Trade News

DETROIT -- General Motors will build some 2021 full-size pickups and SUVs without the automatic stop-start fuel-saving feature because of the global microchip shortage, the automaker said Tuesday.

The feature, which turns off the engine when the vehicle isn't moving, will no longer be available on select models of the 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Yukon XL and Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV SUVs. It will also be unavailable on certain light-duty Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

Only pickups and SUVs equipped with 5.3L and 6.2L V-8 engines and 10-speed transmissions built on or after June 7 will be impacted, GM said in a statement. GM did not disclose the affected volume.

"By taking this measure, it will enable us to continue production of our high-demand full-size SUV and pickups as the industry continues to rebound and strengthen," GM said in a statement.

The change will lead to a minor fuel economy reduction in mo…

Tesla Inc. has parted ways with Jerome Guillen, a 10-year veteran who most recently served as president of heavy trucking and was one of four top executives running the company including CEO Elon Musk.

Guillen left the company June 3, according to a regulatory filing Monday. He was a top lieutenant to Musk and the brains behind the ramp up of Model 3 production in 2018. The executive previously served as president of Tesla’s automotive business, and was named head of heavy trucking in March of this year.

“We thank him for his many contributions and wish him well in his future career,” the electric carmaker said in the filing.

Guillen joined Tesla in the fall of 2010 as the program director for the Model S, the breakthrough electric vehicle which laid the groundwork for the crossover Model X and more mass market Model 3 that followed.

Tesla has struggled with executive turnover for years. Guillen took a several-months-long leave of absence from the…

Self-driving vehicle company Cruise has received a key permit needed to deploy driverless, passenger-carrying test vehicles in California.

The state's Public Utilities Commission authorized the company's request to operate prototype autonomous vehicles that could transport the public. Cruise is the first autonomous vehicle developer included in the commission's Driverless Pilot program to get a permit to do so, according to a Friday release from the commission.

Cruise, which is majority-owned by General Motors, won't be allowed to charge passengers for rides. The company is required to submit a passenger safety plan and quarterly reports about its AVs, according to the release.

Cruise also won another requisite testing permit from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles. It is separate from the commission's permit.

In October, the company said it was seeking NHTSA's approval to put a limited number of its AVs on roads. Last week, it was reported …

Solera Holdings Inc., which specializes in data and software for the insurance and automotive industries, said Monday it closed on its acquisition of dealership technology company DealerSocket.

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. The tie-up was announced last month.

It was not immediately clear Monday what the acquisition will mean for DealerSocket, of Irving, Texas, which provides auto retailers with dealership management systems, customer relationship management platforms and other software. Solera declined to comment.

Solera, of Westlake, Texas, also completed its purchase of Omnitracs, which provides fleet management software. Solera, DealerSocket and Omnitracs all are portfolio companies of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Vista bought a stake in DealerSocket in 2014. According to Vista's website, a Vista fund completed a buyout of Omnitracs from Qualcomm Inc. in 2013, while a separate Vista fund took Solera private in 2016.

…

DETROIT — General Motors on Monday will expand its OnStar Guardian safety app to non-GM owners to help anyone with a smartphone connect with family and friends and quickly access emergency services.

"Up until now, [OnStar] has been aboard GM vehicles enabled by the OnStar module," Santiago Chamorro, GM vice president of global connected services, told Automotive News. OnStar Guardian connects customers through Apple and Android smartphones in the U.S. and Canada, GM said in a statement Monday.

"If you're simply walking with your dog around the corner from your house, we want to be with you," he said. "We want to be providing the services so that you feel safe and secure and you always have somebody to reach out to in case you experience an emergency or you witness an emergency and you want to help somebody else."

The OnStar Guardian mobile app launched for GM's OnStar subscribers in June 2020, but subscribers told the automaker they wanted to connect w…

Automotive News' Hans Greimel discusses his new book about the rise and fall of the former Nissan boss and the empire he led.

