Trade News

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. on Friday said its domestic vehicle production would be 1 percent higher than initially planned in September, as its plants resume output levels following a steep drop because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company plans to produce roughly 2,300 more cars and trucks than its initial plan for around 230,000, Reuters calculations found.

Vehicle production at the world's No.2 automaker is recovering at home and abroad since global output fell by more than half year-on-year in April and May, when plants were shuttered to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Toyota declined to comment on global production plans for next month, but the company has said it expects global sales will be 15 percent lower in the July-September quarter from last year, and 5 percent lower in October-December. By early 2021, it expects sales will be 5 percent higher on the year.

Toyota plans to sell 7.2 million vehicles in the fiscal year to M…

Organizers of the Canadian International AutoShow have until early fall to decide whether the country’s largest consumer trade show will proceed as a live event during the pandemic or move entirely online.

“We will have an event in 2021,” said David McClean, CIAS director of marketing. “The technology exists today to build a virtual platform that allows [the public] to experience the manufacturers’ brands in a virtual environment.

"This ... could further be connected to a physical experience, either concurrently or later on.”

CIAS was developing digital options before COVID-19 and will be ready to host a virtual event on the scheduled dates of Feb. 12-21, McClean said. The development is taking place while assessing the viability of the show’s traditional format, he said.

An in-person Toronto show will hinge on the ability to balance visitor safety, government-imposed gathering limits and distancing requirements with cost reductions for automakers…

Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. were spared in a California appeals court Thursday from being forced to comply with a state law that, they say, would upend their business models. But the relief will be temporary.

The companies plan on using the ballot box to supplant a piece of legislation, already on the books, that requires Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as employees, rather than independent contractors. Now, the companies have proposed a new law, to be decided in 11 weeks, that would grant additional protections to workers, but would not make them regular employees.

Both Uber and Lyft said they would suspend operations in California if they were forced to comply with the existing California labor law by Thursday at midnight, a court-imposed deadline. But on Thursday, hours before the companies were set to pull out of the state, an appeals court judge granted them additional time.

The judge instructed the companies to prepare detailed pla…

BERLIN/MUNICH -- Schaeffler hopes to raise as much as 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) as the supplier looks to bolster its finances amid the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.

The company will hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting on Sept. 15 to seek approval to issue as many as 200 million additional non-voting common shares, Schaeffler said Thursday.

The company said the money would strengthen its capital base and help it "take advantage of growth opportunities." One of the goals of the authorization, which will have a term of five years, would be to increase its free float, the supplier said.

"This is about going on the offensive," CEO Klaus Rosenfeld said in an interview. "We want to exit this crisis as a winner."

The company is open to expanding its portfolio with potential acquisitions in the areas of e-mobility and sustainability as well as bolstering its industrial business, Rosenfeld said.

Like most companies in the automot…

Two shareholders in self-driving car startup Zoox Inc. have sued the company, alleging that a rival bid would have been better for common stockholders than a $1.3 billion offer from Amazon.com announced in June.

The lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery filed Aug. 18 but publicly released Wednesday alleges that the Amazon deal created disproportionate rewards for executives and investors holding preferred shares at the expense of common stockholders.

Reuters reported last month that Amazon planned to create $100 million in restricted stock awards to retain Zoox's employees alongside a $125 million cash “transaction bonus pool” paid out in proportion to shares for current employees.

In the complaint, James Wei and Yanxin Zhang, two former employees who are common stockholders, alleged that those rewards "dwarfed" the proceeds that will be available to common stockholders, including employees who put in years at the company but left before May 2020. Zo…

A judge on Thursday dismissed portions of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Volkswagen Group related to the German automaker's diesel emissions scandal.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco granted the automaker's dismissal motion, apart from its request to strike the SEC's effort to obtain injunctive relief and disgorgement.

The judge also rejected former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn's motion to dismiss SEC claims against him.

Subaru sharpens EyeSight capabilities in Japan

Subaru Corp. has partnered with Silicon Valley tech company Xilinx on an enhanced EyeSight safety system with new features that will first launch in the Japanese market.

EyeSight, a stereo vision-based advanced driver-assistance and safety system, will be powered by Xilinx's UltraScale multiprocessor system-on-chip. This provides the power to process the stereo images into 3D "point clouds" with "ultra-low latency and functional safety," said Willard Tu, Xilinx's senior director of automotive.

