Trade News

BERLIN -- Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler plans to unveil a new business group comprising the AMG, Maybach and G-Class subbrands at the Munich auto show in September.

The move will streamline marketing costs and is part of Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius' strategy to boost productivity and profitability, with a focus on high-margin sales.

AMG boss Philipp Schiemer is expected to lead the group.

AMG is Mercedes' performance brand, Maybach is a rival to Rolls-Royce and Bentley, and the G-Class portfolio consists of luxury off-road vehicles.

"Strengthening the subbrands is an important pillar in the Mercedes-Benz strategy," a Daimler spokesperson told Automotive News affiliate Automobilwoche. "We will not only maintain the independence, strong identities and evolved corporate cultures of the individual brands, but also further expand and sharpen them."

"Currently, we are in the process of designing it and evaluating the potential in the various ar…

HORSESHOE BAY, Texas — About halfway through the most challenging off-road trail prepared for journalists here — ominously labeled the Ghost Pepper course, as opposed to the easier Jalapeño and Habanero paths — a reporter a few vehicles away in our caravan of Ford Broncos radioed that he was stuck at a steep, mud-caked rock formation.

"You're not stuck, you're just momentum-ly challenged," our trail guide called back. "You're not stuck unless you turn off the keys and give up."

Sure enough, once a spotter surveyed the situation and offered some advice, the SUV scaled the rocks and was back to crawling over the Texas terrain in a matter of minutes. It was the only real hang-up on an otherwise problem-free excursion, even with a few off-road novices — myself included — sprinkled among the participants.

That's exactly what the Bronco's developers intended.

While the most die-hard Bronco owners are eager take their new …

Electric vehicle designers have a new canvas on which to mark their brand image: the front end.

Since EVs don't contain hot combustion engines, they don't need the grilles that have shaped the look of autos for decades, with large air vents to cool what's behind them.

EVs present the industry with a fundamental change in design because electric motors require far less space, and batteries are placed low on a skateboard platform, leaving room for more flexible interior and exterior designs. Some of the key "hard points" that define internal combustion cars, particularly the engine compartment, are now fair game for experimentation on EVs.

The question facing automakers now is what to do with all the new design space.

Not surprisingly, they disagree.

"With reduced cooling needs, an EV's grille can be more about form than function," said Karl Brauer, a veteran auto analyst and executive publisher at CarExper…

HORSESHOE BAY, Texas — About halfway through the most challenging off-road trail prepared for journalists here — ominously labeled the Ghost Pepper course, as opposed to the easier Jalapeño and Habanero paths — a reporter a few vehicles away in our caravan of Ford Broncos radioed that he was stuck at a steep, mud-caked rock formation.

"You're not stuck, you're just momentum-ly challenged," our trail guide called back. "You're not stuck unless you turn off the keys and give up."

Sure enough, once a spotter surveyed the situation and offered some advice, the SUV scaled the rocks and was back to crawling over the Texas terrain in a matter of minutes. It was the only real hang-up on an otherwise problem-free excursion, even with a few off-road novices — myself included — sprinkled among the participants.

That's exactly what the Bronco's developers intended.

While the most die-hard Bronco owners are eager take their new …

Fast-growing Umansky Automotive Group of Memphis, Tenn., has entered California with the acquisition of five dealerships representing six brands in the San Francisco Bay area.

Umansky Automotive bought Porsche Livermore, Jaguar-Land Rover Livermore, Audi Livermore, Livermore Honda and Livermore Subaru, all in Livermore, Calif., on Wednesday from Qvale Automotive Group. Livermore is southeast of San Francisco.

"This strategic acquisition of strong brands and significant volume is the ideal way for us to enter the California market," Dan Umansky, owner of Umansky Automotive Group, said in a statement.

Umansky Automotive was founded in 2013 with one dealership, Acura of Memphis. The group quickly expanded to Mississippi, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Virginia. It now has 1,300 employees at 25 locations.

Its stores also represent the Alfa Romeo, BMW, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Genesis bran…

Sonic Automotive Inc. sold a longtime Volvo store in Houston this week, while dealers purchased stores in Kansas, Pennsylvania and New Jersey during the second quarter.

Here's a quick look at the transactions involving domestic-, import- and luxury-brand stores. Two transactions involved groups ranked on Automotive News' top 150 dealership groups.

Swickard Auto Group has entered the popular Texas market, buying a Volvo store in Houston from Sonic, the nation's seventh-largest new-vehicle retailer.

