Trade News

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…

Velodyne Lidar Inc., a maker of sensors for self-driving vehicles backed by Ford Motor Co., has agreed to merge with special-purpose acquisition company Graf Industrial Corp., according to a statement Thursday.

The market value of the combined company will be about $1.8 billion, according to the statement, which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report. New institutional investors and existing Graf Industrial shareholders have committed $150 million to fund the transaction.

Velodyne backers including Ford, Baidu Inc., Nikon Corp. and Hyundai Mobis will retain an 80 percent stake in the combined company. The San Jose, Calif.,-based company will have about $200 million in cash on its balance sheet, and David Hall, Velodyne’s founder, will become executive chairman. Velodyne CEO Anand Gopalan will continue to lead the company.

Velodyne creates radar-like systems for self-driving vehicles that use lasers to generate three-dimensional images of a surroundin…

The 50 percent cap on foreign automakers’ interest in commercial vehicle joint ventures in China will be lifted July 23, the country's commerce ministry said this week. 

The move is the second step Beijing pledged in 2018 to deregulate controls on foreign auto manufacturers that produce and sell in China. 

Only a small number of foreign automakers, including Daimler, Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Hyundai Motor Group, operate commercial vehicle JVs in China.

Hyundai last year disclosed plans to turn its JV with private Chinese truckmaker Nanjun Automotive Group into a wholly owned subsidiary in 2020. 

If the plan is implemented, Hyundai likely will become the first foreign automaker to gain full ownership of its commercial vehicle business in China.

The Chinese government, pressured by the Trump administration, announced in April 2018 plans to phase out restrictions on foreign ownership in joint ventures established …

SHANGHAI -- Inspired by Tesla Inc.’s success in the capital markets and enticed by Beijing’s generous subsidies, electric vehicle startups have proliferated in China over the past few years.

Many of them flamed out without ever rolling out a product. 

The coronavirus epidemic, largely kept under control since April in the country, has further weakened the economy and made it far more difficult for remaining EV startups to raise capital. 

In June alone, at least three startups ceased operations. Among them, two were considered legitimate hopefuls among all the prospects.

One is Bordrin, a company established in Shanghai in 2016 by Huang Ximing, a former senior engineer at Ford Motor Co. 

Bordrin unveiled its first product, an electric crossover, at the Shanghai auto show in April 2019. It was expected to launch production late last year and begin sales in early 2020.

But on June 15, Huang warned in an open letter posted…

Asphalt beware.

The Hellcat pack just added another member in the burly 2021 Dodge Durango, which will get a limited run with a supercharged HEMI V-8 engine that will dish out 710 horsepower.

The Durango SRT Hellcat, which is fortified with a retooled suspension, is just one piece of Dodge's portfolio planned for 2021. The brand also is upping the performance ante with a Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye that churns out 797 hp and the Challenger SRT Super Stock, which tops out at 807 hp.

Dodge, which helped usher in the minivan era, is now fully dedicated to muscle. The Journey utility vehicle and venerable Grand Caravan, the top-selling minivan in the U.S. last year, are gone after the 2020 model year.

With the Grand Caravan and Journey chapters ending, Dodge — once a mainstream brand with a broad car and truck lineup that stacked up against Ford and Chevrolet, and whose U.S. sales routinely topped 1 million as recently as …

BEIJING -- Jia Yueting, founder of Leshi Internet and electric vehicle maker Faraday Future, said on Thursday his personal bankruptcy process was complete and that a trust would be established to compensate Leshi shareholders.

In a stock exchange filing, however, Leshi said it had not heard from Jia regarding a compensation plan or a related arrangement. It added it was unable to verify whether shareholders would be compensated.

The entrepreneur is well-known in China for building a video-streaming business into an electronics manufacturer, before starting Faraday Future with ambitions to overtake Tesla Inc.

However, the cash-intensive enterprise forced Jia to file for bankruptcy in October with personal net debt of around $2 billion. To date, Faraday Future has only produced a small number of test models.

In a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo, the former executive said the bankruptcy process ended on June 26, and apologized to investor…

WASHINGTON -- Two senators asked the U.S. trade chief for details about officials who allegedly sought private-sector consulting work while still government employees and said the episode raises questions about policies at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

“Americans deserve to know that their trade policy is made in the public interest and not for private gain,” Democrats Bob Menendez, of New Jersey and Sherrod Brown, of Ohio, said in a letter Wednesday to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

The lawmakers asked Lighthizer whether the two officials still work at the trade office, and for details about approvals from the ethics office at the trade representative’s office.

