Trade News

WASHINGTON -- U.S. auto safety regulators on Friday disclosed they are investigating a July 26 fatal crash in New York involving a Tesla that may have been using an advanced driver assistance system.

In July, several media outlets reported a 52-year-old man fixing a flat tire on the Long Island Expressway in New York was killed when he was struck by a Tesla.

An agency spokeswoman told Reuters Friday the agency was aware of the "July 26 incident involving a Tesla vehicle on the Long Island Expressway in New York, and has launched a Special Crash Investigation team to investigate the crash."

The agency's probe into the New York crash has not been previously reported.

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico expects the United States to comply with automotive rules in the new North American trade pact, a senior official said, taking a firm line ahead of high-level talks next week clouded by a dispute over the future of the car industry in the region.

Mexico and Canada have been at odds for months with the United States over the application of regional content requirements for the auto industry, one of the cornerstones of last year's United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade pact.

The two countries favor a more flexible interpretation of the rules than the one taken by U.S. officials.

When asked late on Thursday whether a new methodology could be used to avoid taking the row to an international tribunal, Deputy Economy Minister Luz Maria de la Mora told Reuters:

"No, because we're not renegotiating (USMCA). It's about honoring what was agreed in the treaty."

"The text of the agreement made very clear what scope f…

Ram CEO Mike Koval Jr. shares how the brand eclipsed rivals to top one of the industry's most closely watched reports for the first time.

How do I subscribe?

Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

iPhone / iPad

“Daily Drive” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Android

“Daily Drive” is available on the Google Play store. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Spotify

"Daily Drive" is available on Spotify. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Tesla Inc.’s Cybertruck pickup has fallen about a year behind schedule, the blog Electrek reported, citing remarks CEO Elon Musk made on a companywide call with employees.

The truck is expected to start production at the end of 2022 and won’t be made in volume until late 2023, Electrek said, citing unidentified sources who were on the call with Musk. The CEO told employees that ramping up output will be complicated by the amount of new technology the company will put into the pickup.

Tesla has dropped several hints that its wedge-shaped pickup will be delayed. In April, Musk said both the Cybertruck and the Semi will run on new, larger battery cells that the carmaker is making on a pilot line in California. The CEO cautioned that volume manufacturing of those cells appeared to be roughly 12 to 18 months away. Tesla also recently updated its online configurator where customers can reserve their pickup to refer to production nearing in 2022 rather than late…

Editor's note: This article is part of a Monday special section on the latest challenges to profitability in the F&I office and potential future hurdles.

Ford told investors this summer it plans to focus more on build-to-order vehicles amid what Safe-Guard Products International called a greater interest in online retail among automakers.

CEO Jim Farley said Ford replaced a reservation system with an order bank format for models such as the Bronco. The company then wondered, " 'My God, why don't we do this for all the vehicles, not just those vehicles?' " he said during the July 25 earnings call.

Farley said the company had order banks of 1,000 to 2,000 per month in the years following the financial crisis last decade.

"We are now at 70,000 units on our way to 80,000 units," he said. "That gives you the order-of-magnitude difference in the way we're looking at this order bank change for the company."

Farley said many people are making …

Mere days after striking the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Ida's remnants on Wednesday inundated parts of New York and New Jersey, including auto dealerships, with several inches of rain.

The post-tropical cyclone's rapid deluge was so severe that the National Weather Service in New York issued its first-ever flash flood emergency for New York City and its first-ever for northeast New Jersey.

Areas of New Jersey that don't typically see extensive flooding were overwhelmed. In some instances, dealers moved cars out of low-lying spots, but it was futile.

"In some cases, even the locations dealers were moving cars to which [were] presumed to be high and dry were neither high enough nor dry enough to prevent a loss," New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers President Jim Appleton told Automotive News.

