Trade News

ATLANTA — Porsche's U.S. boss is said to be getting a major promotion.

Klaus Zellmer, 53, CEO of Porsche Cars North America, will be elevated to chief sales officer at Volkswagen, according to the website of Germany's Manager Magazin.

A Porsche Cars North America spokesman declined to comment Thursday morning.

Zellmer will replace Jürgen Stackmann in Wolfsburg, the German business magazine said, citing unnamed sources.

Stackmann joined VW as head of sales in 2015 after holding board-level positions at VW Group subsidiaries Skoda and Seat.

Stackmann, 58, who overhauled dealer contracts and designed the VW brand campaign, is under fire internally and expected to leave, according to media reports. Stackmann was also among the top-level VW brand executives who had to apologize in June for a racist video.

Since taking the top job in the U.S. in late 2015, Zellmer steered Porsche toward a nearly 20 percent increase in sales. The sports car …

Volkswagen Group's heavy-truck business boosted its bid for Navistar International Corp., offering to buy the rest of the U.S. manufacturer for $3.6 billion.

Traton increased its offer to purchase the portion of stock it doesn’t already own to $43 a share, up from $35 a share offered in January, according to a statement. Bloomberg News reported last week that the VW division was seeking to restart negotiations this month to win over Navistar’s management and main shareholders, which include billionaire investor Carl Icahn.

Navistar shares closed Thursday's trading up 13.8 percent to $40.78.

By acquiring Lisle, Ill.-based Navistar, VW would secure a strong position in the U.S. heavy-truck market and step up its challenge to Daimler and Volvo AB. VW said in a separate statement that it will provide funds for the financing of Traton’s increased offer.

“A strategic buyout of Navistar remains an eventual outcome with a competing bid unlikely,” Christop…

Nissan North America — which for years has relied on college football — is shifting a significant portion of its media to the National Football League in the latest sign of how the coronavirus is upending brand marketing calendars.

The automaker will continue putting money into college football, where it will air its “Heisman House” campaign for the 10th straight season. But with the Big 10 and Pac-12 suspending their seasons, at least for now, there is less inventory available. So for the first time, Nissan will air the campaign during NFL games.

The move shows how the NFL -- already a ratings behemoth and the most expensive ad buying marketplace -- will grow even more powerful this year, assuming the league can complete its season without coronavirus shutdowns.

For Nissan, the challenge was to find NFL inventory that was not already littered with auto ads; it’s hard to watch games without seeing a pickup spot in nearly every commercial pod. The automot…

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.

The CEO of Diehl Automotive says grosses on new-and used-vehicle sales are ''through the roof'' amid the pandemic. But she fears consumer spending will slow and says her Pittsburgh-area dealership group will strive to avoid ''crazy habits'' once inventory levels return to normal.

How do I subscribe?

Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

iPhone / iPad

“Daily Drive” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Android

“Daily D…

MODENA, Italy -- Maserati is challenging Ferrari and Lamborghini in the supercar class with the the 621-hp MC20, which it says offers a better power-to-weight ratio than its Italian rivals.

The MC20’s 3.0-liter V-6 turbocharged gasoline engine, built by Maserati, also produces 538 pound-feet of torque.

Production of the coupe version of the MC20, Maserati’s most powerful series model to date, is scheduled to start at the end of this year, with orders being taken starting Wednesday. Deliveries will start in 2021. A convertible version and a battery-electric version will reach the market in 2022.

Maserati has not announced prices. The MC20 is expected to compete against the Ferrari F8 Tributo, which starts at 236,000 euros ($279,000) in Italy, and the Lamborghini Huracan, which starts at 197,000 euros.

The coupe version of the MC20 with a conventional internal-combustion powertrain was shown Wednesday during an event at Maserati headquarters h…

Finance-and-insurance software provider Dealertrack is now capable of supporting a fully digital process after adding an electronic signature feature to its tool and integrating another so customers can remotely sign and submit any deal document digitally, the company said last month.

Pandemic conditions accelerated progress of the technology, which was previously expected to launch within six months, according to Emil Banga, associate vice president of F&I dealer operations at Cox Automotive.

