Trade News

LOS ANGELES — Acura's second-generation TLX has big shoes to fill.

Honda Motor Co.'s luxury brand is discontinuing the bigger RLX, elevating the midsize TLX to flagship sedan status. Acura is banking on the redesigned model to add cred that a strategic shift to performance is taking hold — even as Americans abandon the traditional sedan in all stripes.

The Japanese automaker detailed the features of the re-engineered TLX in a 15-minute video on Thursday that served as a global reveal. The latest sedan was scheduled to appear at the New York auto show in April before the event was canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The 2021 TLX is longer, wider, lower and has a more expansive hood to give it the classic proportions of a sports sedan. It echoes the well-received 2019 Type S Concept that was a thinly veiled precursor to the production sedan. Acura's Type S performance variant is also being revived on the latest TLX after …

American Honda, BMW and Mercedes-Benz are canceling their traditional summer factory downtime at U.S. and Canadian plants in order to boost vehicle inventory as sales improve thanks to easing stay-at-home guidelines.

The automakers are eager to replenish inventory after their factories were idled for several weeks in accordance with government coronavirus rules.

Detroit 3 automakers have until next week to notify the UAW of planned changes in their own production calendar. Full-size pickups, in particular, have seen falling inventories as sales have remained surprisingly brisk during the lockdown.

Honda lost seven weeks of production from March 23 to May 11 as factories across North America shut down to reduce coronavirus transmission. Now it is adding production days on June 27, 29 and 30 that had previously been designated as days off for plant workers, the company said in an email to Automotive News.

"With the auto market improving as stay-at-h…

DETROIT — The owners of two General Motors dealerships in Michigan are suing the automaker and GM Financial, alleging unfair termination of their floorplan agreements and racial discrimination.

The federal lawsuit says two GM executives accused one of the stores, Superior Buick-GMC in Dearborn, of breaching its franchise agreement by letting numerous customers receive discounts by falsely claiming to be related to a GM employee or retiree. The dealership, which has many Arab American customers, lost sales because GM imposed on its buyers an intimidating approval process for the family discounts, the suit says.

GM denied the dealers' claims and called the discrimination allegations "absolutely false."

"These particular dealers failed and refused to adhere to the terms of their agreements and violated requirements established to prevent abuse of a GM incentive program," a GM spokesman said in an email. "GM has an excellent record for diversity and inclusi…

WASHINGTON -- A group of 23 U.S. states led by California, the District of Columbia and four major cities are filing suit Wednesday to challenge a Trump administration decision to weaken Obama administration fuel efficiency standards.

In March, the Trump administration issued final rules requiring 1.5 percent annual increases in efficiency through 2026 -- far weaker than the 5 percent increases in the discarded Obama-era rules -- but abandoned its August 2018 proposal to freeze requirements at 2020 levels through 2026.

Last week, a trade group representing General Motors, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Toyota Motor Corp. and others sided with the Trump administration on its plan and opposed a legal challenge to further weaken the requirements. Other automakers including Ford Motor Co. are not backing the administration plan.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the revised requirements "will increase costs to consumers and allow the…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. last week asked President Donald Trump to comply with its rules by wearing a face mask and other protective equipment throughout his visit to a Michigan plant building ventilators.

He chose not to, aside from a brief behind-the-scenes tour, but the automaker was ready if he did.

In the days leading up to the presidential visit, Ford scrambled to prepare a one-off face shield specifically for Trump. A member of the automaker's D-Ford design team mocked up a number of special shield designs in his personal shop: one featuring a blue band with the presidential seal and "President of the United States" stamped in the middle, another with a simple red, white and blue background with the words "United States of America."

Ford ultimately chose another design: The words "Commander-in-Chief" over a navy blue background, flanked by two Ford Blue Oval logos and accented by red stripes and white stars. It was made with the same rubber door-s…

Tesla Inc.’s overnight price cuts suggest the coronavirus is putting a bigger damper on demand than has been reflected in the electric-car maker’s share price, two analysts said.

The $5,000 reductions for the Model S and X and $2,000 cut for the Model 3 were an “acknowledgment that Tesla isn’t immune to material North American demand weakness,” Craig Irwin, an analyst at Roth Capital Partners, said in a report Wednesday.

“With the stock trading in the stratosphere,” Roth wrote, “the key question is, ‘Can Tesla continue to deliver an interesting growth rate in the U.S.?’”

Credit Suisse’s Dan Levy said the discounts change the narrative around the company’s volume this quarter. Prior to the price cuts, investors were concerned that demand would be limited by tight inventory. The company shut down production at its lone U.S. auto plant on March 23 and rushed to reopen the facility -- initially without local authorities’ permission -- in mid May.

Tesl…

The National Automobile Dealers Association and the American International Automobile Dealers Association have joined a growing list of trade associations and other groups calling for Congress to pass temporary and targeted liability relief legislation related to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter sent Wednesday, more than 200 groups urged members of Congress to "enact temporary liability protections for businesses, nonprofit organizations and educational institutions that work to follow applicable public health guidelines against COVID-19 exposure claims."

The groups also are asking members to protect health care workers and facilities providing critical care and services; manufacturers, donors, distributors and users of personal protective equipment and other supplies; and public companies "targeted by unfair and opportunistic" securities related to the coronavirus.

"The need for liability protections and relief is clear," the groups said in the let…

HANGZHOU -- Cashback offers, up to 10 free oil changes, generous prepaid gasoline cards -- these are just some of the giveaways China's auto dealerships are using to woo customers out and about after spending much of February and March in lockdown.

For the most part, they are getting the job done.

Cui Peng, a Geely sales manager in the eastern city of Hangzhou, says unit sales at his dealership jumped 30 percent in April from March and they are hoping for 25 percent growth in May.

That is partly due to delayed demand after China shut down to contain the coronavirus. But it is also thanks to an offer of six free engine oil changes, worth around 3,000 yuan ($420), for customers who buy models such as the Binyue crossover.

"Although car retail prices are not much different from usual, customers get to enjoy these complimentary services that do not impact our budget much in the short term," he said.

In the nearby city of Ningbo, a Toyota Motor …