Trade News

Jun Kim is spending $1.6 billion to build a battery factory in Georgia — and it's not enough. Not even close.

His company, SK Innovation of South Korea, needs to spend twice that. And frankly, that won't be enough either. By mid-decade, Kim aims to have five times the Georgia project's capacity scattered around the world.

"When I became CEO in 2017," he said, "I had to ask the question: Is this the right time for us to invest in batteries, and do we have the financial resources and technology to do what it will take?

"We felt that the market was very ripe and we did have a competitive advantage. This could be one of the biggest opportunities for us if we invest now. So I made the decision to enter the market aggressively."

"Aggressively" is almost an understatement.

Since that decision in 2017, SK has launched construction of the plant in Commerce, Ga., which by 2022 will yield 10 gigawatt-hours of batt…

Most everyone agrees that a shortage of technicians ranks among the biggest challenges facing dealership service departments.

Over the decades, recruiting strategies have largely been aimed at high school and college-age students. Now, the latest in a long line of industry efforts is trying to lure them at an even younger age.

"We decided we would target as young as middle school," said Harry Hollenberg, a managing director at Carlisle & Co., a Concord, Mass., consulting firm that has been working for the better part of a year with nine automakers (Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo) on the Auto Technician Collaborative.

The signature recruiting part of the program is called Project Shift. Its website attempts to hit all the right pre-teen and teenage angst buttons — or at least the buttons of parents.

Worried about the future? There will always be demand for service technicians.

As showrooms are ordered to close and new-vehicle sales come to a crawl, a number of dealers need help navigating the massive $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package signed into law March 27 by President Donald Trump.

With demand for forgivable loans expected to be high, the key question is how long will it take for their cash-flow dependent businesses to secure aid?

The CARES Act — or Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act — expands existing loan programs and creates programs intended to help companies maintain employment and, ultimately, save their businesses. The nearly 900-page bill offers several potential benefits, including new payroll and tax provisions to provide a short-term lifeline to companies such as dealerships as they navigate the best way forward financially.

A lack of clarity on the scope, requirements and timeline of the lending process — particularly within a new program from the Small Business …

By setting a lower price point than competitors and making a more affordable V-Series line, Cadillac says it has positioned the 2020 CT5 to stand up against German luxury sedans.

Cadillac says a two-tiered approach to the V-Series and a handful of segment-first or exclusive features — such as a rear camera mirror, safety alert seat and ZF passive dampers — will help the car, which effectively replaced the CTS, gain traction.

The high-performance CT5-V starts at $48,690 including shipping. That's about $2,000 less than the Audi S4, $6,000 less than the BMW M340i and $8,000 less than the Mercedes-Benz AMG C 43. The standard CT5 starts at $37,890, in line with the Audi A4 and a few thousand less than the BMW 3 Series and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

For about the same price some rivals charge, Cadillac customers can upgrade to a premium luxury or sport trim.

Last year was the 15th anniversary of the V-Series, and it marked a shift in Cadillac's perform…

Asbury Automotive Group is furloughing 2,300 employees and slashing executive pay as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a regulatory filing.

The retailer cited a "sudden and significant decline" in U.S. vehicle sales and service operations for the cutbacks, the company said Friday.

Asbury, the nation's seventh-largest dealership group, said it also implemented temporary pay cuts for all employees. CEO David Hult will see his salary reduced by 50 percent, while base salaries for senior vice presidents, regional and field vice presidents and national directors will be reduced 20 percent. All other vice presidents will receive a 10 percent salary cut.

The company said it was acting "decisively in an effort to right-size its business, reduce expenses and mitigate the financial impact" of the virus.

In addition to the furloughs, hours are being reduced across the retailer's 88 stores and the company will suspend a 401(k) match for emplo…

MILAN --  Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said on Friday it decided to postpone to late June its shareholders' meeting scheduled for April 16, as a consequence of the continuing coronavirus emergency.

The automaker said in a statement that the decision on its shareholders' meeting would result in the postponement of a resolution on the automaker's planned 1.1 billion euro ($1.2 billion) ordinary dividend on last year's results.

"The new date for the AGM will be announced as soon as practicable," FCA said.

On Thursday Peugeot owner PSA, which has signed a binding merger deal with FCA to create the world's fourth-largest automaker, also said it postponed its annual shareholders' meeting from May 14 to June 25.

In response to concerns over servicing vehicles while maintaining social distancing, Hyundai is extending U.S. warranties that expire between March and June until June 30 in order to give customers time to get service work done at dealerships that remain open for maintenance and warranty work, the company said Friday.

In addition, Hyundai dealers have implemented a series of safety protocols for no-touch vehicle handoffs, such as electronic signature authorization and repair approval through digital messages, the automaker said in a statement. Some dealers also offer home pickup and drop-off, and have increased the level of vehicle cleaning prior to delivery.

"While most Hyundai dealers are open to provide service, we want our customers to feel comfortable visiting their dealerships for warranty work and any vehicle service," said Barry Ratzlaff, chief customer officer, Hyundai Motor America.

Across most of the U.S., vehicle maintenance has been deemed a…

A federal program to issue rebates to U.S. consumers toward the purchase of a new vehicle could provide a much-needed jolt to the auto industry that’s seen plants idled and showrooms emptied by the coronavirus, according to the Obama administration official who oversaw the program known as cash for clunkers.

Ray LaHood oversaw the program officially named Cars Allowance Rebate System as Transportation Secretary in 2009. In an interview, he backed a Ford Motor Co. executive’s suggestion that a sequel to the program could be helpful if the industry, lawmakers and the Trump administration agree that auto demand needs a boost once the virus begins to abate.

“It was a lifeline to the car dealers whose showrooms were looking pretty bleak without any customers, and I think if you talk to anybody in the automobile industry it was the beginning of the lifeline for the automobile industry from the Obama administration,” LaHood said Thursday. “If they can model something …

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.

NADA CEO Peter Welch says capital preservation is becoming a challenge for dealers as they cope with the financial stress of the outbreak. 

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BEIJING -- Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp.'s March sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, fell 16 percent to 101,800 compared with a year ago.

Separately, Honda said on Friday its China sales dropped 51 percent year-on-year to 60,441 last month.

The coronavirus epidemic, which has killed more than 3,300 people in China, caused overall auto sales in the country to drop 79 percent in February.

Assembly plants and dealerships across China continue to reopen and resume operations, though slowly, and government officials have moved to spur demand by relaxing taxes toward the purchase of electric vehicles and used cars and trucks.

DETROIT -- Jim Hackett's compensation in his second full year as CEO of Ford Motor Co. fell about 2 percent as the automaker failed to meet many financial targets.

Hackett, 64, earned $17.36 million in total compensation in 2019, according to the company's annual proxy statement, down from the $17.75 million he earned in 2018. He earned $16.7 million in 2017 after becoming CEO in May of that year.

His 2019 compensation included a $1.8 million base salary, unchanged from 2018; $13.2 million in stock awards, up nearly $500,000 from 2018; and $1.75 million in bonuses and incentives, down more than $800,000. Hackett's total compensation also includes $91,523 for personal use of aircraft, a perk Ford's CEO has long enjoyed.

Ford's top executives hit 54 percent of their business performance targets in 2019,including only 4 percent of company revenue targets and 28 percent of cash flow targets. The total number was helped by executives hitting 118 percent of th…