Trade News

Growing Lithia Motors Inc. has purchased another two dealerships, this time expanding its footprint in Florida, and it opened an Infiniti store across the country in Los Angeles.

The nation's third-largest new-vehicle dealership group on Feb. 1 purchased Land Rover Orlando and Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Sanford from Fields Auto Group of Glencoe, Ill.

Terms weren't disclosed, but Lithia said Tuesday that it paid for the stores using capital raised last year. The dealership group said the two stores are expected to add $200 million in revenue annually. Lithia said its previously awarded Infiniti point in Los Angeles is expected to add $40 million in annualized revenue.

Lithia entered Florida in fall 2019 when it acquired three stores in the Tampa market from Williams Automotive Group. The retailer said the most recent acquisitions will help build density in southeast states.

"We are excited to welcome the high-performing Fields Auto Group to the Li…

DETROIT -- General Motors is extending production cuts at three global plants through at least mid-March and building but leaving incomplete vehicles at two other factories due to the global semiconductor chip shortage.

GM on Tuesday did not disclose how much volume it would lose in its latest action or which supplier and vehicle parts were affected by the chip shortage, but said the focus remains on keeping production running at plants building its highest-profit vehicles -- trucks, crossovers and SUVs. GM said it intends to make up as much lost production as possible.

"Semiconductor supply remains an issue that is facing the entire industry. GM’s plan is to leverage every available semiconductor to build and ship our most popular and in-demand products," GM spokesman David Barnas said.

GM said it was extending downtime at plants in Fairfax, Kansas; Ingersoll, Ontario; and San Luis Petosi, Mexico, through mid-March, when it will reassess the situation, …

New-vehicle sales spiked 30 percent to top 2.5 million last month, easily outpacing January 2020 when the coronavirus outbreak emerged and the lunar Chinese New Year holiday resulted in fewer working days, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said.

It was the tenth consecutive monthly increase as the market continues to power past the pandemic, though CAAM warned Tuesday that tight global supplies of microchips could undermine the recovery.

New-vehicle production in China slumped 16 percent to below 2.39 million in January from December, the trade group said.

January deliveries of new light vehicles -- sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses -- advanced 27 percent to nearly 2.05 million.

Demand for new commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses surged 43 percent to some 458,000.

And sales of electrified vehicles shot up 239 percent to exceed 179,000. The tally includes roughly 151,000 electric vehicles, …

HAMBURG -- Volkswagen Group is conducting a feasibility study in China about flying cars, the automaker said on Tuesday, joining a growing number of companies looking into the potential technology.

"Beyond autonomous driving the concept of vertical mobility could be a next step to take our mobility approach into the future, especially in the technically affine Chinese market," the automaker said.

"Therefore, we are investigating potential concepts and partners in a feasibility study to identify the possibility to industrialize this approach."

In an interview with Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess on Linkedin, the automaker's China head Stephan Woellenstein said the company wanted to develop a drone that could be licensed, giving it a way to participate in this future market.

China is the world's biggest light vehicle market, and also accounts for the largest part of VW's sales.

The news comes as companies from startups to other global automakers…

Tesla Inc. has issued back-to-back mea culpas in a matter of days in China, showing deference to government authorities in stark contrast with CEO Elon Musk’s years of combativeness in the U.S.

Shortly after state media broke the news Monday that five Chinese regulators had summoned Tesla representatives over several quality and safety issues, the company pledged to strictly abide by Chinese laws and regulations and strengthen internal management. Last week, the carmaker said it was sorry that a staff member blamed the national grid for damaging a customer’s electric vehicle.

Musk, 49, has been much feistier back home.

When the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued the CEO over his 2018 tweets claiming to have “funding secured” to take Tesla private, Musk lashed out, calling it the “Shortseller Enrichment Commission” and saying he did not respect the agency.

He also hung up on the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board earlier…

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung -- central to the company’s transformation from conventional carmaker to mobility giant promoting flying cars and hydrogen-fuel cells -- had his first, very public, stumble this week.

On Monday, after a month of intense speculation around who may team with Apple Inc. to help develop its much-vaunted self-driving electric car, Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. were forced in separate exchange filings to say they weren’t in any talks with the tech behemoth, backing away from an earlier Hyundai statement that confirmed they were in discussions.

That Jan. 8 initial disclosure, along with other reports of talks, no doubt infuriated Apple, which keeps development projects secret for years and controls relationships with suppliers with ruthless efficiency. It’s unclear if -- or when -- discussions between the two might resume.

Hyundai “might have learned some lessons through this issue,” said Koh Tae…

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.

Genesis Motors North America CEO Mark Del Rosso opens up about the arrival of the GV80, the luxury brand's first crossover for the U.S. market, and expectations for the upcoming GV70 compact CUV. Why he believes the brand is uniquely positioned amid the pandemic and when its still-secret electric vehicle will arrive.

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. 

iPhone / iPad

“Daily Drive” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe to "Daily…

Tesla Inc. invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and signaled its intent to begin accepting the cryptocurrency as a form of payment, sending prices to a new record after the vote of confidence from the electric-vehicle market leader.

The automaker said in a filing Monday it made the bet on Bitcoin after updating its investment policy last month to allow the company to invest in digital assets as well as gold bullion and gold exchange-traded funds.

“We expect to begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for our products in the near future, subject to applicable laws and initially on a limited basis,” Tesla said in the securities filing.

The leading electric-vehicle maker’s embrace of Bitcoin lends increased legitimacy to electronic currencies, which have become more of a mainstream asset in recent years despite skepticism from some. The embrace of a digital currency fits the maverick image of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who upended the automotive industry with bat…

TAIPEI/SEOUL -- Asian chipmakers are rushing to expand their production capacity to meet a global shortage that has been acutely felt by carmakers, but the firms warn that the supply gap may take many months to plug as they struggle to keep up with strong demand.

Automakers from General Motors to Stellantis and Honda Motor Co. are shutting assembly lines due to the shortages, which in some cases have been exacerbated by the former U.S. administration's sanctions against Chinese chip factories. Some firms have also furloughed staff.

Eight-inch chip manufacturing plants owned mostly by Asian firms, which tend to make older, less sophisticated chips, are particularly under strain primarily due to under-investment in recent years. The majority of such factories are used to make auto chips.

Consumer demand in China, especially for cars, has snapped back unexpectedly quickly from the coronavirus crisis, and orders for products such as laptops and mobile phones…