Trade News

HOUSTON — Reynolds and Reynolds Co. CEO Tommy Barras testified Thursday that he had no doubts that Bob Brockman, his predecessor in the role at the dealership management system giant, was capable of leading the company.

Barras, who took over as CEO at privately held Reynolds and Reynolds after Brockman stepped down from the chairman and CEO roles in November 2020, testified on the fourth day of Brockman's competency hearing in federal court in Houston that he has known and worked with Brockman for decades. Brockman, Barras testified, remained involved in all important company decisions after Barras was promoted to be Reynolds' president in June 2020.

He testified that it was Brockman who decided to make Barras president of Dayton, Ohio-based Reynolds, as well as chairman and CEO that November. A prosecutor asked Barras about his compensation before he became CEO and his current compensation. Barras testified that his compensation prior to taking the CEO job wa…

DETROIT -- The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy plans to fine Stellantis for multiple violations of air quality regulations at its assembly plants in Detroit and Warren.

Stellantis has been hit with four separate violations of state regulations for odors emanating from the Detroit Assembly Complex plant on Mack Avenue on Detroit's east side and improperly installed pollution-control equipment at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant on Mound Road.

In a letter Thursday, EGLE's Air Quality Division told the automaker formerly named Fiat Chrysler Automobiles that it would be required to enter into a legally enforceable agreement to "resolve these violations."

The enforcement agreement will include a "payment of an appropriate monetary penalty," Jenine Camilleri, enforcement unit supervisor in EGLE's Air Quality Division, wrote Thursday in an enforcement notice to the plant managers of the two assembly plants.

Fines for violations…

Toyota Motor Corp. is planning to invest billions of dollars in a battery plant to be built on the outskirts of Greensboro, N.C., as part of the automaker’s efforts to ramp up output of electrified vehicles in the U.S., people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The car manufacturer hasn’t made a final decision, but is expected to partner with Panasonic Corp. at the plant, said some of the people, who declined to be named as the discussions are private. No formal commitment has been made and the plan could still evolve, these people said.

While details of the ownership and operation of the plant are still unclear, it will likely be via the two Japanese companies’ battery joint venture Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, one of the people said. Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said nothing new had been decided regarding the company’s U.S. battery investments. Prime Planet spokesman Masato Tokuhisa said the company is “always considering what’s best in regard…

In the three years since Carlos Ghosn was detained on a Tokyo airport tarmac, much has emerged about how forces within Nissan Motor Co. worked to remove him. Yet a key group has avoided close scrutiny of their role in the once-powerful car executive’s downfall: the lawyers.

A small clutch of lawyers from Latham & Watkins, one of the world’s largest law firms, advised Nissan for years on how to compensate its then chairman and CEO. That included the remuneration package that would become the basis of the first charges against Ghosn, for concealing the full extent of his income.

Then, as Ghosn’s pay became the subject of a criminal investigation in 2018, Latham & Watkins was enlisted to investigate his alleged wrongdoing, despite warnings to Nissan’s board that it posed a serious conflict of interest.

“I was concerned right from the get-go about their involvement” in the company-ordered probe, said Ravinder Passi, Nissan’s former global general co…

A partnership between ZF Friedrichshafen and Microsoft will allow the German parts supplier to create new capabilities for its autonomous shuttle systems, the company said.

ZF said this week that it expanded its partnership with Microsoft to move all of its business, production and industrial processes onto the tech company's Azure cloud platform. It's a move that ZF said will be far-reaching, allowing for everything from more efficient manufacturing to a better understanding of the global supply chain.

It could also be a boon for its autonomous-shuttle business. ZF said the cloud platform would allow for "continuous data flow" between its autonomous shuttles and their environments, providing real-time information on traffic and weather, for example. It could also allow for new mobile applications for customers, including giving them live updates on shuttle availability and accurate wait times.

"The secret is to know as much as possi…

Editor's note: This report has been clarified to reflect the small portion of Toyota Motor North America workers who are unionized.

Toyota Motor North America has fired back at a Michigan senator for suggesting at an event attended by President Joe Biden in a General Motors plant in Detroit that Toyota — which employs about 2,000 people in Michigan — was not part of the "home team" because it is largely not unionized.

In an unsigned internal memo called "Fast Facts" distributed Thursday to the Japanese automaker's 38,000 employees in the U.S. via email and shared with Automotive News, Toyota said Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow "directly attacked Toyota for fighting back on her discriminatory proposal. This was an unprecedented attack, including accusations that were false and hypocritical."

