Trade News

DETROIT — Jeep Wrangler enthusiasts who take their trail cruisers off-road are no strangers to tree-lined forests that provide a natural cover overhead.

Now Jeep, which is jumping into electrification with the Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid and other models down the line, is building a different kind of canopy that will send juice to its green vehicles before excursions in the wilderness.

The outdoorsy brand has partnered with Electrify America to create a network of Jeep-branded charging stations that will be situated at or near trailheads across the country. The charging stations will be by trails with Jeep Badge of Honor status, which allows owners to earn trinkets to put on their vehicles after conquering them.

Jeep is bringing its free- spirited mentality to the EV world and ushering in an era of environmentally friendly off-road adventures that could reshape public perception of electrified models, their capabilities and the br…

An unexpected silver lining to the yearlong coronavirus crisis has been record profits for auto dealers, as consumer demand for heavily optioned crossovers and pickups keeps transaction prices and gross profits high.

But dark clouds are moving in again.

Shortages of semiconductor chips continue to crimp global auto production, bringing inventories of popular vehicles — even American pickups — to worrisome levels on some dealership lots. Improving weather and widespread COVID- 19 vaccinations could now push retail traffic even higher — meaning still-tighter vehicle supplies if chips remain scarce.

"Our inventory level is dwindling to a fraction of what it's been in the past," said Jim Moshier, general sales and service manager at Ricart Ford in Groveport, Ohio. "It looks like it's going to be a pretty desperate April.

"I'd say we're at 20 percent of our F-150 inventory that we're used to. I usually keep a few hundred Supe…

DETROIT -- GMC is expanding the Hummer EV lineup with an SUV, a more urban and family-oriented version of the 2022 pickup, and will begin sales with a special launch model priced at more than $100,000.

The 2024 Hummer SUV Edition 1, which General Motors plans to start building in early 2023, is powered by the company's proprietary Ultium battery. It will have a range of about 300 miles, 830 hp and a GM-estimated 11,500 pound-foot of torque, to power from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds.

GMC unveiled the SUV in a commercial Saturday during the NCAA Men's Final Four basketball tournament. The ad, narrated by NBA star LeBron James, highlights signature Hummer features, such as Extract Mode and CrabWalk, GMC said. Reservations for the Hummer SUV opened at 5 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.

"GMC Hummer EVs were envisioned to be the most capable and compelling electric supertrucks ever," Duncan Aldred, vice president of Global Buick and GMC, said in a statement. "The new…

Tesla Inc. is appealing a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that it repeatedly violated U.S. labor law, including by firing a union activist, and an order by the agency that CEO Elon Musk delete a threatening tweet from his account.

The electric-car maker filed a request Friday with the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a decision issued by the regulator on March 25.

“Because the board’s decision and order is contrary to law, petitioner respectfully requests that the court grant the petition, review the board’s decision and order, set it aside, and grant petitioner any further relief which the court deems just and equitable,” Tesla said in its petition.

The ruling, issued by two Republican and one Democratic member of the agency, stated that the company must offer to reinstate the fired employee. The board members also ruled that Tesla broke the law by retaliating against another union activist, “coercively interrogating…

Argo AI, the self-driving startup backed by Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen Group, is considering going public as soon as this year, according to people familiar with its plans.

Bryan Salesky, Argo’s co-founder, told employees in an all-hands meeting April 1 the company is looking to boost its funding as it comes closer to commercializing its self-driving technology, said the people, who asked not to be identified revealing internal discussions. Ford, which invested $1 billion in Argo in 2017, plans to roll out autonomous taxis and driverless delivery pods in 2022.

Argo had a market value of more than $7 billion when Volkswagen completed its $2.6 billion investment in the company last July. VW, the world’s top-selling automaker, plans to put self-driving vehicles on the road later this decade.

As the technology comes closer to reality, major players, such as Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo, General Motor's Cruise and Amazon.com-backed Aurora Innovation Inc., are exp…

WASHINGTON -- Kia Motors said Friday it will cancel two days of production next week at its assembly plant in the state of Georgia to address supply chain issues.

The company said the two days without production will "allow time for the supply chain to stabilize for continuous operation throughout the remainder of the month."

