Trade News

I first met Edward Hightower at an industry luncheon several years ago, after he had worked at Ford, BMW, General Motors — twice — and AlixPartners.

I'll admit that I struck up the conversation with him, not because I knew of his extensive track record, but because of his name, which is the same as a longtime Big Ten men's basketball referee. (They are not related.)

But I was glad I did. He was into a lot of interesting things in the auto industry. He worked with startups, such as HEVO Power, which went on to win an Automotive News PACE Award last year, and he was exploring the potential for automaking and auto parts manufacturing in Africa.

When he joined Lordstown Motors as president in 2021, he wasn't blind to the challenges of salvaging a startup with a troubled origin story that included a takedown by Hindenburg Research and the founder's resignation.

What intrigued him was the emerging partnership with Foxconn that he saw as potentially pai…

Volvo Cars has hired a "digital-first business leader" to help it transition into generating half of its global sales online by 2025.

Gretchen Saegh-Fleming will join the automaker on Monday, July 3, from Hydrow, which sells home rowing machines, where she served as chief commercial officer for two and a half years.

Prior to that she spent eight years at cosmetic giant L'Oreal, where she rose to the role of chief marketing officer.

"Gretchen is a results-driven and digital-first business leader with an impressive track record, and I feel confident that this will be a great match,” Volvo Deputy CEO and Chief Commercial Officer Björn Annwall said in a release.

At L'Oreal, Saegh-Fleming helped the company grow through new marketing models, accelerating digital innovation and building strategic partnerships across a portfolio of more than 30 brands, Volvo said in the release.

In 2022, online and direct sales represented 11 percent of Volvo's sa…

General Motors said on Friday it had acquired Algolion Ltd., an Israel-based software startup that helps detect problems in batteries.

GM said Algolion's software will help the automaker bring to the market a "cost-effective" early hazard detection system at a quicker pace.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, comes at a time when automakers are investing billions in manufacturing electric vehicles and rushing to develop batteries — which represent up to 50 percent of an EV's price tag — that can power an automobile for a longer duration.

It also comes as safety authorities urge U.S. automakers to improve battery standards after a series of events where vehicles have caught fire due to defective modules.

Algolion has developed a software that uses data from EV battery management systems to help identify anomalies in cell performance and provide early detection of battery hazards including "thermal runaway propagation events," GM said.

A…

Lordstown Motors, an electric pickup startup that has faced down fraud allegations, leadership shake-ups, cash shortages and recalls in a yearslong game of whack-a-mole, is trying to extinguish its most formidable opponent yet — bankruptcy.

The company is seeking a buyer for its Endurance pickup and related assets. So far, automakers have expressed little interest in the technology, but Edward Hightower, Lordstown CEO and unfettered optimist, told Automotive News that the renewed spotlight on the company and the tidying of past legal liabilities might entice them.

"We're going to do a better job of promoting that story now going forward," he said. "I think the Chapter 11 process and the fact that it expedites everything will get interested parties" to take a look.

Lordstown's survival thus far conjures the improbable and repeated resurrection of Wile E. Coyote. When one anvil is removed — such as the resignation of a former CEO after the company acknow…

MG Motor, a unit of Chinese automaker SAIC Motor, on Friday announced a new leasing offer whereby drivers in France can get for 99 euros ($107.6) a month the MG4 electric car, matching a program the French government would like to use to benefit cars made in Europe.

The promotion runs from July 1 through August 31 and is offered in conjunction with MG Motor's French banking partner, Credit Agricole Consumer Finance. It is based on consumers qualifying for a "super bonus" incentive of 7,000 euros for low income buyers and also includes a 2,500 euros public aid paid in exchange for scrapping an older internal combustion engine vehicle.

MG Motor's offer comes as major automakers around the word compete in the growing EV market, which is forecast to grow rapidly as customers ditch older models to protect the environment.

MG calls the promotion a "social leasing" offer, in reference to the plan the French government is working on to make EVs more affordable…

Electric-car maker Xpeng Inc. priced its latest G6 crossover about 20 percent lower than Tesla's Model Y in China.

The move helped boost shares in Xpeng and its Chinese peers.

Warren Buffett-backed BYD dominates the Chinese market and U.S. automaker Tesla is set to hit another record quarter in China, with sales in the country expected to increase 13 percent from the previous three months, analysts said.

China was the biggest market for Tesla's Model Y crossover in the first quarter of the year, helping it become the world's top selling vehicle during the period.

Xpeng is pinning hopes on the new crossover to help turnaround sales, after the company reported lackluster May deliveries.

The price of the Xpeng G6 starts at 209,900 yuan ($28,882.01), compared with Tesla Model Y's starting price of 263,900 yuan in China.

"We do admit the G6 pricing strategy created a unique product segment of BEV SUV at the 200,000-230,000 yua…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ EV inventory reaches critical mass in U.S.

