Trade News

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is forgoing the traditional two-week summer shutdown at most of its U.S. plants because of the ongoing semiconductor shortage, and employees will instead have to schedule their vacation time through their individual locals, the automaker said Thursday.

Additionally, Ford announced new downtime for plants in Illinois, Michigan and Missouri amid the crisis.

The automaker informed the UAW that workers at its Dearborn (Mich.) Truck Plant, Michigan Assembly Plant, Flat Rock (Mich.) Assembly Plant, Kentucky Truck Plant, Ohio Assembly Plant, Chicago Assembly Plant and Kansas City (Mo.) Assembly Plant will be working during the traditional shutdown weeks in late June and early July. John Savona, Ford's vice president of manufacturing and labor affairs, said in a letter that employees at those sites would be able to schedule their typical two-week vacation time through the union. A spokeswoman said timing and other details would vary by plant. Read more

Auto industry groups reiterated a call for government intervention to address the global semiconductor shortage during a virtual forum Thursday on supply chain risks that includes remarks from a broad swath of stakeholder industries and analysts.

Executives from the Alliance for Automotive Innovation and the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association spoke at the conference, which was held by the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security to address policy objectives and concerns over President Joe Biden's executive order on supply chains.

The auto industry's latest call for federal support comes after the alliance submitted comments on Monday to the Commerce Department, urging the government to dedicate a portion of funding under the proposed Chips for America Act to auto sector needs.

"This could be accomplished by, for example, specifying that a particular percentage — that is reasonably based on the projected needs of the au…

China's new-vehicle sales in March kept rebounding from a year earlier when vehicle demand was curbed by the coronavirus outbreak, surging 67 percent to 2.38 million, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers estimates.

Last month, demand for new light vehicles including sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses rallied 73 percent. 

Sales of new commercial vehicles including trucks and buses jumped 56 percent, according to the preliminary tally the industry body released Thursday. 

For the first quarter, new-vehicle deliveries across China shot up 73 percent year on year to exceed 6.34 million. 

In the period, the number of new light vehicles delivered advanced 74 percent while the volume of new commercial vehicles rose 71 percent, according to the estimates. 

The industry body didn’t break down its estimated sales volumes for light vehicles and commercial vehicles. It is expected to disclose …

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ NTSB: We're still waiting for tech that can prevent car crashes

A quarter-century has passed since the National Transportation Safety Board first recommended that collision-avoidance technology be required on all vehicles.

The federal agency hasn't given up hope that someday becomes a reality.

NTSB members unveiled their annual "Most Wanted" list of transportation-related safety improvements Monday, and collision-avoidance tech once again made the Top 10 list, which included measures to address speeding, drunken driving and better protection of vulnerable road users.

At a time when federal regulators estimate traffic fatalities have risen 4.9 percent year over year, the NTSB believes those are key topics that must be addressed. Collision-avoidance systems could offer substantial improvements in safety. A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found collision-avoidance tech can prevent half of rear-end…

General Motors and its two joint ventures delivered more than 780,000 vehicles in China in the first quarter, an increase of 69 percent from the year-earlier period when the coronavirus outbreak severely dented auto sales and production. 

Driving the sales rebound were the Wuling, Cadillac and Buick brands, according to tallies GM’s China unit released this week.

Deliveries at Wuling, whose main products are minibuses, doubled from a year earlier to exceed 347,000 on strong demand for its first four-door full electric sedan and first pickup model. 

Cadillac deliveries soared 114 percent to exceed 57,000 on volume generated by the XT4, XT5 and XT6 crossovers and the CT5 sedan. 

Buick sales surged 73 percent to more than 224,000 as demand for the GL8 multipurpose vehicle, the Envision crossover and the LaCrosse sedan remained robust. 

Chevrolet deliveries rose 27 percent to top 64,000, led by the Blazer and Equinox crossov…

In a tightening horse race, Mercedes-Benz returned to the front in luxury segment sales for the first quarter, powered by strong demand for its luxury crossovers.

But its lead has narrowed from a year earlier.

In the first quarter of 2020, Mercedes was in first place with a comfortable 11,400-vehicle distance from the segment's third-place challenger, Lexus. But for the first quarter of 2021, Lexus was within 4,003 sales of Mercedes. And BMW, now No. 3 in the race, was just 2,820 vehicles behind Lexus.