"That's really needed so that the EyeSight system can accurately understand and react to dynamic driving situations," he said.

Other Xilinx customers include established companies such as Daimler, Continental, Magna and Veoneer, but also startups such as Pony.ai.

Subaru's EyeSight system has two outward-facing interior cameras placed toward the top of the windshield, above the rearview mirror, that scan…

The Beijing auto show, which was postponed from April due to the coronavirus pandemic that broke out in late January, is set to begin in late September in the Chinese capital. 

The event, the country’s biggest auto show, will run from September 26 through October 5, its main organizer, the Beijing-based China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said this week. Media previews will take place Sept. 26-27.

The schedule was first announced by the council on April 3 after the viral outbreak was largely brought under control in mid-March. 

Organizers of the Beijing auto show said various measures will be implemented to ensure the safety of show participants and visitors, though it’s unclear if capacity at the indoor event will be limited.  

Following containment of the nationwide outbreak, sporadic cluster infections have emerged in several Chinese cities over the past few months. 

In June, the virus spread from …

Sales of SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co.'s latest full-electric vehicle model, an inexpensive, four-seat Wuling sedan, topped 15,000 in the first 20 days after hitting showrooms July 24. 

In the same period, orders for the EV exceeded 50,000, the light-vehicle joint venture between General Motors and SAIC Motor Corp. said this month. 

The early sales and orders have made the Wuling-badged vehicle the most popular EV it has rolled out, the partnership added. 

The vehicle, known as the Hongguang Mini EV, was launched at an auto show organized by the south China city of Chengdu last month, with a starting price of 28,800 yuan ($4,162). 

It is powered by lithium ion batteries and can drive for up to 120 kilometers on one charge and at a top speed of 105 km per hour.

Target customers are young drivers in Chinese cities, according to SAIC-GM-Wuling. 

The Hongguang Mini EV is the third EV product SAIC-GM-Wuling has in…

Chinese battery and electric carmaker Kandi Technologies Group said on Thursday it is actively exploring setting up an electric and off-road vehicle manufacturing plant in North America.

The U.S.-listed company said it is in the early stages of discussions with various partners, including local government agencies from the U.S.-Mexico border, but warned negotiations would not guarantee that a plant will be built.

Many Chinese electric vehicle makers are looking at the United States for expansion as demand for EVs picks up.

China's Li Auto Inc., backed by food delivery giant Meituan Dianping, recently made a Nasdaq debut. Xpeng, backed by Alibaba and Xiaomi, filed for a U.S. listing in July.

Kandi said it plans to forge a position in North America's electric vehicle market by offering lower-cost vehicles after eliminating shipping costs and tariffs.

The company recently began accepting pre-orders for the K23 and K27 EV models in the United S…

Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. are preparing to suspend their ride-hailing services in California beginning on Friday morning unless an appeals court rules at the last minute they cannot be forced to treat their drivers as employees, rather than independent contractors.

Lyft, in a blog post Thursday, said it would suspend its California operations at midnight.

Uber, in a blog post, said it would have to temporarily shut down unless the appeals court intervenes. The company did not respond to requests for comment Thursday on whether it would also shut down at midnight.

The companies have sought the intervention of an appeals court to block an injunction order issued by a judge last week. That ruling forced the companies to treat their drivers as employees starting Thursday after midnight, but Uber and Lyft have said it would take them months to implement the mandate.

The appeals court has not yet intervened.

The threat to suspend servi…

LOS ANGELES — Acura is adding technology and performance to its core midsize sedan with a redesign and re-engineering of the TLX for 2021, moves that will also push the car upmarket in base content and price.

The 2021 Acura TLX goes on sale Sept. 28 starting at $38,525, including shipping, up sharply from a base price of $34,025 on the outgoing 2020 TLX, long considered a solid value in the segment.

As Acura rebuilds as a premium marque, it needs to put more distance between itself and mainstream Honda, said Jon Ikeda, Acura brand officer. That means a base 2021 TLX that's far more upmarket and comparable to the higher-trim 2020 TLX that starts at $37,225, with shipping.

The TLX remains a top-selling luxury midsize sedan, even though first-half U.S. sales fell nearly 30 percent to 9,414, and 2019 volume dropped 13 percent to 26,548.

Moving the base TLX further upscale will also require educating dealers and consumers on…