Appleton, who spent Thursday talking to dealers, estimated at least 10 to 15 dealerships in the state would experience significant losses. One dealer told …

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico hopes to soon reach agreement on the interpretation of how automotive content rules in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade pact are applied, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Thursday.

Speaking at a regular news conference, Lopez Obrador said he did not want differences over the interpretation to go to an international arbitration panel.

Mexico sought formal consultation with the United States in August over the interpretation and application of tougher content rules for autos set out in the USMCA trade pact, the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Mexico had voiced disagreement on the issue in a three-way virtual meeting in May when it cited differences with the U.S. methods. Canada and Mexico use more flexible interpretations.

Mexico would have the option of requesting an independent panel of experts to weigh in if it could not resolve the dispute in a period of 75 days.

"An…

DETROIT — General Motors said it will cut output at its light-duty pickup plants next week as the global microchip shortage continues to cripple production.

The plants, Fort Wayne Assembly in Indiana and Silao Assembly in Mexico, are expected to resume production of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra on Sept. 13. During the downtime, GM will complete unfinished vehicles at the plants and ship them to dealers. GM has also scheduled additional downtime at crossover and midsize pickup plants.

"These most recent scheduling adjustments are being driven by the continued parts shortages caused by semiconductor supply constraints from international markets experiencing COVID 19-related restrictions," GM spokesman Dan Flores said Thursday.

AutoForecast Solutions expects that the chip shortage could result in 8.1 million vehicles being slashed from global production plans. About 2.5 million of those are forecast to be eliminated from plants in North America.<…

HANGZHOU, China -- "Do you know how big Volvo is?" asked Don Leclair, finance chief at Ford Motor Co..

It was 2008, and Leclair was responding to an offer from a little-known Chinese businessman to purchase the Swedish carmaker, which Ford owned.

The businessman, Li Shufu, had a company with less than half Volvo's sales and a flagship model, King Kong, almost unknown outside China. He was politely shown the door of the "Glass House," Ford's iconic headquarters near Detroit, according to two people who were at the meeting. Ford's Leclair did not respond to requests for comment about the episode.

Fast-forward to 2021 and Li Shufu's company, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, is one of the biggest-selling automakers in the world's largest auto market. It controls not only Volvo Cars but also a clutch of global auto brands, and a significant stake in German giant Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz. These names are now part of its plans for a revolution in au…

According to Audi, the future of autonomous driving is ... reclined much of the time.

The German premium brand on Thursday introduced the Grandsphere, the second of three planned concept vehicles it says lay out a future for its products as it transitions to an all-electric lineup that will include models with Level 4 autonomous-driving capability. Brand executives said they intend to sell a Level 4-capable vehicle to consumers by 2026. The first concept, named Skysphere, was shown last month; the Urbansphere will be shown next year.

The Grandsphere, a large luxury sedan with two front-row seats and a rear bench, has two main highlights: the brand's coming cat-eye LED exterior lighting signature and a bespoke interior that reimagines how the vehicle's passengers will spend their time while the vehicle is driving itself.

Accessed via large portal doors, the spacious Grandsphere interior replaces the traditional huge blackened touch screen prevalent in mo…

Audi's top executive said he believes the premium brand can nearly double its global sales volume to 3 million vehicles and maintain profit margins between 9 and 11 percent by 2030, even as it phases out internal combustion powertrains in favor of an all battery-electric lineup.

Speaking to reporters via videoconference from headquarters in Ingolstadt, Germany, CEO Markus Duesmann admitted the brand's "Vorsprung 2030" strategy is ambitious but said he believes it is possible "in light of the market forecasts and our attractive product portfolio."

He said that growing Volkswagen Group synergies — Audi now leads development of autonomous driving across the group and has responsibility for Lamborghini and Bentley — mean "a sustainable return of 11 percent is definitely realistic for us in the long term."

In 2020, Audi sales were down 8.3 percent to 1,692,773 cars delivered worldwide compared with 2019. However, the brand gained market share in most major m…