Trade News

TOKYO – Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda has been appointed to serve a rare third term as chair of Japan’s automobile industry association, in a move to provide continuity and senior leadership as the country’s carmakers grapple with the shift to carbon neutrality.

Toyoda, who took the wheel of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association in 2018, will assume a third two-year term from May 2022, the organization announced Nov. 18.

During his tenure, Toyoda, 65, has been a vocal advocate for preserving a strong domestic base for Japan’s auto industry. He also made heroic efforts to revive the flagging Tokyo Motor Show in 2019, the last time it was held before the pandemic put the exhibition on hiatus until 2023.

The scion to Toyota Motor’s founding family has emerged as a kind of elder industry statesman, championing a range of causes from decarbonization and job preservation to the fun of driving.

Toyoda has been at the helm of Toyota Mo…

HAMBURG --  German prosecutors have widened their investigation at Continental to include probes of former CEO Elmar Degenhart and finance chief Wolfgang Schaefer, whose surprise departure was announced Wednesday.

The focus of the investigation is suspected accessory to fraud, breach of trust and a failure to fulfil supervisory duties, the Hanover prosecutor's office said on Thursday.

The people under investigation also include a former board member of Continental's Powertrain unit, it said, without naming the person.

Prosecutors seized documents at Continental on Thursday, the day after the supplier said it would replace Schaefer as its chief financial officer.

Continental's premises in Hanover and Regensburg, both in Germany, were searched last year as part of a probe into Volkswagen Group's emissions cheating devices.

Prosecutors are investigating the supplier's role in supplying engine components for a 1.6-liter VW diesel eng…

Prime Automotive Group's majority owner GPB Capital Holdings agreed to pay New England dealer and former Prime CEO David Rosenberg $30 million to settle a lawsuit filed by Rosenberg in 2019, according to a Monday regulatory filing.

The settlement comes within days of GPB's planned sale of Prime dealerships to Group 1 Automotive Inc.

In July 2019, Rosenberg and Rosenberg family trusts filed a lawsuit in Massachusetts Superior Court against GPB, alleging GPB failed to pay them after they exercised an option in April 2019 to sell their stake in the dealership group. The suit also alleged that GPB, an alternative-asset management firm, was retaliating against Rosenberg because he was trying to address alleged fraudulent activity at GPB.

Rosenberg in his complaint said he had exercised a "put option" to sell the family's stake in Prime for a total of $23.6 million, to be paid in four payments of $5.9 million each. The first payment was past due at the time of…

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is the target of a federal civil rights complaint alleging racial discrimination over permits it issued for the Stellantis complex in Detroit.

The complaint was filed last week with the Environmental Protection Agency by the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center on behalf of residents living nearby the new Detroit Assembly Complex, a Jeep production facility consisting of the Mack Assembly and the Jefferson North Assembly plants on the city's east side.

The complaint says the department failed to conduct "cumulative impact analysis" for the neighborhood surrounding the plants. It also alleges "discriminatory harms" imposed by EGLE allowing Stellantis to offset an increase in volatile organic compounds emissions at its Mack assembly plant — where 98 percent of people living within one mile are people of color— by reducing emissions at its Warren Truck Assembly Plant some seven miles away, where 52 per…

Tesla Inc. asked a judge to set aside a “staggering” $137 million verdict in favor of a contract worker who accused the company of failing to protect him from rampant racism in its northern California factory and order a new trial.

The Oct. 4 award to Owen Diaz by jurors in San Francisco federal court is believed to be one of the largest in U.S. history for an individual plaintiff in a racial discrimination case.

Tesla said in a filing at a U.S. District Court in San Francisco that while the jury believed Tesla “could and should have done more to root out alleged racism at the factory,” the award “simply cannot stand.”  

“It is an award without precedent in U.S. anti-discrimination law. It dwarfs awards in similar -- and even in the most egregious -- cases. And it bears no relationship to the actual evidence at trial,” the company said in the filing, dated Nov. 16.

A juror in the case told Bloomberg News the panel’s decision to award $130 m…

ENCINITAS, Calif. — The 2022 Toyota bZ4X midsize EV crossover will go on sale in the spring in the U.S. as the brand's reentry into the electric vehicle space with an estimated range of up to 250 miles, an enhanced suite of driver-assistance and safety features and styling that is identifiable as a Toyota while still differentiating itself within the brand's lineup.

