Trade News

In a bid to get important products to the market faster, General Motors accelerated the timetables for billion-dollar investments at two Canadian assembly plants, CAMI Assembly and Oshawa Assembly.

But to do so, GM has taken unusual steps to get the plants up and running sooner.

In July, GM confirmed that German supplier Kuka will handle initial production of GM's new EV600 electric commercial van at a plant in Michigan in an effort to fulfill an order from FedEx. GM will then end production of the Chevrolet Equinox at CAMI, in Ingersoll, Ontario, in April and begin full EV600 production there in November 2022 — about a year earlier than originally planned.

Kuka is expected to build fewer than 500 EV600 models by hand starting in October. After that, Kuka, a tooling producer that supplies assembly equipment to GM, will ship the equipment needed to make the EV600 to CAMI.

Doing that will "dramatically reduce the time needed to convert" the plant, …

WASHINGTON —The House Ways and Means Committee on Friday released its proposal for consumer tax credits in the $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill that would support affordable electric vehicles, domestic battery production and union jobs.

The committee's legislative proposal — led by U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich. — would boost EV tax credits for consumers to as much as $12,500 for EVs assembled by union workers with domestically manufactured batteries.

The fully refundable credit would be transferable at the point of sale and would phase out over 10 years.

In the first five years, the base credit would be $7,500 — the maximum tax credit currently available — with an additional bonus credit of $4,500 for vehicles made in a factory represented by a labor union and another $500 bonus if the automaker has a domestic supply for batteries.

In the second five-year period, only EVs assembled in the U.S. are eligible for the $7,500 base credit.

…

Automotive technology supplier Aptiv Plc is facing significant semiconductor supply constraints in the third quarter due to the fast-spreading Delta variant of the coronavirus in Southeast Asia, CFO Joseph Massaro said on Friday.

Given the COVID-19 outbreaks in Malaysia and Thailand, governments are taking a meaningful stance on production closures, Massaro said, speaking at the RBC Capital Markets industrials conference.

"We have had semiconductor suppliers industry wide who have been closed for a couple of weeks at a time. We had one that was closed for a couple of weeks, open for a period of time and then reclosed."

Automakers from General Motors to Japan's Toyota have slashed output and sales forecasts due to scarce chip supplies, made worse by a COVID-19 resurgence in key Asian semiconductor production hubs.

Massaro said the company had initially estimated the pandemic impact from Southeast Asia could cost the industry about 1.5 million uni…

Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling 158,489 Tundra pickup trucks because of faulty headlight electrical circuits that may power high and low beams at the same time, which could lead to overheating.

The recall involves vehicles from the 2018-21 model years.

In a safety recall report, Toyota said the flaw of both beams being on simultaneously could overheat a vehicle's electrical conductor and lead to a fire.

Toyota said it knew of 18 field reports alleging various problems. Twelve of the reports alleged an inoperative headlamp or damage to the headlamp connector, such as melting, but displayed no actual fire. Another six reports said actual fires occurred in the headlamp assembly.

There are 47 warranty claims related to the condition. Of those, 44 reported damage but no fire and three reported damage with fire.

The automaker declined to disclose whether any accidents or injuries are connected to the recall.

Toyota says its dealers will …

Two dealership groups expanded their domestic-store platforms in the third quarter, while a used-vehicle dealership owner acquired a franchised store — also consisting of domestic brands.

Here's a quick look at the deals.

Jenkins Auto Group of Ocala, Fla., has purchased three Florida dealerships in two recent transactions with Steve Lamb and Jewel Lamb of Crystal Automotive and Motorcycle Group.

Jenkins on Aug. 31 bought Crystal Chevrolet and Crystal Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Homosassa. Those dealerships have been renamed Jenkins Chevrolet of Homosassa and Jenkins Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Homosassa.

The group also on Thursday bought Crystal Ford-Lincoln in Crystal River from the Lambs. That store was renamed Jenkins Ford-Lincoln of Crystal River.

"These additions grow our domestic portfolio allowing us to offer even more brands and inventory to our customers," Jenkins Auto Group CEO Tom Formanek said in a statement.

T…

The chip shortage shows no signs of easing and some major automakers this week outlined more production rollbacks due to the supply crunch.

Here’s what the companies said:

Toyota cuts output again on shortage of chips, parts

GM to extend crossover cuts, resume Silverado, Sierra production

Stellantis halts Cherokee, Pacifica production for 2 more weeks

Ford extends downtime at Missouri F-150 plant to fourth week

GM's second-half production loss doubles from prior forecast

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. will slash global production again next month, to the tune of 330,000 units, as the pandemic and global shortage of automotive microchips continue to bite.

