Trade News

WASHINGTON/SEOUL -- LG Energy Solution said Thursday it plans to invest more than $4.5 billion in its U.S. battery production business through 2025 and add 4,000 jobs as it considers building at least two new U.S. plants, a company executive told reporters.

The South Korean supplier, a unit of LG Chem, said the investment will result in an additional 70 gigawatt-hours of U.S. battery production capacity. The company declined to say where in the United States it is considering a new battery manufacturing plant.

Denise Gray, president of LG Energy Solution's Michigan unit, said the investment, which would indirectly create another 6,000 jobs during construction, was being made to respond to the growing electric vehicle market.

"We are eager to expand our production capacity so that it can meet the needs of the numerous global automakers across the U.S. and Europe," Gray said.

LG is also in advanced talks with General Motors to build a more than $2 b…

Lithia Motors Inc. CEO Bryan DeBoer on Wednesday said his company could lead a consolidation of some publicly listed auto dealer groups to compete with online-only upstarts catering to younger, more internet-savvy car buyers.

DeBoer said mergers with three public companies would allow Lithia to expand more rapidly and turn its focus to building out its online sales platform.

"If there's going to be consolidation in the industry, it's most likely going to come from us," DeBoer said. He declined to say whether talks were ongoing or name the companies he was interested in, but said they had good coverage of the central and southeastern parts of the United States.

Lithia has said it plans to further expand this year by acquiring smaller, individual dealerships.

"(Consolidation) does seem to make sense and could help focus all of our attention, as well as ensuring a greater pipeline of vehicles, eliminate other people from being able to enter the spa…

Editor's note: A previous version of this story listed an incorrect prior price for the Model 3 Long Range AWD. 

Tesla Inc. is increasing some vehicle prices in the U.S. by as much as $10,000, according to the automaker's website.

The biggest price hike comes on the high-performance version of the redesigned Model S sedan, which Tesla revealed less than two months ago. The Model S Plaid Plus variant will start at $151,190, including a $1,200 shipping fee. That's up from $141,190, including shipping, when Tesla announced the redesign in late January.

The price of the Model Y Long Range has increased by $1,000 to $51,190, including shipping.

The Model 3 Standard Range Plus price has increased to $38,690, including shipping, from $38,190 earlier. The Model 3 Long Range AWD was lowered to $47,690, including shipping, compared with $48,190 before, according to the website.

The prices of the Model X Long Range and Model X Plaid crossovers, w…

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EVgo's Jonathan Levy says the fast-charging provider aims to accelerate EV adoption through its growing U.S. infrastructure and focus on reliability and convenience.

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Customers in the highest credit tiers opted for new vehicles in larger numbers in the fourth quarter, credit bureau Experian said last week. The shift from used vehicles was driven in part by past and upcoming stimulus checks, residual incentive activity from the third quarter and tight inventory, though the credit bureau said the exact reasons for the shift were unclear.

The trend of higher-credit consumers opting for used vehicles was disrupted last year when strong automaker incentives enticed those buyers to the new-vehicle market. Residual incentives and forthcoming stimulus checks may account for why prime customer share of new-vehicle originations rose in the fourth quarter, said Melinda Zabritski, Experian's senior director of automotive financial solutions.

The fourth-quarter report drops the curtain on a dramatic year in auto finance, she said, when many trend lines were reversed amid the unparalleled industry and government response to the pandemic's…

Darwin Automotive's finance platform has integrated with Fetch, an electronic auto insurance comparison and purchase platform. The online marketplace allows auto customers to search for and compare insurance rates as part of an in-store or digital retailing process.

The integration is the latest example in a growing trend of U.S. dealerships incorporating auto insurance into their offerings in the hopes of helping customers cut costs associated with vehicle ownership.

RK Auto Group in Virginia Beach, Va., went live with the Fetch integration in February. The program will continue rolling out, state by state, across Darwin's footprint, CEO Phil Battista told Automotive News. Dealerships can opt in to the auto insurance add-on at no additional cost, he said.

