Trade News

Volkswagen of America has hired former American Honda executive Ray Mikiciuk as its new senior vice president of sales.

In the role, Mikiciuk will lead the German brand's sales delivery, operations and planning in the U.S. and will report to Duncan Movassaghi, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Volkswagen of America.

Mikiciuk spent 30 years with American Honda before departing last year as vice president of sales operations. He has since worked as director of manufacturer and industry relations for Victory Automotive Group, where he managed factory relations for the group's 43 dealerships.

Mikiciuk is a graduate of Michigan State University.

WASHINGTON/SEOUL --The U.S. International Trade Commission on Monday delayed a decision in a trade secrets case involving South Korean battery makers LG Chem and SK Innovation to Dec. 10.

LG Chem, an EV battery supplier for Tesla Inc. and General Motors, filed its trade complaints against SK Innovation in April 2019 in the United States over alleged trade secret theft, seeking to block SK from producing battery cells in the United States and importing the components necessary to make the cells.

An adverse ruling by the ITC could lead to the import ban of SK Innovation's batteries and necessary components, potentially causing setbacks for Volkswagen Group and Ford Motor Co. as they move to build new electric vehicles. The automakers have said the dispute between the South Korean battery makers could disrupt supplies of the key EV parts and cost U.S. jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It is clear that this delay has resulted in a longer litigation process…

The Nissan brand scored at the top among non-luxury brands in the 2020 Automotive Reputation Report.

Subaru, Toyota, Ford and Mini rounded out the top five for 2020, the second year for the report.

Reputation.com ranks 18,000 automotive brands and dealerships in the U.S. on a scale of 0 to 1,000 based on visibility, sentiment and engagement.

The scores are measured using online data reviews, listings, search results, social media and customer engagement on Google, Facebook, Cars.com and Edmunds.

The Nissan brand finished with a reputation score of 681 compared with 672 in 2019.

Mazda took the last-place spot, with 25 fewer points than last year at 548, replacing Mitsubishi on the bottom of the non-luxury list.

Lexus was the highest-ranking luxury brand in the U.S. with a 673 score, up one point from 2019.

Tesla ranked in the bottom three with the lowest rate for responding to negative reviews and the lowest engagement scores.…

Tesla Inc. expects capital spending on new plants and equipment to reach the high end of a range from $2.5 billion to $3.5 billion in 2020, according to a regulatory filing.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based maker of electric vehicles also projects that spending could almost double in each of the next two years, rising to a range of $4.5 billion to $6 billion, it said in the quarterly filing disclosed Monday.

Tesla currently has an auto assembly plant in Fremont, Calif., and a newer factory in Shanghai, China. The company has begun construction on new vehicle-assembly facilities in Berlin and Austin, Texas, with plans to begin delivering vehicles from both locations next year.

Tesla shares have risen more than 400 percent this year. The company's shares closed Monday's trading down 35 cents to $420.28.

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.

Alan Haig, president of Haig Partners, provides a glimpse into the firm's upcoming report on industry trends and how they are impacting dealership values and the buy-sell world. From improving economic conditions to soaring dealer profits, Haig remains bullish on the industry's ''amazing'' turnaround.

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Tesla Inc.’s Elon Musk collected the fourth installment of his moonshot award this month, bringing his aggregate haul to $11.8 billion.

The company recently surpassed the performance thresholds for market value and adjusted earnings before adjusted interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to a regulatory filing on Monday, unlocking yet another 8.44 million options for the billionaire CEO.

Following a surge in Tesla’s stock, Musk in May collected the first installment of the massive options award he was granted in 2018. He received the second and third installments in July and September, respectively.

Musk’s complete compensation package -- the largest corporate pay deal ever struck between a CEO and a board of directors -- includes about 101 million options, split into 12 installments, that could yield Musk more than $50 billion if all goals are met, according to the electric carmaker’s estimates. He’s allowed to exercise the options as …

BEIJING -- Polestar will get electric vehicles from a new plant that parent Zhejiang Geely Holding plans to build in China, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Monday.

Geely wants to open a factory with annual capacity of 30,000 premium EVs in the western city of Chongqing, run by a wholly owned, newly registered company, according to documents on its website.

