Trade News

DETROIT — General Motors has promoted Kristen Siemen to vice president of sustainable workplaces and chief sustainability officer.

She replaces Dane Parker, GM's first-ever sustainability officer, who plans to retire.

In her previous role as executive director of global energy strategy, Siemen, 50, introduced fuel economy improvement technologies along with other initiatives to support GM's zero-emission goals. Siemen also worked closely with Parker to set corporate energy strategies and targets, GM said in a statement Thursday.

Siemen's promotion is effective immediately, but Parker will stay on to help with the transition until May 1, GM said.

Siemen is a 25-year GM veteran and has held senior leadership engineering positions over the past decade.

"As one of the world's largest automakers, we aim to set an example of responsible leadership," Siemen said in the statement. "I am honored and humbled to have the opportunity to help lead GM in…

General Motors is planning to idle production of the hot-selling Corvette sports car next week due to a parts shortage.

Bowling Green Assembly, the automaker's plant in Kentucky, will idle operations from March 1 to March 5. The 2021 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray is produced there.

The downtime is not related to the global semiconductor chip shortage that's proving to be a thorn in automakers' sides.

"Due to a temporary parts supply issue, we can confirm that Bowling Green Assembly will not run production the week of March 1," GM spokesman Dan Flores said in an email. "Our supply chain, manufacturing and engineering teams are working closely with our supply base to mitigate any further impact on production, and we expect the plant to resume normal operations on Monday, March 8."

The automaker did not confirm the specific supply issue.

U.S. deliveries of the new Corvette surged 158 percent to 8,992 during the fourth quarter, GM said. They incr…

Join Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for a daily podcast series about the coronavirus crisis. He’ll speak with industry experts, insiders and Automotive News reporters about how the virus is impacting and reshaping the automotive industry.

Acura boss Jon Ikeda opens up about the company's ''growing pains'' as it looks to reestablish itself as a performance brand.

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More than half of prospective vehicle buyers or lessees are undecided about choosing a battery-electric vehicle, an inaugural study by J.D. Power shows.

Fifty-nine percent of new-vehicle shoppers are "somewhat likely" or "somewhat unlikely" to consider a BEV for their next purchase or lease, according to J.D. Power's new U.S. Electric Vehicle Consideration Study.

The study, released Thursday, surveyed more than 9,000 U.S. vehicle shoppers from December 2020 to January 2021 who intend to purchase or lease within 12 months.

This consumer indecisiveness is an opportunity for automakers to sell potential buyers on the idea of an EV. But until that happens, it also could create a temporary surplus in EV inventory as the lineup expands, J.D. Power said.

Of survey respondents who have owned or leased a BEV before, 46 percent say they are "very likely" to consider another. Six percent are "very unlikely" to consider one as their next vehicle.

Half …

The effects of the pandemic continue to pummel subprime automotive consumers, who have the lowest origination levels and highest delinquency rates, credit bureau TransUnion and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in separate reports last week.

Auto loan delinquencies crept up in the fourth quarter, driven by subprime customers struggling to pay back their loans. As more subprime customers exit forbearance programs, that figure is likely to climb, TransUnion said.

Weak demand may be a stronger factor for low origination levels than lenders tightening standards, says Satyan Merchant, senior vice president and automotive business leader at TransUnion. But those subprime customers who do have auto loans aren't paying them off at the same rate they did before the pandemic, he said.

"It's safe to say lenders were looking at risk in a measured way, but that's just part of the story," Merchant said.

The serious delinquen…

Joby Aviation, the 12-year-old electric air taxi startup partnered with Toyota Motor Corp. and Uber Technologies, will go public in a $6.6 billion reverse merger with blank check company Reinvent Technology Partners, the firms said on Wednesday.

California-based Joby aims to begin a commercial passenger service in 2024, using its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Potential air taxi competitors include well-funded German startups Volocopter and Lilium.

Joby is being taken public via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, headed by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Zynga founder Mark Pincus and longtime investor Michael Thompson.

In an interview, Hoffman said: "We did months of due diligence -- we got the same universal signal. These guys have got everything (to) redefine this new space . . . I think of Joby as Tesla meets Uber in the air."

Joby is the first aerial vehicle startup to go public via the SPAC route. Reuters…

Join Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for a daily podcast series about the coronavirus crisis. He’ll speak with industry experts, insiders and Automotive News reporters about how the virus is impacting and reshaping the automotive industry.

Penske Automotive Group President Robert Kurnick discusses the dealership group's fourth-quarter profit surge and plans to expand its used-vehicle supercenters.

How do I subscribe?Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

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BEIJING -- Geely Automobile and sister company Volvo Cars will abandon merger plans but launch a new entity to combine their powertrain operations and expand cooperation on electric vehicles, the companies said on Wednesday.

A year ago, the two said they were planning to merge and list in Hong Kong and possibly Stockholm, giving Volvo access to public markets, as global automakers pursue alliances to respond better to the cost of the transition to EVs, tougher emissions rules and autonomous driving.

In a joint statement on Wednesday Geely and Volvo said that they would preserve their existing separate corporate structures after "a detailed review of combination options."

They said, however, they would launch a new company to combine their existing powertrain operations.

The new entity, expected to become operational this year, will provide engines, transmissions systems and hybrid systems for use by both companies as well as other automakers.

Foxconn Technology Group will develop an electric vehicle with Fisker Inc., part of the manufacturer’s efforts to boost its automotive capabilities at a time when technology companies including its main customer Apple Inc. are looking to expand in vehicles.

The car will be built by Foxconn, targeted at multiple markets including North America, Europe, China and India, and sold under the Fisker brand, according to a joint statement from the companies Wednesday. Production is set to start in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Taiwan’s Foxconn, whose main listed arm is Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., in October introduced its first-ever EV chassis and a software platform aimed at helping automakers bring models to the market faster. This month, Hon Hai Chairman Young Liu said two light vehicles based on the Foxconn platform will be unveiled in the fourth quarter. Foxconn is also planning to help launch an electric bus around the same time.

The Taiwanese company is…

Former Nissan Motor Co. CEO Hiroto Saikawa told a Tokyo court that he agreed that former Chairman Carlos Ghosn should have been paid more to prevent him from going to a rival automaker.

Greg Kelly, the former Nissan director who was arrested on the same day as Ghosn in November 2018, is standing trial for allegedly helping the former chairman of Nissan and its alliance with Renault SA and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. understate tens of millions of dollars in compensation. Saikawa took the stand Wednesday to testify about his role in the events leading to the arrests more than two years ago, which triggered turmoil within the carmaker and later led to Ghosn's escape from Japan and life as a fugitive in Lebanon.

Saikawa, 67, was the most senior leader at Nissan after Ghosn when he was detained, sending shock waves through the alliance and wider business world. That put the Japanese executive in a position to know many of the details behind the allegations against Ghos…

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Wednesday aimed at addressing a global semiconductor chip shortage that has forced U.S. automakers and other manufacturers to cut production and alarmed the White House and members of Congress, administration officials said.

The scarcity, exacerbated by the pandemic, will be the subject when Biden meets a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

Administration officials said Biden's executive order, to be signed later Wednesday afternoon, will launch an immediate 100-day review of supply chains for four critical products: semiconductor chips, large-capacity batteries for electric vehicles, rare earth minerals and pharmaceuticals.

The order will also direct six sector reviews -- modeled after the process used by the Defense Department to strengthen the defense industrial base. It will be focused on the areas of defense, public health, communications technology,…