Trade News

DETROIT — American Axle and Manufacturing Holdings said earnings and revenue slipped during the first quarter as it grappled with the COVID-19 crisis, but the company said operating results remained strong under the circumstances.

Shares in American Axle surged on the news, rising 37 percent to $5.85 in midday trading.

Adjusted earnings, after interest, taxes and other onetime deductions, fell 13 percent to $213 million during the quarter. The company said COVID-19 costs took a $47 million bite out of those EBITDA results.

On a call Friday, CFO Chris May credited the positive adjusted EBITDA performance to high productivity and low launch costs.

In the statement, the company reported first-quarter net sales dropped 22 percent to $1.34 billion.

The company previously targeted sales of $5.8 billion to $6 billion in 2020, lower than in previous years.

American Axle joins other suppliers — including Aptiv, BorgWarner, Magna, Lear Corp. …

DETROIT -- Lear Corp. managed to churn a profit in the first quarter of 2020 despite a significant impact on production from the global COVID-19 outbreak.

The seating and electronics supplier said net income fell 67 percent to $76.4 million during the quarter while revenue fell 14 percent to $4.5 billion. COVID-19 sliced $900 million of sales in the quarter, the company said in a press release.

Lear's China plants were closed for several weeks in the quarter due to the outbreak that started in Wuhan, China. But while its China operations were reopened by the end of the quarter, "virtually all plants" in North America, Asia (outside of China), South America and Europe were closed.

"Our first quarter financial results were significantly impacted by production disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.," Lear CEO Ray Scott said in the press release. "Excluding the impact of COVID-19, Lear's results reflect solid financial performance in both of our bu…

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.

The president of JM&A Group opens up about giving dealers free access to the company's virtual finance and insurance training process playbook; the ''awkward blessing in disguise'' that has emerged from the crisis.

How do I subscribe?

Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

iPhone / iPad

“Daily Drive” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Android

“Daily Drive” is available on the Google Play stor…

Tenneco Inc.'s revenue slumped and the company swung to an adjusted net loss in the first quarter as automakers suspended production because of the coronavirus pandemic, the supplier said Friday.

The maker of ride control and emissions systems said first-quarter revenue fell 14 percent to $3.84 billion. The company estimates the COVID-19 crisis affected value-add revenue by $340 million.

Tenneco's first-quarter net loss widened to $839 million from a loss of $117 million last year. The net loss included noncash impairments of $854 million.

Its adjusted net loss was $26 million, compared with income of $42 million in the year-earlier period. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization dropped 27 percent to $239 million.

Shares of Tenneco were up 15.7 percent to $5.24 in midday trading Friday . Tenneco joins several other major suppliers, including Aptiv, Adient, BorgWarner and Magna, in reporting quarterly earn…

New approaches to selling autos forced by the coronavirus crisis will play right into the desires of consumers, a study by KPMG has found.

Seventy-five percent of consumers would prefer to handle their purchase, trade-in, financing and delivery remotely, according to a survey of 2,500 U.S. consumers in the week beginning April 8. Nearly half said they'd prefer to take a test drive without having to enter a dealership.

"The whole online experience, we think people are going to be pushing for that," Gary Silberg, KPMG's auto chief for the Americas, told Automotive News.

The study says remote sales and deliveries have kept U.S. sales from a total collapse during the COVID-19 pandemic and are the future of auto retailing. Dealers have weeks, not months, to get their systems ready for e-commerce capabilities, the management consulting firm says.

Twenty-five percent of those surveyed said they were considering purchasing a vehicle within three months pr…

TOKYO -- Japan announced on Friday a list of companies subject to tighter foreign ownership rules including Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp., as the United States and Europe step up scrutiny of industries key to national security.

Japan identified 518 of roughly 3,800 listed companies with operations core to national security, making them targets for stringent regulations, a list released by the Ministry of Finance showed.

The tighter rules covering foreign investment in a dozen industrial, transportation, communications and technology sectors crucial to national security, such as oil, railways, utilities, arms, space, nuclear power, aviation, telecoms and cyber security, take effect from Friday.

