Trade News

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, …

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect figure for the company's estimated sales growth. The figure represents estimated global economic growth.

Auto supplier Robert Bosch said Thursday the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and a semiconductor chip shortage will weigh on global automotive production growth in 2021.

Around 85 million vehicles will roll off assembly lines around the world this year, more than the 78 million units produced in 2020 but still below the 92 million cars produced in 2019, the Stuttgart-based supplier said.

Global automotive production hit a high of 98 million units in 2017.

"We are quite positive," CEO Volkmar Denner said, although he added that "we still have a long way to go to catch up".

The supplier said it estimated that the global economy would grow 4 percent in 2021 after contracting around 4.5 percent in 2020.

Bosch said the "bottleneck" in the global semiconductor chip market ha…

STOCKHOLM -- Volvo Cars has not suffered from the global semiconductor shortage, but the automaker's CEO said risks linger from a problem that has already forced several automakers to temporarily cut production.

CEO Hakan Samuelsson said Volvo's semiconductor supply has been secured for the next four weeks.

"So, short-term no disturbance ... But there is of course a big risk that it could come here during the first quarter. But it is very hard to forecast," Samuelsson told Reuters.

Talks on a potential merger with sister company Geely Automobile are still on hold as Geely works to list its shares on Shanghai's New Star Market, Samuelsson said, adding he expected to come back with further details in the first quarter.

SHANGHAI -- Ford Motor Co. has decided to terminate plans to launch electric vehicle joint ventures with China's Zotye Automobile, the U.S. automaker said on Thursday.

It said China's electric-vehicle industry and government policies had undergone major changes since the agreements were signed in 2017 and 2018, prompting the decision. Ford didn't specify which changes triggered its move.

Last week, Ford said its China joint venture with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. would start making all-electric Mustang Mach-E vehicles.

In a statement on Thursday, Ford said it would pursue a more "flexible business model in China" that would see it utilize its existing operations in the country and elsewhere, and build related business centers.

Zotye did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In 2017, during a visit by former President Donald Trump to China, Ford and Zotye said that they would invest a combined $756 million to set up a 50-…

PARIS -- Valeo has committed to carbon-neutral operations by 2050, joining companies such as Daimler, General Motors and Robert Bosch that have made similar pledges, as the auto industry increasingly focuses on reducing emissions and environmental impact becomes a key metric for investors and analysts. 

The supplier will invest 400 million euros ($480 million) to achieve its carbon targets, executives said at an online event Thursday, with cuts across the value chain, including Valeo's own operations, those of its suppliers and in the disposal of its products.

"The entire automotive industry is investing heavily to combat global warming," CEO Jacques Aschenbroich said in a statement. "The reduction of CO2 emissions has been central to our strategy since 2010."

He said Valeo sales from emissions-reducing solutions would grow to more than 10 billion euros in 2021 from 500 million euros in 2009.

Valeo's products in that area include 48-volt mild…

Volvo Cars increased its operating profit by 8.2 percent to 9.5 billion Swedish crowns ($1.1 billion) in the second half of 2020 as growing demand for electrified cars and rising interest in online vehicle sales helped it rebound from the pandemic.

Hard hit by the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, Volvo has seen a sharp improvement in recent months, helped by strong demand in the United States and China.

The automaker, which is owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding, said it would increase vehicle sales this year and improve profitability to pre-pandemic levels, assuming market conditions continue to normalize.

"Our operations are back on a very high level, but we are not back to normal," CEO Hakan Samuelsson told Automotive News Europe.

He said Volvo's strong second-half performance was boosted by its aggressive push into electrification -- 36 percent of its 2020 European sales were plug-in hybrids or full-electric vehicles, according to t…