"We put this at the head of the pack," Banga said about the advancements. "We were able to get that done in a very, very short time frame."

The new feature, Dealertrack Ready Sign, allows dealership employees to upload forms to the company's uniFI F&I software and assign blocks from customer signatures, initials and dates — much like a PDF. Once uploaded, documents can be sent to customers through a secure link accessed through a smar…

Schaeffler will cut 4,400 jobs and close or sell several German plants as the automotive supplier joins peers in reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

Most of the reductions will take place at a dozen facilities in Germany and two sites elsewhere in Europe, the maker of engine, transmission and chassis components said in a statement Wednesday. Factories in Wuppertal, Eltmann and Clasthal-Zellerfeld will be shut or shopped to other companies, with the cuts expected to save Schaeffler as much as 300 million euros ($354 million) a year. The company will take a one-time charge of 700 million euros ($826 million) for the restructuring.

“We’re in a situation where the really bad effects of the pandemic are easing, but the levels we saw in 2019, we’re not going to reach anytime soon,” CEO Klaus Rosenfeld said in an interview, adding that a recovery might take until 2024. “It’s not going to be v-shaped.”

Suppliers including Schaeffler and Continental, which are…

Hella is establishing a global unit to house and coordinate all software activities across the company and accelerate the development of software-based business models.

The Global Software House will draw together Hella's 2,000 software employees to reduce "complexities surrounding software development" and align its cross-divisional software activities into one uniform approach, the German supplier said Wednesday.

Hella, traditionally a supplier of electronic and lighting controls and systems, has been moving into software as automaker customers continue to call for more software development in their vehicles.

"The future of the automobile is largely decided by software developers. By 2030, the market for software and electronics in vehicles will almost double," Hella CEO Rolf Breidenbach said in a statement.

"This does not even take into account the diverse, far-reaching applications of digitalization and software in production and administratio…

Jack Oliver Jr., dealer principal of Oliver Ford-Lincoln in Plymouth, Ind., died of COVID-19 on Aug. 7. He was 78.

Oliver and his wife, Jana Oliver, tested positive for coronavirus in the middle of July and were hospitalized and isolated from friends, family and each other, said his son, John Oliver III.

Jeff Wills, finance manager at Oliver Ford-Lincoln, told Automotive News about Oliver's death in hopes of sharing the importance of taking the coronavirus seriously.

"It's real, and it hit our family here," he said.

John Oliver III, the dealership's general manager, is in line to take over as dealer principal. He said his dad prepared him for the role.

"As a son, I wondered for many years, why is he treating me so much differently than the other employees? He held me to a very high standard," he said. "It's because he was preparing me for my life now after."

Oliver is survived by his wife, three ch…

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Tesla Inc.’s shareholders gather Sept. 22 for their annual meeting, Kristin Hull will have roughly three minutes to make the case against the company’s use of mandatory arbitration for employee sexual harassment and racial discrimination claims.

Hull is the CEO of Nia Impact Capital, a social impact fund based in Oakland, Calif., that invests in several sustainable energy companies. Tesla is its biggest name and among its largest holdings. Late last year, she filed a first-of-its-kind proposal for a Tesla shareholder resolution.

The ask: for the board of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based EV maker, which has over 60,000 employees globally, to prepare a report on its use of employee arbitration.

Most people who work directly for Tesla sign away their rights to a trial. Hull wants to know how many discrimination and harassment cases go to arbitration, how much that’s costing the company, and investors, and the demographics of those bringing …

Prime and above customers fled the new-car market in recent years, finding quality and cost-effective alternatives on used-car lots. But aggressive incentive activity from automakers in the second quarter reversed that trend, credit bureau Experian said last week, allowing captive automakers to reclaim market share of its most desired consumer base.

Amid a sharp drop in second-quarter sales across the industry, consumers with prime and above credit made up 75 percent of new-vehicle loans, up from 72 percent last year.

The captive finance arms of automakers also collectively secured the largest slice of the new-vehicle financing market among auto lenders, raising market share to 31 percent of the industry compared with 29 percent last year at that time.

Many uncertainties lie ahead as the pandemic rages on in the U.S. How long will the economy, already in a recession, continue to tread water amid the crisis? What changes will be nec…