Trade News

Fuji Oozx Inc. is one of hundreds of automotive-parts suppliers in Japan whose very existence is being threatened by the world's shift toward electric vehicles.

For almost 70 years, the company has been making intake valves, essential components of any gasoline car. They control the flow of gas in and out of an engine's cylinder. Typically made of copper, they're light and highly heat resistant and use a decades-old technology that's not needed in any electric car.

"We have to start looking for a new business," President Satoshi Tsujimoto said from his office adjacent to Fuji Oozx's factory in Shizuoka prefecture, an elongated region that traces the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Fuji Oozx supplies automakers including Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co.

Valves for boat engines are one option, but the company's board is also looking further afield, such as branching into medical devices. "We have no choice but to fight for surviv…

James Kuffner once reprogrammed a Prius to turn it into a driverless vehicle for Google. Now, he's a top executive at Toyota Motor Corp., charged with hacking the very way it approaches the business of carmaking.

As chief digital officer, handpicked by President Akio Toyoda, the 50-year-old tech-industry veteran has a mandate to keep the world's No. 1 automaker on top as vehicles become more like computers.

The shift to electrified, autonomous vehicles is a disruptive force sweeping the industry, with Apple Inc. and other Big Tech challengers muscling in. At stake for Toyota is a global manufacturing empire churning out more than 10 million vehicles a year.

After showing the world a path away from gasoline with the Prius, Toyota is doubling down, betting billions of dollars on everything from hydrogen and battery-powered vehicles to entire cities built around self-driving cars. Key to it all is Kuffner.

"The potential for technology to change th…

Robert Bosch said it will invest more than €400 million ($467.5 million) in its semiconductor manufacturing facilities in 2022, as the world's largest auto supplier looks to boost chip production to address a global shortage.

Bosch said it would expand its semiconductor fabrication plants — known as wafer fabs — in Dresden and Reutlingen, Germany. It will also build a semiconductor test center in Penang, Malaysia.

"Demand for chips is continuing to grow at breakneck speed," said Volkmar Denner, chairman of the Bosch board of management, in a statement. "In light of current developments, we are systematically expanding our semiconductor production so we can provide our customers with the best possible support."

The investments come as the industry reels from a global microchip shortage that has sent global vehicle output plunging and hampered new-vehicle sales and inventory. According to an estimate by AutoForecast Solutions, about 9.74 million units ha…

BEIJING -- BYD Co. on Thursday reported a 27.5 percent drop in third-quarter net profit.

BYD made a 1.27 billion yuan ($198.54 million) net profit in the three months ending Sept. 30, down from 1.75 billion yuan in the same period last year.

BYD, which has partnerships with Japan's top automaker Toyota and Germany's Daimler in China, said operating income grew 22 percent to 54.31 billion yuan.

The Shenzhen-based car company, which rolled out a customised EV model for ride-hailing services with China's Didi last year, sold 452,744 vehicles in the first nine months this year, 63 percent higher from a year earlier, thanks to popular plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s global production fell by more than a third in September from a year earlier, hit by disrupted access to semiconductors and other key auto parts that is weighing on Japan's automakers.

The automaker produced 512,765 vehicles in September, down from 841,915 cars a year earlier, Toyota said in a statement Thursday. Global sales also fell 16 percent for the month, the first year-on-year drop in 13 months.

The steep production cuts fall broadly in line with Toyota's August announcement that it would be reducing September production by about 40 percent, or 360,000 vehicles, from its original plan.

The decline marks the beginning of a production pullback period among Japanese automakers. Toyota, Honda and Nissan began adjusting output in September as a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia disrupted suppliers' operations.

Those supply chain issues have continued to weigh on production plans through next month. 

DETROIT -- State environmental regulators have issued a second air quality violation notice for Stellantis' year-old Jeep assembly plant on Detroit's east side — this time for violating its emissions permit.

On Oct. 20, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy cited the plant for not properly ducting emissions through a system that destroys volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and prevents their release into the atmosphere, according to the violation, which was posted online by the community activism group Detroit People's Platform.