A semiconductor chip shortage has caused automakers to cancel production around the world. Semiconductors are used extensively in cars, including to monitor engine performance, manage steering or automatic windows, and in sensors used in parking and entertainment systems.

Electric vehicles may soon be everywhere. Traditional automakers and newer startups alike intend to deploy nearly 100 new battery-electric and plug-in hybrid models over the next three years.

While some of the challenges in a transition from internal combustion engines to electric powertrains are well-discussed — range anxiety remains a chief one — other aspects, such as vehicle design, are less known.

Staff Reporter Pete Bigelow caught up with Derek Jenkins, vice president of design at Lucid Motors, to find out how vehicle design might evolve in the EV age. Known for his work on the Mazda Miata, Jenkins, 51, discusses the Lucid Air sedan and the company's upcoming Gravity SUV, scheduled to launch in mid-2023, and more. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: Before we talk about the long-term future of EVs, let's start with the short term. How has COVID- 19 affected your work?

A: It has forced us to change and evaluate how we conduct the…

LOS ANGELES — When Hyundai unveiled its angular "45" concept vehicle at the Frankfurt auto show in fall 2019, its mix of futuristic styling cues and 1970s nostalgia struck observers as a daring design exercise rather than an upcoming production model.

But 18 months later, the Ioniq 5 compact crossover is headed into production with much of that concept look intact. U.S. sales start this fall.

The story is similar with Kia's EV6, which also sits on Hyundai Motor Group's first dedicated electric platform. While toned down from Kia's 2019 Imagine concept car, the EV6 that's headed to market with a distinctive rear hatch and wraparound taillight bar is certainly not playing it safe.

This is the South Korean group's strategy for gaining a place in the industry's new EV race.

With industry plans for 100 or more competing EVs in just the next few years, the Hyundai group aims to set itself apart by using design — along with advanced charging technology…

As part of its quest to be at the leading edge of digital retailing, CarMax will take vehicle-listings and research company Edmunds — and a joint instant appraisal-and-offer tool the companies have launched — completely under its control.

CarMax CEO Bill Nash called out that tool last week when talking about why the used-vehicle retailer's investment in Edmunds had been fruitful. CarMax took a $50 million minority stake in Edmunds in January 2020 and last week announced it would fully acquire the company.

Edmunds introduced and tested the offer tool on its website in June, and CarMax completed its rollout on its own site in February.

"Early response has been strong with online buyers quickly exceeding our expectations, providing us with a clear pathway to become the largest online buyer of used autos from consumers," Nash said last week as CarMax also announced higher revenue but lower earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter. Read more

After five years as CEO of autonomous technology company Waymo, John Krafcik is stepping down.

Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov will succeed Krafcik as co-CEOs of the Mountain View, Calif.-based Google subsidiary, Krafcik said in a LinkedIn statement Friday.

Mawakana and Dolgov currently serve as Waymo chief operating officer and chief technology officer, respectively.

"My time leading Waymo has been the capstone of my career," Krafcik said in a blog post. "Together, we've achieved remarkable firsts as we develop, deploy, and commercialize our fully autonomous Waymo Driver, and work to make our roads safer and mobility more accessible."

Krafcik said Mawakana and Dolgov "are an incredibly talented pair who are ideally suited for this moment."

An industry veteran, Krafcik, 59, previously served as the president of TrueCar Inc., as well as president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America. Krafcik also held various roles in product development…

Double-digit increases for three of Subaru of America's four crossovers led the brand to its best quarter for U.S. sales in company history.

Subaru tallied deliveries of 160,426in the first quarter of 2021, a jump of 23 percent over the first quarter of 2020, which was ravaged by the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Subaru was the only major automaker to hike first-quarter incentives, according to TrueCar, though the increase was slight and the company's discounts remain well below the industry average.

All but three of Subaru's eight nameplates posted double-digit increases of at least 22 percent in the first quarter. The Ascent was the only crossover in Subaru's lineup to be down through the first quarter, joining the Impreza compact sedan and hatchback and Legacy midsize sedan as the only models with weaker volume.

Subaru's first-quarter performance was aided by a strong March for new sales. Subaru sold 65,726 v…