Trade News

DETROIT — A friendly competition designed to spark innovation at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles as employees work from home produced a smartphone app that the company is now releasing to help customers learn about their vehicles.

FCA's "Pitch Night" event during the summer led to the submission of more than 500 ideas related to connectivity and infotainment that were then voted on. The virtual event, borrowing from the "Shark Tank" TV show format in which entrepreneurs pitch ideas to a panel, ended with one winner: an augmented reality app called Know & Go that breaks down key features by having the user simply point the camera at a part of the vehicle.

When looking through the camera, the user will see a name and description overlaid on the particular feature. The upcoming Ram 1500 TRX, due out before the end of the year, is the first vehicle that can be used with the app.

The concept came about after two employees — Feature Innovation Manager Carolina …

After 67 years selling cars and trucks at Ron Lewis Ford in Beaver Falls, Pa., Quentin Strouss had plans for a grand send-off.

He wanted to retire on Oct. 23 — his 90th birthday.

It would be a well-deserved double celebration for a career that started when tail fins were popular, gas was 29 cents a gallon and Elvis Presley was still four months away from recording his first album.

Since walking into the showroom in March of 1953, Strouss' career has entailed two changes in address and one change in ownership. He's been around to witness Ford vs. Ferrari — the real thing in 1966 and the movie in 2019.

He's outlasted 10 CEOs, seven brands and two iterations of the Taurus.

He's sold at least 12,000 vehicles, according to unofficial records. But after giving the calendar a second look, the soon-to-be nonagenarian realized he needed to sell at least one more.

Even after six decades on the job, St…

To get their products in front of consumers' eyeballs, auto dealers often look to TV. And not just traditional broadcast and cable. Auto marketers are vying for a growing number of consumers watching content on streaming services such as Hulu, including on so-called smart TVs and via connected devices such as Apple TV and Amazon's Fire TV Stick.

Known as over-the-top TV, or connected TV when referring to the devices that deliver streaming content, the medium is similar to traditional TV in that it reaches viewers earlier in the shopping process, several marketers told Automotive News. It's also a digital video option that uses data to target consumers in market to buy with more relevant and frequent messages.

The format isn't new. Households for years have used streaming services to complement — even replace — cable or satellite boxes. But the coronavirus pandemic accelerated consumer interest in streaming content as they spent more time at home this spring, a…

Swiss prosecutors froze more than $1 billion held in bank accounts belonging to Bob Brockman, who’s been charged in the U.S. for alleged tax evasion and money laundering. Reynolds and Reynolds Co. announced Friday that Brockman stepped down as CEO and chairman of the dealer management system giant.

A spokeswoman at the Geneva prosecutor’s office said that accounts were frozen but didn’t specify what banks held the funds.

Brockman was indicted in October by U.S. federal prosecutors for allegedly using a network of secret Caribbean entities to evade taxes on $2 billion in investment income in what may be the largest prosecution of its kind in U.S. history. Brockman is accused of using a Bermuda-based family charitable trust and other offshore entities to hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service while failing to pay taxes. He was also charged with money laundering and other crimes.

The case is “the largest-ever tax charge against an individual in the U…

LOS ANGELES — Honda Motor Co. is unifying U.S. auto manufacturing and R&D operations into a new company to respond more quickly to changing consumer tastes, as well as streamlining sales, parts and service field operations to better meet the needs of dealers and customers.

The new company, Honda Development and Manufacturing of America, will "combine all of its automobile manufacturing facilities in the U.S. related to frame, transmission and related engineering and purchasing operations," the automaker said Friday.

The automobile product development operations of Honda R&D Americas will also be integrated into the new company. The unification of Honda's manufacturing operations and merger with product development will take effect April 1, Honda said.

The changes "continue the journey we began last year to become a more lean, nimble and unified company in North America," said Shinji Aoyama, North American operations chief for Honda Motor Co…

TrueCar is looking to shore up revenue from military-related sales due to the sudden end of its USAA business this year.

In the third quarter, the company reported improved net income but lower revenue, which it blamed on the coronavirus pandemic and the loss of the USAA partnership.

TrueCar said in February the partnership with USAA would terminate at the close of the third quarter. It marked the end of a 13-year revenue-sharing partnership, which represented about 29 percent of the vehicles sold by dealers to buyers who connect through the TrueCar marketplace.