Electric vehicles have reached critical mass, outpacing average days' supply of gasoline vehicles at dealerships, according to Cox Automotive, but some dealers still need convincing.

EVs are no longer exclusive to the new-vehicle market, said Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke. EV emergence in the used and wholesale market gives them more staying power, he said.

"Up until now, this has been a Tesla, Nissan, GM story and a little bit of Volkswagen," he told Automotive News. "The critical point is that it finally means something in every part of the industry, but it also means we've got ample opportunity to find where it's successful and where it's not quite as successful."

Dealers' average EV supply climbed to 92 days in the second quarter, up from 36 days a year earlier. EV inventory soared to more than 92,000 industrywide, compared with less than 21,000 in the second quarter of 202…

Ford Motor Co. is recalling certain 2019-20 Fusion PHEV models for loss of power and fire risks.

Owners are advised not to charge their vehicles until the remedy is completed, according to a Ford filing with NHTSA. If charged, the battery energy control module might become damaged because of excessive voltage and current flow.

The number of potential vehicles affected is 14,452. There have been seven fires and 270 warranty claims, according to the filing.

A remedy for the power loss and fire risk is under development. Interim letters notifying owners of the safety risk are expected to be mailed July 10, according to the filing."

We're instructing customers with 2019 and 2020 Ford Fusion Energi [cars] that have 30Ah plug-in hybrid cell batteries to not charge their vehicles," Ford said in a statement. "Until the remedy is available, lowering the battery's state of charge will reduce the risk of power loss and fire around the vehicle's battery con…

Porsche is rethinking a plan to ditch combustion engine Macan sales in its second-largest market.

The sports carmaker will bring an all-electric version of the compact crossover in the first half of next year.

Porsche intended to sunset the combustion engine Macan in the U.S. in 2025 or 2026. But now the company will take a wait-and-see approach to go EV-only with its best-selling model, Porsche told its U.S. retailers at a two-day meeting in the Canary Islands this week.

"They are going to review it," a retailer at the meeting told Automotive News. "They will see how sales go in the next two years."

Last year, the Macan accounted for a third of Porsche's U.S. sales.

The dealer said the apprehension about going all-electric with the volume model concerns the lack of well-maintained public charging infrastructure.

"They got customer pushback," he said. "They realized there are not enough chargers out there" to support the Macan custo…

LMP Automotive Holdings Inc.'s brief and tumultuous tenure as a franchised dealership group — which began as a vehicle subscription provider and later as a small public auto retailer — appears to have come to a quiet end this month following the sale of its two final franchised stores.

The two West Virginia dealerships, sold in separate transactions, have returned to groups in the Mountain State.

LMP on June 12 sold King Coal Chevrolet in Oak Hill, W.Va., southeast of Charleston, to Stephens Automotive Group, according to Chase Barton, the Stephens group's operations manager. It was renamed Stephens Chevrolet.

"As LMP began to wind things down, we kind of got together and made something work for everybody," Barton told Automotive News. "We're very familiar with the store, and I still live in Oak Hill."

Barton said he had been a partner in the Chevrolet dealership with Ernie Davis and Lori Davis from 2016 to 2020. Barton left the Chevrolet store a…

Volkswagen is in talks with Tesla to adopt its North American Charging Standard (NACS) technology, while the German automaker's charging network unit Electrify America has already agreed to use the system.

The announcement comes as a slew of automakers and charging equipment makers choose Tesla's charging design on concerns of losing out on customers if they offer only the Combined Charging System (CCS) design, which is backed by automakers like Volkswagen and Hyundai Motor.

Ford, General Motors and ChargePoint are among the companies that have signed up for Tesla's charging design in the past few weeks.

"Volkswagen Group and its brands are currently evaluating the implementation of the Tesla North American Charging Standard for its North American customers," the German automaker said.

Electrify America, Volkswagen's EV charging network unit, has more than more than 850 charging stations with about 4,000 chargers in the U.S. and Canada. Dur…

Tesla's electric vehicle charging network is significantly more reliable than competitors, according to J.D. Power's most recent E-Vision Intelligence Report.

About 21.6 percent of EV drivers visiting non-Tesla public charging ports in the first quarter of 2023 were unable to charge their vehicle compared to just 3.9 percent of Tesla drivers using the Tesla Supercharger network.

"When it comes to reliability, no other provider is even close to Tesla," the report said.

Tesla's charging system is gaining traction as an industry standard in North America. Ford, General Motors, Rivian and Volvo have reached agreements to add Tesla's North American Charging Standard charging sockets to their EVs over the next several years. Stellantis and Hyundai are considering similar deals.

The Supercharger network benefits from being more vertically integrated than competitors, J.D. Power said.

"This enables Tesla to control and test the compatibility betwe…