Trade News

Editor's note: Luca Ciferri, editor and associate publisher of Automotive News Europe, is living under quarantine at his Italian home in Villastellone, just south of Turin. He will be filing daily updates in this blog post.

Today is the sixth of 25 days of quarantine imposed on March 10 on the entire country to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

According to the latest figures, the contagion has been contracted by 21,157 people, resulting in 1,441 deaths as of yesterday. So there’s nothing to be happy about.

Today is also the first Sunday with the entire country locked down.

It’s not clear, however, if you can still go out for a walk. In some areas it is apparently OK; in others, just walking to keep fit puts you at risk of being fined 205 euros. Since we're in the midst of a quarantine, those criminal offenses will be processed at a later date.

Cycling seems to being permitted, but it’s strongly discouraged by doctors. A simple accident wo…

European automakers are gauging the impact of last week's U.S. ban on travel to and from most of Europe — a critical issue for automakers and suppliers with operations, projects and management teams on both continents.

But their immediate response last week showed little real worry.

The ban was one of several measures announced by President Donald Trump to combat the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ban will prevent most foreign nationals from entering the U.S. if they have traveled in the previous 14 days to any of 26 European countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Sweden.

The announcement caught European automakers off guard, just as it did political leaders in the affected countries.

Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen and Volvo have major U.S. operations, including design and engineering centers, R&D hubs, manufacturing plants and supply chains.

Automakers were reticent to publicly discuss…

TOKYO — Greg Kelly, the Nashville auto executive fingered by Nissan as the "mastermind" of Carlos Ghosn's alleged compensation misconduct, is rolling out a detailed defense ahead of his pending trial in Japan, and international pressure is mounting to bring attention to his legal battle.

Kelly claims that Nissan money earmarked for Ghosn was not part of a scheme to provide the automaker's ousted chairman deferred compensation, as Nissan Motor Corp. and Japanese prosecutors allege.

Instead, Kelly, who rose from Nissan's top U.S. human resources executive to become an alliance executive vice president and eventually a director on Nissan's board in Japan, said it was a legal draft of a postretirement contract intended to keep Ghosn as an adviser to the Japanese carmaker and prevent him from bolting to a competitor.

Writing in a recent commentary for Japan's Bungei Shunju news journal, Kelly added that the contracts in question, dev…

BMW is ending production of the i8 sports car, six years after its introduction.

The i8 was BMW's first plug-in hybrid. The production version of the i8 was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt auto show and it went on sale in the United States in 2014.

BMW freshened the i8 coupe and introduced a roadster version in 2018.

U.S. sales of the car rose 43 percent to 1,102 last year.

As BMW closes the chapter on the i8, the automaker is preparing to release several battery-powered models as part of ambitious plans to market 25 electrified models by 2023.

Production of the iNext crossover will begin in the middle of 2021. That will be followed by the start of i4 sedan output toward the end of 2021.

Plans to bring an electric crossover, the iX3, to the U.S. next year have been scrapped for now.

The i4 and iNext have a range of more than 370 miles, compared with the iX3's 273-mile range, based…

LOS ANGELES — In response to coronavirus fears, Hyundai is relaunching its Assurance job-loss protection program for new vehicles, offering to make up to six months of payments for customers who buy or lease over the next six weeks through its captive financing arm. Genesis is offering a similar program.

The protection is available for vehicles sold or leased starting March 14 and ending April 30, and financed by Hyundai Capital, the company said Friday. Hyundai, which has bucked the industry's downturn in retail sales, is also allowing deferred payments for 90 days, at a customer's request, toward the purchase of select vehicles, including the Accent and Elantra sedans, and Venue, Kona, Tucson and Santa Fe crossovers.

The "Genesis Cares" program is similar, covering new purchases and leases from March 14 through April 30 using Genesis Finance for customers who suffer an involuntary job loss any time this year, Genesis said. Payments can be de…

MILAN -- Ferrari said on Saturday it closed its two plants until March 27 in a response to the coronavirus outbreak in Italy and an emerging shortage of parts.

Ferrari adds to a string of Italian manufacturers that have closed plants or slowed production rates in response to the virus emergency, threatening to disrupt Europe's struggling automotive industry.