TrueCar has since sought to recapture some of that business, launching in May a new program called TrueCar Military.

"Since learning of USAA's decision not to renew our partnership, just days before the February earnings call, we knew we had to move quickly and decisively," TrueCar CEO Mike Darrow said in an earnings call Thursday.

For TrueCar Military, the company has launched a d…

Bob Brockman, who faces federal charges of tax evasion and wire fraud, has stepped down as CEO and chairman of Reynolds and Reynolds Co., the company said Friday.

Tommy Barras, who in June was promoted to president and COO, will take over immediately as CEO of the privately held dealership management system giant, Reynolds said. Barras, 61, will keep the president and COO titles.

A chairman has not yet been named, a Reynolds spokesman said.

"I am both humbled and excited by the opportunity to lead this company," Barras said in a news release. "I have the benefit of the most talented senior executive leadership team with decades of automotive experience to lean on. We also have talented associates who are passionate about the business. That's an unbeatable combination and the future looks very bright."

The company did not release a statement from Brockman.Attorneys for Brockman could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

Brock…

The enduring popularity of pickups and General Motors' significant inventory issues appeared to play large roles in the company's surprise decision to restart vehicle production at its Oshawa, Ontario, assembly plant.

"The bottom line is they need volume, and Oshawa is sitting there," said Jerry Dias, president of the Canadian union Unifor.

GM Canada said Thursday that it would "immediately" invest up to 1.3 billion Canadian dollars ($994 million) in the Oshawa plant to build light-duty and heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups starting in 2022.

The plans are contingent on ratification of a new three-year contract with the union. Virtual ratification voting is set to begin at 11 a.m. Eastern time Sunday, with the results likely to be released Monday.

The pickup assembly plans are a major victory for union leadership, which fought hard against closing the plant in 2018 and 2019 by organizing a blockade of…

Volkswagen Group's board is preparing to sign off on its heavy-truck unit Traton acquiring U.S. manufacturer Navistar International Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.

The VW board is scheduled to meet Saturday to approve the deal, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Traton announced an agreement last month to purchase the remainder of Navistar stock it doesn’t already own for $44.50 a share, which would cost the company about $3.7 billion.

A Traton spokeswoman declined to comment and a Navistar representative didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Navistar, the maker of International branded trucks, is a major player in North America. Traton has coveted the company as a means for the German manufacturer to challenge sector leaders Daimler and Volvo AB on a global scale. The VW unit makes Scania and MAN vehicles and is largely dependent on sales in Europe and Latin America.…

MEXICO CITY -- Volkswagen's Mexico unit has agreed with its local union to extend talks over profit-sharing until January 2021, avoiding the possibility of an imminent strike, the company said in a statement on Friday.

The Independent Union of Automotive Industry Workers for Volkswagen at the start of October had said it would halt operations by Friday if the company did not pay what the union described as a debt dating to a 2015 dispute over profit-sharing benefits.

The pre-strike period will now continue through Jan. 29 to allow time for authorities to issue a definitive resolution to the matter.

"Volkswagen duly guarantees the interests of its workers during this process," the company said.

Volkswagen's plant in the central state of Puebla makes the Taos, Tiguan, Jetta and Golf models for sale in the United States, Mexico and other markets, and is one of the largest auto factories in Mexico.

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.

Paul Wraith, chief designer of the 2021 Ford Bronco, says redesigning the iconic off-road SUV came with risks, challenges and opportunities that forced him to ''dig deeper'' in his pursuit to nail the vehicle's look.

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SHANGHAI -- General Motors plans to sell full-size SUVs in China, and will import a range of models to beef up its product lineup in the world's biggest car market, its China chief told Reuters.

The plan would mark a change of tack for GM, which currently produces all of the vehicles it sells in China within the country, which is set to be the only major economy to grow this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

GM, China's second-biggest foreign automaker, is aiming to offer four models as it looks to improve its brand image and support a sales recovery: Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, Cadillac Escalade and GMC Yukon Denali. All four models are built in the United States.

The automaker is showcasing those models at the China International Import Expo, or CIIE, an annual import show in Shanghai which started on Wednesday and runs into next week.

"Our intention is to get customer reaction and find a way to sell these cars in China," said GM's China chief …