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TOKYO – Mazda Motoro Corp. returned to profit in the latest quarter, as booming U.S. deliveries of crossovers such as the CX-50 and CX-90 helped the automaker reverse a loss from the year before and put the brand on pace to nearly notch a new U.S. sales record.

Operating profit rang up at 30.0 billion yen ($207.5 million) in the company’s fiscal first quarter ended June 30, wiping out an operating loss of 19.5 billion yen ($134.9 million) a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Net income more than doubled to 37.2 billion yen ($257.3 million), from 15.0 billion yen ($103.8 million), as revenue climbed 72 percent to 286.0 billion ($1.98 billion) in the three-month period.

Global sales expanded 32 percent to 309,000 vehicles in the quarter, soaring on the wings of a 61 percent jump in North American shipments to 128,000 vehicles.

North America accounted for nearly half of Mazda’s global volume in the April-June period.

Sales in Eur…

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — What if a battery could be more than a power supply?

This question inspired researchers Kang Shin and Liang He to create Battery Sleuth, an anti-car-theft device that uses a vehicle's battery to control access.

Battery Sleuth is the researchers' answer to what Shin describes as an "arms race" of vehicle security between automakers and hackers. The war is primarily being fought on two fronts — the vehicle's wireless communication system and its internal communication system.

Intended to be "disruptive," Battery Sleuth bypasses those systems entirely, Shin said.

There are two parts to the device, one that attaches to a car's battery and the other that plugs into its auxiliary power outlet, the cigarette lighter. Using the electrical wiring to communicate, the device turns the vehicle's battery into both a sensor and a controller, allowing the vehicle to start only if the correct PIN is input into the keypad, Shin said.

Sh…

Lucid Motors expects better sales in the second half through price cuts, deliveries to Saudi Arabia and the launch of new versions of its sole vehicle, the Air sedan, executives said Monday.

CEO Peter Rawlinson said Lucid will soon begin delivering Air models to the Saudi market as part of an agreement with the government there to buy 50,000 vehicles over 10 years. Cars will also be sold to consumers there, he said.

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is the majority shareholder of Lucid Group, of Newark, Calif., and recently purchased an additional $1.8 billion in shares as part of a $3 billion stock offering to boost Lucid's cash position.

Lucid reported a second-quarter net loss of $764.2 million on Monday compared with a loss of $553.3 million in the same quarter last year. Revenue grew 55 percent to $150.9 million on deliveries of 1,404 vehicles.

"Looking into the second half of the year, we have many exciting events and announcement…

General Motors said it will sell its BrightDrop electric delivery vans in Mexico.

The BrightDrop electric commercial vehicle unit, already in the U.S. and Canada, will enter its third market later this year, when customers can order its Zevo vans, BrightDrop said Monday.

"Bringing BrightDrop's products to Mexico is a key move in our mission to decarbonize delivery globally, while helping customers take advantage of the economic benefits of going electric," Steve Hornyak, BrightDrop's chief commercial officer, said in a statement.

"Electrifying vehicle fleets can positively impact the environment and companies' bottom line. By bringing BrightDrop solutions closer to our customers throughout North America, we can help make the EV transition as seamless as possible."

BrightDrop, which started in 2021, began building the Zevo 600 van in December at GM's CAMI plant in Ingersoll, Ontario. A smaller Zevo 400 van is expected to enter production this yea…

Luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors said its second-quarter net loss widened to $764.2 million as it took a hit on sales from a price war sparked by market leader Tesla Inc.

The California-based EV maker lost $555.3 million during the same quarter last year. Revenue grew 55 percent to $150.9 million.

Lucid's deliveries in the second quarter were unchanged from the previous three months at 1,404 vehicles, while its production fell 6 percent from the first quarter as it struggled to ramp up.

Competition from Tesla's Model S, whose prices were cut earlier this year, and rising borrowing costs threaten the EV firm's growth. In response, Lucid slashed prices for its Air luxury sedan as part of an offer on Saturday.

Lucid has also been struggling with rapid cash burn, prompting it to raise $3 billion through a stock offering, nearly two-thirds of which came from majority-owner Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund.

The company's cash bal…

UAW President Shawn Fain talks in detail about the union's demands of Detroit 3 automakers in this year's contract negotiations. Meanwhile, GM pushes back against the UAW’s demands. And Lucid joins the EV price wars.

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Bosch Group's e-bikes segment has risen from a rounding error on income statements to $1 billion in annual revenue and the global market share leader.

