Trade News

Toyota Motor North America is elevating one of its top human resources executives to become its new chief HR officer and creating a position for the former chief HR officer to lead business revolution and transformation.

The automaker said Friday that Cheryl Hughes, who has been chief HR officer since January 2016, including having a key role on the small committee that oversaw the automaker's move from California to Texas, will now be in a newly created position: group vice president for business revolution and transformation. Toyota says that in the new role, Hughes "will be responsible for creating and steering initiatives that will help reshape TMNA's business, culture and workforce."

To replace Hughes, Toyota has elevated Craig Gruzca to chief human resources officer from his previous post as group vice president for corporate shared services and human resources. Toyota said Gruzca will perform both functions simultaneously.

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Lexus is rescheduling for next Monday the online reveal of the redesigned 2021 Lexus IS sedan in the wake of ongoing civil unrest in the U.S. over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Lexus on June 5 said it had "respectfully postponed" the debut, originally scheduled for last Tuesday, without citing a specific reason, though Toyota Motor North America issued a statement June 3 decrying "unacceptable bigotry and a lack of education around the COVID-19 virus to more recent societal issues of violence, killings and racism against African Americans in Minnesota, Kentucky, Georgia and elsewhere."

As it had planned previously, Lexus will introduce the redesigned luxury sports sedan at its headquarters in Plano, Texas. It can be viewed here beginning at 7 p.m. EDT Monday.

TOKYO -- Honda Motor Co. has resumed production at automobile and motorcycle plants in the United States and other countries after they were hit by a suspected cyber attack this week, a spokesman said on Friday.

The suspected attack comes less than a month after Honda reopened its North American vehicle assembly plants following closures in late March to comply with coronavirus-related, shelter-at-home rules in the United States and Canada.

The spokesman said the automaker had resumed vehicle output by Thursday at its large assembly plant in Ohio, which produces models such as the CR-V crossover and the Accord sedan.

"It appears that our customers' personal information has not been affected," the spokesman said by telephone, but declined to comment on any production impact.

Another vehicle plant in Turkey and motorcycle plants in India and Brazil were back up and running by Wednesday, he said, while some North American call centers&…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is making official what some dealers have already been offering throughout the coronavirus pandemic: free maintenance for essential workers.

The automaker said Friday that members of its FordPass Rewards loyalty program who are defined by their states as essential workers can download an offer for a free service package through the end of June. Called "The Works," the package includes an oil and filter change, tire rotation and pressure check, brake inspection, vehicle inspection, fluid top-off, battery test, filter check, and belts and hoses check.

Ford says the offer must be downloaded by June 30 but customers can redeem it throughout the year.

"Wherever possible, we want to take the worry out of our customers' lives so they can focus on what's really important right now – staying healthy and taking care of their families and communities," Catherine Pearce, director, FordPass business operations, said i…

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.

Marco Schnabl, CEO of automotiveMastermind, talks about using predictive analytics to drive showroom traffic and how dealers can navigate new shopping behaviors from consumers.

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TOKYO -- Nissan Motor Co. has scrapped a plan to offer yen-denominated bonds this month, in what would have been a return to the credit market after delaying a debt sale last year, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Japanese automaker had been targeting an issuance size of 200 billion to 300 billion yen ($1.9 billion to $2.8 billion), people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month.

“We are considering various fundraising methods,” said Azusa Momose, a spokeswoman for Yokohama-based Nissan. “We can’t comment on any detailed plans for future fundraising.”

COVID-19 has piled extra pressure on Nissan, which was already under strain following the 2018 arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn, who had pushed for volume growth. The automaker posted its biggest loss in 20 years for the fiscal year ended in March and unveiled a sweeping turnaround plan last month.

The company postponed a sale of 250 billion yen ($2.3 billion) in c…

The bankruptcy court estate for Reagor Dykes, the Texas dealership group toppled by claims it defrauded lenders in an elaborate Ponzi-like scheme, is suing Ford Motor Credit Co. for $315 million, alleging that the captive lender knowingly turned a blind eye to its illegal dealings.

The estate filed the suit in federal court in Lubbock, Texas, on Wednesday, alleging that Ford's captive arm could not have acted in good faith, as the lender "unquestionably knew or should have known" about the fraud schemes.

The $315 million sought in the suit is the same amount in interest payments the dealership group made to Ford Credit from August 2016 to August 2018. During the scheme, Ford Credit "racked up millions in profits from interest" that the dealership and its customers paid on vehicle deals originated at the stores, the suit also claims.

The Lubbock group imploded in 2018 after Ford Credit and other lenders sued it for floorplan fraud. Ford Credit in particul…

General Motors ambitious push into electric vehicles could pose a near-term risk as the automaker spends less to replace its more profitable gas-powered vehicles, according to a Bank of America Global Research report.

GM’s $20 billion investment in electric models and self-driving technology over the next five years makes it one of the most aggressive automakers when it comes to rolling out plug-in models, along with Germany’s Volkswagen Group. But the Detroit-based company plans to refresh only about 65 percent of its current sales volume with revamped vehicles, which is third-to-last among major manufacturers. VW is just ahead of GM at 66 percent.

Fewer updates for popular gasoline-powered models may hurt market share, underscoring the quandary the industry faces as companies try to fund an electric-focused future. The billions spent on plug-in vehicles that typically lose money -- and that no one besides Tesla Inc. has sold in large numbers -- take…

Automotive photographer Jack Schroeder and model Britni Sumida filed a lawsuit against Volvo, alleging that the automaker used Schroeder's photos featuring Sumida and a Volvo S60 without authorization.

The 20-page lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles, contends Volvo Group North America LLC took 11 photos from Schroeder's Instagram page and website without permission and used them in its own Instagram stories and Pinterest page.

The photos included links directing customers to a website page dedicated to the S60, the suit alleges.

Six months prior, Volvo had commented on Schroeder's Instagram post asking to license the photos with no compensation, according to the lawsuit. Schroeder emailed Volvo a week later offering to "negotiate a license" and included a link to his website but received no response, the suit alleges.

The lawsuit also alleges that Volvo did not take down all of the photos from its s…

The Detroit 3 are doing things all wrong.

Their executives, clueless as always, are focused on pointless metrics such as sales, revenue and — worst of all — profits.

Don't they get it by now? That's no way to impress Wall Street.

So Ford Motor Co., on average, built an F-150 every 45 seconds last year. Who cares?

Nikola Motor, an electric vehicle startup named for the part of Nikola Tesla's name that Tesla didn't use, built zero production-ready trucks last year. It's still building zero today.

Now that's the kind of rock-solid consistency that investors can get behind. And did they ever this week, when Nikola's market cap surpassed that of Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Nikola has no sales, no revenue and nothing even remotely resembling profits. What it does have is founder Trevor Milton, with big ambitions, plenty of confidence and a Twitter account he used this week to share his views on "what legacy automakers don't underst…

In Peachtree Corners, Ga., residents may see an e-scooter zooming down a street – with no rider in sight.

Electric scooter company Go X and Tortoise, a startup specializing in "remote repositioning" technology, have rolled out teleoperated scooters in the northeast Atlanta suburb. They are making them available to the public in a six-month pilot project at the Curiosity Lab, an autonomous-vehicle test track and innovation center in a 500-acre technology park.

The "living lab" announced the partnership on May 20, calling this the first time teleoperated scooters have been deployed on public roads.

A Tortoise team in Mexico City remotely controls the scooters while watching a live feed from cameras mounted on the vehicles.

To take a ride, the customer uses an app to summon a Go X Apollo scooter. A remote operator sends the vehicle to the customer's location. The rider assumes manual…