Trade News

Great Wall Motor Co., a leading Chinese light-truck maker, broke ground in late November on an engine factory on a site adjacent to its vehicle assembly plant in central Russia’s Tula Oblast region. 

The new factory is the first step toward localizing production of key components for vehicles produced at the Russian assembly plant, Great Wall said. 

The engine factory, due to start production in 2022, can initially produce up to 80,000 engines a year, the company added. 

Great Wall in 2019 opened the vehicle assembly plant in Russia, its first vehicle production site outside of China. The plant builds Great Wall’s Haval-badged H7 crossover and H9 SUV. 

The private Chinese automaker, further expanding its global footprint, acquired General Motors’ assembly plant in Rayong in eastern Thailand last month. 

After renovation, the Thai factory will reopen sometime in the first quarter of 2021 to build right-hand-drive pic…

WILMINGTON, Del. -- President-elect Joe Biden touted the diversity of his incoming administration as he introduced former rival Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday as his choice for U.S. transportation secretary to take the lead in upgrading America's aging infrastructure.

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., would be the first openly gay cabinet secretary confirmed by the Senate if he is approved.

"The Biden-Harris cabinet will be a historic cabinet -- a cabinet that looks like America, a cabinet that taps into the best of America, a cabinet that is opening doors and breaking down barriers and accessing the full range of talent ... in this nation," Biden said as he puts forth what is shaping up to be the most diverse cabinet in U.S. history.

Appearing with Buttigieg in Wilmington, Del., Biden said the 38-year-old would confront the task of restoring what he called "our crumbling roads, bridges and ports." Biden has proposed a massive boost in infras…

General Motors will invest $76 million in two plants in New York and Ohio to meet full-size pickup demand, the automaker said this week.

GM will commit $70 million to its Tonawanda, N.Y., engine plant to increase capacity on the engine block machining line. At the Parma, Ohio, metal stamping plant, the investment will go toward building four metal assembly cells to support increased pickup production volume, GM said in a statement.

"GM continues to invest to strengthen our core business and respond to growing customer demand for our full-size pickups," Phil Kienle, GM vice president of North America manufacturing and labor relations, said in the statement. "Our Tonawanda and Parma teams are dedicated to building world-class products for our customers and these investments reflect our confidence in these teams."

The investments will support production at the Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant, according to a person familiar with the deta…

Nikola Corp., an electric-truck startup, plans to enter into an agreement with an Arizona utility to supply cheap electricity it needs to produce hydrogen for a planned fueling network.

The proposed contract between Nikola and Arizona Public Service Co., a unit of Pinnacle West Capital Corp., was disclosed in a Dec. 11 filing requesting approval from Arizona utility regulators.

The deal would mark a significant step for a startup that’s faced a series of setbacks since going public in June and whose business plan rests on being able to produce hydrogen fuel cheaply. Nikola shares closed Wednesday's trading up 3.2 percent to $17.

In an April filing, Nikola outlined an estimated cost of producing hydrogen at around $2.50 per kilogram, which it based on securing wholesale electricity at a rate of 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour. The rate APS proposes is around 2.7 cents per kilowatt hour.

“This rate schedule enables Nikola’s planned deployment of fueling…

Joe Finn, CEO of the Irvin Products business of supplier Piston Group, is also assuming leadership of Piston's Detroit Thermal Systems business.

Finn, 53, takes the helm effective immediately. Former Detroit Thermal Systems CEO Kurt Hall, 62, retired in November, Piston Group said Wednesday.

Piston Group, based in suburban Detroit, is controlled by former NBA star Vinnie Johnson. Johnson led the acquisition of Irvin from scandal-ridden Japanese airbag supplier Takata Corp. in 2016 for a reported $175 million.

Irvin Products primarily supplies seat covers, visors, armrests, consoles and custom accessories. Detroit Thermal Systems supplies climate control systems and components.

Both work extensively with Ford, the group's largest customer. Under one executive, Detroit Thermal Systems will benefit from Irvin's other customer relationships with Fiat Chrysler, General Motors, Honda Motor Co. and Tesla, according to the group.

Finn joined Irvin …

The second-generation Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell sedan arrives in the U.S. this month with more luxurious styling, a longer range and a significantly lower starting price than its predecessor.

