Trade News

Nikola Corp. issued a lengthier denial of a report last week that claimed the electric truck maker had deceived investors, accusing a short seller of mischaracterizations and distortions.

Hindenburg Research, a short seller whose report sent Nikola shares tumbling last week, made false and misleading statements that were designed to manipulate the market, Nikola said Monday. The Phoenix-based company’s shares pared a decline of as much as 16 percent in pre-market trading.

Nikola said Hindenburg took a comment made by an employee of Robert Bosch, a supplier and investor in the company, out of context and underestimated its capabilities to produce hydrogen for its fuel cell-powered trucks. The Phoenix-based company also said it terminated a former chief financial officer and that his departure was unrelated to the company refunding reservation deposits for its first truck prototype, as Hindenburg suggested.

Shares of Nikola closed Monday's trading up 11.4 …

McLaren North America, in the latest tweak to its retail operations, has rebranded its growing certified pre-owned program.

In an effort to provide more clarity to North American consumers, the British exotic brand said the program will now be called McLaren Certified Pre-Owned and that McLaren Qualified will be retired.

The company launched McLaren Qualified in 2013. New-vehicle sales began in the U.S. in late 2011 with the MP4-12C coupe. McLaren has seen its product lineup expand rapidly but remains a sports car- and supercar-only brand.

Through August, McLaren said it sold 580 certified pre-owned vehicles in North America this year, an 11 percent jump over the same period in 2019. U.S. certified pre-owned sales tallied 530 while 50 sales were from Canada. McLaren has 25 U.S. dealerships and three in Canada.

A vehicle has to pass a multipoint inspection from a McLaren trained technician to become certified. Certified ve…

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…