Trade News

DETROIT — Before the coronavirus outbreak hit the U.S. in March, General Motors' North American team had four major initiatives for the year: grow retail share, prepare for an electric vehicle future, improve dealer relations and enhance the customer experience.

The crisis led to plunging sales, significant financial losses and a nearly two-month production shutdown. Despite the business strain, GM has barely adjusted its to-do list, said Barry Engle, GM's president of North America.

"The fact that we were able to accelerate our progress in each of these four areas was a reinforcement that we were on the right track," Engle said. "If we concluded that we needed a whole new set of priorities, it would have thrown into question, do we really have the right long-term strategies in the first place? But if anything, it just reaffirmed we're on the right track."

Engle, 56, spoke last month with Staff Reporter Hannah Lutz about the comp…

While automakers move heaven and earth to get their manufacturing operations safely up and running and their dealers selling vehicles again, the disruptive COVID-19 pandemic may have also reconfigured the way companies think about recruiting and retaining employees, says the executive who leads Toyota's manufacturing and human resources in North America.

Chris Reynolds, chief administrative officer, manufacturing and corporate resources for Toyota Motor North America, says the way employees have shown this spring that they can work remotely will reduce geographic limits on recruiting and hiring.

"If we're now working from home and can do things virtually, do I care whether you're in Plano, Texas, or Detroit, Mich.? I may not, depending on the job, as long as you can get to Plano periodically to meet with your team," Reynolds told Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein last week as part of the "Congress Conversations" series.

"I th…

While automakers move heaven and earth to get their manufacturing operations safely up and running and their dealers selling vehicles again, the disruptive COVID-19 pandemic may have also reconfigured the way companies think about recruiting and retaining employees, says the executive who leads Toyota's manufacturing and human resources in North America.

Chris Reynolds, chief administrative officer, manufacturing and corporate resources for Toyota Motor North America, says the way employees have shown this spring that they can work remotely will reduce geographic limits on recruiting and hiring.

"If we're now working from home and can do things virtually, do I care whether you're in Plano, Texas, or Detroit, Mich.? I may not, depending on the job, as long as you can get to Plano periodically to meet with your team," Reynolds told Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein last week as part of the "Congress Conversations" series.

"I th…

The 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime plug-in hybrid, touted by Toyota as its fastest model after the Supra, will start at just under $40,000 — a $12,150 premium over the base gasoline RAV4 and $3,620 over the RAV4 Limited with front-wheel drive.

The entry-level RAV4 Prime SE crossover will begin at $39,220 including shipping, the automaker said in a press release Friday. In XSE trim — which adds features such as 19-inch black wheels, two-tone roof, a 9-inch touchscreen, a wireless phone charger and ambient interior lighting — the RAV4 Prime will be priced at $42,545 including shipping.

The RAV4 Prime, which premiered at last year's Los Angeles Auto Show, has up to 302 hp, coming from a 176-hp, four-cylinder gasoline engine, electric motors, a booster converter and lithium ion battery. Available only with all-wheel drive, it can go from 0 to 60 mph in 5.7 seconds.

The plug-in is estimated to get 42 miles solely on battery power and has an 94…

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles still plans to cut a shift at its minivan assembly plant in Windsor, Canada, and will begin offering hourly employees buyouts beginning Monday, the union and company said Friday.

In a pair of Facebook posts, Unifor Local 444 said the automaker still intends to eliminate the midnight shift on July 13 and that its members will have about 15 days to decide whether to accept a buyout.

“The third shift elimination of July 13 is still slated to go,” Unifor Local 444 President Dave Cassidy said in a post made Thursday.

Unifor apparently wanted to use the third shift as a bargaining chip during the next round of contract negotiations, scheduled to begin this fall.

“We have fought through that issue, offering many different avenues, with the hopes of stalling this decision until contract negotiations where we could hash this out over a strike deadline,” Cassidy wrote. 

With FCA’s decision apparently final, executi…

One of the most successful -- and revered -- special-edition, high-performance Mustangs, the Mach 1, is returning to the Ford lineup as a 2021 model.