“This example also raises broader questions about ethics policies and procedures at USTR,” they wrote.

Lighthizer told lawmakers June 17 that he was troubled to learn of the workers’ actions. He said the two were career officials, and that he was told that civi…

Volkswagen of America said its U.S. sales fell 29 percent in the second quarter to 69,933, while sister brand Audi saw its second-quarter sales slide 35 percent to 34,843 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notable nameplates: Volkswagen Atlas, down 56%; Tiguan, down 17%; Jetta, down 38%; Audi Q5, down 52%; A4, down 31%; Q7, down 50%

Incentives (including Porsche): $4,378 per vehicle, up 28% from a year earlier, ALG says.

Average transaction price (including Porsche): $40,744, down 2.1% from a year earlier, according to ALG.

Did you know? Volkswagen said its retail sales were off only 1.6 percent in June and that its crossovers accounted for a record 60 percent of sales during the quarter.

FRANKFURT -- Daimler CEO Ola Kallenius said the maker of Mercedes-Benz vehicles and the industry as a whole faces painful cutbacks to overcome the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The virus outbreak will force manufacturers to do more significant restructuring than they planned before the crisis erupted, Kallenius said Wednesday during a webcast hosted by the German manufacturer’s main labor union, IG Metall.

The “significantly harsher reality” for the industry following COVID-19 will necessitate “drastic” salary cuts, with Daimler executives facing bigger reductions than rank-and-file workers, Kallenius said. The adjustments are necessary to protect Daimler’s financial condition and safeguard huge investments in future technologies, he said.

The virus outbreak shuttered factories and showrooms across the globe, exacerbating Daimler’s struggle to execute a deep restructuring announced last year. Kallenius indicated in April that the planned mea…

Sales at American Honda fell 16 percent in June and 28 percent in the second quarter, as the mainstream Honda and premium Acura brands suffered from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

June deliveries marked a continued recovery that began in May, but the automaker said supply issues limited volume. Most Honda and Acura vehicles sold in the U.S. are made in North America, which suffered plant shutdowns that affected inventory levels.

Two bright spots for the Japanese automaker: the Honda Pilot and Acura RDX crossovers posted gains last month compared with June 2019.

Brands: Honda, down 17% in June; Acura, down 0.6%.

Notable nameplates: Honda Civic, down 22% in June; Honda Accord, down 30%; Honda CR-V, down 13%; Honda Pilot, up 4.7%; Acura ILX, down 16%; Acura TLX, down 21%; Acura RDX, up 11%.

Incentives: Honda, $2,570 per vehicle in the second quarter, up 48% from a year earlier; Acura, $6,242 per ve…

DETROIT — Lincoln Motor Co. confirmed Wednesday it will end production of the Continental at the end of 2020 as the luxury brand abandons sedans.

U.S. sales of the Continental, reintroduced in 2016, slowed in recent years as customers shifted to the brand's growing crossover lineup. Lincoln announced this year that it would end production of its other sedan, the MKZ, at the end of the year.

"Lincoln is investing in growth segments and the brand will feature a full portfolio of SUVs, including a fully electric vehicle in the future," the brand said in a statement. "Lincoln will continue to keep its newest SUVs fresh and we will have more news to share later this year; however, as the full-size premium sedan segment continues to decline in the U.S., we plan to end production of the Lincoln Continental at the end of this year."

Lincoln informed workers Wednesday at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant that Continental production would end.

“We buil…

General Motors' U.S. light-vehicle sales plunged 34 percent in the second quarter because of the coronavirus pandemic's impact on demand and slim inventories at dealerships.

GM delivered 492,489 vehicles in the quarter, the automaker said in a statement Wednesday. Volume for each of GM's four brands fell at least 33 percent.

Retail sales fell about 24 percent during the quarter. April was GM's weakest month, when retail sales fell about 35 percent from a year earlier, but as demand began to outpace supply in May and June, retail sales were down about 20 percent during those months, GM said.

GM shut down its plants in the U.S. from mid-March to mid-May to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. Many dealerships around the country also closed or limited hours and services because of the pandemic.

Although sales dipped 5.3 percent for the GMC Sierra and 14 percent for the Chevrolet Silverado, according to the Automotive News Data Center, GM said dem…