In a statement, a Stellantis spokeswoman said the violation was related to ducting requirements within the plant's paint shop.

"The plant has been and continues to be in full compliance with the permitted emissions limits," Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said Wednesday. "We will work to address this issue promptly."

Residents near the plant have complained of foul odors being emitted from the c…

LOS ANGELES — Lucid Motors will deliver the first production versions of the Air Dream Edition sedan at an event for first-edition reservation holders this weekend in California.

After years of ups and downs as a struggling EV startup, Lucid will hand over the electronic keys of an undisclosed number of $169,000 Dream Editions in two variants: Range with 520 miles on tap or Performance with 1,111 hp.

Lucid said in a statement Wednesday that reservation holders had been invited to a day of activities on Saturday that include a driving event hosted by the company's leadership team, followed by the delivery event at its Newark, Calif., headquarters near Tesla Inc.'s Fremont assembly plant.

"Creating the Lucid Air has truly been a labor of love, with customer deliveries representing the culmination of years of endeavor from the entire Lucid team," said Lucid Group CEO Peter Rawlinson. "So I'm truly excited to hand the keys to our firs…

A survey of U.S. and international car buyers found the percentage of people who are "very likely" to make their next car purchase a battery-electric vehicle has more than doubled since 2019, but concerns about EV prices and lack of charging infrastructure still hinder wider investment.

The percentage of global EV "believers" — customers who are "very likely" to choose an EV as their next vehicle purchase — grew to 25 percent this year, according to a survey by consulting firm AlixPartners. That's up from 11 percent in 2019.

Interest in the U.S. rose from 5 percent to 19 percent over the two-year period. And in California, where the market for EVs is well-established, interest jumped from 9 percent to 34 percent.

But the AlixPartners survey also indicated consumers who are "very unlikely" to buy an EV haven't really budged. About 34 percent of survey participants who own an internal combustion engine-equipped vehicle said they are "moderately unlikely" …

Four dealerships changed hands in single-store transactions late in the third quarter or in October, with the stores located in the Northeast, Midwest and South.

Here's a look at the deals involving domestic and import mass-market brands:

Adam Silverleib acquired his second dealership with the purchase of Copeland Volkswagen of Brockton in Massachusetts, south of Boston — the same store his family had owned until the mid-1980s.

Silverleib on Oct. 4 bought the dealership from Todd Copeland of Copeland Automotive Group. The dealership has been renamed Silko Volkswagen of Brockton.

Silverleib also owns Silko Honda in Raynham, Mass., which is south of Brockton. The Honda store has been in Silverleib's family since 1973.

For Silverleib, a third-generation dealer and president of Silko Auto Group, the acquisition is a return to the Volkswagen brand. Silverleib's grandfather opened the Volkswagen dealership in Brockton in 1962. It was in the fami…

DETROIT — General Motors on Wednesday said its net income fell 40 percent in the third quarter to $2.4 billion and North American profits plunged by more than half as the microchip shortage severely disrupted production.

But the automaker said it now expects its full-year adjusted earnings to come in at "the high end of our guidance," CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders.

"Our third-quarter 2021 results clearly illustrate the strength of the underlying business that is funding our future, especially when you put them in the context of the calendar year," Barra wrote.

Revenue dropped 25 percent year-over-year to $26.8 billion, and adjusted earnings before interest and taxes fell 45 percent to $2.9 billion. For the first nine months of 2021, GM's adjusted EBIT totaled $11.5 billion, which already is at the low end of its previous full-year projection of $11.5 billion to $13.5 billion.

The automaker's operating margin fell 4 percentage po…

McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt is stepping down after eight years leading the company, according to people familiar with the matter.

The supercar maker is planning to announce Flewitt's departure later Wednesday, said the people, who asked not to be identified ahead of an official statement. He has been CEO since July 2013.

McLaren has started a search for Flewitt's successor.

Michael Macht, a McLaren Group non-executive director, will oversee technical and operational functions in the meantime, while Chairman Paul Walsh will lead sales, marketing and public relations.

Flewitt was named one of Automotive News Europe's Eurostars in 2016.