Trade News

SEOUL/SAN FRANCISCO -- Executives at Hyundai Motor Group are divided over a potential tie-up with Apple, with some raising concerns about becoming a contract manufacturer for the U.S. tech giant, dimming the outlook for a deal.

Hyundai said earlier this month it was in preliminary talks with Apple but gave no details. Local media said the companies were discussing an electric car and battery tie-up.

Hyundai and Apple both declined to comment for this story.

Apple has never acknowledged talks with the automaker about building vehicles, and it was unclear whether any such talks are still active. The iPhone maker typically insists on strict secrecy from its potential partners and suppliers about future plans or unreleased products.

In an earnings call on Tuesday in which it reported its best quarterly profit in over three years, Hyundai did not give any updates on talks with Apple or indicate whether they remain active.

"We are agonizing over…

TOKYO -- Woven Planet, Toyota Motor Corp.'s high-tech spinoff, has established a $800 million investment fund to cherry pick up-and-coming technology companies around the world.

The fund, named Woven Capital, was outlined Jan. 29 in a kickoff event for the Woven Planet venture that included an overview of the new company's upcoming products and strategies. Among the announcements was the Feb. 23 groundbreaking for its Woven City town of tomorrow.

James Kuffner, the American CEO of Woven Capital and a director at Toyota Motor, outlined the company's ambitions in an online briefing from Woven's headquarters in downtown Tokyo.

The creation of Woven Planet was announced last year as a holding company to subsume the subsidiary that handles Toyota's automated driving development, Toyota Research Institute - Advanced Development, or TRI-AD.

The entity now oversees two new companies, Woven Core and Woven Alpha.

Woven Core focuses on automated driving.<…

LONDON -- Aston Martin has strengthened its board with the addition of ex-Ford Motor Co. global product chief Richard Parry-Jones and former McLaren CEO Antony Sheriff, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The company also appointed to the board Anne Stevens, a former Ford executive and ex-board member of British supplier GKN, and Daimler's Stephan Unger, who will represent Daimler after the German automaker said in October that it will increase its stake in Aston Martin to 20 percent.

The appointment of the high-profile auto executives adds "great value" to Aston Martin, chairman and largest shareholder Lawrence Stroll said in a statement.

"This is a very important time for the company as we start to execute our plans to enable Aston Martin to become one of the preeminent luxury car brands in the world," he said.

All the appointments are non-executive positions and are effective Feb. 1.

Richard Parry-Jones remains a key figure in the B…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. will idle two shifts at its Chicago Assembly Plant next week because of the ongoing microchip shortage.

A company spokeswoman late Thursday confirmed the move. Local UAW officials first warned workers there of the potential layoff on Wednesday.

The temporary reduction in shifts will affect Ford's production of the profitable Explorer, one of the company's top sellers, and Lincoln Aviator crossovers. The plant employs about 5,800 workers.

The automaker's Louisville Assembly Plant, where workers build the Escape and Corsair crossovers, is currently down because of the chip shortage.

The worldwide shortage of microchips has also shuttered Ford's plant in Saarlouis, Germany, and is affecting a number of automakers around the globe. IHS Markit forecasts that chip-related supply wrinkles will linger into the second quarter and possibly even the second half of the year.

DETROIT -- The head of the North American International Auto Show is eyeing September 2022 for resurrecting a Detroit auto show that's been sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic after being moved from its traditional January date on the international circuit.

Rod Alberts, executive director of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association and NAIAS, told the governing board of Detroit's TCF Center on Thursday that this year's show, originally planned for September, had to be canceled because of the financial risk of the virus upending another event like the June 2020 show that got canceled.

Alberts appeared before the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority board Thursday in a Zoom video conference call, addressing the five-member public body for the first time since NAIAS organizers pulled the plug on Detroit's auto show for the second year in a row.

"Our plan is to do something in Detroit next year. We want to do it in September," Alberts said. "... Fro…

Daimler said Thursday that a strong fourth quarter helped it post better-than-expected 2020 group operating profit and that it was optimistic for 2021.

Group earnings before interest and taxes for 2020 came to 6.6 billion euros ($8 billion), above consensus for 5.25 billion euros, the automaker said, citing preliminary figures.

"Given the development of successful cost discipline continued in the fourth quarter and expected good underlying demand, Daimler also anticipates a positive business development in 2021," the company said.

The Stuttgart-based maker of Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks said that the current shortages in semiconductors and the COVID-19 disruptions would probably impact the first quarter.

Daimler will release complete fourth-quarter figures and more detailed 2021 guidance on Feb. 18.

