Trade News

DETROIT -- The Biden administration's push for Congress to pass legislation by year's end that would incentivize semiconductor manufacturers to build new plants in the U.S. amid a global supply shortage could come with strings attached for union representation in the workforce.

During a visit Monday morning at a UAW local hall near Detroit, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo did not rule out the possibility of her department making unionized labor a "string" attached to billions of dollars in federal grants in the CHIPS Act.

The CHIPS Act pending in the U.S. House includes $52 billion in taxpayer subsidies for the R&D and manufacturing of microchips used in everything from Whirlpool washing machines to the heated seats of a Chevrolet Silverado pickup assembled in at General Motors' Flint truck plant.

Raimondo gathered Monday morning at the UAW Region 1A hall with Democratic political leadership, executives from GM, Stellantis, Ford Motor Co. and …

Infineon Technologies COO Jochen Hanebeck will become CEO of the semiconductor maker on April 1, 2022, succeeding Reinhard Ploss, who has led the company since 2012.

The succession plan was approved last week by Infineon’s supervisory board, who gave Hanebeck a five-year contract, until March 31, 2027. Infineon said in a news release that he and Ploss would work together on the leadership transition.

Hanebeck, born in 1968 in Dortmund, Germany, holds a degree in electrical engineering from RWTH Aachen University. He joined Siemens in 1994 (Infineon was spun off from Siemens as a separate company in 1999) in the U.S. as part of a joint venture with Siemens, IBM and Toshiba. Hanebeck became head of operations for the automotive, industrial and multimarket group in 2008, and was named head of automotive in 2008. He was named COO and a member of the management board in 2016.

Ploss, born in 1955 in Bamberg, Germany, joined Siemens in 1986 as a process enginee…

Tesla plans to invest as much as 1.2 billion yuan ($188 million) in its Shanghai plant to upgrade equipment as the factory gets closer to exhausting its current capacity, according to people familiar with the matter.

The operation, which broke ground in January 2019, is expected to reach the limit of its production capacity this year, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are confidential.

The EV pioneer, headed by Elon Musk, said in its 2020 annual report that the installed annual production capacity of the factory is 450,000 vehicles.

A document on the Shanghai government's platform for companies' environmental information disclosures showed Tesla plans to invest in optimizing production lines at what was its first factory outside of the U.S.

The upgrade will take place within the plant's current production area, and the technology will remain compatible with existing models: the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV, according to …

Dealerships can now sell a Zurich vehicle service contract tailored specifically to electric vehicles, the F&I products provider said Monday.

Zurich said its new EV offering and other finance and insurance products could be used for "nearly all manufacturers," including Tesla, Rivian and Polestar.

Zurich North America Vice President and head of F&I Kathi Ingham said her company had previously covered some EVs under its traditional vehicle service contract.

But Tesla, Rivian and Polestar vehicles weren't eligible. The language also didn't reflect an electrified powertrain — it referenced an engine and excluded a battery.

"Internal combustion engine VSC language states the battery is excluded from coverage, which is the intent for a vehicle with an ICE, as the battery is considered to be a maintenance item," Zurich spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler wrote in an email. "In an electric vehicle VSC, the language does not exclude the battery because the …

TOKYO -- Nissan is teasing a full-electric pickup truck as part of its next-generation product plan, in a possible riposte to off-road offerings being pitched by everyone from Ford to Tesla.

The Surf-Out concept is a funky, outdoorsy activity vehicle with what looks like an open cabin-back for easy access to the pickup bed. The tailgate is fully digitalized for lighting as well as messaging. Meanwhile, a sleek canopy can be pulled over the cargo space for privacy and protection.

Up front, the grille is encircled in wrap-around lighting and emblazoned with brand's name.

The Surf-Out is one of three new all-electric concepts shown by Nissan on Monday as the company announced investment of 2 trillion yen ($17.65 billion) over the next five years to ramp up an electrified vehicle push with 23 new entries worldwide by the end of the decade.

All three concepts envision using thinner, lighter, more powerful solid state batteries that Nissan promises to …

Lithium, an essential element for batteries that power electric vehicles today and for solid-state batteries in the future, can be found across the globe. But as the industry scales EV production, automakers, battery makers and energy companies are rethinking the way much of the world has sourced the key metal.

Lithium demand has surged so much that prices have reached an all-time high, climbing 150 percent since the beginning of the year, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Even as battery chemistry evolves, lithium will remain central to battery development, said Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst at Guidehouse Insights.

