Trade News

TOKYO – Nissan has agreed to invest up to 600 million euros ($663 million) in Renault’s electric vehicle spinoff Ampere under a finalized deal to restructure the companies’ longstanding alliance.

In announcing the rebalanced partnership in a statement on Wednesday, Renault and Nissan said they plan to complete the “definitive agreements” in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Nissan will become a “strategic investor” in Ampere and have a seat on its board.

The deal ends 10 months of negotiations and rebalances a long-term partnership that was thrown into turmoil by the 2018 arrest and ouster of former alliance Chairman Carlos Ghosn.

“The agreements that have been signed today allow us to step into the next chapter of the alliance,” Jean-Dominique Senard, chairman of the alliance, said in a joint statement. “They strengthen our long-standing partnership and will maximize value creation for each alliance member. This also lays the foundations for a new…

WASHINGTON — Auto safety and consumer advocates on Tuesday urged Congress not to advance autonomous vehicle legislation that they say lacks "common sense" safeguards and regulations to protect road users.

"With nearly 43,000 people killed on our nation's roadways in 2021, it is clear that we need our leaders and policymakers to advance proven solutions to address this public health crisis. There is no independent evidence that AVs will do so," Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told reporters during a virtual press event Tuesday.

"In fact, what we do know is that the AVs on public roads have caused havoc," said Chase, citing one human death and more than a dozen incidents where self-driving cars "put firefighters and the public at risk."

The criticism comes ahead of a House hearing scheduled for Wednesday to consider separate draft legislation on AVs from Reps. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and Debbie Dingell, D-…

The U.S. Senate Committee on Finance has requested information from automotive seating supplier Lear Corp. as part of an ongoing investigation into forced labor and environmental abuses in Brazilian supply chains of products sold in the U.S.

The committee has been investigating the relationship between cattle ranching and deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon for the past two years, focused largely on Brazilian meat production company JBS.

Lear sources 70 percent of the leather for its popular car seats from Brazil, predominantly working with JBS and two other companies, all three of which are "hide producers known to source cattle from areas of the Amazon that have been illegally used for cattle production and which receive weak oversight from the Brazilian government," according to a July 24 letter from the committee to Lear CEO Ray Scott.

Lear's potential link to forced labor is murkier. Cattle is one of the products the U.S. Department of Labor's B…

Mazda North American Operations said it is recalling certain 2014-18 Mazda3 and 2016-21 CX-3 vehicles.

In the affected 227,335 U.S. vehicles, the rearview camera image may not display properly, according to a July 14 recall report from NHTSA.

On certain vehicles, the rearview camera wiring harness may become damaged from vibrations during normal vehicle use or closing the liftgate due to improper design of the harness fastener. Connector pins may wear out, causing high electrical resistance. Due to these defects, the rearview camera may display a distorted or flickering image. Distorted or flickering camera images while reversing could affect driver judgment and increase the risk of a crash, the report said.

For all recalled vehicles, Mazda dealers will inspect and replace the rearview camera as necessary. In addition, dealers will install a wiring harness fastening seal. All repairs will be performed free of charge.

Mazda submitted nine field rep…

Performance auto entrepreneur Ely Reeves Callaway III died July 11 after sustaining injuries in a fall. The Callaway Cars and CEO was 75.

Callaway founded Callaway Cars in 1977 in his garage in Old Lyme, Conn. A former Formula Vee champion driver, Callaway learned engine building, chassis tuning and component fabrication while dreaming of becoming a professional race car driver. After running out of funds to keep racing, he put those skills to work building prototype turbocharger systems on a car borrowed from a driving school where he was working.

His first product success was an aftermarket turbo kit for BMW. The company's designs went on to deliver for Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Land Rover, Mazda and General Motors.

"Reeves always strived to make the finest vehicles and products, and then improve them. His support of our customers, partners, and team members was unwavering," COO Mike Zoner said in a statement. "We shall carry his v…

In a surprise move, GM is bringing back the Chevy Bolt based on the automaker's Ultium battery platform. Meanwhile, GM’s earnings surged in the second quarter. Plus, Motional’s Balajee Kannan talks about the state of the robo-taxi business in 2023.

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GM Financial said on Tuesday that elevated interest rates hurt its second-quarter earnings, which were down 31 percent year over year, despite an uptick in loans and lease originations.

