief since January. He is a former deputy executive officer at the California Air Resources Board, which regulates auto emissions in the Golden State. He navigated through a smooth confirmation vote, although Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., voiced opposition during the markup.

NHTSA, the federal regulator charged with keeping U.S. roads safe, is now in its fifth year without a permanent administrator.

Before tapping Cliff, Biden faced pressure to appoint a permanent NHTSA chief from safety advocates who cited an increase in U.S. traffic deaths despite reduced driving during the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, the agency has ramped up its politically fraught investigation of Tesla Inc. and may be on a collision…

A former underwriter suing U.S. Bank over alleged racism and ageism also claims co-workers repeatedly discriminated against dealership customers seeking indirect auto loans.

Plaintiff John Span alleged white colleagues manipulated performance metrics and discriminated against minority customers by cherry-picking and favorably adjusting certain applications the bank's automated system had already approved.

He also claimed white co-workers assigned to the multistate North Central Region denied qualified applicants on the basis of " 'ethnic-sounding' names" or "addresses in predominantly minority neighborhoods or neighborhoods with a 'bad' reputation."

The North Central Region oversees indirect auto lending in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

U.S. Bank denied Span’s allegations in an answer filed last month in federal court.

"We take these accusations and matters very seriously," the com…

President Joe Biden calls himself a union guy and a car guy, and he’s embraced electric vehicles as vital to his economic and climate ambitions.

But there’s one U.S. car company he won’t talk about: Tesla Inc., the world’s most valuable automaker and the global brand most clearly associated with EVs.

“I meant it when I said the future was going to be made right here in America,” Biden said in a tweeted video with General Motors CEO Mary Barra on Thursday. “Companies like GM and Ford are building more electric vehicles here at home than ever before.”

The tweet didn’t go unobserved by avid Twitter user and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “Starts with a T. Ends with an A. ESL in the middle,” he replied.

At every opportunity, Biden hails progress Ford and GM have made toward fielding an electric fleet. But his ongoing and obvious snubs of Tesla -- a source of mild intrigue within the administration -- have sparked increasingly exasperated public reactions from…

DETROIT — General Motors' net income plunged 39 percent in the fourth quarter to $1.7 billion as the global microchip shortage continued to hamper production, but the automaker said it achieved a record full-year operating profit and expects to roughly match that performance in 2022.

For all of 2021, GM's net income surged 56 percent to $10 billion. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes rose 47 percent to $14.3 billion, hitting the range it previously projected, as revenue increased 3.7 percent to $127 billion.

The automaker said it expects its 2022 adjusted earnings "to remain at or near record levels," between $13 billion and $15 billion.

GM's U.S. light-vehicle sales fell 43 percent in the fourth quarter to a new post-bankruptcy low as the chip shortage forced the automaker to add production downtime at some plants. On the year, GM's sales were down 13 percent to 2.20 million, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center, falling…

Six dealerships across the U.S. changed ownership in December and January transactions that included one group's first Lexus dealership and another expanding group's first Honda store.

Here's a look at the deals involving luxury, import and domestic brands.

PSD Automotive Group bought its first Lexus dealership last month as part of a two-store acquisition in Connecticut, according to the broker who handled the sale.

PSD Automotive purchased David McDermott Lexus of New Haven and Dave McDermott Chevrolet, both in East Haven, on Jan. 18 from dealer David McDermott of McDermott Auto Group, who retired.

The two dealerships were the last that McDermott owned, according to Haig Partners, a buy-sell firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Alan Haig, president of Haig Partners, along with partner Nathan Klebacha represented McDermott in the transaction.

"My family has been encouraging me for years to retire," McDermott said in a statement. "When the buy-…

DETROIT — U.S. District Judge David Lawson on Tuesday approved the results of last year's UAW referendum vote, in which members opted for a more direct say in how they elect union leaders.

The office of court-appointed monitor Neil Barofsky announced in early December that nearly 64 percent of the 140,586 votes cast were in favor of adopting a "one member, one vote" system for electing officers, while 36 percent voted in favor of retaining the current delegate-based system. Under the terms of the union's six-year consent decree with the federal government, the results had to be approved by a judge before changes could be implemented.

Lawson on Tuesday ordered the union change its constitution and implement the new voting system by June 30, ahead of a July convention where members will gather to elect a president and other executive board members. Barfosky will design the new voting system in consultation with the union.

"We designed the Consent Decree so…

Self-driving tech firm Cruise on Tuesday said investor SoftBank Group Corp.'s Vision Fund has agreed to invest an additional $1.35 billion through a second tranche as Cruise works to launch its commercial ride hailing service in San Francisco.

In 2018, SoftBank Vision Fund invested $900 million in the GM-backed self driving firm and committed to investing another $1.35 billion when Cruise vehicles were ready for commercial deployment, at the time scheduled for 2019.

Dan Ammann, the previous Cruise chief executive, had said he hoped to get a regulatory permit to charge for driverless rides from the California Public Utilities Commission early this year.

He stepped down in December and Cruise founder and president Kyle Vogt is serving as interim CEO.

Softbank's investment will help Cruise "quickly scale this technology" across San Francisco and into more communities, Vogt said in a blog posting.

"Most people experience childlike delight durin…

WASHINGTON -- U.S. auto safety regulators on Tuesday said traffic deaths rose 12 percent in the first nine months of 2021 to 31,720 -- the highest number killed on American roads in that period since 2006, according to its initial estimate.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in the third quarter traffic deaths were estimated to have risen 3.9 percent.

The 12 percent reported increase in the first nine months is the highest reported since NHTSA began using its current traffic fatality tracking system in 1975.

The numbers suggest the U.S. surpassed 40,000 traffic deaths in 2021 for the first time since 2007. Road deaths through September slightly outpaced the 11.7 percent increase in vehicle miles traveled.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Transportation Department released a strategy designed to cut the soaring number of traffic deaths on American roads that it calls a "crisis."

NHTSA said 38 states were projected to have incre…

President Joe Biden wants electric vehicles to account for 50 percent of new car sales by 2030. But to meet that target he may have to sell the cars to a skeptical demographic: Donald Trump and rural voters.

More than 76 percent of EV sales last year were in states Biden carried in the 2020 presidential election, according to data registration from IHS Markit and compiled by Bloomberg.

That’s largely because of an enormous urban-rural divide in electric vehicle adoption, driven by fewer consumer choices, fewer chargers and fewer state financial incentives.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says that EV sales in rural areas -- where former president Trump is most popular -- are a key part of the administration’s strategy to speed adoption and reduce emissions. The administration will soon roll out a rural electric vehicle strategy, he said.

“The Americans who stand to benefit most from EVs are those who drive the most, often rural drivers --…

Maserati's MC20 supercar delivers a shot of adrenaline to an Italian brand that has often run in the shadows of Ferrari and Lamborghini.

The MC20's long, low, wide and sleek profile features styling cues that pay respect to the company's storied past and herald a new design language at the same time. It's a preview of upcoming Maseratis such as the Grecale SUV.

The MC20's 3.0-liter V-6 turbocharged gasoline engine, built by Maserati, packs 621 hp and 538 pound-feet of torque. An eight-speed, dual-clutch transmission completes the powertrain.

It is billed as Maserati's most powerful series model ever.

Maserati also claims a better power-to-weight ratio than many of its Italian rivals, namely the Ferrari F8 Tributo and Lamborghini Huracan.

A convertible version and a battery-electric version will be launched later this year.

MC stands for Maserati Corse — "corsa" is Italian for racing — and the 20 refers to 2020.

Maserati says …