Trade News

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer warned Wednesday that the state's auto factories could be shut down again if residents don’t follow her order to wear masks and slow the spread of the coronavirus.

“If Michiganders don’t mask up when we go out in public, cases could rise and we could be forced to close down more of our businesses, including auto manufacturing plants that employ thousands,” Whitmer said at a press conference in Lansing, Mich. “A second wave of this virus could be absolutely devastating.”

The warning comes as automakers crank up output at factories to try to meet surprisingly strong demand, especially for pickups, crossovers and SUVs. General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles temporarily shuttered factories in Michigan and elsewhere in the U.S. in March to help control the COVID-19 outbreak.

Whitmer cleared the way for those plants to reopen in May amid signs the pandemic was receding in the state.

Among automakers d…

Subaru Corp. and Subaru of America have been hit with a lawsuit seeking class action status over fuel pumps.

The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, alleges that the Japanese automaker sold vehicles "with defective low-pressure fuel pumps that cause unpredictable acceleration and engine stalls and render the affected vehicles unsafe to operate," court documents said.

The lawsuit points to an April recall of 188,207 vehicles in the U.S. for potentially faulty fuel pumps. The recall covers certain 2019 models of four nameplates: the Impreza compact sedan and hatchback, Legacy midsize sedan, Outback midsize crossover and Ascent large crossover. All are built at Subaru's Indiana plant.

According to a safety recall report posted on NHTSA's website, the low-pressure fuel pump may include an impeller that was manufactured with a lower density. If the impeller's surface is exposed to solvent drying for longer periods of time, it may de…

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk and other Tesla employees are not at risk of having contracted the novel coronavirus after a July 3 meeting with Oklahoma's governor, who said on Wednesday he had tested positive for the virus, a spokesman for the governor said.

"That visit was more than a week before the governor may have been contagious. There is no risk to any Tesla employees from the July 3 visit," Charlie Hannema, a spokesman for Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement, adding an additional meeting with Tesla executives on Monday was conducted virtually over Zoom.

"The science now is that an infected person is only possibly contagious 48 hours before the onset of symptoms," Hannema said, adding that since Stitt's symptoms developed on Monday, anyone in contact with him before Saturday is not at risk of exposure.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on whether company employees, including Musk, have been tested for the virus or other measures …

The merged unit of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group will be known as Stellantis, the two automakers said Wednesday.

The automakers said the name "will be used exclusively at the group level, as a corporate brand" and that the names and the logos of the group's constituent brands will remain unchanged.

The companies said the name is rooted in the Latin verb stello, which means "to brighten with stars." The companies said the next step will be the unveiling of a logo.

"The name's Latin origins pay tribute to the rich history of its founding companies while the evocation of astronomy captures the true spirit of optimism, energy and renewal driving this industry-changing merger," the companies said in a statement.

The group will create the world's fourth-largest automaker. PSA's considerable footprint in Europe could complement FCA's strength in North America.

The completion of the merger is expected in the first quarter of 2021.

Vehicle sales took a dive in the early weeks of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, but for several finance and insurance product companies, sales have never been better. And each month, those sales keep improving.

The reason could be a combination of factors, those companies say, but success incorporating F&I product information into dealership digital retailing channels is key.

Paul McCarthy, senior vice president of national sales at AUL Corp. in Napa, Calif., said June was the F&I product company's best month in 30 years, particularly for service contract sales. The growth marked a 20 percent increase over the company's previous best month in service contract sales, which was in March.

"Our rise in product sales — it's not simply attributable to an increase in car sales," McCarthy said. "It's an increase in awareness for consumers that it's wise to protect this investment that they're making."

The more confide…

Truck maker Navistar International Corp. has bought a minority stake in TuSimple and aims to co-develop self-driving trucks by 2024 with the technology company as it rolls out a national U.S. autonomous freight network, the two companies said Wednesday.

Self-driving technology for freight trucks has attracted investor attention as it should be easier and cheaper to roll out than in self-driving cars and autonomous taxis, while providing a clearer path to profitability.

Unlike self-driving cars and robotaxis, self-driving freight services run on fixed routes between predefined points -- almost all of that on major highways with no intersections or pedestrians. That business is more predictable and requires less mapping than driving customers between random points.