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"

These challenging times bring new demands for ways to communicate and sell to your customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software was originally created to build customer relationships and help communicate with new and existing customers. Now, CRM software has evolved; it could help integrate all your customer data, from all sources, in one place. From customer phone calls to service history to email engagement and accounting data, you could get a 360° view of each customer, in a single system. Plus, CRMs also make it easy to reach out to customers with your latest financing offers to help encourage them to purchase. This can help you identify your best customers and help drive increased sales across your entire customer base. Every business is different, with different CRM needs. Here are some tips from Synchrony to help you pick your best CRM tool.

What business problems are you trying to solve? Typically, the biggest challenge is how to pull your data…

BERLIN -- Robert Bosch opened a 1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) chip plant in Germany on Monday, in a record investment by the supplier as it gears up for the latest electric and self-driving cars.

The plant, located in a semiconductor hub near Dresden, enters service at a time of very tight supply and will increase Bosch's ability to serve automakers directly and rely less on third-party manufacturers.

"Every chip that we make here in Dresden is one chip less that is lacking. That helps," management board member Harald Kroeger told Reuters.

The specialist plant will not, however, make much of a dent in the global supply crunch that has forced many automakers to idle production and is expected by industry leaders and analysts to extend into next year.

"The fab (chip fabrication plant) may help to insulate Bosch and its key customers somewhat," said Asif Anwar at Strategy Analytics.

"But it is unlikely to serve as a gap filler to the current …

Since last July, a little-known automaker in China’s southwest has dominated the world’s largest electric car market, outselling bigger players and even Tesla Inc. almost every month with a tiny, bare-bones EV that starts at just $4,500.

The Hongguang Mini is the brainchild of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co., a joint venture between SAIC Motor Corp. and Guangxi Automobile Group Co., two state-backed automakers, and U.S. giant General Motors.

Based in the city of Liuzhou, known for its limestone mountains and river-snail soup, the company -- which has sold some 270,000 of the cars within nine months, making it the best-selling EV in China -- has even bigger ambitions for the future. It’s aiming for annual sales of 1.2 million vehicles next year, almost equal to the number of EVs churned out by China’s carmakers in 2020 combined.

It’s an eyebrow-raising target, but even before the Hongguang Mini, Wuling had a track record for producing winners in a market th…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ As dealers thrive, dangers lurk

No, these aren't quite the best of times and the worst of times.

But as we note in Monday's issue, it is a great time to be an auto dealer — and also an unsettling one.

The great part is easy to explain: Sales are on the rebound and dealer profits are high.

Yet the alarms are sounding for more reasons than the inventory shortages caused by the microchip crisis.

As one of our Page 1 stories will explain, once the current supply-and-demand frenzy straightens out, the underlying tensions in the dealer community that were simmering pre-pandemic will return with greater force. Namely, the shift to electric vehicles, digital sales, and direct-to-consumer transactions.

We'll explore each of those issues over the next three weeks, beginning with a spotlight on the move to EVs. It's playing out it in a number of ways at dealerships, including:

⬛ Dealer margins: Despite autom…

Hemant Sikaria, CEO and co-founder of Sibros, sheds light on how automakers can handle complex software in cars, his role in helping Tesla pioneer over-the-air updates and how to distill meaningful insights from vehicular data.

How do I subscribe?

Apple Podcasts: “Shift: A podcast about mobility” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe.

Spotify: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" can be streamed through Spotify on your desktop, tablet or mobile device. Click here to subscribe.

Google Play: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" is available on Android devices through the Google Play store. Click here to subscribe.

The days of carrying a red gallon gasoline jug down the highway are numbered. But the need for roadside refueling will not go away even as the world shifts to electric vehicles, which is why a new generation of mobile EV chargers is arriving.

The closest experience to the old-school red jug is likely Blink Charging Co.'s portable emergency EV charger. The Miami Beach, Fla., company introduced the mobile unit in 2020. It's basically a gasoline generator with a 25- foot, 240-volt AC charging cord attached. It offers charging at up to 9.6 kilowatts, enough to put up to a mile of charge into a stranded EV each minute, Blink says.

The charger, called the IQ 200-M, weighs about 350 pounds and holds up to 10.9 gallons of gasoline. Roadside assistance providers are the target buyers for the $6,500 units.

Lightning eMotors, of Loveland, Colo., is targeting commercial EV fleets with its 3,700-pound mobile charging station, called Lightning…