Trade News

Fast-growing Gee Automotive Cos. made its first franchised dealership acquisition since late 2020 with the purchase of three domestic dealerships near Portland.

Gee Automotive of Liberty Lake, Wash., on Wednesday bought Dick's Hillsboro Chevrolet, Dick's Country Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge and Dick's MacKenzie Ford, all in Hillsboro, Ore., from siblings Shannon Inukai-Cuffee and Scott Inukai of Dick's Auto Group.

Terms were not disclosed. The stores were renamed Tonkin Hillsboro Chevrolet, Tonkin Hillsboro Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram and Tonkin Hillsboro Ford.

Gee Automotive President Jeff Jackson described Hillsboro, west of Portland, as a growing submarket and noted that the group retained all of the stores' employees.

"We have 14 other dealerships in the greater Portland area," Jackson told Automotive News. "We're looking to expand the business. It was a natural fit where we can kind of bring it under the Tonkin platform of dealerships. Everything in Por…

After four and a half years with the Center for Auto Safety, Jason Levine has resigned as executive director.

The resignation was effective Dec. 31, as Levine, 49, moved on to become acting director of the Office of Communications at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission -- a job he started on Tuesday.

Before joining the Center for Auto Safety, Levine had worked for the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 2009-2015, most recently as director, office of legislative and intergovernmental affairs.

"He's the type that is always there to serve when called upon by his nation," said Michael Brooks, the center's COO and acting executive director.

The center is evaluating its options for a new executive director. Brooks was the acting director after Clarence Ditlow died in 2016. Levine was hired in 2017.

In Levine's time with the center, it has become "a much more organized, dedicated force," Brooks said.

Levine said he is most proud …

When riders fled public transit during the early throes of the pandemic, Local Motors suffered from shelved orders for its 3D-printed autonomous Olli shuttle. When orders returned and then proliferated, the ongoing chip shortage stymied the company's ability to fulfill them.

The double whammy of the coronavirus and supply chain constraints emerged as two central reasons Local Motors shuttered its doors this month, according to two former company executives. But they were not the only reasons.

Costs associated with keeping a human attendant aboard each vehicle made the Ollis more expensive than operators anticipated, resulting in customers less inclined to buy the shuttles as their own pandemic-era budgets were strapped. A quirk in federal regulations favored foreign shuttle providers over domestic manufacturers. The company eked along on a shoestring budget that always stretched limited resources.

Still, the end came as a surprise.

"None of us sa…

Construction giant The Walbridge Group has been hired to build Ford Motor Co.'s Blue Oval City development in Tennessee.

The project in Stanton, northeast of Memphis, is expected to cost $5.6 billion and produce electric F-Series trucks and batteries.

It is expected to be one of the largest project's in Ford's history, spread across some 3,600 acres in a town that has less than 500 people.

Ford said the effort will "require some 11,000 direct construction jobs and several thousand more related personnel" to build the factory, which is expected to ultimately employ about 5,700.

"Ford and Walbridge are both committed to hiring a diverse workforce to build Blue Oval City," Ford said in a statement Thursday.

"Together, we will host several subcontractor events in the Memphis area to provide an overview of the construction opportunities at the site. These events will help ensure that Tennesseans and a diverse local workforce will be part of crea…

Former Reagor-Dykes Auto Group CFO Shane Smith was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday, after pleading guilty for his role in a $50 million wire fraud conspiracy.

Smith was one of 16 employees from the Lubbock, Texas-based group to plead guilty to defrauding Ford Motor Credit. Smith was the last employee besides former CEO Bart Reagor to receive sentencing, a Department of Justice press release said.

Of the 16 sentences, Smith's was the longest.

"We are proud of the work we've done to hold this defendant – and more than a dozen of his coworkers – accountable for their egregious behavior," U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad Meacham said in a press release.

Smith faced up to 20 years in prison, but U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk instead gave him 84 months and demanded he pay $59 million in restitution. Throughout the trial, Kacsmaryk was provided with 18 character statements from friends and family of Smith, test…

For drivers who dream of cruising around in a Tesla but can't afford one — or just have commitment issues — there's a new option.