As companies experiment with lithium-sulfur, iron-phosphate and solid-state batteries, "the one common thread through all of that is lithium," Abuelsamid said.

Current lithium mining methods from brine can take years and require shipment to China for processing, increasing the carbon footprint to build a vehicle designed to re…

HOCKENHEIM, Germany — The most carbon-intensive part of producing an electric vehicle is manufacturing the battery that goes in it. It's a task that accounts for about 40 percent of the emissions associated with building, for instance, a Porsche Taycan.

To reduce those emissions, Porsche is targeting the battery-making process from multiple angles — requiring suppliers to use renewable power, sourcing raw materials regionally and developing battery chemistries that are more energy efficient.

For Porsche, the mission is urgent.

The German sports car maker has set a goal of being carbon neutral by 2030, spurred by tightening emissions regulations primarily in Europe and China. To get there, it is electrifying its lineup, starting with the four-door Taycan fastback. Next year, Porsche will launch a battery-powered version of its bestselling Macan compact crossover. Looking ahead, Porsche expects to electrify its Boxster roadster and midsize Cayenne crossov…

Cobalt is rapidly becoming the kryptonite of the electric vehicle revolution.

The lustrous metal has been a critical part of lithium ion batteries since they were developed and commercialized in the 1980s and 1990s. But cobalt is relatively scarce, and mostly the byproduct of copper and nickel mining. Moreover, the boom in cobalt demand has fueled a rise in child labor and dangerous working conditions for small-scale miners in the cobalt-rich Congo.

"Cobalt is considered the highest material supply chain risk for electric vehicles in the short and medium term," according to the U.S. Department of Energy, which is funding research and development on alternatives. "The United States does not have large reserves for cobalt, and the extraction and early-stage processing is concentrated in a small number of countries."

Media coverage of children toiling under appalling working conditions in Congo — the world's largest cobalt producer — has transformed…

Waymo's director of safety research and best practices dives into the company's efforts to simulate how its virtual driver would have performed in real-life crash scenarios culled from its metro Phoenix operating area. He also details his previous work on driver-assist systems at Volvo.

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The recent partnership between German supplier ZF Friedrichshafen and Microsoft underscores how the relationship among tech companies, suppliers and automakers is changing in the era of advanced-technology vehicles.

Most major suppliers no longer see themselves as simply providers of the hardware and physical components automakers put in their vehicles. Many now see an opportunity to partner with major tech companies on advancements in software — and even to launch new businesses independent of the specific needs of their automaker customers.

That signals a new power structure for the auto industry — with tech giants occupying a third seat at the table where previously only automakers and suppliers sat.

But it also signals that uniting with tech firms can serve as a competitive advantage to set one supplier apart from another.

Henning Ludes, a senior associate at Berylls Strategy Advisors, said the traditional lines between automakers and suppli…

TOKYO — When Toshihiro Mibe became CEO of Honda Motor Co. in April, Japan's No. 2 carmaker was already navigating the tough challenge of revamping its auto business.

But Mibe dialed it up a notch. Just weeks after assuming office, he embarked on a radical makeover that envisions phasing out the company's famed internal combustion engines by 2040 on the road to transforming Honda into a carbon-neutral power and mobility provider.

The veteran engineer and former R&D boss, who was Honda's liaison with partner General Motors over the years, is also more open-minded about teaming with other companies to acquire the know-how Honda lacks in order to succeed in an era buffeted by change.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mibe, 60, sat with Asia Editor Hans Greimel to discuss Honda's all-in-on-EVs play, his thoughts about capital alliances, the automaker's plan to shift to solid-state batteries and his vision for a new Honda in the age of new mobility. Here a…

Volvo Cars' goal to sell 800,000 vehicles globally by 2020 was derailed by the pandemic and then by the industrywide semiconductor shortage in 2021. Despite those setbacks, CEO Hakan Samuelsson believes that topping Volvo's sales record, set in 2019, is "within reach" this year — even though the Swedish automaker took a big hit to production in the third quarter.

In an interview with Automotive News Europe Managing Editor Douglas A. Bolduc, Samuelsson, 70, also outlined the lingering effects of the pandemic on Volvo's business and shared how the newly listed automaker will consistently achieve a profit margin of 8 to 10 percent.

Here are edited excerpts.

Q: What is your outlook for the rest of 2021 and 2022?

A: That is a difficult question because of the semiconductor shortage. We had good momentum, then coronavirus outbreaks in the Far East closed down some of our component suppliers, including those providing semiconductors. As a result, we lo…