The total hit represents a 40 percent cutback from Toyota's original October production plan.

In announcing the reversal on Friday, Japan's biggest automaker said it will also take a bigger thumping than expected in September. Toyota expects to lose another 70,000 units this month.

That adjustment comes on top of an August announcement, when Toyota warned it would lose 360,000 vehicles of output globally in September, including some 80,000 units in North America.

Unlike in last month's announcement, when Toyota kept its fiscal year global production target unchanged, Toyota said this time that it would lower its target to 9 million units for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022. It had earlier planned to manufacture 9.3 million vehicles worldwide.

That total …

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the entire plant work force went on strike. Only a "small fraction" of workers participated in the strike, a company spokesman said.

Employees at global supplier ZF Friedrichshafen's plant in Marysville, Mich., went on strike Thursday after the UAW said the company backed out of an agreement to recognize the employees' intentions to join the union.

ZF disagreed, saying it did not renege on what is known as a neutrality agreement. Production is continuing at the plant, a ZF spokesman said.

About 340 employees work at the location, but it's unclear how many people are actually on strike. The ZF spokesman said only a "small fraction" of the workforce is participating in the strike.

The plant is a key supplier to Stellantis and produces rear beam axles and axle drive units.

According to a news release from the UAW, a number of ZF employees at the plant have been indicati…

DETROIT — Chevrolet is expanding its Silverado lineup with a ZR2 off-road option in its latest refresh. The 2022 Silverado pickup will launch with Super Cruise availability and a revamped interior next year.

Silverado sales rose 8.3 percent to 286,410 in the first half of the year, maintaining the vehicle's crown as General Motors' bestselling vehicle in the U.S., though Chevy's overall pickup sales fell short of rivals Ford Motor Co. and Ram. Chevy announced this year that it would launch an electric version of the popular pickup at Factory Zero in Detroit. GM declined to provide production timing, but forecasters expect the EV to go on sale in 2023.

"We've been selling the heck out of the current truck and we've got some great improvements here," Steve Carlisle, president of GM North America, told Automotive News. "Our goal here is to continue to dominate with the pickups and Silverado in particular."

The pickup, slated to go on sale in the spring, wi…

Apple Inc. appointed one of its top software executives, Kevin Lynch, to oversee its nascent self-driving car project after the previous leader left for Ford Motor Co.

Lynch, an Adobe Inc. veteran who joined Apple in 2013 to run the software group for the company’s smartwatch and health efforts, replaced Doug Field as the manager in charge of the car work, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The executive first started working on the project earlier this year when he took over teams handling the underlying software. Now he is overseeing the whole group, which also includes hardware engineering and work on self-driving car sensors, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the move isn’t public.

The change marks the latest shake-up in the project’s tumultuous history. Since Apple embarked on its plan to develop a self-driving car around 2014, the endeavor has seen management turnover, layoffs of engineers and strategy shifts -…

WASHINGTON -- A group of 13 Republican lawmakers on Thursday raised concerns about U.S. approval for Chinese telecommunications company Huawei to buy chips for its growing auto components business.

The lawmakers, on the Energy and Commerce Committee, asked U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a letter seen by Reuters if he was concerned "Huawei will look for a foothold in developing components for future vehicles in order to gather information on Americans and our transportation infrastructure."

Reuters reported in August that U.S. officials have approved license applications worth hundreds of millions of dollars for the company, which is on a U.S. trade blacklist.

A spokesman for Buttigieg declined to comment. A spokesman for Huawei did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Republicans, led by U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said the United States "must not surre…

The assortment of sensors automated vehicles should use to perceive their surroundings and detect obstacles is anything but settled upon.

Cameras, radar and lidar comprise the elemental sensors needed to reach higher levels of automated driving. But more companies are now exploring the ways thermal cameras might augment their systems.

A company called Plus that specializes in developing automated driving for trucks, is the latest to evaluate the potential of thermal cameras. The company said Wednesday it is collaborating with Teledyne FLIR on a development project that utilizes the cameras on its sensor stack for Level 4 automated vehicles.

"You can never be too safe when it comes to equipment you put on a heavy truck," Tim Daly, chief architect for Plus, said in a written statement. "Combining thermal cameras with our other sensors would bring an additional margin of safety to our system."

Thermal cameras are particularly adept at detecting obsta…