Trade News

TOKYO -- Tesla CEO Elon Musk is "a genius who defies common sense and can be overly optimistic," Panasonic's CEO said on Tuesday, as the Japanese firm cautiously moves to expand a battery partnership with the U.S. carmaker.

"I believe only geniuses can hold onto big visions, and a genius I know is Elon Musk," Kazuhiro Tsuga said at an event for young entrepreneurs.

The remarks on Musk come as Panasonic and Tesla Inc. are in talks to expand their joint battery plant in Nevada after production troubles and delays at Tesla strained their partnership over the past few years.

With excessive optimism, a genius like Musk can ignore what is inconvenient and run straight ahead towards his vision, Tsuga said at the event. "Compared to that vision, most things don't really matter."

"I can never imitate him," he said, adding it is probably safe for everyone not to do so.

Panasonic's partnership with Tesla dates back more than a decade, but it was Tsuga…

Joining Toyota's lineup this year is a plug-in hybrid variant of the top-selling RAV4 crossover. The 2021 RAV4 Prime, touted by Toyota as its fastest model after the Supra, has up to 302 hp, coming from a 176-hp, four-cylinder gasoline engine, electric motors, a booster converter and lithium ion battery. The RAV4 Prime, available only with all-wheel drive, is estimated to get 42 miles solely on battery power and has an 94 MPGe rating. Here's a roundup of RAV4 Prime reviews from the automotive media.

"Driving the RAV4 Prime purely on electricity is a great experience. It's punchy, smooth and nearly silent. As with other EVs, there's tons of low-end torque, which makes this Toyota leap off the line when you nail the accelerator. Its enthusiasm does wane at higher speeds, but its performance is still solid, able to hit 60 mph in around 9.2 seconds. However, this vehicle's performance shines most when driven as a hybrid. Throw that internal-combustion engine into the mix…

DETROIT -- A federal judge abused his power when he ordered the CEOs of General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to meet in an effort to settle a racketeering lawsuit filed by GM, an appeals court ruled Monday.

But the appeals court denied GM's request to have a new judge handle the case, in which GM accuses FCA of bribing union leaders to gain a labor-cost advantage.

Monday's ruling said U.S. District Judge Paul Borman failed to consider other possible remedies when he ordered GM's Mary Barra and FCA's Mike Manley to meet in person. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also said Borman's reasoning — that the lawsuit would distract the companies from dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and recent racial tensions across the country — was unrelated to the case at hand.

The appeals court said Borman could, however, order mediation or a settlement conference in order to encourage the two automakers to reach a resolution without a trial.

GM had …

The major acquisition deal between Asbury Automotive Group Inc. and Texas retailer Park Place Dealerships is back on, though several stores shy of the original agreement.

Asbury will now acquire eight Park Place dealerships, both companies said Monday, taking a second chance on a sale that was derailed in the first weeks of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

The new deal is valued at $735 million and is expected to close Aug. 31.

The Duluth, Ga., retailer said in December that it would buy 10 luxury Park Place stores in Texas with 17 new-vehicle franchises in the Dallas and Fort Worth market. Asbury terminated the deal days before it was scheduled to close because of declining business amid the pandemic and time constraints related to the deal's financing arrangements.

Improved new and used vehicle sales and an uptick in parts and service business in May and June allowed Asbury to regain footing amid the pandemic and move forward with a revised deal…

Back when Tesla Inc. delivered 95,000 cars to customers during the spring quarter of 2019, the stock price was languishing at about $235 and Elon Musk's electric car company was valued at "only" $40 billion. Fast forward a year and the shares are now priced at more than $1,200. With a market capitalization of $224 billion, Tesla has surpassed Toyota Motor Corp. as the world's most valuable automaker.

Yet in the second quarter of 2020, Tesla delivered 91,000 vehicles — about 5 percent fewer than the same period last year. That's pretty underwhelming for a company whose fans view it as a fast-growing technology company in the mold of Amazon.com Inc., rather than a sluggish metal-bashing carmaker. So how is the massive recent jump in its market value justified?

In fairness, it shows resilience to sell this many cars when the company's main California plant was shut by the pandemic for much of the spring period. Doubtless, Tesla's new Shanghai plant…

Uber Technologies Inc. agreed to buy Postmates Inc. for $2.65 billion to expand in food delivery after the coronavirus pandemic cratered demand for ride-hailing, its main business, and an earlier attempt to acquire Grubhub foundered.

