Trade News

BEIJING -- China's government officials met representatives from Tesla Inc. in response to growing reports from consumers about battery fires, unexpected accelerations and over-the-air software update failures.

China's State Administration for Market Regulation said in a social media post on Monday that its officials along with those from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Emergency Management, Cyberspace Administration and Ministry of Transportation had met Tesla "recently," without giving a date.

The regulators urged Tesla to operate according to China laws and protect customer rights.

In response, Tesla said it would thoroughly investigate the problems reported by consumers and step up inspections.

"We will strictly abide by Chinese laws and regulations and always respect consumer rights," a company representative said in a text message, adding that Tesla accepted the guidance of the Chinese government departments.…

SHANGHAI -- Chinese electric-vehicle maker Byton is in talks to go public through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Byton, whose key shareholders include China's state-owned automaker FAW Group and EV battery maker CATL, is in talks with potential SPAC companies and investors about the listing and plans to go public as early as this year, two sources, who declined to be named as the talks were private, said.

Byton, which is backed by Apple assembler Foxconn, was launched in 2017 by Future Mobility, a company co-founded by former BMW and Nissan executives. But it has been facing cash flow problems since 2019 as investors were cautious ploughing money in a crowded sector when EV sales growth was slowing in the world's biggest car market.

The embattled company was building a car factory in the eastern city of Nanjing but suspended the endeavor in July to conduct a reorganization of the compan…

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor Group said Monday it is not now in talks with Apple on autonomous electric cars, just a month after it confirmed early-stage talks with the tech giant, sending the automaker's shares falling.

Hyundai's stock fell 6 percent, wiping $3 billion off its market value. Shares in its affiliate Kia, which had been tipped in local media reports as the likely operational partner for Apple, tumbled 15 percent -- a $5.5 billion hit.

The announcement ends weeks of internal divisions at Hyundai Motor, parent to both automakers, about the potential tie-up, with some executives raising concerns about becoming a contract manufacturer for the U.S. tech giant in a partnership reminiscent of Foxconn's role in making devices for Apple such as the iPhone.

"We are receiving requests for cooperation in joint development of autonomous electric vehicles from various companies, but they are at early stage and nothing has been decided," the automakers said o…

Hyundai dealers weathered a difficult year for the U.S. auto market, with brand sales falling 9.7 percent. That outperformed the market overall and came with surprising gains in retail market share and dealer profitability.

The brand's performance benefited from some decisive moves by the manufacturer to provide dealers with financial support and generous vehicle incentives, as well as from a growing product portfolio.

For 2021, that game plan should help retailers post solid volume gains, with a new generation of the Tucson compact crossover coming to the biggest nonpickup segment in America. The highly anticipated Santa Cruz lifestyle pickup will also launch in 2021, as will the Ioniq 5 electric crossover, the first vehicle in the new Ioniq electric subbrand, with three models announced so far.

"There's a lot to be positive about being a Hyundai dealer, but if you had to put something No. 1 on the list, it's the product," said Kevin Reilly, the new c…

Content is still king in the Super Bowl.

While the spotlight could shine a little brighter on the few automakers who decided to make a pitch on advertising's biggest stage, brands shouldn't assume that just being there will be enough.

The four spots from General Motors, Jeep and Toyota will still need to deliver if they want to make an imprint on consumers.

In fact, with people social distancing due to the pandemic, the dynamics of how the game is viewed could change this year. With crowded Super Bowl parties out of the question for many, consumer attention on the ads could be even greater because they may not have "friends and distractions going on" that could take their focus off the screen, said Satya Menon, managing partner for the ROI practice at Kantar.

Kevin Krim, CEO at analytics firm EDO that can measure online search activity after ads air on TV, doesn't think the smaller number of auto brands will automatically translate into a larger-…

Otonomo CEO Ben Volkow delves into the Israeli startup’s plans to go public via a SPAC, how the company guards consumer privacy and the insights gleaned from more than 100 data points emerging from cars.

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DETROIT — Finally.

After numerous pitches through the years, Stellantis marketing chief Olivier Francois secured the talents of iconic musician Bruce Springsteen for a Jeep Super Bowl spot.

It's no surprise that they had to go big.

The ambitious Francois' knack for tapping into the pulse of America in Super Bowl spots combined with the socially conscious Springsteen's immense presence demanded nothing less.

The result is a two-minute film, "The Middle," that will focus on uniting the country and air during the fourth quarter of Sunday's NFL championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

One of the shoot locations for the ad was the U.S. Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kan., which stands in the geographical center of the continuous 48 states and carries symbolic meaning in the commercial as middle ground.

In the spot, Springsteen said "the middle" has been a hard place to get to lately, "between red and blue, be…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s failure to close a deal with Google in early 2016 helped bring Mark Fields' tenure as CEO to an end.

Five years later, a different type of tie-up with the tech giant secured by CEO Jim Farley could be just the beginning.

A sweeping six-year partnership announced last week will give Ford access to Google's cloud technologies for use in its factories, dealerships and vehicles as the automaker rolls out data-rich connected services. Ford also will use Google's Android operating system to power the infotainment on millions of vehicles starting in 2023, and it's forming a team to explore future collaborations.

It's an early win under Farley for an automaker often chided by Wall Street for a lack of flashy announcements, hailed by one analyst as a "step in the right direction" that could generate billions in revenue. The Google deal and a subsequent commitment last week that nearly doubles Ford's investment in electrification to $22…

COVID-19 may have played a role in snapping Subaru of America's 12- year streak of sales increases and 11-year streak of record deliveries last year, but a third streak remained intact.

Its U.S. market share grew — the ninth consecutive year of such progress — despite a 13 percent decline in its sales. The Japanese company inched up 0.1 percent in 2020 to a 4.2 percent market share, while the pandemic-stricken nation suffered a 14 percent plunge in volume.

"It wasn't a huge increase, but I think the way we try to do business is just keep it steady and do everything we can to keep our foundation as solid as we can," said Jeff Walters, Subaru of America's senior vice president of sales. "We were happy, given some of the bigger challenges we had when things really started falling off the rails in the spring, that we could still turn out a market share increase."

Subaru's sales plunged 47 percent in both March and April, the biggest monthly declines in thr…

Amazon.com Inc. has ordered hundreds of trucks that run on compressed natural gas as it tests ways to shift its U.S. fleet away from heavier polluting trucks, the company told Reuters on Friday.

The coronavirus pandemic caused delivery activity to surge in 2020, with truck volumes exceeding 2019 levels on average while passenger car traffic fell. But that increase in road activity means more pollution, as heavier-duty trucks emit higher levels of greenhouse gases than passenger vehicles.

Transportation companies are building their stable of EVs to reduce carbon emissions. Much of the nation's freight is delivered via medium- and heavy-duty trucks, which account for more than 20 percent of the industry's greenhouse gas emissions even though they make up less than 5 percent of the road fleet, according to U.S. data.

"Amazon is excited about introducing new sustainable solutions for freight transportation and is working on testing a number of new vehicle ty…