Trade News

Ford of Canada plans to open a $95-million parts distribution center near Ottawa, Canada, as part of a plan to close a Toronto-area depot and transfer operations to eastern and western Ontario, according to a developer and the union representing workers at the current oepration.

The 500,000-square-foot building is expected to start operating in 2023 in Casselman, Ont., about 30 miles east of Ottawa. It will join a western Ontario depot to be built in Paris, Ont., near Brantford, the union said.

Ford of Canada has made no public announcement of the projects and didn't return calls seeking comment. According to Unifor Local 584, which represents about 200 employees at the Bramalea Parts Distribution Centre near Toronto, however, both locations have been confirmed.

As well, a Montreal-based developer has released a drawing of the eastern depot, which it envisions as anchor of a 3-million-square-foot industrial hub on the Ottawa-Montreal corridor. Rosefello…

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Lexus has had two long-standing issues that it struggled with in recent years: a widely unloved infotainment system, and a clientele that skews far older than those of its luxury competitors.

Lexus' U.S. head Andrew Gilleland believes the redesigned 2022 Lexus NX crossover is the first step toward eventually fixing both of those nagging issues.

"Clearly, you know, we're trying to design cars that speak to younger people," he said, adding that they're different in how they interact with the brand, where they turn for information and how they make decisions.

Lexus — whose average customer is older than 60 — has no choice but to change to achieve that demographic shift, he said.

On the technological front, the new Lexus Interactive infotainment system uses conversational and intuitive voice prompts to enable the driver to control vehicle functions as varied as turning on the windshield wipers, adjusting the climate controls and s…

Electric vehicle producer Rivian plans to hire 100 workers and invest $4.6 million into a new customer service center near Detroit in Plymouth, Mich., following the launch of its first electric pickup.

The 12-year-old startup, backed by Amazon, Ford Motor Co. and others, established its Service Support Operations Center to provide "around-the-clock" business-to-business and customer service, according to a Thursday statement from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The project is being backed by a $750,000 performance-based grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which said the state outcompeted other states to land the investment and jobs promise.

"This investment by Rivian will create 100 high-skill jobs as we work to grow Michigan's economy, create good-paying jobs, and build the industries of the future," Whitmer said in the statement.

The service center begins operating this week, Rivian spokesman Zach Dietmeier said in an email. The…

General Motors is set to invest $300 million in Momenta to accelerate the application of the young Chinese company’s autonomous driving technologies in future products in China. 

The move is part of a plan the Detroit automaker announced in June to invest $35 billion globally from 2020 to 2025 to develop electric vehicles and autonomous vehicles.

Momenta, established in 2016 in Beijing, is developing mass-production L4 autonomous driving systems.

As of March 2021, Momenta had raised $700 million from strategic automotive partners such as SAIC Motor Corp., Mercedes-Benz, Toyota Motor Corp. and Bosch, as well as a group of financial investors.

GM is expanding its design and engineering facilities in China for the development of EVs and self-driving vehicles. In July, it completed an expansion and upgrade of an advanced design center in Shanghai, doubling the facility’s design capacity.

“Customers in China are embracing electrification an…

Chinese retail sales of new passenger vehicles -- sedans, crossovers, SUVs and multipurpose vehicles -- are expected to contract for the fourth straight month, slipping 17 percent to 1.58 million in September, the China Passenger Car Association said this week. 

The latest decline is steeper than the 15 percent drop in August, as well as a 6.1 percent decrease in July and June’s 4.8 percent dip.

The China Passenger Car Association blames the extended downturn on the severe auto chip shortage and lockdowns by some cities to contain local coronavirus outbreaks.

China’s securities regulator ordered Huachen Group, parent of BMW Group’s partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, to pay a 53.6 million yuan ($8.3 million) fine for severe misconduct while disclosing financial information. 

Details about the fine were disclosed last week by Shenyang Jinbei Automotive Co., Huachen Group's van subsidiary listed in Shanghai. 

Huachen Group provided false information in 2017 and 2018 financial reports, used falsified financial records to win regulatory approval for corporate bonds issued in 2019 and 2020, and delayed financial information disclosures, Shenyang Jinbei said, citing a ruling from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. 

In addition, 11 former executives of Huachen Group, including its former chairman, Qi Yumin, were fined 80,000 yuan to 600,000 yuan for participating in the practice.  

In October 2020, Huachen Group defaulted on a 1-billion-yuan bond, prompting the China Sec…

DETROIT — General Motors plans to restart production at its midsize pickup plant in Missouri next week, as planned, while seven other of the automaker's plants in North America remain idle, in part because of the global microchip shortage.

The plant in Wentzville has been down since Sept. 6. It builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups along with the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size commercial vans.

"With Wentzville resuming operations, we expect that all of GM's full-size SUV, full-size truck and mid-size truck plants in North America will be running regular production the week of Sept. 27," GM said in a Thursday statement.

The automakers' full-size pickup plants in Flint, Mich., Silao, Mexico, and Fort Wayne, Ind., will continue running next week, along with the Chevy Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Ky., and Cadillac XT4 production at Fairfax Assembly in Kansas City.

AutoForecast Solutions estimates that the global…

UAW auditors have alleged that a financial secretary at Local 412 in suburban Detroit misappropriated funds.

Internal auditors said they discovered more than $2 million in "improper personal expenditures" by the employee. In a statement, UAW International Secretary-Treasurer Frank Stuglin characterized it as an "elaborate" embezzlement scheme by the locally elected officer. Local 412 represents Stellantis employees in Warren, Mich.

The union said the Local 412 financial secretary has been suspended. The audit's findings have been referred to the U.S. Department of Labor and other law enforcement authorities, Stuglin said.

Local 412 President Jerry Witt wrote in a letter to members that the union was working to file a bond claim for the losses.

"Due to the severity of the possible misappropriations, I recommend that the Local Executive Board consider contacting the International Union about placing the Local in administratorship to assist the Local…

LMC Automotive's Jeff Schuster predicts what's on the horizon for the industry as microchip-related disruptions continue to impact vehicle output, inventory levels and consumer spending.

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<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Self-driving tech returns to California racetrack

Some of the most notable innovations in the automotive industry have trickled down from racing. Joshua Schachter hopes the same will someday be said for self-driving technology.

Schachter is the founder of Self Racing Cars, an annual event that allows participants to test their self-driving chops at racing speeds.

After a pandemic-related hiatus, Self Racing Cars returns to Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, Calif., next month. The event will be held Oct. 16-17 and once again meld racing and autonomy.

Teams compete for fastest lap time on the closed course. But the event is about more than lap times. It's more so a chance for anyone — from large companies such as Nvidia to small startups — to test their technologies in a closed-course setting and to gather a community of tinkerers from all corners.

It helps developers building their own systems collect data from real-…

Consulting firm AlixPartners said Thursday the ongoing semiconductor chip shortage will cost the global automotive industry $210 billion this year, a greater revenue loss than previously thought.

That figure is up considerably from the firm's May forecast, in which it estimated a loss of $110 billion.

AlixPartners also says production of 7.7 million units could be lost. That's nearly double the 3.9 million units the firm estimated would be lost when it issued its May forecast.

"Of course, everyone had hoped that the chip crisis would have abated more by now, but unfortunate events such as the COVID-19 lockdowns in Malaysia and continued problems elsewhere have exacerbated things," Mark Wakefield, global co-leader of the automotive and industrial practice at AlixPartners, said in a statement.

One problem is there are virtually no "shock absorbers" left in the industry for production or obtaining material, said Dan Hearsch…