Trade News

DETROIT — Startup Bollinger Motors will provide its electric chassis to EAVX, a business unit of JB Poindexter & Co., one of the nation's largest upfitters of commercial vehicles.

JB Poindexter, a Houston company whose various business units make a broad range of vehicles from Class 6 box trucks to ambulances and hearses, will buy from Bollinger completely engineered and manufactured chassis assemblies that include the electric motors, axles, suspension and other components.

Bollinger has been developing its Chass-E for commercial applications alongside the boxy, retro-looking consumer-intended electric B1 SUV and B2 pickup.

"We have been talking to EAVX and working with them for over a year," CEO Robert Bollinger told Automotive News in an interview at the company's headquarters in Oak Park, Mich. "In the future, when we are in production, we will be supplying Class 3-6 all electric platforms for EAVX to upfit into walk-in vans, box trucks and the l…

WASHINGTON -- General Motors said Thursday it would extend a production halt at its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan, which makes the Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle, through Jan 28.

The automaker in August widened its recall of the Bolt to more than 140,000 vehicles to replace battery modules and to address fire risks after a series of fires.

The suburban Detroit plant halted production in August but conducted two weeks of limited production at Orion starting Nov. 1 to help provide courtesy transportation vehicles for customers during recall repairs.

GM President Mark Reuss said in October the company was addressing the recall before resuming production of new vehicles. GM said Thursday it continued "to focus on battery module replacements."

GM disclosed in October that its battery partner, South Korea's LG Electronics, had agreed to reimburse it for the $2 billion in estimated costs and expenses associated with the Bolt recall.

GM and LG …

SHANGHAI – While selling electric vehicles under their existing brands, major Chinese carmakers have launched a plethora of new EV marques since last year to fend off competition from Tesla and domestic EV startups. 

A similar brand explosion took place 10 years ago, underscoring how such a tactic could backfire as a brand needs to be nurtured over time rather than built in a haste.

At the Guangzhou auto show last month, Changan Automobile Co. unveiled its EV brand Avatr.

Prior to Changan, four other major state-owned automakers also created new brands for EVs. 

At the Shanghai auto show in April, SAIC Motor Corp. launched IM, the company’s second EV brand following the R marque introduced last year. 

Also last year, BAIC Motor Co., Dongfeng Motor Group and GAC Motor Co. each debuted an EV brand, known as Arcfox, Voyah and Vion, respectively.

Like SAIC, two leading private Chinese carmakers – Great Wall Motor Co. and G…

Uber Technologies Inc. on Thursday said it will launch an optional audio recording pilot program in three U.S. cities to enhance safety, allowing drivers and riders to send trip recordings to Uber in case of a safety incident.

Uber at the end of 2019 disclosed it had received 6,000 reports of sexual assault and 107 road fatalities related to 2.3 billion U.S. trips in 2017 and 2018. The recording feature is intended to provide drivers and riders with added security if they feel uncomfortable and allow users to submit proof of how a situation unfolded, Uber said.

The audio recording feature was launched in Latin America two years ago and is available in 14 countries in the region, but will roll out in the U.S. for the first time.

Launching in Kansas City, Missouri, Louisville, Kentucky and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina later this month, drivers and riders will be able to opt into audio recording for individual trips through the Uber app.

Riders are…

The first Lexus full-electric vehicle on Toyota's e-TNGA platform will be the RZ -- a low-slung crossover.

The RZ will use four-wheel-drive technology to "deliver an engaging and rewarding on-road driving experience, establishing a new reference in the segment," Lexus Europe head Spiros Fotinos said.

One of the few technical details Lexus released about the RZ was the car's all-wheel-drive system, which is called "Direct4." The system controls the electric motor on each axle to switch between front-, rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive "in a blink of an eye," Fotinos said.

The system will deliver "incredible cornering and road holding performance" he added.

The RZ will also have the steer-by-wire system already shown in the upcoming Toyota bZ4X full-electric crossover, which also uses the e-TNGA platform.

The steer-by-wire system will allow Lexus to use a similar 'yoke' style steering wheel as the bZ4X that can switch ratios to give sensit…

SAIC Motor Corp. is planning a fresh round of fundraising for its mobility service platform Xiangdao Chuxing, according to people familiar with the matter, as it seeks to stay competitive amid shifts in the automotive industry.

China's largest carmaker, which counts Volkswagen AG and General Motors as partners, aims to raise as much as $157 million, one of the people said. The plan isn't finalized, but SAIC could announce it as soon as this month, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details aren't public.

Founded in 2018, Xiangdao offers ride-hailing and car-rental services. The company said it had 26 million registered customers last year and more than 2,200 corporate clients. Xiangdao's backers include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Chinese electric-vehicle battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd., which both contributed to a $47 million fundraising round last year.