Navistar and TuSimple did not disclose the size of the stake. TuSimple recently announced it was launching a self-driving truck network with United Parcel Service Inc., trucking firm US Xpress E…

FRANKFURT -- The Volkswagen brand has stopped hiring new staff until year end, Ralf Brandstaetter, the unit's chief, said Wednesday.

Despite a slight recovery in demand, car sales remain below levels seen before the coronavirus crisis, Brandstaetter said in an interview published in an internal VW newsletter, which was seen by Reuters.

"We remain under substantial cost pressure. Deliveries and therefore revenue have dropped sharply. At the same time a large amount of costs remain. This is why we have decided not to add new people," Brandstaetter said.

VW's job guarantee for German employees until 2029 remains in place, the CEO said.

The company's works council chief Bernd Osterloh said that without external hiring, VW needs to do more to retrain existing staff.

In an interview with the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, Osterloh said he expected production at the plant in Wolfsburg this year to drop to around 500,000 cars, instead of 700,000 w…

Toyota is tweaking its sedan lineup for 2021, adding an upgraded suite of safety features to the Camry, a new trim level for the Camry and Corolla and optional all-wheel drive to the Avalon as the brand "recommits" to remaining in the once-dominant but dwindling segment.

But one shriveled sedan segment has proved a bridge too far.

The North American run for the Toyota Yaris is ending with the 2020 model. Through the first six months of the year, Toyota sold just 1,098 Yaris sedans in the U.S., down 93 percent from 2019, and 2,610 Yaris hatchbacks, which were introduced last year at the New York auto show, and 21 Yaris liftback imports. The hatchback was a rebadged version of the Mazda2.

Cynthia Tenhouse, vice president for vehicle marketing and communications at Toyota Motor North America, said this week that the Yaris sedan, which received a midcycle freshening in 2018, and the Yaris hatchback were dropped for unspecified homolog…

Texas is moving forward with efforts to woo Tesla Inc. and lure its next electric-vehicle factory after the county that’s home to the state capital signed off on a tax-relief package.

Commissioners in Travis County voted Tuesday to approve a 70 percent property-tax rebate on the first $1.1 billion the company invests in a site near Austin. The abatement is worth at least $13.9 million.

The areas of Austin and Tulsa, Okla., are the finalists for landing the facility where Tesla plans to build the Cybertruck pickup that CEO Elon Musk first unveiled late last year. He has said on Twitter that the site also will supplement production of Model Y crossovers already being made at the company’s lone U.S. car-assembly plant in Fremont, Calif.

Tesla has told Travis County that its planned factory will eventually employ 5,000 full-time workers with an average salary of roughly $47,000 a year. At least half of those will be county residents.

The weeks-long ef…

TOKYO — Nissan's next electric vehicle, the long-awaited Ariya crossover, is a technological powerhouse with performance chops and a 379-mile range that the Japanese carmaker hopes will rekindle its reputation as a leader in battery-powered vehicles.

In showing the production version of its Tesla fighter in an unveiling online Wednesday, Nissan Motor Co. promises an EV that beats the brand's all-electric Leaf hatchback in almost every way.

The Ariya will be longer, wider and taller, while packing more power and a longer driving range. Lower grade models will target eco-friendly, tech-savvy customers, while high-end variants go for gusto.

"For Nissan, the Ariya is not just another new model. It is a model that opens a new chapter in the history of Nissan," CEO Makoto Uchida said at an online launch on Wednesday. "The Ariya itself represents the future Nissan envisions."

To herald the new nameplate, Nissan also unveiled a new logo. The refreshed br…

After more than two years of protest from California dealers, Volvo Cars USA will replace a controversial subscription program in its biggest market.

The Swedish automaker plans to introduce an updated — and more dealer-friendly — version of the Care by Volvo program in California.

But still unclear is whether the changes in the newer version will satisfy the California dealer complaints.

The original Care by Volvo launched in 2017 as a two-year subscription service. The program bundles the use of a vehicle, insurance and maintenance costs into a monthly payment that ranges from $700 to $800, depending on the vehicle. After a year, subscribers can swap for a different vehicle.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles earlier this year deemed the subscription service to be in violation of several state franchise and consumer protection laws.

Last fall, Volvo broadened the service to include more models and make some dealer-friendly updat…