Trade News

The impact of the coronavirus outbreak on automobile output and demand will shave 170 billion yen ($1.6 billion) from the profits of Japan’s top five automakers, Goldman Sachs said.

Total sales for all global automakers are now projected to shrink 3.5 percent in 2020, instead of the previous estimate for a 0.3 percent decline, according to the bank. Even if factories get back online, “it will take some time to return to full capacity owing to labor shortages and the need to secure adequate supplies,” analysts including Kota Yuzawa wrote in a report.

The spread of the illness, which has shut down factories in Hubei, China’s fourth-largest vehicle-manufacturing hub, has had a ripple effect across the global auto industry. Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co., Honda Motor Co., Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. rely on parts from the country even if they assemble vehicles elsewhere.

All told, the five manufacturers will build 580,000 fewer cars f…

Dark roast one minute. Half-caf the next. Modern coffeemakers allow java fans to switch blends simply by dropping in a new pod. So what if tomorrow's EV drivers could change their tires in a similar way – not with a pod, but with a capsule that regrows tread?

That's the idea behind the latest concept from Goodyear, the reCharge tire.

The tire, designed for electric vehicles, would be made with a biodegradable tread compound reinforced with fibers inspired by spider silk. Goodyear says the tread would be "recharged" by inserting capsules filled with a "customized liquid compound" into the center of the tire.

"These capsules allow the tread to regenerate and the tire to adapt over time to climatic circumstances, road conditions, or simply how you want to travel," Goodyear said Tuesday in a news release. "Thanks to artificial intelligence a driver profile would be created around which the liquid compound would be customized, generating a compound b…

FRANKFURT/BERLIN -- Continental said it would step up cost savings after posting a drop in adjusted profit and a 1.2 billion-euro ($1.3 billion) net loss in 2019 as worldwide vehicle demand slumped.

Cost-cut plans will be presented in May because worldwide car production is expected to fall for the third year in row, by between 2 percent to 5 percent, CEO Elmar Degenhart said in a statement on Thursday. The CEO also said that forced redundancies may be necessary.

The net loss included non-cash, goodwill write-downs of 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) due to diminished market expectations.

Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes fell 22 percent to 3.2 billion euros ($3.6 billion) in 2019. Full-year revenue came in at 44.5 billion euros ($49.7 billion), up slightly from 44.4 billion euros ($49.6 billion) in 2018. 

Continental said it expects to deliver an adjusted EBIT margin of 5.5 per…

TOKYO – Genesis is bringing its new “two lines” signature lighting to the redesigned G80 and putting the midsize sedan on a new platform packed with new powertrains and other technology.

Pictures released Thursday of the next-generation G80 show a sleek four-door with a fastback silhouette, massive shield grille and distinctive hashmark lighting in the front, sides and rear.

The idea behind the lighting is to get Hyundai Motor Group’s premium brand noticed.

“A relationship begins at first sight. The distinctive ‘two lines’ signature of the Quadlamps presents a clear and unique Genesis identity within seconds,” Genesis design chief Sang Yup Lee said in a news release. “No matter what body type, sedan or SUV, the Quadlamps and Athletic Elegance design language present a distinctive brand identity.”

While its quality and satisfaction scores are industry-leading, the brand is still a big unknown to many. Sales are growing fast, but from a modest base…

SAN FRANCISCO -- The former head of Uber Technologies Inc.'s self-driving technology unit, Anthony Levandowski, filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, shortly after a court confirmed that he must pay $179 million to Google to end a legal battle over his split from the Alphabet Inc unit.

Levandowski, who had been a key engineer in Google's self-driving project, and colleague Lior Ron engaged in unfair competition and breached their legal obligations by starting a rival company and bringing over Google employees, an arbitration panel ruled in December.

Uber, which later acquired the startup co-founded by Levandowski, indemnifies workers under its employment agreements. But Uber has said in financial filings that it expects to challenge paying the big judgment against its ex-employee Levandowski, who is fighting a federal indictment on charges of stealing trade secrets from Google.

Uber declined to comment. Levandowski's attorney Neel Chatterjee…

DETROIT — The UAW has listed a $1.3 million lakefront home originally built for Dennis Williams, the former UAW president implicated in the union's ongoing corruption scandal, according to The Detroit News.

Amid the federal investigation, President Rory Gamble put the home up for sale as part of a series of reforms announced in recent months.

