Trade News

The Biden administration Thursday proposed new mileage standards and limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks that exceeded what some environmentalists feared would be issued.

The fuel economy and emissions requirements proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation would strengthen mandates eased by the Trump administration -- and, over time, mark a return to a more stringent path charted by former President Barack Obama in 2012.

It would mandate fleet-wide vehicle mileage of 52 mpg by 2026, up from 40 mpg this year. The EPA said its proposal would result in a 10 percent reduction in vehicle emissions in model year 2023 and then a 5 percent greater emissions reduction improvement each year after through 2026.

“It’s definitely an improvement” over previously reported versions, said David Cooke, a senior vehicles analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s better than what we thought. It’s still…

Sending a truck trundling down a highway without a human aboard would constitute a major development for most autonomous vehicle companies. For Plus, it's less a milestone and more a milepost.

A self-driving big rig operated by the company drove a 20-mile stretch of the Wufengshan highway near China's Yangtze River delta last month, the company's first such truck demonstration conducted in China.

Plus CEO David Liu welcomed the development, but in an industry prone to hype, was more circumspect in declaring it some sort of feat.

"I think this showcases that, you know, the future is kind of here," he told Automotive News. "But there is still a lot of work to be done."

A video of the demonstration showed the tractor-trailer changing lanes and showcased the Level 4 automated technology at work. Plus had obtained a special permit from the local government to conduct the demonstration.

Demonstrations are nice, but for driverless technology…

DETROIT — Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm touted President Joe Biden's ambitious goal — half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. will be emissions-free by the end of the decade — as she toured General Motors' electric vehicle assembly plant here Thursday.

"We've got the Detroit 3 at the White House, and we're here showing exactly what they're talking about," Granholm said, referring to the CEOs of GM and Ford, and the COO of Stellantis' North America unit, who joined Biden on the South Lawn of the White House for Thursday's announcement.

Factory Zero, formerly called Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, will soon begin building GM's next generation of EVs, starting with the GMC Hummer pickup this year. GM also plans to build the electric Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Hummer SUV and Cruise Origin at the plant. All of the EVs will be powered by GM's proprietary Ultium batteries, which can offer a range of more than 400 miles on a full charge, GM estimates.

"The envi…

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — U.S. electric vehicle sales will continue to grow, but automakers won't meet an ambitious new federal goal aimed at helping address climate change and countering China's rapid rise as a leading EV and battery hub, according to forecasters.

The Biden administration on Thursday set a nonbinding sales target: Battery-electric or plug-in hybrids will account for half of all new light vehicles sold in 2030, a goal supported by major U.S. and foreign automakers as well as the UAW.

LMC Automotive expects about 24 percent of sales will be EVs by 2030, while IHS Markit estimates 32 percent, and Wells Fargo forecasts 16 percent. IHS says when combined with plug-in hybrids, the tally rises to 38 percent, while LMC says the combined total will be about 30 percent, both still well short of the 50 percent mark.

"You have to get consumers on board," Stephanie Brinley, principal analyst of the Americas at IHS Markit, said on a panel Thursday …

Online used-vehicle retailer Carvana reported its first quarterly profit since going public in April 2017.

The company posted net income of $45 million in the second quarter, a turnaround from a loss of $106 million in the year-earlier period.

Carvana has boosted unit sales and revenue by triple digits in several quarters over the last several years while aggressively expanding. Critics have in the past noted that the company was not profitable, but investors have so far bet that it would achieve profitability once it reached scale.

In the second quarter, Carvana sold 107,815 retail units, nearly double what it sold in the same period last year. Revenue nearly tripled to $3.3 billion. It marked the first quarter that retail unit sales topped 100,000 and that revenue exceeded $3 billion.

In a letter to shareholders, the company said it would have sold more vehicles if it had had more cars and trucks to market, reflecting low inventories that…

Automotive supplier Tenneco Inc. on Thursday posted a net loss of $10 million in the quarter ended June 30, compared with a net loss of $350 million in the pandemic-scarred year-earlier period.

Revenue at the ride-control and emissions systems producer rose 74 percent to $4.58 billion in the period. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization grew to $356 million, up from $8 million in the year-earlier period.

Cost-saving programs such as Accelerate+ helped drive margin expansion and cash generation.

"The global Tenneco team remained focused on driving operational improvements while managing through challenging market conditions, and our cash flow conversion focus continued to deliver net debt reduction," Tenneco CEO Brian Kesseler said in a news release.

