Trade News

Daimler and BMW are in talks to sell their jointly owned parking-app business Park Now to European rival EasyPark Group, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The companies could announce an agreement as soon as the next few weeks, said the people, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. There’s no certainty the talks will lead to a transaction with Stockholm-based EasyPark, and the carmakers could still opt to revive negotiations with other suitors, the people said.

Representatives for BMW, Daimler and EasyPark declined to comment.

A sale of Park Now would be one more step from the German luxury-carmakers to focus on their core automotive operations. Daimler earlier this week announced plans to split up into the world’s largest makers of luxury cars and commercial vehicles, renaming itself Mercedes-Benz and separately listing its truck unit by year-end.

Park Now allows drivers to use a mobile app to pay for parki…

The Volkswagen ID6 X, an electric vehicle with seating for up to seven passengers and planned for China, has broken cover.

Photos of the ID6 X, based on the ID Roomzz concept from 2019, were posted on the website of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology this week.

Volkswagen Group's joint venture with SAIC received approval from the regulator to produce and sell the large EV in China.

It will be built at a new SAIC-Volkswagen plant in Shanghai with annual capacity of 300,000. When the Roomzz concept was introduced, VW CEO Herbert Diess said the flagship crossover would eventually be introduced in other markets but did not comment on timing.

Juergen Stackmann, VW brand's sales and marketing director, told AutoExpress magazine in 2019 that the production ID Roomz would be sold in the U.S. but was unlikely to be marketed in Europe where buyers prefer a compact car shape and not "extra large."

VW is already producing two sm…

Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen said it will invest $200 million to build another production line at its commercial vehicle transmission plant in Gray Court, S.C.

The new line is expected to begin production in 2023. More than 500 jobs will be created, the company said.

The supplier on Thursday said it plans to expand production of the PowerLine, an eight-speed automatic transmission for medium-duty commercial trucks, heavy pickups and buses.

The plant opened in 2012 and became a hub for ZF's work in large-scale transmission production, including eight- and nine-speed automatic transmissions.

"As a result, we've been expanding our manufacturing footprint since our grand opening," said Ashley Van Horn, a ZF spokeswoman.

Multiple North American customers have signed contracts with ZF for transmissions built at Gray Court. Van Horn said she could not disclose which automakers signed contracts.

Beyond use in trucks and buses, PowerLine is "…

TAIPEI -- The United States thanked Taiwan on Friday for help on resolving an auto chip shortage that has snarled production, but there was no discussion on prioritizing the making of these chips, Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua said after a high-level meeting.

Car factories around the U.S. and the world are idling assembly lines because of the chip shortages, which in some cases have been exacerbated by the former Trump administration's actions against Chinese chip companies.

Taiwan, home to tech firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chip maker, has become front and center of efforts to resolve the shortage.

"The U.S. side thanked us for our help on this," Wang told reporters of the meeting, which she said was attended by senior executives from companies including TSMC and Qualcomm Inc .

But she said the focus of the talks was not on auto chips and the issue of whether to prioritize their producti…

Fourth-quarter and full-year financial results from 2020 for PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler, the two automakers that merged to become Stellantis last month, will be released together March 3.

The results presentation will be in a live webcast available on the Stellantis website, and a conference call for analysts is also scheduled that day, Stellantis said in a news release.

The Amsterdam-based group will also announce release dates for future reporting periods, generally within 40 days of the end of relevant quarter.

Following the 2020 results calls, Stellantis will convene its first annual general meeting on April 15. 

After nearly two years of merger negotiations, PSA and FCA formally combined to become Stellantis on Jan. 16. The group is expected to be the fourth- or fifth-largest automaker by volume, with 14 automotive brands.

One unresolved issue for the group’s board is a potential distribution of 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) to …

TOKYO -- Subaru reported a 17 percent profit increase in the latest quarter as the automaker rebounded from the pandemic slump and booked lower warranty costs.

In the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, Subaru's operating profit climbed to 67.6 billion yen ($654.8 million), from 57.8 billion yen ($559.9 million) the previous year.

In reporting financial results on Friday, the automaker also said net income increased 16 percent to 50.5 billion ($489.2 million) in the three months, from the year before.

