Trade News

Ford Motor Co. is using self-driving cars that it's testing in Miami to deliver fresh produce to families while students are unable to attend school in person.

Through the Food Forests for Schools program, run by the nonprofit Education Fund in Miami-Dade County, Ford has made weekly deliveries to about 50 families over the past two months using Fusion Hybrids. The contactless deliveries are made with employees from Argo AI, Ford's self-driving technology partner, sitting behind the wheel and in the passenger seat, although the cars largely operate in self-driving mode.

Ford says it's the first time it has integrated self-driving technology with a customer-facing partnership.

Package delivery is one way that Ford aims to commercialize self-driving vehicles. The program is helping the automaker gain valuable insight through real-world experiences, such as how long the loading and drop-off processes take and how to handle a variety of …

DETROIT — The Mustang Mach-E could mark a change in the way Ford Motor Co. designs and builds new vehicles.

The upcoming electric crossover's over-the-air update capability allows Ford to continuously make improvements and move away from the traditional method of redesigning a vehicle every five or six years and sprinkling a more modest freshening in between. It's a strategy popularized by Tesla Inc., which hasn't significantly changed the sheet metal or powertrains of some of its older electric vehicles since they were introduced but has boosted performance and battery range through regular software upgrades.

"It gives us that optionality," Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's product development and purchasing boss, said in an interview last month. "I think we now have the ability to make the vehicle physically better for the customer with these OTA updates, and that's something that's game-changing in terms of the business model."

Thai-Tang a…

MILAN -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley is in pole position to take over the top job at Ferrari, Italian daily Il Messaggero said.

Names of possible candidates to lead Ferrari are emerging in the Italian press after the automaker said on Thursday that Louis Camilleri, 65, was retiring as CEO with immediate effect. Camilleri is recovering at home from COVID-19 after a spell in hospital.

Ferrari and FCA Chairman John Elkann, the scion of Italy's Agnelli family, is leading Ferrari on an interim basis until a permanent successor is found.

Elkann, who is CEO of Exor, the family's investment company that controls Ferrari, could entrust the automaker, the family's most valuable asset, to Manley Il Messaggero said in the unsourced report published on Saturday.

Manley's long auto industry experience could revive Ferrari's fortunes in Formula One racing, the paper said. Ferrari has not won a F1 championship race all year and is in 6th place …

Launching a lightweight, high- performance variant of a supercar in the midst of a pandemic might not seem like opportune timing, but McLaren Automotive is finding the opposite with its 765LT.

Despite the 765LT not having a glitzy Geneva auto show introduction — McLaren, like other automakers, had to scramble to host an online reveal after the show was canceled — interest in the 765LT was strong throughout 2020 and the automaker's newest model is sold out.

The coupe's name provides two indicators as to why. The British exotic brand will build just 765 cars, while "LT" refers to Longtail. The nomenclature harks back to McLaren's F1 GTR Longtail race car that ran in the 1997 FIA GT Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The 765LT, based on the 720S coupe, is McLaren's fifth LT production model.

The 675LT coupe launched in 2015 and a 675LT convertible followed in 2016. In 2018, McLaren added the 600LT coupe, and a convertibl…

SA Group CEO Carlos Tavares already had a busy 2020 ahead of him when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He and his teams were preparing for a merger with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to create Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest automaker by volume, and to roll out a full slate of electrified models to meet Europe's new emissions standards.

Tavares, 62, was able to navigate these stormy seas, keeping the merger on track, growing PSA's electrified sales substantially and outperforming rivals by recording an operating profit in the first half despite lockdowns around the world.

Tavares spoke with Automotive News Europe Associate Publisher and Editor Luca Ciferri and News Editor Peter Sigal via video chat about how these challenges were overcome and what is ahead for Stellantis. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: You have said the COVID-19 pandemic boosted the rationale to create Stellantis. Have there been any side effects from the crisis on the agreement?

A: …

Consumers, particularly those younger than 30, are spending more time on social media during the pandemic. But many dealerships have yet to venture beyond Facebook to apps such as Snapchat that have become a haven for millennials and Generation Z.

Data shows that the age groups drawn to Snapchat aren't shying away from the car market. Millennials and Generation Z were the only two segments for which vehicle registrations rose from the first quarter of 2020 to the second quarter, according to an Experian study. Snapchat says it reaches 75 percent of Americans born from 1981 through 2010 who make up those two generations.

Jeff Gonzales, CEO of marketing company AET Automotive, said dealerships that invest in Snapchat tend to have little competition at the moment. Most are active on Facebook, where there are plenty of baby boomers and Generation X consumers, but Snapchat is still largely uncharted territory, he said.

Gonzales said hi…

DETROIT — The impending release of COVID-19 vaccines has automakers and suppliers working on distribution plans for employees.

Automakers said they are waiting for direct instruction from government officials as they prepare for the release of vaccines by Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. and other producers.The Wall Street Journal reported that many industries are fighting for priority as the vaccine awaits approval by the Food and Drug Administration. The expectation is the vaccine will primarily go first to front-line health care workers and long-term care facility residents.

The Detroit 3, in statements Friday, said they are working on ways to get employees access to the vaccine once it becomes available. They are in close contact with health officials.

Ford Motor Co. said the primary vaccination focus will be on its essential workers, including those in manufacturing plants, warehouses, workplace-dependent employees and those required…

Legislation pending in Michigan that would limit direct vehicle sales in the state has narrowed to remove an exemption for Tesla, a change that major automakers say softened their earlier opposition to the bill.

Its chances of passing, however, are not certain in the waning days of Michigan's two-year legislative term. The amended bill passed the state House this month, but it was pulled from consideration in a state Senate committee this week. The Michigan Senate has no plans to extend session days beyond Dec. 17, a spokeswoman for the Republican Senate majority leader told Automotive News, nor has the chamber made a final decision on whether the bill will come up for a vote.

Bills not passed by the end of the year are considered dead and must be reintroduced in the new term that starts in January.

If the narrower version is signed into law, opponents say it leaves Michigan vulnerable to more litigation — both from Tesla and from startup electric vehic…

Nissan will reorganize its sales offices in the U.S. as the automaker adjusts for declining sales and the pandemic.

Nissan Division will close its Mid-Atlantic region office in Herndon, Va., on April 1. The move will follow the shutting of the automaker's Northwest and Mountain offices in July.

"We're looking to streamline our operations because we want to become more efficient and agile," Judy Wheeler, Nissan division vice president of sales and regional operations in the U.S., said Friday. "This is an opportunity for us to do that."

Nissan Division's U.S. sales tumbled 38 percent to 597,064 vehicles in the first nine months of the year, in an overall market that fell 18 percent.

But the expansion of remote working in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is also playing a role in Nissan's decision to shrink it sales office footprint.

"We've learned a lot during this pandemic of how you can do business," Wheeler…