Trade News

ZT Motors, the automotive dealership unit of private equity and wealth management firm ZT Corporate, of Houston, has purchased three Ron Carter Autoland dealerships in Texas as ZT looks to expands in the Southeast.

ZT Motors bought the stores from one of the country's largest dealership groups, Prime Automotive Group. Prime told Automotive News last month that it wanted to sell dealerships that were not in its core Northeast region.

The purchased stores in Alvin, Texas, near Houston, are Ron Carter Chevrolet-Buick-GMC, Ron Carter Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Ron Carter Ford. ZT said it will retain the Ron Carter names.

"To say we're excited to deliver the ZT Motors experience to our hometown of Houston would be an understatement," Taseer Badar, CEO of ZT Corporate, said in a statement. "Our team has evaluated dealerships in the area for many years and we're confident that a highly respected and reputable brand like Ron Carter Autoland is the right opport…

Tesla Inc. has agreed to acquire German ATW Automation, a supplier assembling battery modules and packs for the auto industry, a person familiar with the transaction said Friday.

ATW, a subsidiary of Canadian ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc., was on the brink of liquidation due to a slump in orders, German media reported in September.

ATS on Sept. 25 announced that certain assets and employees at one of its Germany-based units would be sold and transferred to a third party, without disclosing the name of the company.

ATS and ATW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

German outlets TheEuropean and WirtschaftsKurier first reported the planned acquisition.

ATW, based in western Germany, has about 120 employees and has completed more than 20 battery production lines for international automakers, according to ATS' website.

Tesla plans to ramp up battery production significantly in the coming years and during a recent ev…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. light-vehicle sales fell 4.7 percent in the third quarter despite strong performances for its Ranger and F-Series pickups.

The automaker sold 549,134 light vehicles in the quarter. It said retail sales fell 2 percent and that fleet accounted for 14 percent of total sales, which indicates fleet volume declined 20 percent amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

F-Series sales rose 3.5 percent in the quarter to 221,647. The strong F-Series volume came as Ford dealerships prepare to start receiving the next-generation F-150 in November.

Brands: Ford, down 4.8%; Lincoln, down 1.4%

Notable nameplates: F-Series, up 3.5%; Mustang, down 18%; Ranger, up 8.2%; Explorer, up 74%; Escape, down 23%; Transit, down 11%; Lincoln Aviator, up 222%; Navigator, down 16%

Incentives: $4,325 per vehicle in September, down 6.1% from a year earlier, ALG says.

Average transaction price: $43,469 in September, up 7.4% from a year ea…

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.

Kumar Galhotra, Ford's president of the Americas, says the automaker has to speed up its profitability and growth plans under new CEO Jim Farley. Galhotra also talks about Ford's labor deal with Canada's Unifor and the pros and cons of employees working from home.

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Tesla Inc. delivered a record number of vehicles worldwide in the third quarter, smashing analysts’ estimates and maintaining its dominance in electric-vehicle sales.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based automaker delivered 139,300 vehicles, eclipsing its prior all-time high of 112,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019 and above the 129,950 projected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Shares of Tesla closed Friday's trading down 7.4 percent to $415.09.

“Overall, these are stellar numbers,” Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush, said in a phone interview early Friday. “The read through here is that China was a source of strength.”

CEO Elon Musk signaled to employees and investors that a record quarter was within reach in an internal email in late September.

The quarterly number is a barometer of worldwide EV demand as Tesla seeks to maintain its lead over startups and established automakers alike that plan to launch dozens of competing battery-powered vehicl…

DETROIT — The first thing noticeable about the new board that will preside over the combination of Italy's Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France's PSA Group is the distinctly global, non-automotive profile of the new independent directors.

Which makes sense because the nonsensical name of this combined company — Stellantis — offers zero identity with anything automotive.

But there's reason to believe this could be a good thing as the auto industry desperately tries to reinvent itself amid the existential threats emerging from massive changes in autonomous technology, electrification and global political upheavals.

The key FCA and PSA insiders and family leaders, of course, remain on the board: Chairman John Elkann, Vice Chairman Robert Peugeot, non-executive director Andrea Agnelli and CEO Carlos Tavares. As expected, current FCA CEO Michael Manley will not join the new board, and there's been no announcement about his future role with Spaceship Stellanti…

DETROIT — BorgWarner Inc. has completed its acquisition of Delphi Technologies in an all-stock transaction that puts Delphi's enterprise value at about $3.2 billion.

The union of BorgWarner, a supplier of turbochargers and electric motors based in Auburn Hills, Mich., and Delphi, a powertrain and aftermarket parts supplier headquartered in London, is intended to better position the two companies for the long-anticipated industry shift toward electrification.

