Trade News

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is reestablishing itself in the industry's largest segment, compact crossovers, after years of declining share with a pair of small utility vehicles aimed at different buyers: the Escape and Bronco Sport.

More than two-thirds of the Bronco Sport's 60,514 sales so far this year come from buyers new to Ford, the company says. The new offering hasn't cannibalized sales of the Escape, which rose about 1 percent to more than 85,000 in the first half of 2021 despite the ongoing chip shortage that is crimping production.

Combined, the two small utilities would rank fourth in the segment, behind the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V and Nissan Rogue, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center.

Ford is quickly gaining market share in the segment — up 3 percentage points to 11 percent through the first six months of 2021 — while Toyota and General Motors lose share and Honda's is flat, according to LMC Automotive data.

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The U.S. is clashing with Mexico and Canada over rules for cars shipped across regional borders, with automakers and governments telling the Biden administration that it’s imperiling the success of their new trade pact.

The dispute focuses on how to calculate the percentage of a vehicle that comes collectively from the three countries under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because conversations are private. The deal took effect last July, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, but the new so-called rules of origin are designed to be phased in over several years.

The U.S. insists on a stricter way than Mexico and Canada believe they agreed to for counting the origin of certain core parts including engines, transmissions and steering systems in the overall calculation, the people said. That makes it harder for plants in Mexico and Canada to meet the new threshold of 75 …

A Pacific Northwest dealership group acquired a store with two brands, while a used-only dealership group bought its first franchised store in two deals that closed at the end of the second quarter.

Here's a quick look at the transactions involving domestic- and import-brand stores.

Kendall Automotive Group on June 30 purchased a Subaru-Chevrolet dealership in Marysville, Wash., near Seattle.

Kendall, with about 40 locations in four Western states and a Ford store already in Marysville, bought Roy Robinson Subaru-Chevrolet from the Bjorg family.

Terms of the deal weren't released. The store has been renamed Kendall Subaru-Chevrolet of Marysville.

Kendall has stores in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and sells more than 20 brands, including Toyota, Lexus, Volkswagen, Honda, Kia, Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, according to its website.

The family-owned group was founded in 1937 as Merrill Kendall became part of a Ford dealersh…

Rivian is delaying the first deliveries of its R1T battery electric pickup until September, CEO RJ Scaringe said Friday in a letter to customers who expected their trucks this month.

"We know you can't wait to get behind the wheel of your vehicle. Earlier this summer, we announced that deliveries would begin in July; however, the timing for the first deliveries of the R1T has shifted to September, with the R1S shortly thereafter in the fall. I wanted to be sure you heard this from me directly," Scaringe wrote.

Rivian owners have been griping in online forums about the lack of communication from the company in recent weeks as anticipation for the Launch Edition of the R1T grew.

Scaringe, in his letter, placed much of the blame for the latest delay on the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing chip shortage and the difficulty of producing three new vehicles in a new plant.

He wrote: "The cascading impacts of the pandemic have had a compounding effect great…

Ford Motor Co. said it is recalling nearly 775,000 Explorer large crossovers for an issue with the cross-axis ball joint that may cause a fractured rear suspension toe link, which could affect steering control and increase the risk of a crash.

The recalled Ford Explorers are from the 2013-17 model years and affect approximately 676,152 vehicles in North America, 59,935 in China, 13,162 in Europe, 190 in South America and 25,257 in other international markets.

Ford said Friday it is aware of six allegations of injury related to this defect in North America.

"Affected vehicles may experience a clunk noise, unusual handling or a misaligned rear wheel," Ford said in a statement. "Fracture of a rear toe link significantly diminishes steering control, increasing the risk of a crash."

To fix the issue, dealers will inspect and replace the cross-axis ball joint as necessary and replace the toe links with an updated design part.

A Ford spokesman did…

Genesis sales boss Ted Mengiste says new models and healthy inventory levels are positioning Hyundai's luxury brand to "grow faster" in the second half of 2021.

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TOKYO – Honda Motor Co. CEO Toshihiro Mibe repeated the go-it-alone automaker’s message Friday that, when it comes to joining the race to electric vehicles, Honda is ready to rely on partners.