The company said it expects its net debt to fall below $4.2 billion by year end.

Tenneco's net sales and operating revenues for its segments all improved year-o…

LOS ANGELES — American Honda Motor Co. CEO Shinji Aoyama will leave his post as head of U.S. and North American operations on Oct. 1 to dedicate himself to a new role as full-time global officer in charge of electrification, Honda said late Wednesday.

Aoyama will be replaced in North America by Noriya Kaihara, who is currently chief officer for customer operations and officer of risk management at Honda Motor Co. Kaihara is also a managing executive officer.

Aoyama has been serving as the global electrification officer since July 1 from North America, the company said. The electrification post was created in May as Honda begins a steady shift away from internal combustion engines.

"In his new dedicated role, Aoyama will lead the establishment and implementation of electrification strategies which leverage the unique strength of Honda as a company including motorcycle, automobile, power equipment and other businesses," Honda said.

Aoyama joined Ame…

With the Biden administration expected to announce new standards for vehicle greenhouse gas emissions on Thursday, industry experts say there will be a greater reliance on electrification to meet the president's climate and energy goals.

As automakers set targets for electric vehicle-only lineups and seek to sell more electrified options in the U.S., EPA official Bill Charmley says the agency's performance-based emissions requirements ensure the industry is making progress on meeting clean air and environmental goals.

"It's not the type of thing that you want to leave it to chance," said Charmley, director of the assessment and standards division within EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality.

Charmley spoke Wednesday during a hybrid version of the annual CAR Management Briefing Seminars.

"We want the industry to be successful on this transition," he said. "We want to make sure that EPA's policies help provide lo…

Uber Technologies Inc. spent heavily to lure drivers back in the second quarter, resulting in a wider-than-predicted loss and raising fresh doubts about the reliability of its labor model long-term. Shares declined about 4 percent in extended trading.

The loss before interest, tax and other expenses was $509 million in the period that ended in June, Uber said in a statement Wednesday. That’s wider than the prior quarter but narrower than a year earlier. Analysts expected a loss of $325 million, according to an average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Uber said the loss will be less than $100 million in the third quarter and that gross bookings will be $22 billion to $24 billion. The forecast is about in line with analysts’ estimates. Uber cautioned that a wider outbreak of the delta variant could change the results.

“We invested in recovery by investing in drivers, and we made strong progress,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statemen…

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- Automakers are facing significant questions on how to turn their aspirations on electric vehicles and advanced new technologies into marketplace reality.

How to pay for the infrastructure that will be needed to support the industry's electrification is one of those questions, a group of government policy experts said Wednesday at the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminars here.

"The short answer to these questions is 'it's complicated,' " said John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. "We've got to navigate an extraordinarily complex external environment."

But that complexity means teamwork between the industry and government entities will be "critically important," industry experts said — especially as the nation navigates the COVID-19 pandemic, a global chip crisis and the dynamic U.S. political environment.

"We need to recognize that no one sector of the economy — no one company…

Auto suppliers are going to have be faster and more flexible to innovate new products as the industry shifts to electric vehicles and autonomous-drive technologies, according to a panel of experts from companies that were cited for recent component advances.

It also will require continual investment in new technology and manufacturing equipment, and a greater willingness to collaborate with automakers and other suppliers, they told an audience Wednesday at the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminars.

Suppliers might also have to look for component solutions far outside their wheelhouses.

That's the successful recipe that saw American Axle & Manufacturing, ArcelorMittal and L&L Products win the 2021 Altair Enlighten Awards, which were announced during the industry event. The Altair awards honor companies that use advanced design, material and production techniques to reduce weight.

American Axle, which is broadening it…

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — It costs more to service electric vehicles than their gasoline-powered counterparts, but the gap narrows over time, according to new data from analytics firm We Predict.

The company, which released data this year saying EVs were 2.3 times more expensive to service than ICE vehicles after three months of ownership, said Wednesday that there is a caveat: After one year, EVs are just 1.6 times more expensive to service.

We Predict looked at the data of about 19 million vehicles between the 2016 and 2021 model years.

The main factors in the narrowing over that nine-month period included a 77 percent drop in maintenance costs as well as a slight decline in repair costs. Still, the data showed that service techs are spending twice as long diagnosing problems with EVs vs. those with gasoline vehicles. They are spending 1.5 times longer fixing them, and their average labor rate was 1.3 times higher.

Renee Stephens, a vice president …