A representative for SAIC declined to comment.

China’s three leading electric-vehicle startups -- Xpeng, Li Auto and Nio -- reported record high monthly deliveries in November despite the lingering semiconductor chip shortage.

 Xpeng and Li Auto said their sales surged 270 percent and 190 percent to 15,613 and 13,485, respectively.

Deliveries at Nio spiked 106 percent to 10,878 after production resumed in late October following an upgrade at its plant in the east China city of Hefei. 

For the first 11 months, sales rose 285 percent to 82,155 at Xpeng, 188 percent to 76,404 at Li Auto and 120 percent to 80,940 at Nio.

Chinese electric-vehicle startup Nio signed up oil giant Royal Dutch Shell to jointly construct battery swap stations for electric vehicles in Europe and China.

Under the agreement signed last week, the two sides plan to build and operate the first batch of battery swap stations in Europe starting in 2022, Nio said.

Shell will also allow Nio’s EV users in Europe to access its local battery charging network.

In China, the two companies expect to install 100 battery stations by 2025. 

Nio said it is also in talks with Shell to build battery charging facilities in China as well as cooperation in battery asset management, fleet management, home charging services and technology development for battery charging and swapping.

Prior to the Shell deal, Nio began collaborating with two Chinese oil giants – Sinopec and PetroChina -- this year, allowing it to build battery swap stations at their gasoline stations across China.

Under the pla…

DETROIT -- Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said external pressure on automakers to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles potentially threatens jobs and vehicle quality as producers struggle to manage the higher costs of building EVs.

Governments and investors want car manufacturers to speed up the transition to EVs, but the costs are "beyond the limits" of what the auto industry can sustain, Tavares said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference released Wednesday.

"What has been decided is to impose on the automotive industry electrification that brings 50 percent additional costs against a conventional vehicle," he said.

"There is no way we can transfer 50 percent of additional costs to the final consumer because most parts of the middle class will not be able to pay."

Automakers could charge higher prices and sell fewer cars, or accept lower profit margins, Tavares said. Those paths both lead to cutbacks.

Union leaders in Europe a…

Self-driving tech startup Nuro said on Wednesday it was rolling out California's first commercial autonomous delivery service in partnership with convenience store operator 7-Eleven.

Nuro and rivals such as Waymo are launching or planning to launch autonomous delivery services with regulatory approval in the United States, though the services are limited or not in the form of driverless vehicles.

The service will start with Toyota Priuses converted into autonomous vehicles and include a safety driver to monitor the technology, Nuro said.

"The Priuses are the first step in Nuro's multi-phase approach to introducing commercial autonomous delivery to select service areas," Nuro said in a statement, adding that the company and 7-Eleven will make the joint decision to introduce Nuro's R2 driverless vehicles "as soon as possible."

The service will be available to customers in Mountain View where Nuro is headquartered. It is already delivering Domino's P…

Supply-chain disruptions, driven by the ongoing shortage of microchips that has dented new-vehicle stockpiles, undercut U.S. sales at Toyota Motor Corp., Hyundai and Kia for the fourth straight month in November.

Volume dropped 25 percent at Toyota Motor, 20 percent at Hyundai -- its biggest decline of the current slump -- and 5.4 percent at Kia last month, the companies said Wednesday.

Toyota Motor Corp., which has overtaken longtime U.S. market leader General Motors this year, has been forced to cut output in recent months because of tight chip supplies. It has now posted declines of 22 percent or more three consecutive months. Sales last month dropped 24 percent at the Toyota brand and 32 percent at Lexus.

The Toyota brand was hampered by a 47 percent drop in November car deliveries, with Corolla sales skidding 63 percent to 8,906 and Camry off 34 percent to 19,261 units. The brand's top-selling light trucks also saw double-digit declines: RAV4, off …

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen Group's new battery cell plants and securing vital raw materials will cost as much as 30 billion euros ($34 billion), board member Thomas Schmall said, putting a price tag on the expansion for the first time.

VW will seek outside partners to help fund the automaker's push to open six large battery cell plants in Europe by the end of the decade, Schmall, who is in charge of technology at VW, said in an interview at the Reuters Next conference.

The battery cell push is a strategic pillar in the company's bid to become the world's top EV seller.

"We are talking about 25 to 30 billion (euros) ... including the vertical chain of raw materials, not only the factories," Schmall said.

VW would not have to take the lead on funding and was not aiming for a 50/50 investment split, he said. "It depends on the partnership model we will establish in the next months. We're open to discuss it. For us it's necessary that we can control ...…