Trade News

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced she is resigning from President Donald Trump’s cabinet after supporters of the president breached the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in protest of his election loss.

“Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the president stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed,” Chao said in a statement on Twitter. “As I’m sure is the case with many of you it has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside.”

Chao said she is resigning as of Jan. 11 and will help her announced successor, former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who was nominated by President-elect Joe Biden.

She is the first cabinet secretary to announce her departure after the events and joins a growing list of administration officials who have stepped down with two weeks before the end of Trump’s term, including former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who …

Cox Automotive Inc.'s Pivet unit will provide cleaning and maintenance services for the self-driving cars of Motional, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Co. and auto supplier Aptiv .

According to theagreement announced Thursday, Cox said Pivet will coordinate daily, weekly and monthly cleaning and disinfection as well as provide mechanical support to Motional's self-driving fleet in Las Vegas.

"This partnership will enable our expansion as we bring driverless technology to more people in more cities," said Gretchen Effgen, vice president of Motional.

In December, Lyft Inc. and Motional said they planned to launch a multi-city U.S. robotaxi service in 2023.

Lucid Motors Inc. is in talks with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to build an electric vehicle factory potentially near the Red Sea city of Jeddah, according to people familiar with the matter.

The move would mark a significant expansion for Newark, Calif.,-based Lucid. Saudi Arabia is trying to become a Middle Eastern hub for manufacturing EVs as it diversifies its economy from oil.

The $360 billion Public Investment Fund, already a shareholder in Lucid, will provide much of the money for the site at the King Abdullah Economic City, the people said, asking not be named because the discussions are private. Plans are advanced but could change, the people said. PIF and Lucid have also considered Neom, a new city being developed in the northwest of Saudi Arabia, as a possible site for the plant.

Lucid is one of a several U.S. companies seeking to take on Tesla Inc. The startup is targeting the luxury end of the EV market and its CEO, Peter Rawlinson, …

Volvo Car Corp.’s China sales rose 7.6 percent to 166,300 in 2020 as a sustained rebound since April enabled the Swedish carmaker to overcome a 31 percent first-quarter decline caused by the coronavirus outbreak. 

In December, Volvo delivered 18,547 vehicles in China, a jump of 10 percent from a year earlier, Volvo’s China unit said this week.

The XC60 crossover remained Volvo’s top-selling model in the market last year, with deliveries reaching 61,616. 

It was followed by the S90 sedan, the XC40 crossover, the S60 sedan and the XC90 SUV, which generated respective volumes of 35,631, 22,660, 21,681 and 17,376, according to Volvo China. 

Volvo is the second luxury automotive brand to release 2020 sales figures for China. Earlier this week, General Motors said Cadillac deliveries rose 7.9 percent to top 230,000 last year.

With the promotion this week of Lisa Materazzo to group vice president for marketing at Toyota Motor North America, 2015 Automotive News Rising Star Vinay Shahani has taken over Materazzo's previous position as head of marketing for Lexus.

Shahani, 46, who previously was vice president of integrated marketing operations at the company, joined Toyota in 2017 from Volkswagen of America, where he was senior vice president and chief marketing officer. He also previously worked for Nissan North America.

In the Lexus role, Shahani leads marketing for the luxury brand, including strategy, communications and media, product marketing, incentives and motorsports.

Shahani was named a Rising Star while with Volkswagen.

In December, Materazzo was named group vice president for marketing at Toyota Motor North America, effective Jan. 4, succeeding longtime executive Ed Laukes, who retired.

DETROIT — Jeep's Grand Cherokee will offer a third-row option by midyear, broadening the SUV's reach into a competitive segment.

The three-row model, scheduled to be revealed Thursday, will be known as the Grand Cherokee L. Jeep said production will start this quarter and that the vehicles will begin reaching dealerships in the second quarter.

By adding optional third-row seating to its top seller, Jeep is expected to shake up the large crossover market now dominated by the Ford Explorer, Toyota Highlander, Chevrolet Traverse and Volkswagen Atlas, and newer entries such as the Hyundai Palisade and Kia Telluride. The large utility segment shrank 0.6 percent last year but still generated U.S. sales of just over 1 million.

A redesigned two-row Grand Cherokee and "4xe" electrified version are scheduled to be launched later this year, Jeep said. The automaker has said previously the smaller version would arrive in the third quarter.