Fetch generates a limited number of offers to streamline the process and keep shoppers from getting bogged down at the insurance stage. The platform allows customers to purchase …

Nissan's top North America executive will take a broader role as the Japanese automaker realigns its regional focus.

Jérémie Papin, 47, has been promoted to the new role of chairman of the Americas, giving him responsibility for Nissan's operations across North and South America. He starts the role on April 1.

It is a regional management structure that Nissan previously adopted in 2007, when it hoped to use a centralized U.S. executive team to coordinate sales and manufacturing strategies across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and other markets. But Nissan dropped the hemispheric approach in 2014 when it turned its focus to bearing down on U.S. sales growth.

Papin currently is vice chairman of North America, where he oversees the U.S., Canada and Mexico. He assumed that role last June.

As part of Nissan's four-year transformation plan, the automaker is consolidating seven business regions down to four key reg…

Car shoppers want more finance information sooner in the process, confirming industry beliefs that placing more emphasis on finance and insurance in digital retailing is critical for some consumers, a recent CarGurus survey found.

Vehicle affordability is an ongoing concern in the automotive retail industry, with average transaction prices steadily increasing every month. Inventory constraints restricting new- and used-vehicle options for consumers is an additional hurdle for consumers pursuing a specific price point.

In the survey of 754 consumers conducted in November 2020, 93 percent of car shoppers agree that pre-qualifying for a loan prior to visiting the dealership would be useful. Just two in three respondents, however, even knew this was an option, CarGurus said.

All respondents either intended to buy a car within the next 12 months or had purchased one in the last two years, CarGurus said. Respondents also needed to have f…

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen requires about 300 gigawatt hours worth of battery cells a year by the end of the decade for its ambitious roll out of electric vehicles in Europe, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The supply chain update is part of the world's second-largest automaker's strategy to raise the share of fully electric vehicles in Europe to more than 70 percent by 2030 at its core brand, details of which were unveiled last week.

So far, Volkswagen, which sources batteries from LG Chem , Samsung SDI, SK Innovation and CATL, expects annual demand in Europe to be more than 150 gigawatt hours from 2025 and to be at a similar level in Asia.

CEO Herbert Diess and Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen's board member in charge of technology, will unveil details of its battery and charging infrastructure strategy during a Power Day scheduled for March 15, the people said.

Volkswagen declined to comment.

The fresh target comes as Volkswagen…

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Competition among dealership management system vendors is heating up as new and smaller players look to gain ground on legacy providers. Automotive News reporter Lindsay VanHulle weighs in on the topic.

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HAMBURG -- Volkswagen Group strategy chief Michael Jost will quit after more than a decade with the automaker, he said on his website, adding he would now focus on building smart boats with his family.

"Since 1996 I have been leading a weekend marriage and family. Now corona has brought me home and we have realized that we can live together. I want to stay here. I thank you all and I do apologize if it was 'too much' sometimes," Jost said.

According to his LinkedIn profile Jost joined VW Group brand Skoda in 2010, where he served as head of product management and product strategy until becoming VW brand chief strategy officer in 2015.

He was promoted VW's head of group strategy product in 2018, driving the automaker's change to become a global leader in electric vehicles.

"What's next? After smart cars it's now smart boats, a nautical passion that I want to devote myself to with my family," he said.

The news comes less than a week before …

STOCKHOLM -- Swedish lithium ion battery maker Northvolt said Wednesday it had bought U.S. startup Cuberg to get access to technology that would boost the range of electric vehicles that can use its batteries.

Cuberg, spun out of Stanford University in 2015, has created battery cells that deliver increased range and capacity by 60 percent versus comparable lithium ion cells and counts aircraft maker Boeing among its customers.

The deal would help Northvolt improve both performance and safety while driving down cost for next-generation battery cells, the company said in a statement.

"This is critical for accelerating the shift to fully electric vehicles and responding to the needs of the leading automotive companies within a relevant time frame," Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson said.

Battery manufacturers across the world are scrambling to keep up with demand as automakers increasingly go electric.

Northvolt, which aims to take on major Asian p…