Trade News

Striking workers at a Constellium aluminum parts plant near Detroit and a Clarios battery plant near Toledo both ratified new contract agreements Friday.

Union members at the Constellium plant in Van Buren Township, Mich., represented by UAW Local 174, ended the strike that began May 17. The plant supplies aluminum components to Ford.

Workers at the Clarios plant in Holland, Ohio, members of UAW Local 12, had been on strike since May 8. The plant supplies batteries to General Motors and Ford.

UAW President Shawn Fain called both strikes successes during a Facebook Live event Friday morning.

The Clarios rank-and-file voted on a tentative agreement Friday that the company and bargaining committee reached Tuesday after just one day of negotiations. It passed with 78 percent voting for and 22 percent against.

It was the third vote on an agreement. Members voted down the first proposed agreement at the end of April, before the strike began. Th…

Nikola Corp. said on Friday it would lay off a total of 270 employees, as the electric-truck maker looks to cut costs and sharpen its focus on the North American marketplace.

Of the 270 employees impacted, 150 were supporting Nikola's European operations and 120 were based at its sites in Phoenix and Coolidge, Ariz.

The decision would help Nikola reduce personnel-related cash spend by $50 million annually, the company said.

Annual cash usage for the company was expected to decrease to under $400 million by 2024, Nikola added.

Nikola's financial troubles are not unique among several EV startups.

Trust and familiarity remain barriers to car shoppers accepting autonomous driving technology, according to a spring 2023 S&P Global Mobility consumer survey.

A survey of 8,000 car shoppers worldwide showed "semi-autonomous driving features" are not yet trusted by consumers, while "automated safety features" are gaining traction.

Consumers displayed understanding and desire for advanced driver assistance systems features. Respondents expected ADAS to be standard in new luxury and mainstream vehicles, yet expressed hesitancy to the use of "autonomous driving systems."

Many automated safety features polled in the 80th percentile range, while 61 percent of 7,732 respondents expressed interest in "self-driving." The survey showed self-driving as the least desirable ADAS feature listed in the survey.

The five most-desired ADAS features improve safety, according to S&P. Blind spot warning is the most desired feature — wanted by 83 percent of c…

DETROIT — New Cadillac boss John Roth is preparing to hit the road to meet with dealers as he works to shape his vision for the future of General Motors' luxury brand.

Roth took over as vice president of global Cadillac on June 1, succeeding Rory Harvey, who was promoted to president of North America with the retirement of Steve Carlisle. Roth will lead the brand as it aims to electrify its lineup by 2030, led by the Lyriq midsize electric crossover that went on sale last year.

"I was with our national dealer council last week having a direct conversation: 'These are my initial observations; tell me where you think we are,' " he told Automotive News after a briefing Friday about the refreshed XT4 compact crossover.

"My message to them is, 'OK, we're here. Where do we go next if you want to keep climbing that hill and making sure that you raise the bar each and every day?' " Roth said. "We have a great dealer network that'll push you and help you do what…

Stellantis is no longer stocking gasoline-only vehicles in 14 states that follow emissions guidelines set by the California Air Resources Board. Ashwani Gupta is out as Nissan's COO. Plus, service director Damon Egan talks about how a company book club helped improve his service department's performance.

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KC Crain, left, Automotive News Group publisher, catches up with Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo at the Automotive News Europe Congress in Paris last week. De Meo outlined how he turned around the French automaker, which suffered an $8.6 billion loss in the first half of 2020 before his arrival in July that year.

The Automotive News Europe Rising Stars Class of 2023 accepted their awards during a gala event.

Automotive News Europe News Editor Peter Sigal, right, moderates a panel on New Distribution Models in Europe with, from left, Lars Himmer of Semler Gruppen, Mathais Holst of Lynk & Co and Steve Young of ICDP Limited.

Automotive News Europe Managing Editor Douglas A. Bolduc, left, moderates "The Road to Sustainable Battery Production, Assembly and Usage" panel, with, from second from left, PowerCo SE's Sebastian Wolf, Ascend Elements' Anna Sosnowik, Rio Tinto's Colin MacKey and Valeo's Pascale Herman.

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi in convers…

TOKYO – Nissan Motor Co. is bracing for more management upheaval with the departure of COO Ashwani Gupta, the executive who spearheaded the company’s revitalization plan but was sometimes at odds with the carmaker’s CEO, its board and its alliance partner Renault.

Gupta, once tipped as a future chief executive of Japan’s No.3 automaker, will leave Nissan effective June 27 “to pursue other opportunities,” the company said in a June 16 statement.

Nissan holds its annual shareholders’ meeting that day, and the Yokohama-based company said it would announce a new executive lineup, including Gupta’s replacement, then.

Gupta became COO of Nissan in December 2019, amid unprecedented turmoil at the company following the arrest and firing of longtime CEO and Chairman Carlos Ghosn the previous year.

Gupta led a fitful recovery plan, as Nissan’s sales, profit and share price plunged in the wake of Ghosn’s ouster and amid unraveling relations with Renault. Wh…

Stellantis' venture capital fund said Thursday it is investing in 10 technology and sustainability startups

Stellantis Ventures is also investing in a mobility venture fund that it has not named.

The automaker launched the venture capital arm in March 2022 as part of Stellantis' Dare Forward 2030 plan. The unit has $326.5 million to distribute to startups. The specific amounts of each investment have not been disclosed.

Three of the projects supported will launch this year. They are:

1. Nauto uses artificial intelligence-equipped dashboard cameras to predict high-risk activities such as distracted or drowsy driving. The system offers predictive collision alerts and driver behavior alerts. Nauto's safety system will be available this summer on Stellantis' commercial fleets.

2. Trails Offroad produces off-road trail guides that can be loaded into Jeep's Uconnect infotainment system. There are 3,000 guides in Trails Offroad's digital library.…

New vehicle demand from U.S. retail and commercial customers is outpacing expectations, two top Detroit auto executives said on Thursday.

Their positive comments underscored an upbeat report by the U.S. Commerce Department that showed U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in May as consumers bought more motor vehicles and a range of other goods.

"If the consumer remains at this strength, we could significantly outperform what we said" about full-year performance, General Motors CFO Paul Jacobson told a Deutsche Bank investor conference.

Ford Motor Co. CFO John Lawler, in a separate interview at the conference, said "the consumer is hanging in there" while noting continued strength and "pricing power" in the company's Ford Pro commercial business.

The comments from the two CFOs marked a shift from earlier in the year when many economists and some auto sector executives were bracing for a U.S. recession.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk in January forecas…

Tesla has regained its rapid sales momentum in the U.S. during the first four months of 2023 after deep price cuts. TrueCar replaces its CEO and cuts nearly a quarter of its workforce. Plus, Gartner Vice President and Analyst Mike Ramsey talks about why he’s skeptical of a bill that would force carmakers to keep AM radio in all future vehicles.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a measure prohibiting most direct-to-consumer vehicle sales, but certain provisions will allow Tesla to continue to operate its franchiseless model.

It was thought by some the bill would be a threat to Tesla's alternative method of online and retail location sales. However, the bill only prohibits automakers from selling directly if they have a franchise agreement in place.

Ted Smith, president of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association, said the provision will not encroach on digital innovation at stores but instead ensure legacy automakers cannot bypass dealerships.

"In doing that, we made a clear delineation between a manufacturer that has never had dealers and maybe never will, and those who have been heavily dependent upon their dealerships to be their marketing and sales presence in Florida," Smith said.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group in Washington, D.C., believes making t…

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