The Grand Cherokee…

Industry executives and groups representing the nation's manufacturers and union workers spoke out against the violent actions of a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol Building on Wednesday, temporarily halting the certification of president-elect Joe Biden's victory.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly told his supporters that the election was "rigged," despite the U.S. Justice Department stating that no evidence of widespread voter fraud has been found that would alter the outcome.

UAW President Rory Gamble referred to the incident as a "very sad day for our nation and our democracy" and condemned the violence at the Capitol that left at least one civilian dead.

"We cannot take our system of government for granted, and we must be vigilant to ensure that our democracy maintains its historical position as the gold standard for freedom and liberty," Gamble said in a statement. "Today's actions must not be allowed to alter that."

General Motors CEO …

LONDON -- Honda will restart output at its British factory Thursday after it was halted for two days due to global supply delays, a spokesman said.

Major automakers operate just-in-time manufacturing, meaning some parts arrive moments before they are fitted to vehicles.

Honda built just under 110,000 Civic cars in Swindon in 2019. Honda is closing the plant permanently in July as part of a global restructuring.

Honda also suspended production at the plant for a few days in December as some major container ports, such as Felixstowe, struggled to cope with disruption caused by COVID-19, pre-Brexit stockpiling and Christmas.

Honda's European sales fell 35 percent to 72,421 in the first 11 months of 2020, according to JATO Dynamics market researchers.

Much like the phrase "horseless carriage" fell from favor in describing motorized vehicles, might "self-driving" someday be replaced with a better way to delineate cars controlled by computers?

Waymo would like to leave "self-driving" for the history books. Starting Wednesday, the Google subsidiary said it will leave the term in its rearview mirror. Instead, Waymo says it will refer to its technology as "fully autonomous driving technology."

"This is more than just a branding or linguistic exercise," the company said in a written statement. "Unfortunately, we see that some automakers use the term 'self-driving' in an inaccurate way, giving consumers and the general public a false impression of the capabilities of driver-assist (not fully autonomous) technology."

Clearly, Waymo is seeking to emphasize differences between itself and Tesla, which has muddied the language around autonomy by using "feature complete," "full self-driving" a…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. light-vehicle sales fell 10 percent in the fourth quarter, even as the automaker began deliveries of new nameplates it hopes will buoy sales in 2021. For the full year, the company's sales fell 15 percent to 2.03million.

In addition to the continuing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Ford navigated a number of launches in the year's final months, including the Bronco Sport crossover in November, followed by the Mustang Mach-E and a redesigned F-150 pickup in December. To date, Ford has sold 5,120 Bronco Sports and three Mach-Es.

Those early deliveries helped overall SUV sales, which rose 4.7 percent in the quarter. Truck sales fell 13 percent while car sales plummeted 42 percent.

Because of the pandemic's effect on vehicle production, Ford never built up an adequate supply of 2020 F-150s heading into the changeover to the redesigned model, which hurt pickup sales, according to Erich Merkle, head of U.S. s…

Ralph Paglia, a dealership software advocate known affectionately to industry insiders as the "godfather of automotive digital marketing," died Dec. 21 of complications caused by COVID-19, his daughter confirmed to Automotive News. He was 63.

Paglia was director of digital marketing for ADP Dealer Services, departing before it became CDK Global Inc. in 2014. He worked at two dealerships in his career and briefly at Reynolds and Reynolds. He had been working as an automotive digital marketing consultant since 2013.

Paglia's belief that the Internet would become a dominant force in retail was prophetic, Dale Pollak, former auto dealer and founder of inventory management software vAuto, said in a blog post.

"Ralph instantly understood how retail market-based pricing would benefit the dealership's desire to connect customers with used cars online," Pollak said. "He wasn't just one of the good guys, he was a great guy. His loss is our …

Chevrolet's freshenings of the Equinox and Traverse crossovers will launch this year after pandemic-related delays in 2020.

"Both of those were delayed a bit due to resource reallocation, but they're going to be a big part of our plans for '21," Steve Majoros, vice president of Chevrolet marketing, told reporters Wednesday.

The 2022 Equinox, which is slated to launch this summer, will get an RS trim option. That trim has been popular on the Trailblazer and Blazer. In the third quarter of 2020, Trailblazer RS orders more than doubled Chevy's forecast, and Blazer RS orders nearly doubled the forecast, a Chevy spokeswoman said at the time.

The compact crossover will also have redesigned front and rear fascias, new LED headlamps and a more aggressive grille, Chevy says.

Sales of the Equinox, Chevy's second-highest seller behind the Silverado pickup, fell 22 percent in 2020 to 270,994.

The 2022 Traverse, due in t…