Trade News

Navistar International Corp. on Monday rejected Volkswagen truck unit Traton's buyout offer of $43 per share, but said it was a starting point for exploring a possible transaction.

The German automaker has raised its $35-per-share January offer as it looks to increase its 16.6 percent stake in the U.S. truck maker.

Navistar said Traton's proposal significantly undervalues it but added that it would allow Traton to conduct due diligence and "engage in further synergy discussions with the company."

Analysts at Jefferies have said Navistar is worth at least $45 a share.

The truck sector faces pressure to consolidate and share the costs of developing low-emission technologies. Traton and Navistar have been collaborating on purchasing and developing electric vehicle technology.

Automotive News contributed to this report.

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ VW, GM bruised but wiser after crises

The two automakers that will be featured on the front page of Monday's issue share a link that could scarcely have been imagined a decade ago.

They both have gone through self-inflicted crises that have cost billions of dollars and untold sums of goodwill while sparking massive, internal probes into the cultural flaws that allowed the messes to unfold.

At General Motors, it was the ignition switch crisis that landed on the doorstep of CEO Mary Barra just as she took over took in early 2014.

A few months later, the California Air Resources Board would detect abnormal amounts of diesel emissions during a road test of Volkswagen vehicles, confirming findings by researchers at West Virginia University. The discovery triggered a sequence of events that culminated in a bombshell announcement five years ago this Friday.

That's when the EPA disclosed that VW and Audi had sold about…

Continental Group, which makes control units for Daimler cars, can’t pursue antitrust claims against a group of patent owners including Qualcomm Inc. that are seeking royalties on telecommunications technology, a federal judge in Texas ruled.

Avanci LLC -- a licensing pool formed by Qualcomm, Nokia Oyj, Sharp Corp. and other owners of patents on technology standards -- isn’t violating antitrust laws when it negotiates license agreements with automakers rather than the component makers, U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn said in dismissing the suit in a decision posted Friday.

The licensing group charges $15 per vehicle for the use of patented technology that’s key to an industry standard for 4G telecommunications, and is developing a price for 5G, the next generation of wireless technology that promises to alter everything from driverless cars to robotic surgery.

Companies that develop standardized technology so electronics can work together agree to licen…

Nikolaus Lang, global leader of the Global Advantage practice at Boston Consulting Group and director of BCG's Center for Mobility Innovation, explains the role of self-driving vehicles in preventing urban mobility problems, the five city transportation types and why he advocates for robo-shuttles, not robotaxis.

How do I subscribe?

Apple Podcasts: “Shift: A podcast about mobility” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe.

Spotify: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" can be streamed through Spotify on your desktop, tablet or mobile device. Click here to subscribe.

Google Play: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" is available on Android devices through the Google Play store. Click here to subscribe.

TOKYO — Nissan's indicted former boss Carlos Ghosn has fled, but the American lieutenant he left behind in Japan — Greg Kelly, accused of being his accomplice — finally heads to court in Tokyo this week in a closely watched case that will bring some measure of closure to the corporate saga.

Kelly's financial misconduct trial begins Tuesday, Sept. 15, the day he turns 64, nearly two years after his November 2018 arrest.

Kelly was released on bail that Christmas but has been required to live in Japan, where he and his lawyers have been plowing through mountains of evidence to prepare for their defense.

Kelly, a human resources manager who climbed Nissan's global executive ladder from its operations in Tennessee, is charged with orchestrating a plan to conceal more than $80 million in deferred remuneration to Ghosn over the 2010-17 fiscal years, resulting in the information not being reported in Nissan's public financial documents. Read more

Unifor wants three-year contracts with the Detroit 3 instead of four-year ones, hoping that negotiating at the same time as the UAW will make it easier to attract major investments to Canada in the future.

"I'm sick and tired of playing catch-up," Unifor President Jerry Dias said.

"When we go into bargaining with the Detroit 3, we're always cognizant of the major investment announcements coming out of UAW bargaining."

Unifor on Tuesday, Sept. 8, selected Ford Motor Co. as its target company, with the aim of patterning contracts with General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles after whatever deal it reaches with Ford.

The Canadian union represents about 17,000 auto workers under contracts with the Detroit automakers set to expire Monday, Sept. 21.

Unifor's bargaining with the Detroit 3 comes a year after the UAW wrapped up its contentious talks, which included the longest national strike against GM in almost half a century. The relative tim…

This week, Volkswagen expects to emerge from its U.S. court-appointed monitorship under Larry Thompson. When the former deputy FBI director cleans out his office in Wolfsburg, Germany, it will mark the end of the government's involvement in the diesel scandal it helped uncover five years ago.

Automotive News Europe Correspondent Christiaan Hetzner spoke with Hiltrud Werner, the VW Group executive board member responsible for integrity and legal affairs, about whether the carmaker still posed a danger to the public. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: A major objective of the 2025 group strategy is to transform the company into "a model of integrity." Five years after the diesel scandal, how far along are you in reforming a secretive, intransparent corporate culture widely viewed as the underlying cause?

A: Let me start by saying thanks for giving me the opportunity to address this important issue. Secondly, this may seem to be a long period of time, but it isn…

Editor's note: This story is part of the annual Automotive News "Future Product Pipeline" series.

After years of waiting, Volkswagen's first competitive battery-electric vehicle, the Tiguan-size ID4 compact crossover, will make its way to U.S. showrooms beginning late this year and spreading across the dealer network in the first half of 2021.

The ID4 will be followed by other battery-electrics eventually, but other than the ID Buzz microbus, just what shape those electric vehicles will take for U.S. consumers remains undetermined, as Volkswagen continues to distance itself from its diesel emissions scandal.

Elsewhere in its lineup, the German mass-market brand will expand its subcompact crossover offerings this fall with a vehicle that will slot beneath the Tiguan in price. Meanwhile, its legacy lineup of sedans and hatchbacks is likely to shrink further as the brand focuses its resources on the Jetta and Arteon, and only certain performance flavors of…

Hyundai and Kia are recalling more than 180,000 vehicles in the U.S. because of problems with the antilock brake system, which may result in an electrical short and vehicle fire.

The recalled vehicles are 180,000 Hyundai Tucson compact crossovers from the 2019-21 model years and about 9,400 Kia Stingers from the 2019 model year.

The recall notice comes after the two automakers recalled more than 600,000 vehicles last week for a similar issue, where brake fluid may leak into the hydraulic electronic control unit, which could cause an electrical short over time and a vehicle fire. Those recalled vehicles were 2013-15 Kia Optima sedans, 2014-15 Kia Sorento crossovers and 2013-15 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport crossovers.

"The two recalls are for the ABS module but are for different issues," Hyundai spokesman Michael Stewart told Automotive News.

The Tucson recall "is to address a potentially defective circuit board in the ABS brake hydraulic electronic contr…

McLaren Group is considering a sale of its global headquarters as part of a refinancing strategy the company announced earlier this year.

The U.K. supercar maker has also appointed banks to advise on a debt restructuring and equity raise to buttress its balance sheet, it said in a statement Thursday. McLaren's headquarters are in Woking, on the southwestern edge of London.

McLaren has struggled since the coronavirus outbreak. A 300 million-pound ($389 million) equity raise early this year has not been enough to face an almost 70 percent revenue collapse throughout the pandemic.

After achieving global sales approaching 5,000 in 2018 and 2019, McLaren's volume will be significantly lower in 2020 as the automaker grapples with the sales impact of the pandemic, its CEO, Mike Flewitt, has said. He anticipates selling about 2,700 vehicles globally in 2020.

McLaren sought emergency funds over the summer offering its headquarters and historic car collecti…