Trade News

Tesla Inc. asserts that restarting its operations in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic doesn’t make the company an outlier, nor is it going against the grain.

But its CEO's handling of the health crisis has been anything but ordinary. Tesla sued the county blocking its car plant from reopening, with Elon Musk calling the local health officer -- a former infectious diseases professor with a master’s degree in public health -- “unelected & ignorant.” He threatened to move Tesla’s headquarters out of California, warning that all its manufacturing may leave the state, too.

The weekend flare-up was without precedent in the three months since the first confirmed COVID-19 death in the U.S. -- a resident of Santa Clara County, home to Tesla’s headquarters and neighbor to its factory in Fremont, Calif. As the nation’s death toll approaches 80,000, Musk has emerged as arguably the loudest voice in corporate America advocating for the economy to reopen.

“I…

AutoNation Inc.'s first-quarter results were hampered by slower business and stay-at-home orders across most of its footprint amid the coronavirus pandemic, driving the auto retail giant to a net loss.

The nation's largest new-vehicle retailer said Monday that first-quarter revenue dropped 6.3 percent to $4.67 billion. Lower revenues and $315 million in after-tax noncash goodwill, franchise rights and other impairment charges mostly related to COVID-19 led to a net loss of $232.3 million. That compared with net income of $92 million in 2019's first quarter.

When adjusted for the special charges, net income from continuing operations was $82.4 million, down 4 percent. In the year-ago quarter, AutoNation had $6 million in after-tax gains on store divestitures.

AutoNation said its same-store new and used retail vehicle sales plunged 52 percent during the first 10 days of April but were down just 19 percent during the last 10 days of the month. For all …

BRUSSELS -- EU antitrust regulators will decide by June 17 whether to clear a proposed $50 billion merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group, a European Commission filing said on Monday.

The companies announced the deal last year to create the world's fourth-largest automake, putting under one roof the Italian company's brands such as Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, Ram, Maserati and the French company's Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, Vauxhall and DS marques.

FCA and PSA sought EU approval on Friday, the Commission site showed.

EU competition enforcers can approve the deal with or without conditions or open a full-scale investigation of about four months following the end of the preliminary review should they have deep concerns.

The deal comes amidst falling car sales across the world as companies have shut down production lines and showrooms to contain the coronavirus outbreak, although some companies are reopening plants as countries eas…

New-vehicle sales in China are forecast to contract 15 to 25 percent this year despite a rebound in April, which was driven by sharply higher demand for commercial vehicles, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Monday.

April new-vehicle sales rose 4.4 percent to 2.07 million as the country eased virus-related curbs on travel and commerce, ending 21 consecutive months of declines, according to the industry trade group.

"The sales rebound in April fell short of expectations but ... will increase in the next two months" due to the release of pent-up demand as lockdown measures are further eased, CAAM official Xu Haidong said.

The rebound last month reflected strong demand for commercial vehicles as the Chinese government boosted investment in construction and infrastructure projects such as highways and power grids.

Last month, sales of new commercial vehicles including trucks and buses surged 32 percent to roughly 534,000. Among co…

Mass-transit ridership has plummeted. Scooter companies have shuttered in key cities. Ride-hailing networks have scrambled to pivot from carrying humans to carrying takeout orders.

So it's a curious time to buy a transportation company whose operations are predicated on people moving around. Despite a world wracked by a pandemic, that's just what Intel Corp. did last week.

With a shrug toward today's maladies and an eye on the future, the tech giant purchased Moovit, an Israeli mobility-as-a-service provider, for $900 million through Intel's Mobileye subsidiary. Discussions between the companies started with the intention of a potential investment: Intel ultimately decided to buy Moovit outright.

Mobileye is banking on coronavirus-related travel disruptions remaining a temporary hindrance rather than a catalyst for long-term changes in transportation.

"In the times of great crisis, you either pull back or lean in, and this is an example of leanin…

Imagine turning 65, looking back and realizing that you peaked in your mid-teens and that you spent much of the last 50 years trying to once again taste the popularity of your youth.

The so-far failed chase by this boomer has been both exhausting and expensive — including a stretch a decade ago spent with a pretty expensive substance abuse problem. But Volkswagen of America is clean now and ready to give it another go, if historically low oil prices and a global pandemic don't muck up its chances to get back to the 5 percent market share it had in the U.S. half a century ago.

And while the push to grow in the U.S. will ultimately be product-driven, top Volkswagen leaders insist it will be powered not just by electrons and carbon molecules, but by something they know from experience is far more difficult to develop and easier to burn through: trust.

"The absolute bedrock of that 5 points of share and the bedrock of those 570,000 units [in 1970] was, firs…

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that Tesla will move its headquarters and future programs to Texas or Nevada from California immediately.

"If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen (sic) on how Tesla is treated in the future," he wrote on Twitter, referring to the facility in the San Francisco Bay area that is Tesla's only U.S. vehicle factory.

Musk also tweeted about suing Alameda County, Calif., after its health department said the electric carmaker must not reopen the Fremont factory as local lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus remain in effect. 

Musk had told employees on Thursday that limited production would restart at Fremont on Friday afternoon.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Thursday that manufacturers in the state would be allowed to reopen. But Alameda County, where the factory is located, is scheduled to remain shut until the end of May with only essential…

Tesla Inc. sued local authorities in California on Saturday as the company pushed to reopen a factory there and CEO Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla's headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada.

Musk has been pushing to restart Tesla's Fremont, Calif., factory after Alameda County's health department said the company must not reopen because local lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus remain in effect.

In a blog post on Saturday, Tesla said the county's position left it no choice but to take legal action to ensure Tesla and its employees can go back to work.

The company said it had worked out a thorough return-to-work plan that includes online video training for personnel, work zone partition areas, temperature screening, requirements to wear protective equipment and rigorous cleaning and disinfecting protocols.

The company said it had informed health authorities in Alameda County, where the Fremont fact…

TOKYO -- Mazda Motor Corp. has sought loans totaling about 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) from Japan's three megabanks and other lenders to ride out the coronavirus epidemic, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Saturday.

The megabanks -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group -- along with the Development Bank of Japan, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings and others are set to agree, with some already having extended the loans, the person said, declining to be identified because the information is not public.

All three megabanks declined to comment on the loan request, which was reported by the Nikkei business daily earlier. Mazda did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mazda, like most other automakers, has reduced or halted production at factories around the world for the past few months as governments try to limit the spread of the new coronavirus.

Mazda's light-vehic…

DETROIT — Liberated from its longtime slot in the deep freeze of January, the Detroit auto show had big plans for the 2020 event that were years in the making.

It was supposed to be a summertime celebration for a transforming auto industry and a resurgent downtown. With just months to go before the new June date, plans were largely set:

Barges would be docked along the Detroit River showcasing new vehicles. Downtown parks dotted with food trucks and automaker-sponsored displays. Ride-and-drives zipping along the riverfront.

Working with 14 acres of outdoor space, officials received permits to block traffic in order to park British and Italian classics as part of a Concours-like expo. A German Haus across the street from the convention hall was planned with a biergarten and curbside space to show off Audis and Volkswagens.

There was even talk of helicopter companies staging demonstrations of vertical takeoffs and landings.

Then the coronavi…