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Self-driving startup Zoox has laid off its human safety drivers, at least for a while. With its test vehicles in California and Nevada idled by the coronavirus health crisis, the company sent an email Friday to contract workers, notifying them they would not be paid beyond Tuesday if they could not remotely work.

"The decision was not made lightly and is an unfortunate reflection of the difficult situation faced by many organizations in an uncertain economic climate," a Zoox spokesperson said.

The company did not say how many drivers are affected. Tech site The Verge, which first reported the developments, says approximately 120 contract workers are impacted.

Zoox has 58 autonomous vehicles registered to test on California roads, according to the state's DMV records. That's the fourth most of any company testing in California, behind Waymo, Cruise and Apple. The company expects its self-driving fleet will be grounded at least through May 3, by virtue of …

Editor's note: A previous version of this story included an incorrect plant schedule for BMW.

Auto workers at Honda Motor Co., Nissan Motor Co. and BMW's U.S. assembly plants are finding themselves in an unfamiliar situation as their employers furlough thousands of them with no pay because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those and other nonunion automakers in North America have rarely resorted to layoffs in the past few decades, except during the 2007-09 economic crisis. To avoid sending workers home with no pay, international auto companies have relied on plant expansions, new-model additions and even make-work activities to keep work forces on the clock. Many also rely on pools of temp workers that can be increased or decreased as the market warrants, without cutting into regular employee rosters.

But the new health crisis is starkly different, as the industry halts operations worldwide.

A Nissan spokeswoman said about 10,000 workers at plants in Ten…

PARIS -- Renault and its alliance partner Nissan have the resources to weather the coronavirus crisis and will roll out strategic plans as scheduled in mid-May, the automakers’ top executives said.

Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard and Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the three-year strategic plans for the automakers and alliance member Mitsubishi were needed to restore investors’ confidence.

Renault and Nissan have seen their sales fall and profits evaporate in the 18 months since the November 2018 arrest of Carlos Ghosn, who had led the alliance as chairman and was also serving as chairman and CEO at Renault.

"If the plan is not well explained and understood, then the share price is not going to recover and people will not believe that Nissan can get back on its feet," Uchida said in the interview.

Since the beginning of the year, Renault's share price has fallen by 58 percent while Nissan's h…

Lexus previews the second-generation 2006 IS sport sedan, as well as a convertible version, with the introduction of the LF-C sports coupe concept April 8, 2004, at the New York auto show.

The concept was equipped with a retractable hard top and four-position glass roof, allowing the car to switch from coupe to convertible to targa or speedster.

The rear-wheel-drive LF-C — for Lexus Future-Coupe — was powered by a V-8 engine and featured a one-touch activation button, crystal LED taillamps, suede bucket seats, a 3D instrument panel, drive-by-wire and a translucent crystal center console with blue backlighting.

Retractable rear-view cameras replaced side mirrors on the doors and rear bumper.

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.

Automotive News reporter Lindsay VanHulle offers insights into her coverage on how dealerships across the U.S. are surviving during the pandemic and adapting to the rapidly changing digital landscape.

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Mazda plans special editions throughout its lineup to commemorate the company's 100th anniversary, although U.S. availability of the unique trim level will be announced later because of the coronavirus outbreak.

In Japan, Mazda is taking preorders now and will deliver the vehicles up until March 2021, the company said.

The special editions draw their inspiration from styling touches on Mazda's first passenger car, the R360 Coupe from 1960. The two-door micro-mini with a rear-mounted engine featured two-tone flourishes on higher trims on the roof and the interior, and the 100th-anniversary models echo some of those elements.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mazda's 100th birthday

The treatment is most fully realized on the MX-5 Miata convertible, which features white paint with a burgundy-red roof, like the comparable R360. Most other models come entirely in white on the outside with red leather seats and red carpet on the inside. Special edition logos — "100 YEAR…

The General Motors-Honda pact to co-develop two electric vehicles for the Japanese automaker — buried by an avalanche of coronavirus news last week — deserves a closer look. It's a rare, big deal.

Because Honda is a fiercely proud company — and doggedly protective of its sterling reputation for engineering and quality — the company doesn't often put its name on products that weren't designed in-house or that weren't designed with a partner it knows well.

Honda's name will appear, the two partners said Thursday, on two new global electric vehicles being developed by GM. Honda will design the interior and exterior of the vehicles. GM engineers are developing the vehicles' underpinnings and GM is providing the power.

The partnership will benefit from greater economies of scale, which will help with pricing and profitability.

This is the deepest collaboration Honda has had with a competitor since the 1980s, when Honda and…

Cadillac is revamping its sedan lineup in the U.S. with the 2020 CT4 and CT5. The CT5-V, the performance variant, is powered by a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6 engine with 360 hp and 405 pound-feet of torque. It's available with rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. The CT5-V starts at $48,690 including shipping. Here's a roundup of CT5-V driving impressions from the automotive media.

"The car hunkered down and took off under heavy acceleration and felt secure and balanced on twisty stretches. The steering is precise and firm, with ample assist in touring mode. The CT5's weight distributions range from 51/49 to 54/46 front/rear, depending on engine, rear- or all-wheel drive and other features. I didn't notice any ill effects from the slightly nose-heavy layout, possibly because sport mode's performance traction management system neutralized them.

"The brakes, which include six-piston Brembos up front, have massive stopping power and pedal feedback that makes them ea…

DETROIT -- The Detroit Grand Prix, scheduled to take place May 29-31 at Belle Isle Park, is canceled this year because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The race will be scheduled for June 4-6 next year, according to a Monday news release.

"We looked at every possible scenario to reschedule the race, but all of them would have been too disruptive to the hundreds of fall events that will take place on Belle Isle," Bud Denker, chairman of the event, said in the release.

Ticketholders will be contacted soon, the release said.

James McLernon, a longtime auto industry executive with a specialization in manufacturing who rose from the assembly line to become a top executive with Chevrolet, opened Volkswagen's first U.S. assembly plant, and was a founder and past chairman of the board of American Axle, died March 21 at his home in Michigan. He was 92.

After serving in the Navy Air Corps during World War II, McLernon was an hourly worker at General Motors' Tonawanda, N.Y., plant while studying industrial engineering at the University of Buffalo. He became an engineer at GM and rose through the ranks to become general manufacturing manager at GM's Chevrolet Division executive in 1969.

In 1976, McLernon joined what was then Volkswagen Manufacturing Corp. of America as its first president, overseeing the completion of an unfinished Chrysler plant into the German automaker's New Stanton, Pa., assembly plant. In 1978, he was named president and CEO of a newly formed umbrella group for Vo…