Polestar builds its current models in China in two plants for the local market and for export to Europe and the United States. The low-volume Polestar 1 plug-in hybrid coupe is made in Chengdu and Polestar 2 full-electric sedan is built in Luqiao.

The lineup will be expanded to add an SUV, the Polestar 3. Then will come the production version of the Precept full-electric grand tourer, which Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said will be in development for another three years.

The Precept will be built at a new plant in China, Polestar said last month without giving additi…

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group are set to win European Union approval for their $38 billion merger to create the world's No. 4 automaker, people close to the matter said.

Following feedback from rivals and customers, the automakers only had to tweak the wording of their concessions to EU antitrust regulators, with no changes in the substance, the people said. The companies did not have to use the COVID-19 pandemic to argue for the merger, they added.

To allay concerns that a combined PSA and FCA would have a dominant market share in commercial van sales in Europe, PSA has offered to increase production capacity for Toyota at their Sevelnord van joint venture in France. The plant builds Peugeot Expert and Citroen Jumpy vans, as well as the Toyota ProAce.

PSA and FCA will also allow their dealers in certain cities to repair rival brands.

The European Commission's approval would formalize the creation of Stellantis, a carmaking group that co…

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor swung to a 336 billion won ($297 million) net loss for the July-September quarter, as costs related to engine quality issues and recalls smashed what would otherwise have been strong earnings.

The automaker said it booked 2.1 trillion ($1.9 billion) won to cover charges related to engine defects that increased the risk of stalling and fire.

"Third-quarter results reflect engine-related provision expenses as the company took preemptive measures to ensure customer safety and cover any possible future increase in quality-related expenses," Hyundai said in a statement on Monday.

"We sincerely apologize to our shareholders and investors for having repeated quality cost issues over three quarters since 2018," an executive told an earnings briefing.

The years-long quality problems have cost Hyundai and its affiliate, Kia, nearly $5 billion and left the pair subject to a probe by U.S. authorities over the manner of their recalls. Read more

Even a pandemic can't stop the Wienermobile.

Oscar Mayer briefly sidelined its 300-hp frankfurters in the spring, but the company "decided that being a source of frivolity during trying times is part of its DNA," The New York Times reported last week. So all six Wienermobiles, most of which ride on a Chevrolet chassis with a 6-liter Vortec V-8 under the bun, are back on the road. Now they have masks, plenty of hand sanitizer and less harried schedules.

Hotdoggers, as the drivers are called, have begun spending about two weeks at each destination to reduce the likelihood of spreading the coronavirus along their route. They allow fewer fans to ride in the cab, but they still hand out wiener whistles and other promotional swag.

"As you can imagine, how can you not smile when you see a giant hot dog on wheels rolling down the road, even if it's just playing music and waving out the window? That brightens people's day," Ed Roland, senior …

When COVID-19 made in-person recruiting events impossible, Tom Masano Auto Group in Reading, Pa., got creative.

The group organized a career night this summer to seek out new employees. And it had plenty of positions to fill.

The group, 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia, consists of four operations: a Ford-Lincoln store, a Mercedes-Benz store, a BMW store and a used-vehicle supercenter. Despite the turmoil of the pandemic, the stores needed to recruit a business development center representative, sales specialist, service adviser, vehicle delivery specialist, commercial vehicle sales specialist and vehicle product specialist.

But Tom Masano formatted its June event differently from its usual semiannual recruiting events, which are typically chock-full of meet-and-greets, networking and refreshments. Instead, the gathering took place over Zoom, Kevin Pitts, general manager of BMW of Reading, told Automotive News.

The group advertised the event o…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Somebody’s putting Kia on a fast track

Here's a statistic worth note: Since Kia began selling cars in the U.S. 27 years ago, in 1993, the brand has posted only three annual U.S. sales declines.

It even managed to avoid a drop in the Great Recession year of 2009. And while it will be down for this pandemic year, it's the only brand among the top 10 to limit its slip through September to single digits.

Kia does what it does quietly. Most of you reading this would be hard-pressed to name any U.S. employee. (Here are two: The CEO is Sean Yoon; sales VP is William Peffer.)

But there's one name you should know: Ho Sung Song.

The 58-year-old took over as president of the South Korean parent in April. But he began preparing for the job two years before.

Last week, in his first interview with Western media as president, Song talked with Automotive News about where he's taking Kia globally. He's on a five-yea…