Stabenow on Wednesday defended a controversial $4,500 additional tax credit for consumers who purchase an electric vehicle made in a unionized U.S. plant …

Japanese auto brands Lexus, Mazda and Toyota once again snagged the top three spots in Consumer Reports' annual Auto Reliability Report, with Lexus edging out Mazda as the most reliable.

Asian brands accounted for eight of the top 10, according to Consumer Reports. Mazda, which held the top spot last year, took second. Toyota took third. The Japanese luxury brand Infiniti finished fourth, and Buick finished fifth — the only domestic brand to secure a top 10 spot.

The survey found complicated electronics systems, not electric powertrains, tanked reliability in crossovers such as the Audi E-tron, Volkswagen ID4 and Tesla Model X and Model Y. Problems in those models stemmed from climate controls, in-car electronics and power equipment, Consumer Reports said.

The vehicles are technological tours de force, but their reliability often takes a hit because they can become oversaturated with random equipment, said Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports' senior director o…

New England dealer David Rosenberg has purchased two more dealerships, bringing his count to six rooftops in three states.

Rosenberg said he and partner Bob Ramos purchased Rockingham Toyota and Rockingham Honda in Salem, N.H., on Nov. 1 from dealer Emmett Horgan and his son Ryan Horgan.

Ramos is general manager and an owner of both stores, which were renamed Canobie Lake Toyota and Canobie Lake Honda, Rosenberg said.

"I'm really excited. I've known the seller since I was a kid," Rosenberg told Automotive News. "I'm thrilled to be able to make people who make me successful, make them dealers themselves."

Rosenberg is the former CEO of Prime Automotive Group, one of the largest dealership groups in the country. Prime's majority owner, GPB Capital Holdings, fired him in September 2019. Rosenberg and Rosenberg family trusts in July 2019 sued GPB, alleging it failed to pay them after they exercised an option in April that year to sell their stake in …

Eric Lyman of J.D. Power's ALG division explains why some brands stand out when it comes to retaining their value after three years.

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General Motors' BrightDrop unit said on Thursday that vehicle leasing firm Merchants Fleet plans to order 5,400 more of its delivery vans in a boost to the largest U.S. automaker's fledgling electric commercial vehicle business.

GM unveiled BrightDrop in January in a bid to grab a chunk of the growing electric delivery vehicle business to better compete with rival Ford Motor Co. and other companies such as Rivian Automotive Inc.

GM has outlined plans to double its revenue by 2030 and become the leader in U.S. electric vehicle sales.

Merchants Fleet's order would bring its total BrightDrop electric vehicles to 18,000. Of the total, 12,600 orders, announced in February, are for BrightDrop's full-size delivery van EV600 and the remaining 5,400 are for its medium-sized van EV410.

The EV410, which was unveiled in September and offers a driving range of 250 miles between charges, has already bagged Verizon Communications Inc. as a customer.

U.S. …

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is partnering with semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries to accelerate production of U.S.-made chips amid the global shortage and to help design them in the future.

The non-binding agreement, which does not involve cross-ownership between the companies, will allow GlobalFoundries to supply additional chips to Ford for its current vehicle lineup as well as R&D purposes. Ford already buys chips from the company but the new partnership allows for more direct discussions that could speed up manufacturing and purchasing.

The companies also said Thursday they would explore "expanded semiconductor manufacturing opportunities."

"It's critical that we create new ways of working with suppliers to give Ford – and America – greater independence in delivering the technologies and features our customers will most value in the future," Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement Thursday. "This agreement is just the beginning, and a key p…

Aston Martin has appointed Mercedes-Benz veteran Adam Chamberlain to lead its North American operations effective immediately, filling Laura Schwab's former position at the British automaker.

Chamberlain was vice president of sales and product management at Mercedes-Benz USA, a job he had held since 2016. During his time in that position, he was named an Automotive News Rising Star in 2017.

Prior to joining Mercedes' U.K. division as sales director of passenger cars in 2013, he held a number of positions at Volkswagen Group in the U.K. and Ireland beginning in 2006, then had a two-month stint as sales director at Fiat Group Autos U.K. in early 2013.

"Adam is a strong leader with a deep understanding of the industry and a proven track record in the important American luxury sports car market," Aston Martin CEO Tobias Moers said in a statement.

After Schwab's resignation late last year, sales division head Ed Moran, was named the region's interim le…