The Mach 1 replaced the Mustang GT in 1969 and offered higher performance and better handling than most other versions of the pony car. Except for the ultralow-production Boss and Shelby Mustangs, the Mach 1 could outrun all other Mustang stablemates.

Ford last offered a Mach 1 Mustang in the 2003-04 model years and the latest version is expected to spark new interest as the current Mustang nears the end of its product cycle and overall demand for sports cars wanes. The Mach badge is also being adopted on a new electric crossover, the Mustang Mach-E.

The automaker isn't saying much about the 2021 Mustang Mach 1, except that it will be powered by a naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V-8 engine and be "track ready."

The current Mustang GT's 5.0-liter engine is rated at 460 hp. The engine in the Mach 1 is l…

Editor's note: Wabco's headquarters moved to Bern, Switzerland in February 2019. An earlier version of this story referred to the company's previous headquarters location.

DETROIT -- ZF Friedrichshafen has completed its acquisition of Wabco Holdings Inc. in a deal that — valued at more than $7 billion — demonstrates a prominent foray into self-driving commercial vehicles for the supplier.

A ZF spokesman confirmed that the German parts supplier, which specializes in driveline and chassis technology, completed its acquisition of Wabco on Friday morning.

ZF first announced its plans to purchase Wabco, largely a trucking parts supplier, in March 2019. Wabco's Americas headquarters is in Auburn Hills, Mich., not far from several other major automotive suppliers in the suburban Detroit area, but its corporate headquarters is in Bern, Switzerland.

Wabco supplies integrated braking systems and stability control systems, air suspension systems and transmis…

Join Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for a daily podcast series about the coronavirus crisis. He’ll speak with industry experts, insiders and Automotive News reporters about how the virus is impacting and reshaping the automotive industry.

The executive vice president of Cars.com discusses the do's and don'ts of automotive marketing during COVID-19.

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MUNICH -- BMW AG may offer more incentives to workers to persuade them to leave and help the automaker to reach a target of eliminating about 5,000 positions.

BMW has been unable to meet its headcount-reduction goal with existing measures, CFO Nicolas Peter said in an internal posting confirmed by the company. Those have included placing employees on unpaid leave and reducing working hours for those on shorter contracts.

The company could add early retirement packages to the list, a BMW spokeswoman said Friday.

While BMW typically loses and replaces about 5,000 employees every year due to natural attrition, uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic has slowed the outflow as people put off plans to seek other jobs or to start their own businesses.

The COVID-19 outbreak has made it tough for automakers to sell vehicles as government measures to contain the virus caused showrooms to close and slowed production to a crawl. Weak consumer demand ha…

Uber Technologies Inc. on Friday said it would offer rides by the hour in some U.S. cities, a feature aimed at helping Americans with essential trips during the coronavirus pandemic.

The option, which is already available in a handful of cities in Australia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, will cost $50 per hour. Fares for regular Uber rides are generally based on the level of demand and the trip distance.

Uber said it decided to expand the hourly feature to the U.S. after riders requested an option for extended trips during the pandemic to avoid exposure to different drivers and vehicles when taking multiple trips in a confined time period.

The company said it expected the option to be used for trips to grocery stores, pharmacies and doctors appointments, but would monitor use going forward.

Hourly bookings will be available in Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Tacoma and Seattle …

Tesla Inc. shareholders will vote in July on whether the electric-car maker should start doing something Elon Musk has long resisted: advertise its cars.

James Danforth, a San Diego-based holder of 850 Tesla shares, is proposing that the company spend at least $50 per vehicle produced to advertise its products. Tesla’s board opposes the measure.

“Advertising can increase brand value, product awareness and interest,” Danforth wrote in the proposal, which is included in Tesla’s proxy statement. “Tesla ads can help mitigate and dilute substantial FUD (‘Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt’) and misinformation campaigns sponsored by competitors and detractors worldwide and steer the narrative more favorably.”

Musk, 48, has opposed paying for traditional advertising and criticized other companies for spending on marketing rather than on improving their products. The CEO prefers to promote Tesla himself on Twitter, where he has almost 35 million followers, and through oth…