Trade News

Regardless of what weather forecasters or groundhogs say, all signs point to a hot spring for the used-vehicle market.

"I have no reason to believe — and I see no data that would support — anything but that," said Jonathan Banks, general manager of vehicle valuations at J.D. Power.

There's typically a pop in used-vehicle demand during tax season, as people put returns toward car or truck purchases. This year, more consumers have extra cash, after months of forgoing leisure spending, and many may have fresh government stimulus checks in their pockets soon. New-vehicle inventory remains constrained, and more Americans are getting vaccinated for COVID-19, sparking hopes for a return to some kind of normalcy in economic life.

It all has experts and observers expecting a strong spring.

"The consensus that we hold, without any exceptions, is that the second half of this first quarter, and at least the second quarter of this year, are g…

The Chrysler brand needs some help.

The merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France's PSA Group to form Stellantis could be its lifeline, said David Kelleher, chairman of the Stellantis National Dealer Council.

Kelleher believes Stellantis has a chance to fortify Chrysler, which sells the aging 300 sedan along with the Pacifica and Voyager minivans, with product from the PSA side.

Kelleher thinks this product infusion could be done at reasonable expense because the automaker wouldn't have to develop new models from the ground up.

He said he'd feel "violated" if the Chrysler brand was dropped.

"This whole thing started with Chrysler," Kelleher said. "I don't want to get emotional about a brand, that's not the case. But I don't want to see a brand like that left at the sideline and just thrown out to pasture."

While dealers await the next moves of the Stellantis team, Kelleher also is paying close attention to a move by rival …

Here's a look at the four automaker Super Bowl spots and the entry from Vroom, the used-car shopping site that's making its Super Bowl debut.

General Motors is running a corporate electric vehicle spot in addition to a Cadillac ad. Jeep, which is expected to feature singer Bruce Springsteen in its spot, and Toyota are also running ads.

Kantar, a marketing research company, estimates that in-game ad expenditures for Super Bowl LV on Sunday will total $435 million. The company said "this would be the largest amount in history, eclipsing the $390 million spent during the 2017 game."

More ads will be added to this list upon their release.

Look out, Norway.

GM — with a little help from actor Will Ferrell — wants to bring the EV crown to the U.S.

But first, Ferrell wants to give the Nordic country a piece of his mind in GM's Super Bowl spot, which touts the sleek, electric Cadillac Lyriq crossover, th…

WASHINGTON -- Ford Motor Co. said Friday the U.S. Justice Department and California Air Resources Board have closed a lengthy investigation into the No. 2 U.S. automaker's emissions certification process without taking any action.

Ford said in a securities filing that reviews opened by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada remain open.

Ford first disclosed the criminal probe in April 2019. It earlier hired outside law firm Sidley Austin and experts to investigate its vehicle fuel economy and testing procedures after employees raised concerns about analytical modeling that is part of its fuel economy and emissions compliance process.

Ford said Friday the investigations' closure was "consistent with the company’s own investigation and conclusion that we appropriately completed our certification processes."

Ford declined to release findings from its own investigation and said it has not changed any fuel ec…

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. <…