Foreign investors buying a stake of 1 percent or more in Japanese companies in the 12 areas now face pre-screening in principle, compared with the previous threshold of 10 percent.

"The revised law is aimed at accelerating foreign direct investment in Ja…

Hertz Global Holdings Inc.’s creditors were offered two bad choices when hammering out a deal to keep it out of bankruptcy: cut the 102-year-old company some slack and hope it recovers, or let it slip into insolvency and try to recoup their investment in sales of its devalued rental fleet.

The holders of Hertz’s asset-backed securities (ABS) blinked and gave the company until May 22 to pay them about $400 million. Hertz knew its creditors would want to avoid bankruptcy, which could trigger a fire sale of devalued used cars if the ABS trusts that hold the vehicles have to liquidate, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

That sets up a parallel quandary for Hertz’s bank lenders, which kept fighting after the ABS holders had agreed to a forbearance. In the next two weeks, Hertz’s banks -- led by Deutsche Bank and Barclays -- must decide whether to allow Hertz to raise more money to pay the ABS holders, or let it slide into bankruptcy, said the people, wh…

Volvo Car Corp.’s sales in China, its largest market, staged a strong rebound in April, jumping 21 percent to 14,724. 

The coronavirus outbreak has been largely contained in China since mid-March. Showroom traffic at its local dealerships “began to return to normal levels” last month, the Swedish carmaker said.

Because of a steep decline in the first quarter, Volvo’s China deliveries through April still dropped 16 percent to 35,504.

China was the only market where the Swedish brand realized growth in April. 

With demand hit hard in Europe and the United States, Volvo’s global deliveries plunged 44 percent to 56,535 during the month. In the first four months, worldwide sales fell 25 percent to 163,649 cars and light trucks, Volvo said.

Volvo, owned by private Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, has maintained strong growth in the past several years. In 2019, its China deliveries advanced 19 percent to 154,961.

In…

Dongfeng Yueda Kia, Kia Motors’ car joint venture in China, said April sales recovered to year-ago levels of 23,534 after a steep decline in the first quarter. 

The new-generation K3 sedan and three crossovers -- the KX3, KX5 and Sportage -- last month generated more than 80 percent of the Korean automaker’s volume.

The KX3 alone contributed sales of 7,627, or 32 percent of April volume, the company said.

With production and sales disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak, sales at Dongfeng Yueda Kia tumbled 44 percent to 17,626 in March. 

In the first quarter, deliveries slumped 48 percent to 43,152.

Dongfeng Yueda Kia, based in the east China city of Yancheng, is a three-way partnership of Kia and two Chinese companies -- Dongfeng Motor Group and local investment company Jiangsu Yueda Investment Co.

The joint venture has operated well below production capacity since 2017. 

Its two plants in Yancheng can build up t…

DETROIT -- Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday is expected to announce that the state's factories can reopen soon, removing one of the last major obstacles to North American automakers bringing thousands of laid-off employees back to work amid the coronavirus pandemic, two people familiar with the plans said.

Companies will be told they can begin work next week at their plants, including training their workforces for the restart, the sources said.

This week, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said they were targeting resuming vehicle production in North America on May 18, but suppliers would need time to prepare ahead for that date.

Whitmer is scheduled to provide an update of the state's handling of the coronavirus outbreak at 3 p.m. EDT.

The governor previously extended the state's coronavirus stay-at-home order through May 15, but lifted restrictions for some businesses other than manufacturing. Neighboring Ohio allowed manufa…

More personal car trips, fewer shared rides post-COVID-19, survey finds

The auto industry can expect to see a lot of dramatic changes in consumer behavior regarding mobility in a post-COVID-19 world.

That's according to a survey of more than 25,000 U.S. customers by the IBM Institute for Business Value. The survey, conducted in April and published last week, found that personal behavior and preferences for transportation – along with retail, work and event attendance – are likely to change as a result of the pandemic.

On the mobility front, many consumers indicated they plan to reduce their use of – or forgo entirely – ride-sharing and public transportation.

More than half of people surveyed who use ride-hailing apps and services said they would either use these less or stop using these services.

More than 20 percent of respondents who now regularly use public transit, including buses, subways or trains, said they no longer would. A…