Trade News

FRANKFURT -- Daimler and Volvo Trucks have agreed to join forces to develop, produce and sell fuel cell systems for heavy-duty vehicles, in a sign that the coronavirus crisis is accelerating consolidation.

Global car and truck makers are exploring ways to share costs on new technologies as customers shun showrooms in areas hit by the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns, denting profits.

"The common goal is for both companies to offer heavy-duty vehicles with fuel cells for demanding long-haul applications in series production in the second half of the decade," Daimler said in a statement on Tuesday.

The joint venture agreed by the two companies will operate as an independent and autonomous entity, with Daimler Truck and the Volvo Group continuing to be competitors in all other areas of business, the companies said.

"Joining forces will decrease development costs for both companies and accelerate the market introduction of fuel cell systems in prod…

Credit Acceptance Corp., the lender to car buyers with subprime credit scores, warned it’s seeing a sharp drop-off in payments as people shift their financial priorities to get through the coronavirus pandemic.

As unemployment soars, borrowers are putting off payments or “reallocating resources,” Credit Acceptance said in a regulatory filing Monday, explaining that it needs more time to publish a quarterly report. New lending is also slowing as dealerships across the U.S. are forced to shutter their showrooms, the company said.

“A continued disruption in our workforce, decrease in collections from our consumers or decline in consumer loan assignments could cause a material adverse effect on our financial position, liquidity and results of operations,” Credit Acceptance wrote.

The firm is among the first to report an uptick in delinquencies as some lenders offer forbearance, hoping that what consumers need is time to get through the pandemic so they can r…

TOKYO -- Nissan said on Tuesday it will shut its global headquarters in Japan for 16 days through early May to contain the spread of the coronavirus, even though the government has permitted keeping workplaces open to get the economy running.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has allowed manufacturing plants to keep operating under a state of emergency that was declared this month and broadened last week, but Nissan and its rivals had already suspended output at many of their factories due to plummeting global demand.

Nissan is the latest Japanese company to shutter its global headquarters to reduce the number of staff commuting, as the COVID-19 infections in the country increased to around 11,000 this week.

Canon and Toshiba also announced similar measures earlier this month.

Nissan said that 15,000 employees at its headquarters in Yokohama and main R&D center in nearby Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, would be required to take leave for 16 days from nex…

DETROIT -- The UAW endorsed a plan to reopen the economy proposed by presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden after the union was left off President Donald Trump’s task force on that topic.

The union, which represents hourly workers at General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has yet to officially endorse a candidate for president. But UAW President Rory Gamble, who’s pressuring automakers not to resume production until it’s safe to do so, called Biden’s plan a “nonpartisan, science-based approach.”

“The only litmus test in reopening the economy is whether you would send your son or daughter into the workplace,” Gamble said in a statement. “Former Vice President Biden’s plan relies on experts and science-based factors, acknowledges the need for adequate testing and oversight of safety in reopening workplaces, and is devoid of partisan acrimony.”

President Trump included leaders from the Teamsters union and the AFL-CIO, a…

DETROIT -- The Detroit 3 automakers and the UAW are in talks about safely restarting U.S. production halted by the coronavirus pandemic, but local union leaders said on Monday any workers who feel sick must be allowed to self quarantine without losing pay.

So far, neither the union nor the automakers have announced a deal. But the automakers all are aiming to restart at least some U.S. assembly plants in early May. Virtually all U.S. automotive production ground to a halt in March as the number of COVID-19 infections grew rapidly.

The safety practices and sick leave policies the automakers and the UAW negotiate would offer a template for auto suppliers and potentially other manufacturing industries.

UAW President Rory Gamble wrote on Friday the union has made it clear to the car companies that adequate testing for COVID-19 is key to restarting production and "we must create an environment where workers are comfortable to self-report symptoms and self-qu…

FRANKFURT -- Germany's auto industry and senior politicians are stepping up calls for another scrappage program -- known in the U.S. as cash for clunkers -- to revive demand after the coronavirus crisis as Volkswagen and Daimler gradually restart output in European factories this week.

Ensuring cars are sold to customers is critical for the production ramp-up, VW brand COO Ralf Brandstatter said Monday in an emailed statement.

“A sales support can be a sensible contribution to climate protection,” he added, suggesting that the program could be geared toward cars with lower emissions.

Germany’s export-driven car sector has been severely hit by shutdowns across the globe to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.

Across Europe, car sales in March dropped 52 percent, the most on record, as showrooms closed to help limit the coronavirus outbreak and production was halted globally.

A scrapping program to trade in older vehicles for new ones hel…

BEIJING -- Didi Chuxing, China's biggest ride-hailing provider, aims to complete 100 million rides and orders a day and have 800 million monthly active users globally by 2022, CEO Cheng Wei said.

The company, backed partly by Softbank, will continue to expand mobility services including ride-hailing, hitch, and bike sharing, while developing auto-related businesses such as autonomous driving and fleet management operations with automakers, it said in a statement.

Orders include those from ride-sharing services as well as other services such as food deliveries.

Didi did not say what its current average daily global orders were, but last year it said it expected domestic ride-sharing trips, which account for the bulk of its business, could reach 37 million on September 30, before China's national day holiday.

Didi aims to achieve an 8 percent penetration rate in China's mobility market, Cheng said, explaining the company's three-year strategy in a c…

HAMBURG -- Volkswagen has reached settlements with 200,000 of the 260,000 claimants participating in a class action lawsuit brought by German consumer group VZBV over the company's rigging of diesel emissions tests, VW said.

A further 21,000 cases were still being reviewed for possible payouts of 1,350 euros to 6,250 euros ($1,464.35 to $6,779.38) per car and the deadline for participating in the settlement has been extended to April 30, VW said on Monday. The exact amount depends on the age and model of the owner's car.

VW will pay out a total of 620 million euros ($673 million). It had set aside 830 million to cover the costs of settlements with all participants of in the VZBV class action.

The deal marks a further step in the automaker's efforts to make amends after it admitted in 2015 to using illegal software to cheat U.S. diesel engine tests.

The effort has cost Volkswagen more than $30 billion in vehicle refits, fines and provisions. Read more

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For the most part, shoppers coming to Dulles Motorcars accept that the vehicle they're trading in is worth a lot less now than it was just a few weeks ago.

"It's not like they don't have a spouse [working] in the basement of their house," said Jeremy Lustman, the Leesburg, Va., group's vice president of operations, alluding to the state and local orders keeping most Americans at home during the coronavirus pandemic. "I mean, they understand what's happening."

The pandemic that has brought the U.S. economy to a near halt has also made for an abrupt turnaround in the used-vehicle business, a part of auto retailing that franchised dealers have increasingly relied on in recent years. Retail used-vehicle sales and wholesale auction volumes have plunged. Vehicle values are down significantly in the span of just a few weeks. It's left dealers wrestling with how to handle trade-ins and at what volumes to stock their lots in the coming weeks.

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