Entrepreneur Scott Painter, best known for founding auto pricing company TrueCar Inc., has launched a Tesla subscription service giving customers a Model 3 sedan for a flat monthly fee. The venture, called Autonomy, has acquired about 100 of the vehicles from Tesla so far.

"We own the car, you're driving it. It's a simple contract, and you can do all of this with a credit card," Painter said Thursday in an interview. "It's not a traditional lease or car loan."

The new company, based in Santa Monica, Calif., aims to capitalize on rising consumer demand for electric vehicles, particularly among those who want to experience them before committing to a purchase. Autonomy is starting in its home state, with plans to expand to other states and eventually other EV brands.

Autonomy's launch is a rebranding of a venture Painter…

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden praised Intel Corp. for plans to build a $20 billion semiconductor hub in Ohio and urged Congress to pass stalled legislation that would provide $52 billion for chip research and manufacturing in the U.S. amid a global shortage.

“I want other cities and states to be able to make announcements like the one being made here today,” Biden said Friday at the White House, flanked by Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. “And that’s why I want to see Congress pass this bill right away and get it to my desk.”

The Biden administration has been pushing to bring more chip manufacturing to the U.S. to alleviate a shortage that stems from increased demand and supply chain kinks linked to the pandemic. But there have been few tangible results.

A lack of chips has caused production delays for consumer electronics and automobiles, and led to furloughs. The price for used cars, in large part due to a shortage of chips, continues to be a component o…

Online used-vehicle retailer Vroom will return to the Super Bowl this year with an ad that highlights the company's ability to buy cars from consumers.

The ad, called "Flake the Musical," depicts a consumer who is ready to sell a vehicle through a peer-to-peer transaction, only to have the buyer back out of the deal. The 30-second spot centers on a woman dancing down a city street as she sings about finally finding a buyer for her vehicle before receiving a text message that the transaction was off. The musical number was choreographed by Mandy Moore, who also worked on the Hollywood musical, "La La Land."

"Never deal with flaky buyers again," a narrator says, as the scene flips to a Vroom-branded flatbed truck loading up the seller's vehicle.

"Now is a terrific time to sell a vehicle with used-car pricing at all-time highs. However, the process can be overwhelming and unnecessarily complicated," Peter Scherr, Vroom's chief marketing officer, said in a …

Start-up Factorial Energy has raised $200 million to help fund further development and commercialization of its advanced solid-state battery for EVs.

Automakers Stellantis NV and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz led the round for three-year-old Factorial, based outside Boston in Woburn, Massachusetts.

Factorial is one of several U.S. battery start-ups attempting to commercialize solid-state technology, which promises to reduce the risk of battery fires and extend driving range.

Potential competitors include QuantumScape, a 12-year-old Silicon Valley start-up that went public in 2020, and 10-year-old Solid Power, based in Louisville, Colorado, which went public in December.

QuantumScape has been funded by Volkswagen AG, while Solid Power has backing from BMW, Ford Motor and Hyundai Motor.

Other companies, notably Toyota Motor, are developing solid-state batteries in house.

Most of those batteries use a solid-state electrolyte in place of li…

General Motors' pre-production version the Cadillac Lyriq EV crossover have been assembled and the final production version is expected to be delivered to customers in a few months, President Mark Reuss said in a LinkedIn post on Thursday.

GM, recently dethroned as the No.1 U.S. automaker, is competing with century-old rival Ford Motor Co. over which company will sell more EVs by 2025.

"Our teams have worked tirelessly on the Lyriq, bringing the launch up nine months ahead of schedule," Reuss said.

Lyriq, an all-electric mid-size crossover, was unveiled by GM in August 2020 in a move to transform its traditional combustion engine lineup to an electric one.

GM's Cadillac will offer the Lyriq, Celestiq, Escalade EV as well as a compact crossover by 2025.

Separately, the automaker halted production of its EV model Chevrolet Bolt in August after a major battery recall and recently extended the halt to late February.

The company is consid…