Trade News

China has changed the global auto industry over the past couple of decades. But China itself has changed, too.

During the previous recession — the Great one — while the U.S. was stumbling and shepherding two automakers through a bankruptcy reorganization, China was growing like mad. It became the largest market in the world — by far — for motorized vehicles.

But if it seemed that China's rise was going to be inexorable and all-encompassing, well, it hasn't turned out exactly that way. But neither has China swollen up and collapsed under its own weight.

It's complicated.

In this week's print edition of Automotive News, we begin a five-part series that explores what is working in China and what isn't — and what it means to the North American auto industry. This idea didn't appear to me fully formed. Reporters kept suggesting enterprising stories about Chinese companies adapting to the economic contraction triggered by COVID-19. It didn't take a…

TOKYO — Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida tried selling the automaker's new revival plan to skeptical shareholders last week amid an angry showdown over everything from his management style and corporate vision to board member pay and the company's plunging share price.

Some attendees at the June 29 annual shareholders meeting even harked back wistfully to the Carlos Ghosn era: One praised the indicted former chairman's strong leadership, another blamed his downfall on a conspiracy among Japanese prosecutors and government bureaucrats.

It was Uchida's second faceoff with shareholders since taking office Dec. 1. An equally contentious exchange erupted in February at an extraordinary shareholders meeting called to appoint him, as the newly minted CEO, and other executives to the board of directors.

In his latest appeal, Uchida pledged that the midterm plan unveiled in May would restore the embattled carmaker to a growth trajectory, but he warned a full rebound sti…

Britain's Ineos Group, one of the world's largest chemical companies you've likely never heard of, is preparing to enter the auto industry with a new-from-the-wheels-up utilitarian SUV.

It's a boxy, rugged-looking, midsize four-by-four whose size and shape makes it a near doppelganger for the classic Land Rover Defender 110 wagon that ended production in 2016. And it could land in the U.S. in 2022.

The Grenadier's perhaps-too-strong resemblance to the iconic Land Rover could be a risky bet.

Jim Ratcliffe, the Richard Branson-esque chairman of Ineos Group, tried to buy the classic Defender's production tooling from Jaguar Land Rover in 2016 and continue production. When JLR declined, Ratcliffe, one of Britain's richest men, decided his company would build its own utilitarian SUV aimed it at the same market — adventurers, sportsmen, builders and farmers, a segment Ratcliffe believes Land Rover left in the dust with the 2020 Defender…

Dodge is killing two nameplates that account for nearly half of its U.S. sales in the coming months to complete its transformation from a collection of pleasant people haulers into an army of asphalt-eating muscle machines.

A limited-run Hellcat version of the Durango and an 807-hp Challenger are on the way as the brand loses the last of the relics from its former life: the Journey crossover and the venerable Grand Caravan minivan.

With the demise of those vehicles, which accounted for 47 percent of the brand's U.S. sales in 2019 and helped it become the first domestic brand to top J.D. Power's annual initial-quality survey last month, Dodge will be carried by what it calls the "Brotherhood of Muscle."

"We've been saying for the last couple of years that we want to distill the Dodge brand to our core performance vehicles," said Tim Kuniskis, head of passenger cars in North America for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, during a media briefing last month. "I've …

BEIJING -- General Motors Co.'s vehicle sales in China dropped 5.3 percent between April and June, underperforming the industry average amid a recovery from the coronavirus fallout in the world's biggest auto market.

China's light-vehicle sales, which include passenger and commercial vehicles, rose 4.4 percent in April and 15 percent in May, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said, adding that it expects auto sales to grow 11 percent in June.

GM, China's second-biggest foreign automaker after Volkswagen Group, delivered 713,600 vehicles in the country in the second quarter, the company said in a statement, after reporting a drop of 43 percent in sales in the first quarter, because of the pandemic.

GM operates a Shanghai-based joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp. which makes Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac vehicles. It has another venture, SGMW, with SAIC and Guangxi Automobile Group that produces no-frills minivans and has started making high…

FRANKFURT -- Daimler on Friday said it will deepen a strategic partnership with Farasis Energy, a pact which includes taking an equity stake of about 3 percent in the Chinese battery cell manufacturer.

