Trade News

ATLANTA — Porsche will invest more than $50 million to build a second driving track at its Atlanta Experience Center, the automaker said Monday.

The 1.3-mile circuit, which will open in the first quarter of 2023, will be connected to the current 1.6-mile driver development track at Porsche's North American headquarters campus next to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

At the track — which includes on-road and off-road courses — visitors can push their favorite Porsche models to their limit coached by professional drivers.

The expansion is the cornerstone of a 33-acre "multimillion-dollar development" at the headquarters campus that includes a 20,815-square-foot service center and a classic factory restoration center.

"The physical connection a driver enjoys with our sports cars is core to the Porsche brand, which is why we're expanding this option even as we and our dealers invest in new digital touch points for customers," Porsche…

NOTICE TO READERS

The Intersection newsletter is going on holiday hiatus and will resume Jan. 9.

The art of this business: dealing with all the change

Was this year nuts or what?

These 12 months have been a stream of improbable scenarios: the lingering pandemic, the microchip shortage, the inability of factories to build the vehicles they want to, the almost incomprehensible shortage of workers, logistics bottlenecks, the depletion of retail inventories, relentless consumer demand, roaring sales increases, booming profits and breathtaking market valuations of startup companies...

But through it all, the auto industry continues making forward progress.

In this week's issue we focus in on perhaps the most stunning evolution of the year, if not the past century — the rapid industry makeover to electric vehicles. Barely a month ago, we were quoting Toyota President Akio Toyoda urging the world to stay calm and slow down its mad rus…

Sen. Joe Manchin said Sunday he won't support the $2 trillion tax-and-spending plan that's the heart of President Joe Biden's economic agenda — which includes a controversial provision that would give consumers an extra incentive to buy union-made electric vehicles — effectively killing Democrats' plans to pass the legislation as they begin an election year.

"I can't get there," Manchin said on "Fox News Sunday."

The White House and Democratic congressional leaders were informed earlier Sunday that the West Virginia Democrat was a firm no on the legislation, according to a person familiar with the matter.

His decision caught White House officials by surprise after he had given Biden just days ago an outline of a $1.8 trillion plan he could support, according to another person, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Manchin was a crucial vote for the package in the 50-50 Senate, and getting his support was one of the last remaining hurdles for the p…

Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, which runs CES, explains what showgoers can expect in Las Vegas, notes transportation-related highlights and discusses U.S. global competitiveness in the technology realm.

How do I subscribe?

Apple Podcasts: “Shift: A podcast about mobility” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe.

Spotify: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" can be streamed through Spotify on your desktop, tablet or mobile device. Click here to subscribe.

Google Play: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" is available on Android devices through the Google Play store. Click here to subscribe.

Open Road Capital, just more than a year after making its first auto dealership investments with Bain Capital Credit as a funding partner, has grown its store platform through three new partnerships.

Open Road, an auto-retail investment company which in September 2020 bought a majority stake in four Mississippi dealerships with Bain Capital Credit funding, has invested into three projects this year:

1. It bought a minority stake in Pritchard Cos., a family-run, commercial-fleet-focused dealership group in Iowa.

2. Last week, it bought a majority stake in a BMW dealership in Ridgefield, Conn., with Keeler Motor Car Co. of Latham, N.Y.

3. In November, it bought a majority stake in three Monrovia, Calif., dealerships with dealer partner Rinaldi Halim, and bought a majority stake in his two other Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram stores in California.

"Because of Open Road's investment, it gave me an opportunity to also become a landowner in the retail …

It's been a busy year for self-driving technology company Aurora Innovation Inc. and its CEO, Chris Urmson.

The company entered into partnerships with Volvo, FedEx and Paccar to load big rigs with its technology and received a $400 million investment from Uber — whose ATG autonomous vehicle division Aurora acquired. It's had to weather a once-in-a-century pandemic and a host of challenges that stemmed from it.

And, of course, Aurora went public in November, trading on the Nasdaq after a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company.

Now, with investor backing and a host of deals under his belt, Urmson, 45, is tasked with leading Aurora as it looks to roll out its technology on semitrucks and passenger vehicles. Urmson, who last month was named a 2021 Automotive News All-Star in the deal-maker category, spoke with Staff Reporter John Irwin. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: As Aurora moves forward after a year marked by major deals, what is it loo…

When the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, Riverside Dodge -Chrysler -Jeep-Ram in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, began offering unlimited sick days to its employees.

The message to employees was simple: If you're feeling sick, stay home. Don't feel like you have to come into work because you'll miss out on pay, and risk spreading COVID-19 in the process.

It was intended to be a temporary measure, said Trent Hargrave, general manager at Riverside Dodge, located about 330 miles north of the U.S.-Canada border and 329 miles east of Edmonton. But the dealership saw its absentee rate plummet "almost to zero," he said, because fewer people who otherwise would have spread diseases at work instead stayed home.

"You see it all the time: A person comes in with the sniffles and then they try for a day or two, and then they're sick. So, we lose a day or two from them anyway," he said. "And then three other people the next week start to exhibit those symptoms. So…

DeepRoute.ai — an autonomous technology startup based in China — is mapping out a strategy in the U.S. market centered on deploying self-driving medium-duty trucks to make commercial deliveries at night.

The plan, explains founder and CEO Maxwell Zhou, seeks to address two primary issues in the commercial delivery sector: the logistical efficiency of deliveries in urban areas and the growing labor shortage in cities amid an aging work force.

"I mean, even in China there are less and less young people that … want to drive trucks," Zhou told Automotive News, noting that the average age for commercial truck drivers in the U.S. is 46.

Zhou, who founded the company in 2019, also envisions DeepRoute.ai's self-driving, medium-duty trucks helping to solve the supply chain issues brought on by COVID-19 and the challenges the transportation sector faces to find and retain delivery drivers.

DeepRoute.ai — which is testing its autonomous trucks in Shenzhen,…

If auto factory investments were hobbled in 2020 by COVID-19-related fears and global business uncertainties, 2021 could be called the year when automakers made up for lost time. The auto industry came out of its pandemic doldrums, spending money with a vengeance to create new manufacturing capacity and jockeying for position in electric products.

The past few months have witnessed manufacturing projects on a bold scale, including the largest U.S. investment in electric vehicles at one time by Ford Motor Co.

"Electrification is driving a new wave of auto factory investment," said Terni Fiorelli, assistant director of the Automotive Communities Partnership at the Center for Automotive Research, an organization in Ann Arbor, Mich., that tracks industry investment through its Book of Deals.

"Last year, half of the 10 biggest automaker projects in North America were related to electric vehicles," she said. "This year, all 10 of the top…

Asbury Automotive Group Inc. formally expanded into several new western states and picked up an estimated $5.7 billion in annualized revenue after closing Friday on the purchase of Larry H. Miller Dealerships, a deal announced in late September.

The $3.2 billion acquisition of Larry H. Miller's 61 new- and used-vehicle stores also gives Asbury a finance-and-insurance products provider, Total Care Auto, and might protect the dealership group from a takeover by another publicly traded rival.

"We are excited to complete the transformative acquisition of Larry H. Miller Dealerships," Asbury President and CEO David Hult said in a statement Friday. "With its strong culture and stewardship mentality, coupled with the ability to rapidly expand Asbury's presence into these desirable, high-growth Western markets, it is a rare opportunity."

Asbury, of Duluth, Ga., ranks No. 6 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., with retail …