Trade News

LOS ANGELES — Mazda is discontinuing two of its slowest-selling models in the U.S., the entry-level CX-3 subcompact crossover and the Mazda6 sedan, as it shifts the product lineup to a new generation of vehicles that better reflect its premium intentions.

Mazda said in a brief statement Friday it will stop selling the CX-3 and midsize Mazda6 after the 2021 model year because of evolving consumer tastes.

The move was not unexpected.

Last year, Mazda introduced a new CX-30 crossover as a larger subcompact above the smaller CX-3 and loaded the new model with premium features on higher trims. On base trims, the aging CX-3 was only $1,260 less expensive than the fresher CX-30, which has been a runaway hit for the brand.

Through April, Mazda sold 2,406 of the CX-3 and 20,121 CX-30s, according to the company. The CX-3, introduced in 2015, was the only Mazda model that posted a year-over-year decline in the first four months of the year.

Korean supplier Duckyang Industrial is set to invest $10 million to open a manufacturing facility in Braselton, Ga., the company's first such facility in the U.S.

The planned 230,000-square-foot plant will add an estimated 285 jobs in production, maintenance, logistics and warehouse management to the region's economy.

It will manufacture battery modules and energy storage systems for SK Battery America, a Commerce, Ga.-based developer of lithium ion batteries for electric vehicles. SK Battery America is a subsidiary of the Seoul-based conglomerate SK Innovation.

"By entering the U.S. electric vehicle battery market with SKBA, we will have the opportunity to cooperate with many other automotive companies, including Hyundai and Kia Motors, that already have a manufacturing base in the U.S.," Duckyang CEO Dong-in Son said in a statement.

A Duckyang official did not confirm when production would start.

Duckyang, headquartered in Ulsan, South Ko…

Wejo Ltd., the British automotive-data startup backed by General Motors, is in talks to go public through a merger with Virtuoso Acquisition Corp., a blank-check firm, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Virtuoso is seeking to raise new equity to support a transaction with a combined enterprise value of more than $1 billion, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private negotiations. Terms could change and, as with all transactions that aren’t yet finalized, it’s possible the talks could collapse.

A representative for Virtuoso declined to comment and Wejo didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Founded in 2014 and led by CEO Richard Barlow, Wejo describes itself as a connected-vehicle data specialist. It says its technology interprets information from more than 10 million vehicles.

In addition to GM, the company’s investors include Hella Ventures, Platina Partners, DIP Capital and the U.K. gove…

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and South Korean President Moon Jae-in announced an agreement to deepen cooperation in a range of industries including electric-vehicle batteries, semiconductor producers and pharmaceutical companies making COVID-19 vaccines.

“The importance of this bilateral relationship for both nations cannot be overstated,” Raimondo said. “As we recover from the pandemic, our countries will benefit from deepening that collaboration, particularly in sectors that are critical to the future of our economies.”

The U.S. has sought help from allies including South Korea to alleviate a semiconductor shortage that’s led to idling of auto plants across North America. South Korea is also eager to secure supplies of COVID-19 vaccines that the U.S. has recently allowed to be exported.

Raimondo on Friday morning held a roundtable on supply chain issues with South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Sung-wook. The meeting was at…

Anne Smart, vice president of public policy at ChargePoint, says the Biden administration's infrastructure proposal will help accelerate the deployment of electric vehicle charging stations and drive the adoption of EVs.

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LONDON -- Rolls-Royce has appointed former Mini design chief Anders Warming to head up its design team, which has lacked a director since Jozef Kaban left in 2019.

Warming, 48, takes up the position July 1, Rolls-Royce said in a statement.

"Anders joins us as we move forward to full electrification of our brand, which will shape Rolls-Royce for decades to come," CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös said in the statement.

Warming left the BMW Group in 2016 after six years leading design at Mini. He previously spent three years as head of exterior design at BMW. He briefly joined the Chinese-backed Borgward brand before starting his own design studio in 2019.

BMW said at the time the departure was amicable, paving the way for his return. Rolls-Royce is owned by the BMW Group.

The ultraluxury brand has lacked a design chief since former head of design for Skoda, Jozef Kaban, left the company after just six months to rejoin the VW Group as head of design f…

BMW of North America CEO Bernhard Kuhnt, 53, is leaving the U.S. to run the automaker's German business.

