Trade News

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…

The CEO of Volkswagen of America says the pre-April Fools' name-change hoax was intended as a ''harmless'' gag to play up its electrification push.

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Two House Democrats introduced a bill Thursday that would expand a loan program within the Department of Energy for projects that are committed to the production of fuel-efficient vehicles and parts.

The bill, sponsored by Reps. Debbie Dingell of Michigan and Julia Brownley of California, would update the Energy Department's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program by broadening the definition of eligible borrowers to include "ultra-efficient vehicles," as well as light-duty and medium-duty passenger vehicles and heavy-duty vehicles that meet emissions standards set by the EPA or emit zero emissions.

The measure — dubbed the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Future Act — also would support electric vehicle battery development, strengthen prevailing wage requirements for workers, update the evaluation of an applicant's prospects of repaying a loan under the program and invest $10 million in the program annually through 2031, according to …

Tesla Inc. delivered 184,800 cars worldwide in the first quarter of 2021, up from about 88,400 in the first three months of 2020.

“We are encouraged by the strong reception of the Model Y in China and are quickly progressing to full production capacity,” the electric vehicle maker said in a statement Friday. The new Model S and Model X have also been “exceptionally well received,” it said, adding that it’s in the early stages of ramping up production.

Tesla currently makes the Model S and X only at its factory in Fremont, Calif., and the smaller Model 3 and Y both there and at its plant in Shanghai. The company doesn’t break out sales by geography, but the U.S. and China are its largest markets and the bulk of sales were of the Model 3 and Y.

The Palo Alto, Calif., company recently refreshed the Model S sedan and the X crossover. CFO Zachary Kirkhorn warned in January that production would be low due to the transition to the revamped produ…

DETROIT -- After a year of getting hammered by the pandemic, a semiconductor shortage and storms that snarled Dana Inc.'s global supply chain, the supplier is reaching for a new playbook.

Many automakers and suppliers like the Ohio maker of axles, driveshafts and other auto parts, are deciding that securing their supply lines is the most pressing order of business.

Dana's Craig Price, senior vice president of purchasing and supplier development, is pushing companies in his supply network to change the way they do business, stepping away at times from the just-in-time, lean production practices that have guided automotive manufacturers for nearly 40 years.

Dana is sourcing such key commodities as resin, castings, forgings and some electrical components from multiple suppliers, asking suppliers to hold in warehouses a backlog of critical inventory, and building out its software network to better track suppliers, a process Dana hopes to complete this year,…