Trade News

DETROIT — In the second week of production after the coronavirus shutdown, the Detroit 3 aimed to find a balance: Keep factory floors from spreading infection while racing to fulfill orders from dealers desperate for inventory.

All three companies have had confirmed cases of the virus within their plants since they reopened May 18. But because of new guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in most cases, they have been able to disinfect affected areas with much shorter stoppages than anticipated.

With two weeks to see how everything was running again, the automakers had to quickly decide whether to forgo the usual summer shutdowns to make up for some of the two months they were closed. The contractual deadline to notify the UAW of planned changes in their production calendars, such as canceling the summer break, is Monday, June 1.

The automakers initially said they would shut down a plant for 24 hours to clean when a positi…

TOKYO — The new strategy to put Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi back on their feet can be summed up by how the alliance told the listening world.

The plan was laid out last week simultaneously by the three heads of the three carmakers, looped in from three locations in an international webcast conveyed in three languages, English, French and Japanese.

It was an unmistakable departure from the one-man rule of the Carlos Ghosn era, when the chairman called all the shots for all three companies.

Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard, who now succeeds Ghosn as the group's figurehead leader, took pains to convey a more consensual, balanced approach going forward.

The Franco-Japanese auto empire will run its business with each company taking on individual responsibilities, rather than the three being blended together to meet a unified goal.

Senard dismissed speculation about the possibility of a merger and a …

FRANKFURT -- Scores of German business executives were due to return to China on Friday evening, beneficiaries of an accelerated entry procedure offered by Beijing as both countries seek to reignite their economies after months of lockdown.

Under a deal brokered by the German Chamber of Commerce in China, staff from hundreds of German companies with units there can return without undergoing two weeks' quarantine if they can show a certified negative coronavirus test.

Among the executives waiting to board the chartered Lufthansa flight to Tianjin was Karin Warowski, a controller at Volkswagen Group, who was eager to rejoin her husband after months of separation.

"Obviously everyone's pleased that business is restarting - it's already underway," she said, rushing through a near-deserted airport to catch her flight.

"I'm one of the first privileged few who can go back to Tianjin... I'm very pleased to be going back to where my husband is. We've been …

Of all the ambitious projects attempted in the short history of self-driving technology, no company has been more audacious than Zoox.

Since the startup's founding nearly six years ago, its executives have pursued an arduous path that involves developing their own autonomous driving system, creating their own vehicle platform from the ground up and building their own ride- hailing platform all at the same time.

So it seems fitting perhaps that another aggressive company, Amazon — which has sought to do nothing less than dominate American retail — has emerged as a potential suitor as Zoox readies itself for sale.

Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported Amazon was in "advanced" discussions to purchase Zoox at a significant discount to the $3.2 billion valuation it achieved during a 2018 funding round. A company spokesperson said Zoox would "not comment on rumors or speculation" regarding a potential sale.

Succeedi…

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…