The captive on Tuesday posted second-quarter earnings of $571 million, down from $829 million in the same quarter of 2022. Earnings before taxes for the quarter were $766 million, down from $1.1 billion the same time last year.

"GM Financial delivered EBT adjusted of over $750 million, down close to $350 million year over year, in line with expectations and primarily due to a higher cost of funds and lower net lease vehicle income, partially offset by increased finance charge income from portfolio growth and a higher effective yield," said CFO Paul Jacobson in the automaker's second-quarter earnings call with investors.

The lender said in its fourth-quarter and year-end earnings call in January it expected earnings to normalize in 2023 after strong credit performance and …

Subaru is resurrecting the top-level tS trim on the 2024 BRZ coupe early next year with an improved tuned suspension and high-performance brakes. The brand's EyeSight driver-assistance features will be standard, marking the first time on a model equipped with a manual transmission.

The Japanese brand first showed the 2024 BRZ tS at an enthusiast gathering Sunday in Arcadia, Calif. Pricing was not announced. The tS trim was last available on the 2020 BRZ.

Through June this year, BRZ sales in the U.S. were up 51 percent to 2,512 vehicles.

Powered by a 2.4-liter naturally aspirated boxer engine paired with a six-speed manual transmission, the 2024 BRZ tS produces up to 228 hp and up to 184 pound-feet of torque.

The EyeSight system includes adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning and pre-collision braking assist. The tS trim, based on the Limited trim level, also includes special internal and external badging.

Bollinger Motors Inc. aims to invest $44 million at its Detroit area manufacturing plant and headquarters in an expansion that would create 237 jobs.

The homegrown electric truck startup, bought by Mullen Automotive Inc. last year, is preparing to launch production of its first vehicle, a Class 4 EV, in the first half of next year, according to a briefing memo from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

The board of the MEDC's funding arm, the Michigan Strategic Fund, on Tuesday approved a $3 million performance-based grant for the project, which the MEDC said would offset the additional cost of expanding in Michigan versus a competing site in Indiana.

The jobs are expected to pay an average of $55.37 per hour plus benefits. The company presently employs 55 in Michigan. Bollinger will also team with Michigan Works to recruit local talent in disadvantaged areas, the memo said.

Bollinger has identified a third-party assembly manufacturer in Livon…

LONDON – Jaguar Land Rover sees the U.S. as key to the future success of the Jaguar brand, which is being reinvented.

JLR is overhauling Jaguar by reducing its model range and pushing the brand higher upmarket to compete with Bentley and Porsche instead of Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

The U.S. market was central to the success of Jaguar in the 1990s.

"This brand was incredibly successful in North America 25 years ago before we took the compromises and the decisions we made," JLR CEO Adrian Mardell told investors last month.

Jaguar's past U.S. success is now “lost within Ford Motor Company data,” said Mardell, who was confirmed as JLR CEO on July 20 after holding the position on an interim basis.

Mardell joined JLR in 1990, the year after Ford bought the company from British Leyland. Back then, Jaguar was targeting a much richer customer. Its XJ sedan started at $54,750 in the U.S., equivalent to around $100,000 today, while the XK coupe cost fr…

Hyundai Motor Co. wants to speed up completion rates of a software patch that will protect its vehicles targeted by thieves following a national social media-driven crime wave.

The automaker is staging a mobile service center in Washington, D.C., this week for owners of the affected vehicles residing within 25 miles of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, where the event will take place.

According to company spokesperson Ira Gabriel, about 37,000 Hyundai owners were alerted via email about the opportunity.

The service center will cover two of the stadium's parking lots. Technicians will be on-site to install and complete the software upgrade, a process Hyundai estimates will take less than an hour.

Gabriel said the clinic is the first in what could be a series of events and is a response to its dealer network being swamped with customers asking for the software update.

In a statement, Hyundai said the clinic is "intended to complement Hyun…

Join us at noon Thursday for a LinkedIn Live chat on the 2023 UAW contract talks with Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University.

The discussion, where we will take questions from the audience, will also be simulcast on Facebook.

Wheaton will be joined by Automotive News Executive Editor Jamie Butters and Staff Reporter Michael Martinez as they discuss the top issues facing both unionized workers and the Detroit 3 automakers.

We welcome questions and comments in advance and encourage Automotive News readers to submit voice notes about UAW contract talks to [email protected]