And if last year was any indicator, 2021 could be another dramatic race. Despite that roomy first-quarter position a year ago, Mercedes ended 2020 in third place behind BMW and Lexus.

The luxury vehicle segment is showing no sign of slowing down, despite the lingering economic effects of the pandemic around the nation. Total U.S. luxury sales rose 20 percent to 547,903 cars and light trucks in the first quarter, significantly outperforming the broad…

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senate leaders are preparing to introduce legislation on semiconductors, President Joe Biden said on Wednesday as the nation wrestles with an ongoing shortage of the critical technology used in a range of devices from cars to computers.

"We're working on that. (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer and, I think, (Senate Republican Leader Mitch) McConnell are about to introduce a bill along those lines," Biden said during remarks about his own plan to boost the nation's infrastructure.

Schumer and McConnell's offices did not immediately comment.

The White House is set to hold a virtual summit on the issue on Monday that is expected to include senior U.S. auto executives, including Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley and GM CEO Mary Barra, and White House officials Brian Deese and Jake Sullivan, officials said.

On Monday, a U.S. auto industry group urged the government to help as it warned that the global semiconductor shortage could re…

Pennsylvania-based Kelly Auto Group has added two brands to its portfolio with the acquisition of a Toyota dealership and a Hyundai dealership.

The group bought Freedom Toyota of Hamburg and Freedom Hyundai, both in Hamburg, Pa., on April 1 from Eric Savage and Greg Gagorik.

Terms of the transactions weren't disclosed. The stores have been renamed Kelly Toyota of Hamburg and Kelly Hyundai of Hamburg.

"Our goal has been to expand in the Greater Lehigh Valley and eastern Pennsylvania and we've been watching the steady retail growth along Route 61 in Hamburg since Cabela's opened," said Greg Kelly, president of Kelly Auto Group, in a statement. "Toyota and Hyundai are sought-after brands with large owner bases and impressive product lineups. That combination of great product and great people working at the dealerships made it the perfect time for us to expand to Hamburg."

With the acquisition, Kelly Auto now has eight rooftops.

The group's o…

Nikola Corp., the troubled electric-truck startup, lost a key member of its executive team with the departure of the former head of its fuel cell development program.

The company said Jesse Schneider, executive vice president of technology, hydrogen and fuel cells, left the company as of April 1. He had led its engineering teams working on fuel cell systems, a planned hydrogen fueling station network and storage technology.

“Jesse Schneider departed on April 1 on very good terms and we wish him well,” Colleen Robar, a Nikola spokeswoman, said Wednesday in a text message.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles and the fueling network to support them is at the core of the Phoenix, Arizona-based company’s business model after it abandoned a planned pickup project with General Motors and development of powersports vehicles.

Shares of Nikola fell 7 percent to close at $12.29 Wednesday in New York.

Nikola is one of a number of companies looking…

Industry inventory shortages are wreaking havoc on new- and used-vehicle auto finance trends, which show the average cost of vehicles dropped last month even while the average interest charged on auto loans rose.

The rise in the average interest rate on new vehicles amid declining monthly payments is explained by the inventory constraints hampering truck and SUV sales, said Edmunds senior analyst Ivan Drury. March sales favored Asian automakers, whose product mix tends to transact at lower price points than those of the Detroit 3.

"With the mix changing so drastically year over year, it's not too surprising," Drury told Automotive News. "Because of the shortage, we've seen a reduction in what's out there for consumers, even though credit's cheap."

The average interest rate charged on new-vehicle loans last month rose slightly to 4.6 percent, though it remained down from March 2020's average of 5.8 percent, according to Edmunds. The …

Uber Technologies Inc. said U.S. drivers on their ride-hail platforms should take advantage of pay hikes as trip demand temporarily outstrips driver supply, but warned the windfall will not last.

Uber on Wednesday said it would invest an additional $250 million to further boost driver earnings and offer payment guarantees in an effort to incentivize new and existing drivers.

Dennis Cinelli, Uber's vice president of U.S. & Canada mobility, in a blog post told drivers to take advantage of higher earnings before pay returns to pre-COVID-19 levels as more drivers return to the platform.

Lyft Inc. on Tuesday also said drivers in the company's top-25 markets were earning an average of $36 per hour compared to $20 per hour pre-pandemic. Those numbers include tips, but Lyft did not disclose the share of tips in earnings. Lyft is also offering additional incentives and promotions in select markets.

Uber said drivers spending 20 hours online per week in…