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The Automotive News Shift mobility team is joined by Automotive News publisher Jason Stein in a discussion on the impact of COVID-19 on the future of the mobility industry, as well as automakers, car dealers and suppliers.

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TOKYO — For Japan's biggest automaker, the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics has been a five-year, about $1 billion bet on showcasing the company and its technology to the world.

But speculation is mounting here that the games will be postponed, or even canceled, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. If so, Toyota Motor Corp. might be out a bundle.

For starters, Toyota spent a reported $835 million in 2015 to sign on as a top sponsor of the games through 2024.

Since then, it has put untold millions into developing a fleet of electrified, new-mobility vehicles to roll out for the event — from hydrogen fuel cell buses to automated athlete shuttles and a cast of robots to help at events. A self-driving Toyota pod car is supposed to escort the torch relay.

Toyota also created a sophisticated worldwide marketing campaign called "Start Your Impossible" that revolves around the Olympics and the idea of delivering new modes of mobility…

For some of BMW's U.S. dealers, the brand's luxurious 8 Series coupe has turned from halo sports car to financial headache.

Retailers complain the car has received inadequate marketing support, while an abundance of configurations have left some dealership lots with unsold inventory of the high-value model, putting pressure on floorplan expenses.

The 8 Series has the highest day supply of any BMW model, dealers report.

"It is the best car that no one knows about," said one U.S. retailer, who asked not to be identified.

BMW declined to discuss the dealer complaints and doesn't provide information about product marketing costs or inventories.

But dealers aren't too keen on sitting on that high-dollar inventory. The sticker on 2020 models tops $155,000. The interest expense on each 8 Series is $400 to $500 a month, another dealer said.

"It's heavy metal that nobody wants to carry," he said.

The world’s supply chains are facing a root-to-branch shutdown unlike any seen in modern peacetime as efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak hit everything from copper mines in Peru to ball bearing makers in Germany’s industrial heartland.

In the last few days, a supply chain crisis that began earlier this year with Chinese factories has spread into key industries elsewhere that had weathered the impact until now.

The shutdowns are contributing to the growing conviction that the world has slipped into its first recession since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

“This is kind of a rolling natural disaster,” said Ethan Harris, head of global economic research at Bank of America. “In terms of the impact on global production, the shutdown outside of China will likely become bigger than the impact from China.”

The shock to supply chains, Harris said, is deeper and more sprawling than the trade wars of the past two years and likely to be …

MEXICO CITY -- Volkswagen will temporarily close its factories in Mexico's Puebla and Guanajuato states amid growing worries over the spread of the coronavirus.

Nearly all light-vehicle production in North America is being idled for at least several days amid the crisis and its associated impact on vehicle sales. The shutdowns also will be cascading throughout the North American supply chain in the coming weeks. 

VW's Mexican unit said Friday the upcoming shutdowns will take effect on March 30 and extend through April 12.

The automaker also pointed to slowing demand and the risk of shortages of parts as factors in the decision to suspend production in the factories.

Audi said on March 15 that its Q5 crossover plant in Mexico would suspend production due to a lack of parts caused by the global coronavirus outbreak. The automaker plans to resume output on April 1.

BMW said on Friday that it would extend an already-…

When the U.S. economy last ground to a near halt a dozen years ago and the nation's auto plants largely stopped producing vehicles, Toyota adopted a bold but expensive strategy that made it stand out from other automakers: It continued to pay all of its workers — even if it didn't have work for them to do.

Now, as the coronavirus begins to tear through the U.S. auto industry just as the financial crisis did in 2008-09, automakers again must weigh the costs of keeping their employees on the payroll or sending them off to the unemployment line. And even for Toyota, much of that decision may rest on how long they believe the virus will continue to plague their markets.

So far, transplant automakers that have called temporary halts to production operations have each committed to continue to pay their employees while plants remain closed.

Meanwhile, the unionized work force of the Detroit 3 will receive a combination of unemployment be…

Honda's timing to bring the hybrid version of its popular CR-V compact crossover to America was looking pretty good right up until a few weeks ago.

After receiving mostly positive reviews following its introduction in Europe last year, the Japanese brand's first electrified crossover was ready to do battle with the redesigned Ford Escape Hybrid that hit the market in December and the strong-selling Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, now in its second generation.

The expectation for crossover hybrid sales was evident in the decision by the three automakers to build their electrified versions in the U.S. No longer niche products shipped from afar, hybrids looked to become a healthy subsegment of the already-crowded compact crossover group.

But alas, the CR-V Hybrid's arrival in showrooms in early March coincided with an oil-price war, a global pandemic and a world turned upside down. Gasoline is cheap, consumers are pulling back from the auto mar…

General Motors is partnering with medical device company Ventec Life Systems to increase production of ventilators that will treat patients with the novel coronavirus, the companies said late Friday.

Some health care experts warn U.S. hospitals face severe shortages of life-saving ventilators if COVID-19 cases spike.

"We are working closely with Ventec to rapidly scale up production of their critically important respiratory products to support our country's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic," GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. "We will continue to explore ways to help in this time of crisis."

The Ventec-GM partnership is in cooperation with StopTheSpread.org, the nation's coordinated private sector response to the virus.

The collaboration comes days after President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, established in 1950 in response to production needs during the Korean War. The act was put into effect to obtain health and medica…