The all-stock deal is a modest outcome for Postmates, once a pioneer of the gig economy that was outmaneuvered by deep-pocketed competitors. It had been valued at $2.4 billion in an investment last year, a person with knowledge of the matter said at the time.

Uber estimates that it will issue about 84 million shares of common stock for 100 percent of the fully diluted equity of Postmates, the company said in a statement announcing the deal Monday.

“Postmates is highly complementary to Uber Eats, with differentiated geographic focus areas and customer demographics, and Postmates’ strong relationships with small- and medium-sized restaurants, particularly local favorites that draw customers to the Postmates brand,” Uber said i…

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen Group said it has fulfilled its obligations under a civil settlement over its diesel emissions scandal reached three years ago with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Larry Thompson, the former U.S. deputy attorney general appointed by the department to monitor VW, has concluded in his third and final report that the automaker has met the settlement terms it agreed with the Department of Justice and California's Attorney General, VW said in a news release on Monday.

"The report did not find any new violations and states that Volkswagen has met its obligations under the Third Partial Consent Decrees with the United States Department of Justice and California Attorney General," VW said.

The findings, which can be downloaded from a VW website, put the company on track to exit the monitoring around the middle of September.

The diesel emissions scandal has cost VW about 31 billion euros ($35 billion) in settlement costs since 2015.…

LONDON -- Jaguar Land Rover's shortlist of executives to succeed CEO Ralf Speth includes ex-BMW development chief Klaus Froehlich and former Audi CEO Bram Schot, the Financial Times reported.

The announcement could come as early as this week, the paper said.

JLR said in January that Speth would retire in September, triggering a search for a replacement.

Speth reaches 65 in September, which requires him to retire under the company policy of JLR parent Tata Motors. He will become non-executive vice-chairman of JLR.

The shortlist includes Froehlich, Schot, Nick Rogers, who is JLR's head of engineering, and Fred Schulze, head of production at Audi's home plant in Ingolstadt, Germany, the FT said, citing multiple sources familiar with the search.

Froelich retired from BMW at the end of June after reaching 60, the mandatory retirement age at BMW.

In January 2019, Audi promoted Schot, its former sales and marketing chief to the CEO role he…

Manheim said Monday it is adding 12 more auction sites where it's allowing dealers to bid in-lane, bringing its total to 17 such locations. The latest pilot locations include Manheim Denver, Manheim Nevada and Manheim Utah.

While bidders are allowed in lanes, vehicles are still not running through them, instead being shown on large screens as part of "digital blocks" with simulcast.

The Cox Automotive company first began allowing bidders to return to lanes at five pilot locations the week of June 22. It had planned on adding three additional sites in Florida, but postponed those amid rising levels of the novel coronavirus. Other pilots could also be postponed, based on the state of the virus.

"As we continue to move forward with our re-opening plans, we saw great success with our return to in-lane bidding at our five initial pilot sites," Alan Lang, Manheim's division vice president, said in a release. Lang added that the company adheres to "strict safet…

BEIJING -- Ford Motor Co.'s China ventures reported sales growth in June as the world's biggest auto market continues to recover from coronavirus-induced lows.

The automaker's Chongqing-based venture with Changan said on Monday sales jumped 7.7 percent from a year earlier. It did not disclose the number of vehicles sold.

Ford's new and redesigned crossover models, including Escape, Edge and Explorer, are selling well and contributed to growth in past months, it said in a statement.

Jiangling Motors Corp., in which Ford owns a stake, said in a filing last week that it sold 39,192 vehicles last month, up 67 percent year on year. JMC sells Ford-branded crossovers and vans as well as JMC-branded commercial vehicles.

The ventures also saw sales up in April and May, putting the U.S. company on track for its first quarterly growth since the third quarter of 2017. It said the aging model lineup caused the sales slide.

Ford's rival General Motors sa…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is not just introducing the Bronco and Bronco Sport next week; it's launching a vehicle line that could grow to include more off-road nameplates.

The automaker on Monday confirmed Bronco would be a subbrand, using the "Built Wild" tag line. Executives as far back as early 2019 had been telling dealers its off-road offerings would be a "family" of vehicles.

That brand will include two-door and four-door versions of the Bronco SUV, as well as the smaller Bronco Sport crossover, a name Ford confirmed Monday after previously referring to it as a small, rugged off-road utility.

There's room to expand the Bronco line beyond those models, officials say.

"We'll start with the three models that we have," Mark Grueber, Ford's U.S. consumer marketing manager, said on a call with media. "We will continue to look to where there's customers we could satisfy with Bronco and how to continue to expand the brand in the future."

Ford …