Revenue declined 2.6 percent to 856.4 billion yen ($8.30 billion) in the October-December quarter, as worldwide sales, which cover wholesale volume overseas, rose by just 6,000 vehicles to 267,800 vehicles in the quarter. U.S. sales led the quarterly advance with a 6.6 percent increase.

Subaru's earnings improved largely thanks to recovering from a year-earlier period when profits were weighed down by big warranty costs. Lower incentives and sales co…

Stellantis will pause production at a factory in Italy that builds Fiat and Jeep vehicles because of reduced demand, and a shortage of microchips and other parts, Italian union sources said.

More than 7,000 workers at the plant in Melfi, southern Italy, will be furloughed for a week starting Monday, union sources said. 

The factory builds the Jeep Compass and Renegade compact SUVs and the Fiat 500X compact crossover.

Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep and Fiat, confirmed the planned stoppage and said it was due to "market fluctuations" and other issues linked to the coronavirus crisis.

In a statement sent to Automotive News Europe, Stellantis said it was adapting its industrial activity “daily, plant by plant, to automotive market trends and by taking into account the different situations we are facing,” such as parts supply and pandemic confinements.

Italian news media reported the stoppage this week, citing union sources. <…

Stellantis will idle its minivan plant in Ontario for three weeks due to the global shortage of microchips, the automaker said.

Unifor Local 444, which represents hourly workers at the plant, said in a Facebook post that Windsor Assembly Plant will be down for three weeks starting Feb. 8 “due to the semiconductor shortage [the technology used to make microchips].”

FCA Canada, now a division of Stellantis, confirmed the information in the union;'s post early Friday morning.

"We are working closely with our global supply chain network to manage the manufacturing impact caused by the global microchip shortage and will continue to make production adjustments as necessary," FCA Canada said in a statement to Automotive News Canada.

Stellantis builds the Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler Grand Caravan and Chrysler Voyager minivans in Windsor.

Stellantis becomes the latest automaker to cut output due to the growing global microchip shortage For…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is doubling planned outlays on electrified vehicles to $22 billion through 2025, as the company reported a $2.8 billion fourth-quarter loss due to costly product launches and significant one-time charges.

For all of 2020, Ford recorded its first net loss since the Great Recession — $1.3 billion — as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted production and sales.

Ford said adjusted earnings before interest and taxes more than tripled from the fourth quarter of 2019 to $1.7 billion. Revenue fell 9 percent to $36 billion.

The automaker generated earnings of nearly $1.1 billion before interest and taxes in North America during the quarter, a 53 percent increase, with a profit margin of 4.9 percent.

Ford lost money in all other overseas business units in the quarter besides Europe, where it earned $414 million. Ford said the Europe result was its highest quarterly profit in the region in four years, helped by the first phase of its re…

OTTAWA — Canada and the U.S. can collaborate more closely on manufacturing EVs and on supplying critical minerals needed to make batteries for cars and other clean technologies, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday.

“The integration of our economies, of our supply chains ... I think gives a real opportunity for us to really take some leaps forward,” Trudeau said in a telephone interview.

After noting that Canada has many of the rare earths minerals needed for car batteries and solar panels, Trudeau said it was important to have “a secure supply from a friend and an ally."

China has been one of the main suppliers of critical minerals to the U.S., and Biden is planning to mandate a review of critical U.S. supply chains with an eye to securing U.S. industrial supplies, Reuters reported earlier this week.

Canada’s mineral wealth “is part of why so many automakers are now looking at setting up their supply chains for zero-emission vehicles in Ca…

General Motors plans to invest $75 million to ramp up capacity at its Toledo transmission plant to build 10-speed automatic transmissions, the automaker said Thursday.

The 10-speed transmissions are used in GM's full-size trucks, including the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

"Sales of the Silverado and Sierra have been very strong, and we have a need to build inventory," said Dan Flores, a GM spokesman.

Work at the plant will start immediately, GM said. The automaker also invested in the Toledo plant in September, spending $39 million to upgrade production of eight-speed rear-wheel-drive transmissions. The automaker says it has invested more than $3.3 billion in Ohio since 2009.

"Through this investment, we continue to take steps to strengthen our current core business and build on our significant manufacturing presence in Ohio," Phil Kienle, vice president of North America manufacturing and labor relations, …