Matthews Auto Group has purchased five New York dealerships from the Fuccillo Automotive Group, gaining its first Hyundai location and growing its store count to 13.

Matthews, of Vestal, N.Y., and with stores in New York and Pennsylvania, said this week that it bought three dealerships in the Syracuse area and two in the Rochester area from Fuccillo. The acquisition involves two Kia dealerships, two Hyundai dealerships and a Nissan dealership.

Matthews, a family-owned dealership group dating to 1973, will add about 300 employees. The purchase price wasn't disclosed but included inventory, buildings, property and parts. The dealerships are being rebranded under the Matthews name.

"Fuccillo is an impressive operation with a great team who has sold tens of thousands of vehicles," Rob Matthews, president of the dealership group, said in a statement. "We jumped at this unique opportunity when it was presented to us. Although there is tremendous uncertainty o…

BEIJING -- Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing said on Thursday it has raised $300 million for its autonomous driving unit, tapping investors to expand its technological know-how in the field for a second time since last year.

Investment firm IDG Capital led the funding while CPE, the Russia-China Investment Fund, Guotai Junan International and CCB International were among the investors participating, a representative for Didi said.

Some of the investors also recently invested in Didi's freight unit.

One of the many auto and tech firms investing heavily in self-driving technology, SoftBank-backed Didi has gained open-road testing licenses in California, Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou. It first began to develop and test autonomous driving vehicles in 2016.

Didi's autonomous driving unit raised over $500 million in May last year.

Toyota overtook Volkswagen Group to become the world's top-selling automaker in 2020 as the slump in demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic hit VW harder.

It was the first time Toyota clinched the position in five years.

Toyota's 2020 group sales, which include those of its subsidiaries Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino, fell 11 percent to 9.53 million units, the company said Thursday.

VW Group's global deliveries declined by 15 percent to 9.31 million, the automaker said on Jan. 13. VW's figure includes sales of the VW, Audi, Porsche, Skoda and Seat brands, as well as its Scania and MAN heavy truck units.

The extent of the automakers' sales losses was largely determined by their level of exposure to the regions most disrupted by the virus.

VW has a strong footprint in the European Union, where passenger car sales fell an "unprecedented" 24 percent to fewer than 10 million in 2020, according to industry association ACEA.

Toyota, on the oth…

TAIPEI -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is "expediting" auto-related products and reallocating capacity, the company said on Thursday, amid a global shortage of auto chips.

Automakers around the world are shutting and slowing assembly lines due to the shortages, which in some cases have been exacerbated by the former U.S. administration's actions against Chinese chip factories.

The shortage has affected automakers including Volkswagen Group, Ford, Subaru, Toyota, Nissan and Stellantis.

Taiwan's economy minister said on Wednesday major Taiwanese chipmakers were willing to prioritize supplies for automakers, after she met senior company executives including from TSMC.

In a statement, TSMC said it was addressing the chip supply "challenges" as their top priority.

"The automotive supply chain is long and complex, and we have worked with our automotive customers and identified their critical needs," the world's largest contract chipmake…

Tesla Inc. is gearing up to launch the first redesign of the Model S sport hatchback since the vehicle went on sale in 2012.

The changes include a major interior update that features a horizontally oriented touch screen, an updated center console and a U-shaped steering wheel, as well as a new screen for the back seat. The exterior also receives minor tweaks.

As part of the update, the automaker added a new Plaid+ trim that starts at $141,190 with a 520-mile range, and a 0 to 60 mph time of less than 1.99 seconds. The base "long range" trim now starts at $81,190 and gets 412 miles to a charge. Prices include $1,200 for shipping.

The Model S long range trim is now roughly $10,000 more expensive than it was in October, when CEO Elon Musk slashed the price to $69,420.

“It’s really a tremendous improvement over the prior version,” Musk said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

The company also updated the Model X crossover with…

Ford Motor Co.'s multimobility subsidiary, Spin, and software company Tortoise announced a partnership Wednesday to launch e-scooters with remote operation, improved safety and repositioning technologies.

The e-scooter is called the Spin S-200. After a rider takes a trip, a remote operations team can reposition the scooter to move it out of the way of pedestrians and traffic. The team can also move a scooter that's been left in a place where it's unlikely to be used for another trip.

A video of the technology can be viewed here.

A pilot in Boise, Idaho, is set to begin in the spring. As many as 300 S-200s will be delivered to the city. The partners plan to bring the scooters to more North American and European cities throughout 2021.

"There has been a lot of fanfare around the potential of remote-controlled e-scooters, but this partnership marks a turning point in tangible operational plans to bring them to city street…