BorgWarner announced the close Friday.

The deal will strengthen BorgWarner's "electronics and power electronics products, capabilities and scale, creating a leader in electrified propulsion systems that BorgWarner believes is well-positioned to take advantage of future propulsion migration," the company said in a statement.

The merged company will be owned 85 percent by BorgWarner shareholders and 15 percent by Delphi shareholders.

Shares of BorgWarner closed Friday's trading down near…

DETROIT — Magna International Inc. is introducing its fully automated, next-generation EZ Entry seat.

The seat offers new technology that eliminates extra parts, plastic, links and pinch points. Magna showcased the technology during a demonstration to journalists in suburban Detroit on Thursday.

The elimination of parts allows for more foot clearance and 75 millimeters (nearly 3 inches) more of seat cushion width.

The seat will be available to automakers in fully automated, partially automated or manual options.

The automated seat can be operated via smartphone to change the position of the seat, including to a nearly flat cargo mode.

Sensors in the seat will be able to detect obstacles such as groceries, pets and child seats prior to changing positions.

The seat offers higher craftsmanship, more comfort and more space for mobility upon entering and exiting the vehicle.

"It's a front-row experience in the back seat," Joe Meye…

Despite another quarter of year-over-year sales declines, Nissan is seeing signs of a U.S. rebound as the economy slowly recovers from the pandemic.

Nissan Motor Co. sales tumbled 32 percent during the third quarter.

The Nissan division sold 203,783 vehicles in the latest period, down a third from a year earlier. Infiniti volume tumbled 30 percent to 17,367 vehicles.

Even so, the trajectory is headed in the right direction. In the second quarter, the Nissan division sold 161,233 vehicles — a 50 percent slump from a year earlier.

"We are seeing a steady recovery in the marketplace, with dealer profits on the rise and retail share continuing to improve," said David Kershaw, Nissan division vice president of sales and regional operations. "The tools that Nissan has put into place to assist customers to shop and purchase remotely have been paying off."

Nissan said it is now seeing robust demand for "core models."

In September, the Kicks …

Subaru of America's sales dropped 8.8 percent in the third quarter to 169,446, but September emerged as a bright spot as its best sales month of 2020.

Through September, Subaru's best-seller is the Forester compact crossover, with sales of 134,082, a 2 percent increase. It's the only nameplate to have posted a sales increase this year through September. The rest of the lineup posted double-digit declines of at least 11 percent.

However, except for the Impreza, each nameplate in the lineup posted a sales increase in September. Sales totaled 60,103 for the month, a jump of 16 percent.

It was Subaru's best September result, the company said, noting that it was the first record month since February, when sales grew 5.3 percent. January was also a record.

For the Outback crossover, it was the best September ever and Subaru noted that the Crosstrek had its best sales month of 2020.

September also marked the first time Subaru had surpassed the 60,…

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is buying General Motors' credit card business for about $2.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street bank won the bidding for the deal over Barclays, according to the Journal.

GM's credit card issuer Capital One Financial Corp. and Goldman have agreed upon the purchase price and expect to finalize the deal in the coming weeks, the report said.

The acquisition will enhance Goldman's focus on its consumer banking business, which it is expanding to even out volatile results from segments such as trading and investment banking.

Goldman currently has a much smaller presence in consumer banking, unlike larger peers JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., and it is an area CEO David Solomon has been aggressively looking to strengthen.

It is the bank's second major credit card partnership, following the launch of a card with Apple Inc. last year.

Toyota's U.S. sales rose 16 percent in September, capping off a difficult third quarter in which volume fell 11 percent.

Company officials said September marked the first time the Toyota division had surpassed its pre-COVID sales plan, with deliveries up 14 percent for the month and hybrid sales up 32 percent. Seven models, Toyota said, posted best-ever September results.

Brands: Toyota up 14% in September, down 13% in Q3; Lexus up 31% in Sept., up 2% in Q3.

Notable nameplates: Toyota Camry up 22% in September, down 4.1% in Q3; Corolla down 2.3% in Sept., down 30% in Q3; RAV4 up 25% in Sept., down 3.9% in Q3; Tacoma up 14% in Sept., down 10% in Q3; Tundra up 8.5% in Sept., down 12% in Q3; Lexus ES up 37% in Sept., down 8.2% in Q3; RX up 35% in Sept., up 4.7% in Q3.

Incentives: $2,666 per vehicle, up 10.8% from a year earlier, ALG says.

Average transaction price: $33,726 up 2.4% from a year earlier, according to ALG.

Did you know? The…