Ferrari said in a statement it had so far ensured production continuity, as it already implemented all the health measures required by the Italian government at the two sites, located in Maranello, its global headquarters, and in Modena, in the northern Emilia Romagna region.

However, it added the company was "now experiencing the first serious supply chain issues, which no longer allow for continued production."

Brakes specialist Brembo, which supplies Ferrari as well as other premium and supercar makers, said on Friday it would temporarily close its four Italian plants next week.

All non-…

Editor's note: Luca Ciferri, editor and associate publisher of Automotive News Europe, is living under quarantine at his Italian home in Villastellone, just south of Turin. He will be filing daily updates in this blog post.

Italy is mourning the first known death of an active member of the auto industry community to the coronavirus.

Umberto Falchetti, who for many years was the guiding force at supplier MTA, died after a short battle with the virus.

He was 86 and otherwise very healthy before developing a fever and never recovering, his daughter, Maria Vittoria Falchetti, told me during an emotional phone call.

MTA, short for Meccanotecnica Codognese, makes electronic and electromechanical components supplied to BMW, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, PSA Group and Renault. The company was founded in 1954 by Antonio Falchetti, Umberto's father and Maria Vittoria's grandfather. The company is based in Codogno, 36 miles southeast of Milan, one of the two e…

OTTAWA -- The Canadian Parliament rushed through ratification of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact on Friday before taking a three-week break to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, a top government official said.

Canada was the last of the three signatories to formally adopt the pact, prompting congratulations from the United States and Mexico.

The House of Commons lower chamber, which had weeks of deliberations left, agreed the instant approval on Friday after opposition legislators dropped their objections. The upper Senate chamber backed the pact later in the day, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters.

"(This) was entirely within the power of Canadian legislators to do, something we were able to do to help the Canadian economy at this challenging time, and I would like to thank legislators from all parties," she said.

The only remaining step is formal approval by the governor-general - the representative of Queen Eliza…

CREWE, England — As Bentley Motors enters the world of electric vehicles, its CEO wants to make sure that any Bentley EV is still a Bentley. And that is going to take time.

The British ultraluxury brand plans to introduce its first EV around 2025, years after the initial wave of EVs from its Volkswagen Group sibling brands Audi, Porsche and VW, not to mention other mass-market and luxury automakers.

But Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark says that ultraluxury must still be the identity of any Bentley EV. For starters, it means a battery range of at least 300 miles, he said at the company's headquarters here this month.

That range will be no small feat considering Bentleys have large footprints and are filled with plush and opulent materials, all of which add significant weight. The company's Continental GT coupe with a W-12 engine has a gross weight of 5,985 pounds. The Bentley Flying Spur sedan weighs 6,614 pounds, and a Bentayga SUV wi…

Nearly two years after a fatal crash involving an Uber self- driving test vehicle, prosecutors are still deciding whether they'll bring charges against the human safety driver who was behind the wheel.

A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said last week the case remains under review. A decision on whether to charge Rafaela Vasquez could come in a matter of weeks.

Vasquez was behind the wheel of the Volvo XC90 on the night of March 18, 2018, when the vehicle, operating in autonomous mode, struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Ariz.

Instead of watching the road, an investigation found Vasquez had been watching an episode of the "The Voice" on a company cellphone. Cameras mounted inside the test vehicle captured the wrenching moment when Vasquez looked up and realized a collision was imminent.

The resulting impact killed Elaine Herzberg, 49. She became the first person ever killed in a crash invol…

When the Texas energy industry is thriving, that means good-paying jobs in a state that loves big-ticket full-size trucks.

So Saudi Arabia's escalating oil price war with Russia, which has the potential to hurt U.S. oil producers and their employees, will be closely watched by the state's dealers and associations.

Oil prices last Monday had their worst day since 1991, plummeting by double-digit percentages amid coronavirus fears and the launch of Saudi Arabia and Russia's price war. The two major oil producers are feuding over Russia's refusal to comply with OPEC's proposal to further cut production and restore oil market stability as the virus continues to disrupt global economies.

In Texas — the largest oil and natural gas producing state in the country — the energy sector is a crucial part of the "engine of the economy," said Darren Whitehurst, president of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association.

"If the price …