Last fall, the home was part of a nationwide series of raids, as were Williams' Los Angeles home and former President Gary Jones' home, according to The News. Neither Williams nor Jones have been charged with a crime in the probe.

To date, 13 people have been charged with federal crimes in the investigation and all 13 have pleaded guilty. This week, Edward Robinson — the former top aide to Jones — pleaded guilty in federal court in Detroit to conspiring to embezzle more than $1 million in union funds.

During the broad investigation, the home slated for Williams immediately raised red flags with the FBI, The…

DETROIT -- General Motors CEO Mary Barra said on Wednesday the automaker's North American vehicle production should be secure from parts shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak "quite far into this month."

Parts manufacturers in China and other countries have had production disrupted as governments imposed quarantines and travel restrictions to contain the Covid-19 respiratory virus outbreak that began in China's Hubei province.

GM's profitable North American truck and SUV assembly plants so far have kept rolling, while Chinese manufacturers have struggled to get production back to normal.

Meanwhile, car sales in China, GM's biggest market, plummeted 80 percent in February, as consumers fearful of infection or restricted by government quarantine measures stayed away from showrooms.

"The market will come back" in China, Barra said, in comments to reporters at GM's design center in Warren, Mich., near Detroit. 

General Motors' self-driving unit Cruise said its test vehicles experienced a rapid rate of improvement in the second half of 2019, enabling it to edge past Google affiliate Waymo in data reported to California's Department of Motor Vehicles.

Data released last week by California showed Waymo and Cruise had the greatest number of test miles between "disengagements," when a human driver must intervene to take control from a self-driving system during testing on public roads.

The disengagement data is widely used as a yardstick to compare companies testing self-driving vehicles on California roads, and is often cited as evidence that Waymo leads the sector.

Both companies last week criticized the disengagement data. Waymo tweeted that the disengagement metric "does not provide relevant insights" nor does it distinguish Waymo's "performance from others in the self-driving space."

While the annual data showed that Waymo had the greatest average n…

Uber Technologies Inc.'s self-driving unit is open to using technology from competitors in the space, the company's CEO said on Wednesday.

"If any of those competitors want to put their tech onto our platform, we’re open," Dara Khosrowshahi said at the Morgan Stanley 2020 Technology, Media & Telecom Conference in San Francisco.

The CEO said Uber was already talking to third parties, but did not provide further details.

Khosrowshahi added that Uber's Advanced Technologies Group, the autonomous driving unit, had "very significant structural advantages," among other things due to its knowledge of the most revenue-generating routes thanks to its ride-hailing business.

DETROIT — Gordon Fournier has been named CFO and COO of suburban Detroit auto supplier Piston Group.

The Southfield, Mich.-based supplier, privately owned by former Detroit Pistons basketball star Vinnie Johnson, said in a statement Wednesday that Fournier will take the titles effective March 16.

Piston Group — which is comprised of Piston Automotive, Irvin Automotive Products, Detroit Thermal Systems and nonautomotive business AIREA Inc. — primarily supplies chassis, electronics assemblies, electric batteries, cooling modules and other automotive components.

Piston Group's worldwide sales to automakers hit $2.8 billion in 2018.

Ford Motor Co. is Piston Group's largest customer, bolstered by the supplier's launch of cooling modules for the Ford F-150. Piston is also assembling lithium-ion battery packs from LG Chem and Panasonic for use in Ford's plug-in-electric vehicle lineup and has plans to extend production into its battery-electric vehicles…

DETROIT — General Motors on Wednesday said it plans to spend $20 billion on electric and autonomous vehicle programs in the next five years and expects its battery costs to fall below the level that analysts say would make EVs competitive with internal-combustion vehicles.

GM's proprietary Ultium batteries will cost less than $100 per kilowatt-hour and allow for a driving range of up to 400 miles on a full charge, GM said. That's about 50 percent more than the 259-mile range for the 2020 Chevrolet Bolt.

The GMC Hummer EV, expected to go into production in fall 2021, will be the first vehicle to use the new battery technology, GM said. The automaker gave previews of 10 other upcoming EVs to analysts and reporters Wednesday, including a Hummer SUV, a midsize Chevy SUV, a Buick SUV and crossover and three Cadillacs.

"Our team accepted the challenge to transform product development at GM and position our company for an all-electric future," GM CEO Mary Barr…