Swickard said Tuesday that it purchased Sonic's Momentum Volvo Cars. The longtime Sonic store has been renamed Volvo Cars Southwest Houston. No broker was used in the transaction.

"We wanted to expand in the Texas marketplace," said Jeff Swickard, dealer principal of the group which also has dealerships in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and California. Swickard, which ranks No. 91 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealers…

Lordstown Motors Corp. is being probed by the U.S. Justice Department in relation to claims that the company exaggerated potential sales of its electric Endurance pickup truck, a person familiar with the matter said.

The probe is related to a previously reported inquiry of Lordstown’s operations by the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the person, who asked not to be named. The latest inquiry is in its early stages and is being handled by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, the person said.

Lordstown shares slid after The Wall Street Journal first reported on the Justice Department’s activity. The stock closed Friday at $9.23 in New York -- down 11 percent.

The legal scrutiny is the latest in a string of problems for the company, which ousted its founder and Chief Executive Officer Steve Burns and his hand-picked finance chief, Julio Rodriguez, after the board concluded that they misstated preorders for the truck. The company is looking for p…

Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. new-vehicle sales fell 27 percent in June, led by another decline in F-Series volume, as the global semiconductor shortage continued to cripple production.

And there's more pain coming: Ford this week announced another wave of plant closures as it waits on sorely needed microchips.

The automaker's June deliveries dropped across the board, save for a few nameplates: The Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs and the Transit Connect van. Ford, however, noted that the sale of its electrified vehicles rose 117 percent in June, driven by the Mustang Mach-E electric crossover.

The Mach-E hit a significant milestone last month, surpassing for the first time sales of the gasoline-powered Mustang pony car by 225 vehicles. Production exceeded that of the gas Mustang for the first time in May.

Despite the down month, Ford's sales in the first half of 2021 rose 4.9 percent compared with the first six months of 2020, amid the coronavirus p…

Tesla Inc. delivered 201,250 cars worldwide in the second quarter, a record for the electric-car maker led by CEO Elon Musk.

While the company doesn’t break out sales by region, business appeared healthy in China. The bulk of the period’s sales were of the Model 3 sedan and the Model Y crossover, which are produced in Shanghai and Fremont, Calif. The Model S sedan and Model X sport utility vehicle are made only in Fremont. The countries are Tesla’s biggest markets.

“Our teams have done an outstanding job navigating through global supply chain and logistics challenges,” Tesla said in a statement Friday.

Quarterly deliveries are one of the most closely watched indicators for Tesla. They underpin its financial results and are widely seen as a barometer of consumer demand for electric vehicles generally because the company is the market leader in battery-powered cars.

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected Tesla to deliver 204,160 vehicles. The compa…

Volkswagen's second-quarter U.S. new-vehicle sales rose 72 percent for the best quarterly performance since 1973 behind strong crossover sales as well as the continued rollout of the new ID4 electric crossover.

VW was also helped by the introduction of the Taos small crossover. It produced sales of 4,939 in the quarter.

Audi delivered its best first-half sales ever, as well as its best-ever quarterly sales mark with nearly 67,000 vehicles sold. Brand officials credited the strong performance to high-volume vehicles such as the Q3, Q5 and Q7 crossovers.

Brands: VW, up 72%; Audi, up 92%; Porsche, up 56%

Notable nameplates: VW Atlas, up 160%; Tiguan, up 50%; Jetta, up 27%; Audi Q5, up 133%; Q7, up 126%; A6, up 106%; E-tron, up 42%

Incentives: $3,808 per vehicle in second quarter, down 14% from a year earlier, TrueCar says.

Average transaction price: $43,035 in the second quarter, up 6.7% from a yea…

Honda navigated parts shortages and tight inventories in June to post record U.S. monthly sales. The results helped the automaker achieve its best four-month U.S. sales period in company history, the automaker said.

Four Honda brand crossovers generated record monthly deliveries for June. At Acura, the ILX compact sedan posted its best result in five years, and the luxury brand's RDX and MDX crossovers broke the 10,000-vehicle mark combined.

Average transaction prices were up at Honda, and incentives fell.

Brands: Honda, up 34% to 137,238 in June; Acura, up 32% to 15,884Notable nameplates: Honda Civic, up 41%; Accord, up 35%; CR-V, up 38%; HR-V, up 87%; Pilot, up 21%; Acura ILX, up 89%; TLX, up 112%; RDX, up 4%; MDX, up 28%

Incentives: $1,874 per vehicle, down 29% from a year earlier, TrueCar says.

Average transaction price: $31,254, up 3.6% from a year earlier, according to TrueCar.

Quote: "While …