Paul Thomas, soon-to-be president of Bosch Mobility Americas, said the revenue turnover is nice, but the success of the bike business isn't necessarily measured in dollars. For the German tech and auto behemoth with $93.1 billion in sales annually, bike motors are ancillary to car parts, appliances and software.

The company's e-bikes unit represents the ability to diversify, Thomas said, and at a time when the automotive industry is being pulled in all different directions – ICE to EV to hydrogen – diversification is the ticket to survival in the supply world. Recently passing the $1 billion sales mark was a milestone and innovation proof point, Thomas said.

"It's important because I think it shows that Bosch is able to work in multiple areas of mobility and to take products that might not have had their …

Tesla Inc. said on Monday that Zachary Kirkhorn stepped down as its chief financial officer and named its accounting head, Vaibhav Taneja, as its new CFO.

Kirkhorn, 39, a company veteran of 13 years, stepped down from the role on Friday, although he will remain with Tesla through the end of the year.

The Elon Musk-led firm did not specify a reason for Kirkhorn's departure.

"During his tenure, Tesla has seen tremendous expansion and growth. Tesla thanks Mr. Kirkhorn for his significant contributions," Tesla said in a regulatory filing Monday.

Kirkhorn said in a LinkedIn post: "Being a part of this company is a special experience and I'm extremely proud of the work we've done together since I joined over 13 years ago."

Taneja, 45, has been Tesla’s accounting chief since 2019. He held other roles at the EV maker before that and previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers in India and the U.S.

Tesla shares turned negative on the news a…

Rivian Automotive Inc. is heading into its second-quarter earnings report amid deeper price cuts in the EV market as supply rises faster than demand and automakers turn to sales incentives, analysts say.

The Irvine, Calif.-based startup is scheduled to report earnings Tuesday after the market close, followed by an earnings call. The automaker's production forecast, vehicle pricing and cash burn are likely topics for the call.

Last month, Rivian reported improved deliveries in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, significantly boosting the automaker's stock price for July after a seven-month downward trend.

But competition is picking up in the EV pickup market, with Ford cutting prices on the F-150 Lightning last month and Tesla set to launch its Cybertruck pickup by year's end. Rising EV inventories are pushing sales incentives higher.

"As pricing becomes more and more important because of rising interest rates, because of more co…

Elon Musk will receive an MRI of his neck and upper back on Monday and may require surgery, the 52-year-old said in a post on his X platform, formerly known as Twitter.

The world’s richest person said he will know this week whether surgery will be required, ahead of his proposed cage fight with Meta Platforms co-founder Mark Zuckerberg. He previously said he “might need an operation to strengthen the titanium plate holding my C5/C6 vertebrae together.”

As CEO of Tesla and Space Exploration Technologies, as well as the owner of a closely watched social-media platform, Musk’s health is of intense interest to people around the world. Musk, a notorious workaholic, has said that he has suffered from “mega back pain” after a bout with a sumo wrestler.

The post about the sumo match was accompanied by another with a photo of what appears to be a makeshift ring for the Japanese sport. Musk mentioned the injury last year after challenging Russian President Vladi…

Daimler Truck said its Chief Financial Officer Jochen Goetz died "suddenly and unexpectedly" on Saturday.

Goetz, 52, died in a "tragic incident," the company said Sunday without providing further details. He spent more than 36 years at Daimler Group after first starting his career as an apprentice at Mercedes-Benz, according to a company statement.

"Jochen Goetz was Daimler Truck with heart and soul," Martin Daum, chairman of the board of management of Daimler Truck, said in the statement. "He has played a key role in shaping today's Daimler Truck company and, as chief financial officer, has consistently worked towards making the company more economically successful today than ever before."

The company statement didn't immediately identify a successor for Goetz.

Goetz leaves behind his wife and two children.

For the second year in a row, Automotive News rigorously documented the dealership buy-sell market. This data served as the foundation for our package of stories in this week's issue that examine 2022 and beyond.

For subscribers, it's a one-stop shop of buy-sell data that won't be found anywhere else.

One key takeaway? The dealership buy-sell market in 2022 was a different kind of busy.

As we document in our package of stories, the theme of the buy-sell market last year was that private dealers and groups — not publicly traded auto retailers — were collectively the most active buyers.

This was a significant change from 2021 in which four public groups completed four of the largest acquisitions in auto retail history on top of what was already an active year for buy-sells.

In fact, the number of transactions in 2022 was actually higher than 2021's, Automotive News found. But the number of dealerships sold in 2022 was down from 2021, largely …