Trade News

General Motors' self-driving subsidiary, Cruise, has hired Louise Zhang, a top engineer at Lucid Motors who helped build Tesla's safety team, as its first dedicated safety chief.

Zhang oversaw vehicle safety and regulatory compliance for Lucid since 2015 after spending nearly six years at Tesla. She was responsible for overall safety of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV, which received five-star ratings in government crash testing.

Zhang also previously worked as an engineer at Delphi Automotive, leading safety system integration projects with Chinese automakers in Shanghai.

"Louise has dedicated her career to making cars and roads safer, and as we continue on our mission to build the safest self-driving service, she will play a critical role overseeing our validation capabilities and the development of innovative safety solutions and best practices across hardware and software," Cruise said in a statement.

Zhang's position, vice president of prod…

SHANGHAI -- Tesla Inc.'s stock jumped above $1,000 a share on Wednesday after CEO Elon Musk told his staff it was time to bring the Tesla Semi commercial truck to "volume production."

Musk, in an email seen by Reuters on Wednesday, did not specify a time frame for ramping up production of the Semi. Musk on Wednesday tweeted "Yes" to a question on Twitter about whether the report of the leaked Semi truck production email was accurate.

Tesla's shares rose more than 6 percent to hit $1,000 on Wednesday after Reuters reported Musk's email, making the Silicon Valley company the second-most valuable automaker in the world, behind Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. Tesla's share surge could position Musk for another payout from a stock compensation plan tied to the company's market capitalization.

The company's shares closed Wednesday's trading up nearly 9 percent to $1,025.05.

The stock also got a boost from a bullish call by Wedbush, which lifted i…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. will offer battery-electric versions of its F-150 pickup and Transit van by mid-2022, COO Jim Farley said Wednesday.

It's the most detailed timeline yet for the company's electric vehicle plans and comes as Ford faces increasing competition in the EV space. The automaker previously said only that the Transit EV would be a 2022 model year vehicle and that the F-150 EV would be available in "the next couple years."

Both products are key to Ford's strategy of increasing its focus on high-margin, commercial vehicles. They face challengers on all sides, including electric startups such as Rivian and Bollinger Motors as well as traditional rivals such as General Motors, which is planning its own electric van, according to Reuters.

"With our knowledge and know-how, I like our chances against all comers as we go all-electric," Farley said at the Deutsche Bank 2020 Global Auto Industry Conference.

Farley and Ford CEO Jim Hackett u…

LOS ANGELES — Honda has resumed production at most of its plants after suffering a crippling cyberattack on its global computer network over the weekend, but it is still working to restart some manufacturing operations in Ohio, the company said Tuesday.

The automaker has not offered details on the factories at which it was forced to suspend production after the network disruption began on Sunday. American Honda, the U.S. sales arm, said some factories were forced to shut down in North America because of a loss of computer connectivity.

The company acknowledged Tuesday that the IT disruption was an outside attack.

"Honda has experienced a cyberattack that has affected production operations at some U.S. plants," the company said in a statement. "However, there is no current evidence of loss of personally identifiable information. We have resumed production in most plants and are currently working toward the return to production of our auto and engine plant…

As Rivian edges closer to completing its manufacturing plant in Illinois and launching three electric vehicles next year, the company has added senior executives — including a new COO — to fill new roles and replace people who have departed.

The company, whose engineering and design center is in suburban Detroit, has recruited executives from the motorcycle industry, Tesla, Lucid and elsewhere since March.

Rod Copes replaces Jim Morgan as COO. Copes, a motorcycle industry veteran, most recently worked for Indian-owned motorcycle manufacturer Royal Enfield. As president of the company's U.S. arm, Copes built the team that returned the former British-made motorcycle to the U.S. after a long absence. Copes also put in 19 years at Harley-Davidson, where he was senior vice president of global sales and customer service.

The Verge website reported that Morgan will remain as an adviser and was only in the COO position as a placeholder until the job was filled p…

Ben Volkow's first attempts to play matchmaker between two reluctant partners were a lonely endeavor.

The founder of Otonomo sought to connect automakers holding troves of new vehicular data with third parties that could buy the information on the company's new platform and find novel uses for it. Early on, it was difficult to find companies willing to take the first step.

"With a marketplace, it's very hard to start," said Volkow, CEO of the Israeli startup, which he founded in 2015. "It's like starting a tango. The OEMs wanted to know which companies had signed up, and the other guys wanted to know what OEMs were signed up and supplying data. It was two steps forward, one step back for a long while."

Not anymore. As the number of connected vehicles reaching roads worldwide has increased, the company has gained traction on both sides of its marketplace. The latest development came Tuesday, when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles signed an agreement to use the co…

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.

Randy Parker, vice president of national sales for Hyundai Motor America, says the automaker is positioned for a stronger sales rebound after getting dealers to load up on existing inventory during the early days of the pandemic.

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DETROIT — Penske Automotive Group Inc. said its retail automotive business improved in May over sharp drops in business in late March and April amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The nation's second-largest new-vehicle retailer said its May U.S. new- and used-vehicle sales were down 25 percent year over year, while U.S. service and parts gross profit declined 39 percent.

That's better than the drop of about 50 percent Penske experienced in new and used sales in April and its 52 percent decline in service and parts gross profit the same month amid stay-at-home orders.

Penske said all of its U.S. dealerships' sales and service departments were open and that it was seeing sequential improvement in business.

"I am encouraged by the significant improvement we continue to see in our operations," CEO Roger Penske said in a statement Tuesday. "Since the COVID-19 pandemic began impacting operations in the second half of March, we …

General Motors' top executive expects it will take decades for electric vehicles to take over as the dominant form of transportation but sees driverless cars on the road within five years.

CEO Mary Barra said American drivers will go electric, but it will take a long time for most of the 250 million vehicles on U.S. roads to be battery powered.

“We believe the transition will happen over time,” Barra said on “Leadership Live With David Rubenstein” on Bloomberg Television. When asked if all cars will be electric in 20 years, she said that may be too soon. “It will happen in a little bit longer period, but it will happen.”

That outlook underscores the tricky task Barra will have budgeting billions for new models and deciding which of them will run on battery power. Following inroads made by Tesla Inc., GM is one of the most aggressive automakers when it comes to electrifying its lineup. It currently sells just one EV in the U.S. but is developing…

Subaru's midcycle freshening for the subcompact Crosstrek crossover includes updated styling at the front, a new trim level and — for the first time in the nameplate's history — an available 2.5-liter engine.

The 2021 Crosstrek, the brand's smallest crossover, will now be offered with the same 2.5-liter engine with 182 hp and 176 pound-feet of torque found in the Forester compact crossover, Legacy midsize sedan and Outback midsize crossover.

For the Crosstrek, the larger engine equates to a power increase of 30 hp and 31 pound-feet of torque over the 2.0-liter engine.

Subaru will offer the 2.5-liter in two trims: Sport, which is new for the 2021 model year, and the top-of-the-line Limited. It's only available with a continuously variable transmission. Base and Premium trims will continue to have the 2.0-liter engine and the option of a six-speed manual transmission or a continuously variable transmission.

Despite the increase in power, the 2.5-li…