The alliance aims to develop highly advanced cell technologies to increase vehicle range and cut charging times.

Farasis will build a plant for battery cells in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany, and Daimler Greater China will invest a multi-million-euro amount as part of Farasis' IPO, Daimler said.

This will give Daimler the option of nominating a representative for a seat on the supervisory board of the battery cell manufacturer, the automaker said in a statement.

MILAN -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said the terms of its merger with PSA Group had not changed after a newspaper reported that it was looking to spin off assets to reduce a planned 5.5 billion euro ($6.2 billion) cash pay-out to its shareholders.

Italian business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore said that FCA could conserve cash by reducing the special dividend, possibly by handing shareholders assets as compensation.

Talks were at a very early stage and no decision had been taken, the paper said, adding the that aim was to keep the 5.5 billion euro value of the special dividend but to turn its "nature" from cash to assets.

FCA, has just agreed a 6.3 billion euro state-backed loan to help its Italian unit and the whole country's automotive industry to weather the crisis. Although this does not bar FCA from paying the dividend, as it is not due until 2021 and would be paid by Dutch parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Italian politicians have called into…

Recovering from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic just got a little harder for some automakers.

Ford Motor Co., Honda North America Inc. and Volkswagen Group of America all vowed last month to drop paid Facebook advertisements for about 30 days, voluntarily giving up a key piece of their digital ad strategies as they try to bounce back from dismal second-quarter sales. The trio of automakers is among dozens of advertisers across multiple industries that have said they are boycotting the social media giant for failing to prevent the spread of disinformation and hate speech.

Honda and VW specifically called out Facebook and Instagram, saying they would drop advertising for the month of July. Ford said it would halt paid advertising on all social media channels for 30 days, starting Tuesday, June 30, even as it prepares to launch the Bronco SUV and Bronco Sport crossover in a few weeks.

Lara Koslow, managing director a…

BOSTON -- Japan has formally asked the United States to extradite a former Green Beret and his son accused of helping former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn flee the country while he was awaiting trial on financial charges.

Japan submitted a request to the U.S. State Department to extradite Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, after they were provisionally arrested in Massachusetts in May, the U.S. Justice Department said in a court filing on Thursday.

Lawyers for the Taylors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Their lawyers have argued that they have not been charged in Japan with an offense for which extradition is possible under the U.S-Japan treaty.

The Japanese embassy in Washington and U.S. Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.

The Taylors were arrested in Harvard, Mass., on May 20 at Japan's request after authorities there in January accused them of helping smuggle Ghosn, Nissan's former chairman, out of…

LOS ANGELES — Hyundai Motor America COO Brian Smith is leaving the automaker just short of three years on the job. His exit is effective Monday.

"The position of Hyundai Motor America COO will not be replaced at this time as the company continues to prioritize and consolidate its regional management structure around the world," Hyundai said in a statement Thursday.

Smith joined Hyundai in October 2017 and led several major product launches, including the Palisade three-row crossover and the redesigned Sonata sedan. He spent much of his career at Toyota and Lexus.

"Brian is an admired leader who helped Hyundai at a critical time for the organization, and I would like to thank him for his hard work and dedication to the brand," said Jose Muñoz, CEO of Hyundai Motor North America.

Muñoz took over the top North America job for the Korean automaker 14 months ago. Since then, several prominent executives have left the company and new ones have joined as…

Michigan launched its Office of Future Mobility and Electrification on Thursday and appointed economic development official Trevor Pawl as the state's chief mobility officer.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in February announced the creation of the office, which will focus on developing a work force for self-driving vehicle development and "placing a greater emphasis on the importance of electrification and electric vehicle infrastructure and overall state strategy around mobility," Whitmer said at the MichAuto Summit in Detroit, where she made the announcement.

The office was established through the state's Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and will be housed within the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

Pawl, 38, was senior vice president of business innovation at the economic development agency, where he oversaw PlanetM, its mobility arm.

The mobility office "will leverage our competitive advantages to make sure our…