The bZ4X — the bZ nomenclature is shorthand for "Beyond Zero" and will be used for future Toyota EV models — sits between the RAV4 and Venza in overall length, but at 112.2 inches, it has the same wheelbase as a three-row Highlander. The two-row five-seater will come equipped with a standard 150-kilowatt front motor and a temperature-controlled 71-kilowatt-hour battery pack that, according to Toyota's estimate, will give the bZ4X a range of up to 250 miles. An optional all-wheel-drive version, which will come outfitted with Subaru's X-Mode system, will be equipped with an additional rear-mounted…

WASHINGTON — FCA US, now part of Stellantis, said it is recalling nearly 250,000 heavy-duty Ram diesel trucks globally for an issue with the fuel pumps that may cause the vehicles to stall or prevent them from starting.

The affected vehicles are certain 2019 and 2020 Ram 2500 and 3500 heavy-duty pickups and Ram 3500, 4500 and 5500 chassis cab trucks that are equipped with 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel engines. The recall covers an estimated 222,410 vehicles in the U.S., 20,539 in Canada and 3,525 in other markets outside of North America.

The high-pressure fuel pumps on the affected vehicles may be subject to "inadvertent wear that may contaminate their mechanisms with metal shavings," which could result in a vehicle stall or loss of power, Stellantis said in a statement Wednesday.

The automaker said it is unaware of any related injuries or accidents. As of Oct. 27, FCA US is aware of 495 customer assistance records and 6,399 warranty claims, according …

LOS ANGELES — Porsche's first attempt at a battery-powered sports car has gotten off to a rollicking start since it launched on the eve of the coronavirus pandemic.

Globally, the Porsche Taycan outsold the brand's flagship 911 sports car in the first nine months of the year. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Porsche delivered 7,228 Taycans through September, exceeding deliveries in all of 2020.

Now, Porsche is serving up Americans more of what they want.

The automaker introduced two sportier variants — the Taycan GTS sedan and Taycan GTS Sport Turismo — on the eve of the Los Angeles Auto Show here.

The GTS sedan starts at $132,750, while the long-roof Sport Turismo version starts at $134,650. Both prices include a $1,350 shipping charge. U.S. deliveries will begin in the second quarter next year.

"In the middle of the Taycan lineup lies a place for those who want more handling and braking than the standard model without the extreme price and aspha…

LOS ANGELES — Porsche is dialing up the performance in the 718 Cayman lineup.

The automaker introduced an RS variant of the 718 Cayman GT4 on the eve of the Los Angeles Auto Show — delivering a car the brand's track-obsessed customers have been clamoring for since the original GT4's launch more than half a decade ago.

The 2022 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS will start at $143,050, including shipping, when it arrives in the U.S. next summer.

The GT4 RS follows in the line of Porsche's RS variants, providing customers with the "most capable track vehicle that is still road legal," said Ryan Kirchner, new car manager at Porsche of the Main Line in suburban Philadelphia.

"Where the GT4 is meant to balance track and road, the GT4 RS is most at home on the track," Kirchner said.

The RS recipe includes adding power, more aggressive aerodynamics and a motorsport-derived suspension, and decreasing weight.

At …

LOS ANGELES — The Ariya, Nissan's first new electric vehicle in more than a decade, positions the Japanese automaker in the market's sweet spot.

The Rogue-sized compact crossover will start at $47,125, including shipping, and arrive in U.S. dealerships this fall. Competitors include the Volkswagen ID4, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Tesla Model Y.

With the Ariya, Nissan is tapping into America's truck addiction. The compact-crossover segment is up 6.4 percent so far this year. Meanwhile, sales of electric crossovers have soared 268 percent this year, with much of that momentum driven by the Model Y, and to a lesser degree, the new Mustang Mach-E and ID4.

The Ariya foreshadows a range of EVs to be built on a new dedicated platform co-developed by Nissan and partner Renault.

Nissan introduced the first mass-market, battery-powered EV in the U.S. — the Leaf — about a decade ago. But despite a head start, the Japanese automaker has been lapped by rivals w…

Lucid Motors won't be the first luxury automaker with a sleek electric sedan. But the company debuts this fall with a lot of promise and hype — and in the large shadow of Tesla Inc.

Lucid CEO and Chief Technology Officer Peter Rawlinson — an engineer with major stints at Tesla, Corus, Lotus and Jaguar — was the brains behind the Tesla Model S.

Under Rawlinson, the Silicon Valley startup has already claimed the honor of marketing and selling the first EV with an EPA-estimated range of more than 500 miles.

The $169,000 Lucid Air Dream Edition R, a 933-hp version of the Air sedan, when fitted with 19-inch wheels, is rated at 520 miles. And it is already a sellout.

But Lucid is readying several other, less expensive versions of the Air. The Dream Edition Performance and Grand Touring models have a range of 469 to 516 miles, depending on specific wheels.

The Air will be followed by an SUV, the Gravity.

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