The 2021 Mirai XLE trim starts at $50,495, Toyota said in a press release Wednesday, which is $8,985 less than the outgoing 2020 model, when factoring in shipping. The Limited starts at $66,995, including shipping. The new two-trim strategy lowers the barrier of entry for customers by adding a lower-priced version — the previous generation had only one trim.

XLE lease offers will start at $499 a month, while Limited leasing starts at $549. Toyota will offer launch incentives, including special finance rates, retail cash back and launch cash back.

The 2021 Mirai is built on Toyota's GA-L modular platform for luxury rear-wheel-drive cars. The XLE has an EPA-estimated range of 402 miles, a 30 percent improvement over the outgoing version. The…

Automotive sales will pick up in 2021, credit bureau TransUnion predicts, though primarily for customers with prime and above credit. As the U.S. economy continues to muscle through the deadly coronavirus pandemic, nonprime customers will steadily vanish from the market.

This slowdown in nonprime originations isn't likely to stem from auto lenders tightening their underwriting practices, said Satyan Merchant, senior vice president and automotive business leader at TransUnion. Rather, a slowdown in demand from consumers in these credit tiers will curtail purchases in the new year.

Subprime automotive balances reached historic lows in the spring as the economy buckled under shelter-in-place orders and unemployment rates not seen since the 1930s. Strong consumer demand and aggressive automaker incentives drove sales and profits in the second half of the year, though consumers in the lower credit tiers were largely left out of the recovery.

Xpeng Inc., the Chinese electric-vehicle maker that’s surged since its August U.S. stock listing, has started entering the European auto market with an initial batch of deliveries to Norway.

The Guangzhou-based company has begun handing over the first 100 of its G3 sport utility vehicles to customers in the country where EVs have seized a dominant market share. The model starts from 358,000 krone ($41,000).

Xpeng will enter more nations in Europe but will spend the next 12 months deciding where to go next and laying the groundwork for sales, President and Vice Chairman Brian Gu said in an interview.

“In the long run, if you want to be a successful EV company, you have to be a global one,” Gu said. “We’re starting the effort to build our presence, doing limited testing in certain markets and treating this as a very long-term strategy.”

Xpeng and Chinese peers Nio Inc. and Li Auto Inc. are among EV companies catching a slipstream behind Tesla Inc. t…

Join Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for a daily podcast series about the coronavirus crisis. He’ll speak with industry experts, insiders and Automotive News reporters about how the virus is impacting and reshaping the automotive industry.

Galpin Motors President Beau Boeckmann says business has stayed strong at the Los Angeles-area dealership group despite lower sales volume, fewer customers in showrooms and a second wave of shutdowns in California.

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A federal judge is weighing a request to move the tax fraud case against former Reynolds and Reynolds Co. CEO Bob Brockman closer to his home in Houston.

Attorneys for Brockman, who until last month was chairman and CEO of the Dayton, Ohio, dealership management system provider, expanded on arguments they made in earlier court filings during a hearing Tuesday — namely, that government prosecutors have not alleged that Brockman personally committed any criminal acts in the Northern District of California, where the indictment against Brockman was filed, and the judge should give weight to Brockman's age and failing health when making a decision.

Prosecutors oppose transferring the case to U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where Brockman's lawyers want it to be tried, and say California is the correct venue for all of the charges filed against Brockman.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup did not rule on the change-of-venue request duri…

WASHINGTON -- Honda Motor Co. said Tuesday it is recalling 1.4 million vehicles in the U.S. under four separate campaigns, including some linked to reported fires.

The Japanese automaker said one recall covers 268,000 2002-06 model year CR-V crossovers to replace power window master switches. Honda said there had been no reported injuries, but 16 fires reported related to the issue.

Honda conducted a prior recall of the power window master switches in 2012. The new recall is in response to moisture-related failures of switches repaired under the previous action.

Honda is also recalling about 735,000 2018-20 Accord and 2019-20 Insight vehicles to update the body control module software. A programming flaw could disrupt communication causing illumination of several warning lights and malfunction of electronic components, it said.

Honda is also issuing two recalls covering 430,000 Acura and Honda vehicles in 22 U.S. states to inspect and potentially …