It is a sea change for the fiercely independent Japanese carmaker, and Mibe, who took the CEO job in April, wants to make sure the industry knows that Honda is now open for outside alliances.

"If through an alliance Honda can accomplish early what it should aim to be, then we'd be willing to form an alliance," Mibe told a press briefing.

Honda and General Motors now plan to introduce two jointly developed large-sized EV models in 2024 in North America using GM's Ultium batteries and Honda will launch a series of new models built on a dedicated platform called  "e:Architecture."

The two companies also are collaborating on autonomous vehicles and fuel-cell vehicle technology, and are exploring more ways to expand their alliance.

Mibe's new message…

STOCKHOLM -- Sweden's Autoliv, the world's largest producer of airbags and seatbelts, swung to a strong operating profit during the second quarter, but scaled back its full-year guidance as component shortages crimped car production.

Autoliv on Friday reported an operating profit of $164 million compared with a $234 million operating loss in the year-ago quarter when many automakers idled several weeks of production due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Total sales surged 93 percent to $2.0 billion. The company generated net income of $105 million compared with a $174 million loss a year ago.

Airbag revenue doubled to $1.3 billion while seatbelt business grew 81 percent to $712 million.

Autoliv is the first major global auto supplier to post its second-quarter results, with several more scheduled to report over the next few weeks.

While the demand recovery from the market plunge in the early months of the pandemic has been strong, a global shor…

BEIJING -- Volkswagen Group's top executive in China said he expected supplies of microchips to improve in the next six months.

Automakers around the world have had to adjust assembly lines due to the shortages, caused by manufacturing delays that some semiconductor makers blame on a faster-than expected recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

"We hope the chip supply crisis will bottom out this summer and expect to see an improvement in this situation within the second half of the year," VW Group's China chief, Stephan Woellenstein, told reporters on Friday.

Starting in August, Volkswagen will source some chips from a new supplier, Woellenstein said, adding that the move would start to ease the shortage in September.

Because of the chip shortage, VW saw its sales in China drop 12 percent between April and June compared with a year earlier.

VW builds cars in China in joint ventures with FAW Group and SAIC Motor.

VW Group's premium br…

General Motors said Thursday it is adding more downtime at five crossover plants in North America because of the global microchip shortage.

Four plants will be down from July 19 until Aug. 2:

Lansing Delta Township, in Michigan, which builds the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave Spring Hill Assembly, in Tennessee, which builds the Cadillac XT5 XT6 and GMC Acadia San Luis Potosi Assembly, in Mexico, which builds the Chevy Equinox and GMC Terrain Ramos Arizpe Assembly, in Mexico, which builds the Chevy Equinox and Blazer

GM also said CAMI Assembly in Ingersoll, Ontario, which previously was scheduled to be down the last two weeks of July, now will remain idle until Aug. 23. The plant builds the Chevy Equinox. The Detroit News reported the updated production schedules earlier Thursday.

Last week, AutoForecast Solutions estimated that the industry could lose 6.2 million vehicles globally because of the chip crisis. Automakers in North America alone could…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is weighing plans to start shipping partially built vehicles that are awaiting semiconductors or related components to dealerships around the country, a move that, if approved, would place responsibility on its retail network to complete the assembly once the chips are available.

The automaker began detailing the plans, which are not final, to its some of its dealers this week, according to four people with knowledge of the discussions. Only dealers who would choose to receive the unfinished vehicles would get shipments and service technicians would be trained on how to install the chips, one of the people said. Dealerships would be compensated for slightly less than an hour's worth of labor for each vehicle, the person said.

Still unclear is whether the dealers would be responsible for the vehicles while they sit on their lots awaiting chips. Dealers are not expected to have to floorplan the vehicles before they're finished, one perso…

Nissan Motor Co. has extended U.S. production downtime for the Altima until the start of August due to the ongoing global microchip shortage.

The mid-sized sedan model has not been built in Canton, Miss., since June 4, which includes the regular two-week summer shutdown. Nissan sold 61,930 units in the first half of the year, down 10 percent from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Nissan said Altima, Titan and Frontier production also will be idle for two days each in the first half of August.