Trade News

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.

Deborah Wince-Smith, CEO of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, examines the state of manufacturing in the U.S. and explains how the pandemic is exposing security vulnerabilities in the supply chain.

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Automakers are investing billions of dollars to bring new electric vehicles to consumers in the U.S. and other global markets, but their success hinges on securing the most critical and expensive component: the battery.

A handful of companies based in China, Japan and South Korea make automotive-grade battery cells, which has upset the traditional dynamic between automakers and suppliers. These battery giants -- though little known to the general public and relatively new to the auto industry’s sprawling supply chain -- are key to manufacturers’ goals of bringing dozens of new EV models to U.S. showrooms by 2025.

“There are not enough batteries to fulfill the automakers’ near-term promises,” said Sam Jaffe, managing director of Cairn ERA, an energy-storage consulting firm in Boulder, Colo. “A lot of new battery factories are being built. But there is a battery-supply problem in the near term. All of the incumbent automakers are scrambling at this point.”

STOCKHOLM -- Sweden's Autoliv, the world's largest producer of airbags and seatbelts, reported higher than expected quarterly earnings on Friday as it returned to profit in the wake of a plunge in car production due to the pandemic.

Autoliv reported a third-quarter operating profit of $175 million compared with a $154 million profit in the year-ago quarter and a mean forecast of $163 million based on a poll of analysts published by the company.

On an adjusted basis, operating earnings were $206 million in the quarter, up from a year-ago $183 million.

The rival of ZF and Joyson Safety Systems also said that for the full year it expected to further outperform global light vehicle production during a "very busy" fourth quarter for order intake.

"The worst demand decline on record in the second quarter was followed by a faster than expected recovery in the third quarter, with its challenges of managing the supply chain," CEO Mikael Bratt said in the …

PARIS – Faurecia said revenue fell by 7 percent in the third quarter to 3.9 billion euros ($4.62 billion), a better result than expected, fueled by strong growth in China. 

The French supplier has upgraded its second-half guidance on sales, profitability and net cash flow, CEO Patrick Koller said in a statement Friday.

"Our sales in Q3 were better than previously expected. Despite ongoing uncertainty related to the COVID-19, we are now more confident about worldwide automotive production in the second half of the year that should drop only in the mid-single digits vs. the second half of 2019," Koller said in a statement.

Faurecia’s sales fell by 19.7 percent in the first quarter, as coronavirus restrictions first affected its China business, and by 50 percent in the second quarter, as lockdowns spread to Europe and North America.

Koller said sales in September were up 1.2 percent compared with the same month in 2019. He said Faurecia was expe…

Nissan North America is repositioning some senior leaders as the automaker works on a turnaround of the U.S. business.

Two top executives will swap roles as part of the reorganization, Nissan told dealers Thursday in an email obtained by Automotive News. Nissan confirmed the moves, which take effect Nov. 1.

Judy Wheeler, 58, will oversee U.S. sales and be tasked with shoring up the brand's retail operations. In the first nine months, Nissan Division's U.S. sales tumbled 38 percent compared with the same period a year ago.

In her new role as division vice president of sales and regional operations in the U.S., Wheeler will run the field sales organization and lead sales operations, distribution, fleet and certified pre-owned sales.

For Wheeler, the new role is familiar. She was division vice president for U.S. sales before taking her present role as division vice president of Dealer Network Development & Customer Quality in 2018.

David …

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a review of decade-old pension cuts to some retirees at a former General Motors parts unit.

Trump's memo ordered the head of the Treasury, Commerce and Labor departments to "address" cuts to non-union retiree pension payments within 90 days at Delphi Corp. after the pension plan was turned over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp in 2009.

The cuts impacted about 20,000 salaried retirees, including many in Ohio, a key state in the 2020 presidential election.

Delphi was reorganized after several years of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and company no longer exists under that name. In 2018, it spun off its powertrain business into a new company called Delphi Technologies, which earlier this month was acquired by BorgWarner Inc. The supplier's existing automotive technology business was renamed Aptiv in 2017 and the company retained that name after the spinoff.

FRANKFURT -- Tesla's executive overseeing construction of the electric carmaker's "gigafactory" near Berlin has left his position, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

Tesla declined to comment on whether Evan Horetsky, head of engineering, procurement and construction at the German plant, was still with the company. Horetsky could not be reached for comment.

According to Horetsky's LinkedIn profile, he directed teams leading project design, construction and technical program management across Tesla's global factories and energy products.

German broadcaster RBB was first to report the departure. RBB said there would be no delays in the factory's planning application process as a result of Horetsky leaving.

The Berlin plant will be Tesla's first in Europe. The automaker announced plans last November to build the Gigafactory in Gruenheide, outside Berlin, with plans to have the factory up and running by July  2021 to star…

A time of crisis can be a time to make changes. They can range from perfecting the basics – such as the service drive walkaround – to investing in technology that will improve performance for years to come.

Speakers:Peter Chung, General Manager and Vice President, Magic ToyotaFred Fordin, Vice President, Dealer Professional Services and Escalations, CDK GlobalScott Gregg, Service Director, Tucson SubaruRick Wegley, Institute Instructor, NCM Associates Inc.Dave Versical, Chief of Editorial Operations, Automotive News

This conversation was originally broadcast on October 22, 2020, as the third of five conversations in the Fixed Ops Journal Forum series. The series runs through November 5. Learn more and register for future broadcasts here.

Mexican supplier Nemak swung to net income of $90 million in the third quarter from a $2 million loss a year ago as cost reductions took hold and automakers reopened plants after temporary closures due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Revenue declined 7 percent to $896 million from the year-ago quarter while earnings before interest, taxes and other adjustments rose 28 percent to $178 million.

"During the third quarter, we continued to implement measures to safeguard the well-being of our people and meet our customers' supply needs amidst the pandemic, while driving additional efficiencies to strengthen the long-term sustainability of our business," CEO Armando Tamez said in a statement.

In a call with analysts and media, Tamez credited Nemak's growth to leaner operations, restructuring efforts and a focus on deleveraging.

In North America, revenue fell 11.5 percent to $491 million, while EBITDA in the region was up 15.4 percent to $105 million. Europ…

Toyota and Lexus production is nearly back to where it was a year ago, top Toyota Motor North America executives said Thursday, adding that they expect a continuing recovery for the industry to yield 14.5 million U.S. sales this year.

That result would still be down from 17.1 million U.S. light-vehicle deliveries in 2019, but significantly above the levels of this past spring during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Sales cratered to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 8.7 million in April and have climbed every month since, according to Motor Intelligence.

Speaking via teleconference from the company's headquarters in Plano, Texas, Chris Reynolds, Toyota Motor North America's head of manufacturing, said North American production had increased to 93.7 percent of capacity by the end of September. That compares with 95.9 percent at the same point a year earlier.

"Many of our plants have been working overtime and Saturdays to help meet strong custom…

Continental is exploring a sale of its turbocharger unit as the German supplier conducts a major restructuring to stem losses, according to people familiar with the matter.

Europe’s second-largest car-parts supplier is working with Citigroup Inc. on the disposal, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. The business is no longer seen as strategically important and lacks the scale required to compete globally, one of the people said.

Talks with potential buyers are ongoing and there’s no certainty they will result in a sale. Representatives for Continental and Citigroup declined to comment.

Turbochargers were for years a popular way for automakers to shrink their engines and make them more efficient. But stricter auto-emissions standards are now forcing companies to embrace electrification, limiting the growth potential for turbos. Garrett Motion Inc., one of the top suppliers of the components along with BorgWarne…