Trade News

DETROIT — The UAW's efforts at rooting out corruption from within have failed to impress federal prosecutors, who allege that an intricate embezzlement scheme reached the union's highest office and are weighing the option of pursuing a government takeover of the nearly 85-year-old labor organization.

In charging former President Gary Jones with stealing more than $1 million from members and spending it on lavish vacations, dinners and golf outings, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider strengthened an argument that the union's top ranks have been marred by greed and illegal behavior for years. He stressed that the Justice Department is "not done" prosecuting the case, which has so far produced 13 convictions of former union and automaker officials, including two retired UAW vice presidents and a onetime top negotiator at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

"It's not the people working the jobs; it's the leadership," Schneider said last week. "That is a real indicator there'…

CREWE, England — The Geneva auto show's cancellation did not dampen Bentley Motors' zeal for showcasing the car it had planned to spotlight there — the $1.9 million Bacalar roadster.

For Bentley, the Bacalar is a way to remind the world — or at least those who have $1.9 million to spend on a car — about the automaker's bespoke division, Mulliner, which began life as a builder of horse-drawn carriages in the 1500s. Bentley bought the brand in 1959.

Now in its 101st year, Bentley is channeling its engineering and design resources to make more out of the Mulliner name.

Other automakers have relied on third-party coachbuilders of renown, including Pininfarina and Zagato, to create exotic niche products. Bentley has such a partner inside the company, said Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark.

"We've always owned one of the oldest and most renowned coachbuilders," Hallmark told reporters during a roundtable last week, hastily put t…

General Motors took a nearly $4 billion hit last year from a strike called by a soon-to-be convicted felon.

The $1 million that former UAW President Gary Jones is accused of stealing from the workers he was supposed to be fighting for is bad enough.

But it pales in comparison to the financial toll on GM, on its suppliers and on dues-paying members who sacrificed for more than a month during the strike. Many believed then that the strike was at least partly aimed at distracting from the scandal, and the embezzlement charges against Jones made public last week will further fuel those suspicions.

That Jones now faces up to five years in prison is hardly a surprise. Anyone who's been following the scandal could see it coming since September, when prosecutors charged UAW Regional Director Vance Pearson and first laid out the galling details of what investigators had uncovered.

It was instantly obvious that one of the alleged schemers, a man identifie…

DETROIT — The Motor City's auto industry once fretted about the seemingly endless stream of capital investment going to rival vehicle assembly plants and supply chains in places around the Southeast and Mexico.

But suddenly, it's all about Detroit again.

General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles have launched a wave of economic development across the greater Detroit area over the past year. New manufacturing projects represent billions in renewed commitments to the auto industry's traditional capital city. With them comes a decade of business opportunities for the region's contractors, tooling suppliers, consultants, engineers, parts makers and skilled and hourly workers.

Among the largest investments is FCA's pledge of $1.6 billion for a second Jeep assembly plant at its Mack Avenue Engine Complex, along with $900 million to modernize the Jefferson North Assembly Plant for the Dodge Durango and Jeep Cherokee.…

There are an estimated 46 new electric vehicles slated for production in the next three model years, according to Cox Automotive. While that number will be celebrated in some corners, it is generating concern among auto lenders that worry about residual values and incurring big losses similar to what happened during the financial crisis a dozen years ago.

The consternation comes from the fact EVs are commonly leased and captive finance companies dominate this space, meaning they will be taking a risk on EV resale values. If lenders get residual values wrong and off-lease vehicles are worth significantly less than predicted, that could generate significant losses when lenders resell them at auction.

This resale-value catastrophe last occurred in 2008 when fuel prices spiked and auction values fell for full-size trucks coming back from leases. Several lenders back then had to take special charges because of unexpected depreciation on off-lease…

South by Southwest, the giant Austin, Texas, film, music and technology festival that was scheduled to host about two dozen sessions on transportation and future mobility, was canceled Friday because of concerns over the coronavirus.

The gathering, which was to begin March 13, attracts more than 75,000 people to the city each year to catch a glimpse of some of the world's biggest bands, filmmakers, politicians and business executives.

The automotive industry has become more involved with SXSW as the festival has grown in popularity. Kia is a major sponsor — one tier below the top sponsorship level. And this year's panel discussions were to cover topics such autonomous vehicle data sharing and collaboration, future automotive cockpit design, designing the Waymo driver, and transportation safety through the airwaves.

Among last year's SXSW automotive highlights:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao outlined plans to make her department more respo…

South by Southwest, the giant Austin, Texas, film, music and technology festival that was scheduled to host about two dozen sessions on transportation and future mobility, was canceled Friday because of concerns over the coronavirus.

The gathering, which was to begin March 13, attracts more than 75,000 people to the city each year to catch a glimpse of some of the world's biggest bands, filmmakers, politicians and business executives.

The automotive industry has become more involved with SXSW as the festival has grown in popularity. Kia is a major sponsor — one tier below the top sponsorship level. And this year's panel discussions were to cover topics such autonomous vehicle data sharing and collaboration, future automotive cockpit design, designing the Waymo driver, and transportation safety through the airwaves.

Among last year's SXSW automotive highlights:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao outlined plans to make her department more respo…

TORONTO -- Canada’s assembly plants earned plenty of accolades last year, but that’s unlikely to translate into largescale investment. 

“Does the quality of the workplace matter? Sure, but it’s one of a dozen factors, if not dozens,” said Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. “I’ll tell you, the cost of electricity is a hell of a lot more important than these ratings.” 

To be sure, J.D. Power’s 2019 Initial Quality Survey (IQS) and Plant Assembly Line Quality Awards and Consumer Reports’ Auto Reliability Survey were kind to many of Canada’s plants and the vehicles they produce. 

Toyota’s Cambridge North assembly plant was given a platinum award for assembly-line quality, the highest possible rank, for having 17 problems per 100 vehicles produced there. The adjacent Cambridge South plant won a bronze award for having 21 problems per 100. 

Vehicles assembled in Canada also achieved high marks: The Dod…

The captive finance arms of Toyota and Lexus will offer payment relief to customers affected by this week's tornadoes in Tennessee.

Toyota Financial Services and Lexus Financial Services customers will be eligible for extensions and lease deferred payments and redirected billed statements as well as other options, Toyota Financial said in a statement Friday.

"Toyota Financial Services cares about the safety and well-being of its customers and wants to help those impacted by these storms," the statement said.

Toyota is planning to start contacting customers via email soon.

Customers impacted by the storms in the devastated areas can contact Toyota Financial at 800-874-8822 or Lexus Financial at 800-874-7050 or by email through the mail center function at ToyotaFinancial.com and LexusFinancial.com.

Nissan, whose North American operations are based in the Nashville area, also announced efforts to help with disaster relief. It donated $100,000 …

SAN FRANCISCO -- For years, Tesla Inc. has refuted concerns about worker safety at its main assembly plant by describing reviews from a California regulator as vindication.

But new documents and statements from the agency contradict those claims.

Tesla omitted hundreds of injuries that the company listed in logs at its factory from annual summary data that the company sends to the government, according to a memorandum the state’s workplace-safety agency sent in December. California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, also hit Tesla with a citation that month for failing to properly record other injuries in its logs since 2015.

The documents, some of which were obtained through a public-records request, undermine statements Tesla executives have made about its plant in Fremont, Calif. CEO Elon Musk dedicated a portion of an October 2018 earnings call to brief investors about workplace-safety efforts. He said Cal/OSHA had invest…