Trade News

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ A rising tide, an uneven lift

COVID-19 is having an uneven impact on the automotive universe.

U.S. auto sales for a number of automakers — including Ford, GM and Toyota — actually rose last month. Those September advances limited the quarterly decline to about 10 percent — welcome relief after a 33 percent second-quarter drop.

On the retail front, some of the public dealerships are pointing to strong third-quarter earnings. As we note in Monday's issue, one of them, Lithia Motors, is feeling bullish enough to embark on an ambitious, multi-year acquisition spree.

But the parts-supply sector is hurting. The warnings came back in spring, during two months of auto factory shutdowns. The fear was that after being starved for revenue, suppliers would struggle to gear up once the assembly lines started rolling again.

Those struggles are now playing out in a variety of ways. Debt loads are high. Cash is tight. Borrowin…

WASHINGTON -- Honda Motor Co. said on Saturday it has confirmed a 17th U.S. death tied to a faulty airbag inflator made by now-defunct Japanese safety products supplier Takata Corp.

Honda said that after a joint inspection with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it confirmed a faulty airbag inflator was to blame for the Aug. 20 crash of a 2002 Honda Civic that led to the death of a driver in Mesa, Ariz.

The defect, which can lead to airbag inflators rupturing and sending metal fragments flying, prompted the largest automotive recall in U.S. history and is tied to 15 U.S. deaths in Honda vehicles and two in Ford Motor Co. vehicles since 2009. More than 290 injuries are also tied to faulty Takata inflators and at least 26 deaths worldwide.

Honda said the 2002 Civic had been under recall since December 2011 for replacement of the driver’s frontal airbag inflator, while the passenger's frontal airbag inflator was recalled in 2014.

…

TOKYO — A Nissan Motor Co. manager, testifying under immunity in the criminal trial of former human resources executive Greg Kelly, admitted last week that he explored different ways of paying the automaker's former CEO Carlos Ghosn without disclosing the remuneration.

But he did not say whether any of his ideas of concealment were implemented.

The question is central in Kelly's trial in Tokyo. Kelly is accused of improperly compensating his boss, the former high-flying industry leader whose high salary and benefits were becoming an embarrassing issue in Japanese and European circles as he simultaneously ran Nissan, Renault and later Mitsubishi.

Ghosn was arrested and being prosecuted in Tokyo over the alleged financial improprieties, by concealing some $80 million in deferred payments. He fled Japan late last year for Beirut, beyond the reach of Japanese law.

Kelly, similarly arrested and charged, is on trial to answer for the allegations agains…

The list of electric vehicles planned for the next five years is slightly shorter than it was in 2019, in part because some plans have been pushed back to conserve cash during the pandemic. A few vehicles have been canceled outright as automakers evaluate the market and narrow their focus.

But the number of plug-ins on sale is rising steadily, and automakers expect consumers to warm up to electrification as the vehicles become less a curious novelty and more a practical, mainstream option.

Here are the battery EVs and plug-in hybrid EVs that Automotive News has reported as being in development and expected to debut through 2024.

BMW 5 Series: The 5 Series plug-in hybrid receives a more powerful six-cylinder drivetrain and a beefier battery in the fall. A full redesign of the 5 Series is expected in late 2023.

Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid: A freshened version of the plug-in hybrid minivan is due to arrive in the fourth quarter. A redesign isn't expe…

LOS ANGELES — California's plan to end sales of gasoline-burning vehicles in 2035 could have a ripple effect nationwide if history is any guide. The Golden State's unique ability to set its emission standards has been shaping the U.S. auto industry for five decades.

But the initial effects will be felt inside the state, the nation's biggest auto market, and will start well before its 15-year deadline that all new vehicles be zero-emission.

Tesla is already climbing the sales charts in California, and its electric vehicles are threatening bestsellers such as the Honda Civic and Toyota Camry.

Automakers that have been dragging their feet on battery-electric vehicles, which include state market leaders Toyota and Honda, are likely rethinking their strategies, analysts said. And EV-friendly brands such as Volkswagen, Hyundai, Ford and Cadillac could add share.

A shift toward EVs is already taking place in China and Europe — the executive order last …

Polestar is recalling the Polestar 2, its first mass market full-electric car, to repair a software glitch.

The call back of 2,189 vehicles delivered to customers in Europe and China is being made after three of the cars lost power to the wheels while driving, causing them to come to a stop.