Sebastian Mackensen, 49, a former Volkswagen Group executive with U.S. market experience, will take over in North America effective Sept. 1, BMW said Friday.

In his new position, Mackensen will manage all sales, marketing and distribution activities for BMW Group from Canada to Argentina, in addition to serving as president and CEO of BMW of North America.

Mackensen is a senior vice president and head of BMW's German market. Previously, he ran BMW's Mini unit.

Mackensen has extensive experience in North America, including as Audi's sales chief for the Americas for five years.

Before that, he held management roles in customer relations and business development at Porsche Cars North America.

In his new role, Mackensen must steer BMW through the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and this year's microchip…

NHTSA has opened a preliminary evaluation to assess potential issues related to a loss of power in 2020-21 model year Porsche Taycan electric vehicles.

The agency's Office of Defects Investigation has received nine complaints from vehicle owners and two field reports alleging "a loss of motive power while in motion at any speed without warning to the driver," according to a NHTSA document.

The investigation was opened Monday. The agency said 12,146 Porsche Taycans — an 800-volt battery-electric vehicle with an auxiliary 12-volt battery — could be affected.

Porsche on Friday contested NHTSA’s estimated number of affected vehicles, stating it has delivered a total of 6,552 Taycans from the 2020-21 model years in the U.S. through the end of the first quarter this year — the German automaker’s last reporting period.

A spokesperson for Porsche Cars North America said it wasn’t sure where NHTSA’s population figure came from, “but it bears no relation to…

DETROIT — General Motors said it will halt production at its Chevrolet Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Ky., next week because of a parts supply issue.

The automaker would not disclose details on the parts issue but said it was not related to the global microchip shortage that has impacted more than 277,000 GM vehicles by AutoForecast Solutions' tally.

Production at Bowling Green Assembly is expected to idle Monday and resume June 1, GM said.

"Our supply chain, manufacturing and engineering teams are working closely with our supply base to mitigate any further impact on production," spokesman Dan Flores said.

The production halt will be Bowling Green's third parts-related shutdown since February.

U.S. Corvette sales surged 73 percent to 6,611 deliveries during the first quarter. Figures for the first quarter of 2020 were impacted by the initial weeks of the coronavirus crisis.

Ford Motor Co. is considering divesting its electric scooter-sharing service Spin, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company is working with an adviser to examine strategic options including a sale or spinoff of the unit, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. It could also look to merge the unit with a special purpose acquisition company, the people added.

Ford acquired Spin in 2018. The company operates dockless electric scooters on campuses and cities in North America and Europe, according to its website.

No final decision has been made and Ford could opt to keep the unit, they said.

A representative for Ford declined to comment.

Spin represented something of a side project at Ford under previous CEO Jim Hackett, who wanted to explore different forms of mobility.

New CEO Jim Farley is eliminating extraneous operations as he works to accelerate the automake…

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to sponsor more than 15,000 customers who live in California and own certain Prius Prime or RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrids to join a program that tracks any carbon generated from charging those vehicles and offsets it with renewable energy.

The automaker calls the program Clean Assist, and it is providing it at no cost to customers through the Toyota app.

Once customers are enrolled, the smartphone app tracks the amount of electricity the vehicle used during charging. Toyota then buys an equivalent amount of California-sourced renewable energy certificates — used to underwrite the expansion of renewable energy generation and transportation.

Evidence of the purchased renewable energy certificates is sent to the California Air Resources Board, generating low-carbon fuel standard credits for the automaker. (Each low-carbon fuel standard credit is equivalent to 1 metric ton of CO2 that is saved.)

To be eligible to participate…

BMW AG will raise its earnings forecast for the year because it expects an antitrust fine from the European Union to be much smaller than anticipated two years ago.

The automaker will get a roughly 1 billion-euro ($1.2 billion) boost to earnings this quarter from revaluing a provision for an EU fine over allegations that it colluded with its German peers to delay rolling out cleaner cars.

BMW expects the EU “will significantly reduce its allegations” against the company, according to a statement. The lesser-than-anticipated fine will allow the company to raise its margin forecast for auto earnings before interest and taxes by about 1 percentage point.

The EU accused BMW, Volkswagen Group and Daimler of conspiring on emission-reduction systems for diesel cars between 2006 and 2014. Their coordination allegedly made technology aimed at reducing nitrogen-oxide emissions less effective.

Daimler was early to cooperate with the EU’s investigation, which…