Trade News

TOKYO — Jeep, the American off-road icon that is booming in Japan, expects to notch another Japanese sales record on its way to boosting volume here by nearly half over the next three years.

The rapid expansion plan, rolled out Thursday, Jan. 14, by FCA Japan CEO Pontus Häggström, leans heavily on building out Jeep's dealer network to at least 100 outlets in Japan through 2023, from 82 today.

Over the next three years, Jeep wants to sell more than 20,000 vehicles annually in this notoriously finicky market, up from a record 13,588 in 2020. That total marked the seventh straight year of record sales in Japan for FCA's stalwart four-wheeling brand.

Despite the pandemic, Jeep's Japan sales notched a 1.7 percent increase in 2020. And Häggström forecast that sales will surge to 15,000 in 2021 as demand bounces back.

Jeep's success in the country underscores how a U.S. automaker can thrive in Japan with the right product and sales network. As Jeep surge…

DETROIT — BrightDrop, General Motors' first new U.S. vehicle brand in more than two decades, aims to reclaim ground in the commercial-van segment long dominated by Ford Motor Co. and accelerate electric vehicle adoption beyond individual consumers.

FedEx will be BrightDrop's first customer for its EV600 van late this year.

"The commercial sector, like the retail segment, is shifting to electric, and it's an opportunity for GM to perhaps be a big player," said David Whiston, senior equity analyst for Morningstar.

GM has committed to spend $27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicle development and launch 30 EVs globally through 2025. Executives have hinted at commercial EVs over the past several months, but the EV600 is the first one the automaker has confirmed. GM said late Friday that it plans to build the van at its Ingersoll, Ontario, assembly plant starting in November. The automaker said it would spend $787 million (C$1 billion) to retool the pl…

Stellantis is here, and that means some of the seven brands that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is bringing to the table might not be around for much longer.

The high points of the post-merger blueprint in North America are no secret: Churn out as many Ram pickups as possible and push Jeep into higher price points and new segments.

But Stellantis executives will have to figure out how the rest of FCA's expansive brand roster fits into the long-term puzzle and whether cuts need to be made.

Chrysler is down to two minivan nameplates and the aging 300 sedan. Alfa Romeo is seeing signs of life — its U.S. sales grew 1.6 percent in a down market last year — but volumes are low for the Giulia sedan and Stelvio crossover.

Fiat has been hanging on with its line of small cars, but its slowing sales have dropped even further amid the pandemic, falling by more than half last year to just 4,303 vehicles. Meanwhile, Dodge has carved ou…

DETROIT — An unidentified quality issue is affecting the launch of one of Ford Motor Co.'s most anticipated new vehicles.

The company said it is holding onto "several hundred" Mustang Mach-E crossovers to perform extra inspections and engineering analysis that could delay delivery to customers in the U.S. and Canada by up to 8 weeks.

"As part of our commitment to delivering high-quality vehicles, we are conducting additional quality checks on several hundred Mustang Mach-E models built before dealer shipments started last month," Ford spokeswoman Emma Bergg said. "We want to ensure they meet the quality our customers expect and deserve."

She declined to elaborate on what specifically was at issue. The crossover is assembled in Cuautitlan, Mexico.

While delivery dates could be pushed back by as much as 8 weeks, Bergg said the delay could be "much less."

"The team is working to expedite these vehicles, and w…

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. on Saturday will begin running new 30- and 60-second ads that stress unity following riots this month at the U.S. Capitol that left 5 dead.

Called "Builders," the spots focus on the ability of Americans to come together and create, featuring images of construction workers, nurses, firefighters and other volunteers.

"Look to the builders," actor and pitchman Bryan Cranston says in the commercials. "No matter what goes wrong in this country, they're out there. Follow their lead. The ones serving and building others up…Look to the people who don't give up on their principles when times get tough."

The ads do not make direct mention of the Jan. 6 riots, in which supporters of President Donald Trump broke into the Capitol building attempting to stop Congress from certifying the results of the Nov. 3 election. But they were produced less than a week after the attack by New York ad firm Wieden+Kennedy using scenes from previous Ford …

MILAN -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group completed their $52 billion tie-up and formally merged into Stellantis on Saturday.

The merger will create an auto group with combined annual sales of around 8.1 million vehicles and deep enough pockets to fund the shift to electric driving and take on bigger rivals Toyota and Volkswagen Group.

"The merger between Peugeot S.A. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. that will lead the path to the creation of Stellantis N.V. became effective today," the two automakers said in a statement.

It took over a year for the Italian-American and French automakers to finalize the deal, during which the global economy was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. They first announced plans to merge in October 2019.

Shares in Stellantis will s…

ES last week came without many of the bells and whistles and celebrity appearances, and none of the in-person experiences that typically make the show both overwhelming and great.

Though far less groundbreaking than a traditional CES, the all-digital show did feature a decent lineup of discussions on electrification, automated vehicles, the many opportunities of air mobility and more.

Here are some highlights.

Two trends were especially clear throughout CES: Policymakers must move quickly to regulate self-driving technology, and gaining consumer trust in it is critical. "In the industry right now, there are a lot of different companies working on different technologies, pursuing different business models," David Quinalty, head of federal policy and government affairs at Waymo, said in a session on who will set the rules for self-driving vehicles. "This innovation and competition is very healthy. It will drive further …

LOS ANGELES — Fans of the beloved rotary engine, rejoice.

While it won't be slotted in a nifty sports car, Mazda plans to bring its first electric vehicle, the MX-30 crossover, to the U.S. with a rotary engine as a range-extending option.

Prior to Mazda's confirmation of the plans this month, the MX-30 was expected to be sold mostly in Japan and Europe, given its modest 35.5-kilowatt-hour battery and 124-mile range.

Mazda first offered a rotary engine — famously compact, lightweight, high-revving and smooth — in the 1960s and hit gold when it began powering the RX-7 sports car in 1978. The engine was dropped in 2012 though Mazda has flirted with and studied a revival seemingly ever since.

The MX-30 launched as an EV in Europe late last year, and it went on sale in Japan as a mild hybrid using an existing Mazda piston engine.

Jeff Guyton, president of Mazda North America Operations, described the U.S. version as an EV with a rotary-engine …

CarMax has pushed the industry in new directions before. Its latest move could prompt others in the highly competitive used-car space to reconsider their return policies.

The nation's largest used-vehicle retailer last week said it was increasing the money-back guarantee on its vehicles to 30 days after purchase, more than quadruple the previous seven. At the same time, CarMax also said it now offers 24-hour test drives for its vehicles.

The move comes as more consumers shop for big-ticket items online. It's CarMax's way of adding a layer of comfort for those who choose to do so, CarMax Chief Marketing Officer Jim Lyski told Automotive News.

"We have really just thought of what are all the ways we can put that customer at ease," Lyski said.

The effort, which is being marketed as CarMax's "Love Your Car Guarantee," was borne from extensive research, Lyski said. That research found that 63 percent of shoppers said they needed more than seven days …