"We take this problem very seriously, which is why we took action so quickly," a spokesman for the Volvo Cars subsidiary told Automotive News Europe on Saturday.

The problem does not affect any cars in Switzerland, the United States and Canada because there have been no customer deliveries to those markets so far, the spokesman added.

He said that there have been no accidents or injuries caused by the problem, which is a fault in the company's software in the battery-energy control module.

Polestar started informing customers on Friday that they need to go their nearest service points to get the problem fixed.

If a customer experiences the prob…

Subaru of America finds its Crosstrek in a suddenly crowded segment, and it's adding a little muscle to protect its turf.

Following the 2018 introduction of the largest Subaru, the three-row Ascent, and redesigns of its most critical models, the Outback in 2019 and the Forester in 2018, Subaru's biggest product update in 2020 is a midcycle freshen of its smallest crossover.

It's a timely update for the subcompact model that has become a crucial contributor of U.S. sales during the brand's rapid growth over the last decade.

The Crosstrek, launched in 2012 as the XV Crosstrek, was just one of two models in the new subcompact crossover segment at the time, the other being the Nissan Juke.

Today, there are 19 nameplates, each fighting for sales and, oftentimes, a chance to bring a new customer into the brand.

"For a lot of people, their first or second new car would be in a segment like this," Jeff Walters, Su…

In one of the most unusual used-vehicle selling years ever, dealers often have had to switch up the way they get inventory and — in some cases — throw out their valuation playbook altogether.

Used-vehicle sales were set for another strong year, but just a few months into 2020, the market was unexpectedly sent spiraling downward.

"Since the [coronavirus pandemic] hit back in March, April, it has really changed everything we know about the used-car market and the new-car market, for that matter, as well," said Majd Saboura, Manheim's senior director of offsite solutions.

When the pandemic shut down automaker plants in the spring, new-vehicle inventory became tight — and has remained so. New-vehicle inventories nationwide were down to 2.3 million vehicles as of August, according to figures from Cox Automotive, marking the lowest level since November 2011.

While automakers stopped making cars and trucks in March and April, consumers also were mostl…

When it comes to the emerging electric vehicle market, "range anxiety" is evolving into "charger anxiety."

Most EVs now being pumped into the future product pipeline have hundreds of miles of rated range, more than enough for daily driving. But extended or extensive use demands ample and widespread availability of charging.

Research firm Guidehouse Insights estimates there are 1.1 million battery-electric vehicles on the road in North America and 1.7 million chargers. It says there still will be more chargers than BEVs in North America in 10 years. By this standard, there isn't much for consumers to worry about on the charging front.

But there's a catch: Most of the chargers cited by Guidehouse are home chargers.

For suburban homeowners with access to a garage and a plug, it is simple to own an EV for regular use since it can easily be charged overnight.

But for those doing highway driving for a road tr…

A strike deadline in negotiations between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Unifor has been set for Oct. 14 at 11:59 p.m. EDT, according to union chief Jerry Dias.

The negotiations cover FCA’s Brampton and Windsor assembly plants in Ontario, which typically combine to build more than 500,000 vehicles annually, as well as a casting plant in Toronto. Talks between Unifor and FCA follow those between the union and Ford Motor Co., which ended after a three-year contract was ratified on Monday with 81 percent support from voting workers.

The negotiations affect about 9,000 hourly workers, according to Unifor.

Dias said it remained “awfully early” in talks to draw any conclusions about how they might go. Bargaining between the company and union formally resumed this week in Toronto after being put on pause for the Ford talks.

“We’re spending a lot of time on the local issues,” Dias told Automotive News Canada Friday. “FCA has yet to tell us that they’re ac…

DETROIT -- LaFontaine Automotive Group, in a deal between two high visibility Detroit area auto dealers, has acquired Shuman Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in suburban Detroit.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Bob Shuman, CEO and 2013 Detroit auto show chairman, sold the remaining family stake in the company his grandfather founded in 1955.

Shuman said he also has stepped down from his roles at the National Automobile Dealers Association as a board member and 2020 treasurer. He also represented Metro Detroit dealers on the NADA board.

Shuman's 64 employees at the dealership in Walled Lake, Mich., will remain with the dealership under LaFontaine, which is now called LaFontaine Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Walled Lake, according to a Thursday statement.

However, LaFontaine is moving John Rossi, general sales manager of LaFontaine's Fenton dealership, to lead the newly acquired Walled Lake store. Joe Zeigler, general manager under Shuman, w…