Trade News

SHANGHAI — The Chinese government's decision to extend its long national New Year holiday gave the world's auto industry a small break as it confronts the fears and uncertainties of the potentially deadly coronavirus.

The major holiday, in which all of Chinese society typically closes for business, would have ended Wednesday, Jan. 29, when thousands of automotive employees would have been due back to work, worsening the risk of spreading the illness.

Instead, Chinese authorities declared the holiday would continue until Sunday, Feb. 9, in populous Shanghai and the south China province of Guangdong and Sunday, Feb. 2, for the rest of the country, giving the virus more time to peter out.

Aside from the human toll it is taking, the international spread of the coronavirus last week added more worry and inconvenience to an auto industry that is increasingly interwoven with Chinese factories and consumers.

Auto supplier ex…

LAS VEGAS — Inside the parking garage at the Hard Rock Cafe, one of the human safety drivers from Russian self-driving tech company Yandex opens the car door and climbs aboard the Prius V for a quick ride around the city.

Today, he's riding shotgun.

Showcases of autonomous-driving technology have become so commonplace at CES in recent years that they've become almost ho-hum affairs. But Yandex added a fresh twist this time, removing its human safety drivers from behind the wheel and placing them in the passenger seat instead. Without any human behind the wheel, Yandex rolled two vehicles onto public roads and delivered a week's worth of uneventful rides through Las Vegas' traffic-clogged arterial four-lane roadways.

This was something of a public-road milestone for these particular city streets, but Dmitry Polishchuk, head of self-driving cars at Yandex, downplayed the complexity of the moment.

"People are more polite driving here," he said…

The New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers is suing Ford Motor Co. and its Lincoln luxury brand over what it says are unfair discounts for certain retailers who comply with a commitment program requiring standalone showrooms.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in New Jersey State Superior Court, alleges that the program -- which Lincoln reworked last year in an attempt to appease unhappy dealers -- would create an illegal two-tier pricing program. Dealers who uncouple their Ford store and build standalone Lincoln showrooms are eligible for up to 5.75 percent in potential discounts per vehicle, the suit says, while those who do not participate would not receive the financial reward.

"Two-tier pricing programs, like the one being pushed on Lincoln dealers at this time, tear at the very fabric of the franchise system," Jim Appleton, president of the dealer group, said in a statement.

"The New Jersey Legislature, in 2011, outlawed such programs, because lawmak…

DETROIT — The UAW on Friday said it took action to expel eight members who have faced charges in the government's ongoing U.S. corruption probe of the union. All but one of the members have pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges.

The eight officials facing the UAW's so-called Article 31 charges include Norwood Jewell, a former vice president and head of the UAW-FCA department who pleaded guilty in April of last year to violating the Labor Management Relations Act and is currently serving a 15-month prison term, as well as Joe Ashton, a former vice president and head of the UAW-GM department who pleaded guilty in December to money laundering and wire fraud and awaits sentencing.

The union also filed charges against Edward "Nick" Robinson, Nancy Johnson, Jeffrey Pietrzyk, Michael Grimes, Keith Mickens and Virdell King. All have been charged in the years-long scandal, which to date has resulted in charges against 13 people, and 11 have pleaded guilty.

"…

FRANKFURT -- German supplier Webasto said on Friday that two more of its employees have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total to seven.

Earlier this week, the company began disclosing the illnesses of the other workers, in what was one of the first cases of person-to-person transmission outside China.

One of the newly-diagnosed employees is German and in Germany, while the other is Chinese and in Shanghai. Both are being treated in a hospital, Webasto said.

The newly identified sick employees had been in close contact with the other employees found to have contracted the illness.

All seven, five Germans and two Chinese, had taken part in various long meetings at Webasto headquarters in Stockdorf, Bavaria, the company said.

On Monday, the company first announced that a Chinese employee from Shanghai had tested positive for the virus upon return to China following a visit to company headquarters. Other illnesses in Germany…

Volkswagen of America has promoted Duncan Movassaghi to its top sales and marketing position, replacing Derrick Hatami, who left the automaker in August.

Movassaghi, 45, who joined Volkswagen of America from Skoda in early 2018, will move up from his former position as senior vice president for U.S. sales to Hatami's former role of executive vice president for sales and marketing, effective Feb. 3, the automaker said Friday.

Werner Eichhorn, head of sales for Volkswagen's North American region, had been filling Hatami's role on an interim basis.

"We have the brand, the products and the plan to take advantage of a unique moment," Scott Keogh, CEO of Volkswagen of America, said in a written statement. "Duncan will sharpen our decision-making and help us make VW matter again."

The brand's U.S. sales last year rose 2.6 percent to 363,322 as its balance of crossovers vs. cars improved.

Before moving to Volkswa…

Ralf Speth presided over the longest profit streak in Jaguar Land Rover's history, but he also pushed an aggressive growth plan that in hindsight dangerously overstretched the company just as it was hit by unprecedented global headwinds.

When Speth took over in 2010, Jaguar Land Rover was fresh from its purchase by Tata Motors from Ford in 2008. Outward confidence was not matched internally. JLR was "more or less bankrupt" when Tata took over, Speth said in a speech in 2014.

Speth, who will retire as JLR CEO in September, was the most high profile of a number of executives Tata hired from BMW to work at JLR. With Land Rover's SUVs and Jaguar's sporty sedans, Speth was able to capitalize on two trends: global demand for off-road capable models and China's fast-rising car market. 

Annual profits were the envy of the industry. Margins hit 11 percent in 2011 and only fell below double figures in 2016.

JLR's success convinced Speth it could be re…

FRANKFURT-- BMW has delayed the development of its next generation Mini as it seeks to cut costs and as uncertainty over Britain's trade relations with the European Union make long-term investment decisions harder.

The German carmaker has developed three generations of the Mini since buying the marque from Rover Group in 1994, keeping each vehicle in the market for about six years.

The current Mini hatch model, which has been on the market since 2014, is built on the company's technological platform called UKL1.

"The lifespan of this platform has been extended," BMW spokesman Maximilian Schoeberl told Reuters. "For cost reasons and because of Brexit."

Pressure has risen on carmakers to free up resources so they can shoulder hefty investments to build next generation low emission electric, hybrid and connected vehicles.

ICE suffers

The combustion-engined city car has suffered as customers migrated toward larger crossovers and SUVs and…

DETROIT -- Automotive seating supplier Adient sold its premium brand, Recaro Automotive Seating, at the start of the year -- a move that comes as the company works to bring itself back to profitability.

Recaro is now owned by Raven Acquisition LLC, a privately owned, Detroit-based investment corporation, Recaro said in a statement. Raven is led by a former Recaro executive and TCE Enterprises, a family investment firm with experience in the auto industry, the release said.

The transaction was effective Jan. 1. Terms were not disclosed in the press release issued by Recaro.

"We know strategically we can continue to support and grow to address emerging customer needs in our specialized marketplace," Recaro President Emil Kreycik said in an email to Automotive News.

Recaro has three locations in Europe, the U.S. and Japan and employs about 425 people. In fiscal 2019, the business generated about $150 million in revenue.

Adient, the world's la…

Tesla Inc.’s plans to build a factory outside Berlin could be under threat if construction work doesn’t begin by mid-March, according to the economy minister for the Brandenburg region where the site is located.

Under German environmental regulations, the project in the town of Gruenheide could be delayed by nine months unless work begins before the breeding period for local wildlife this spring, Joerg Steinbach said in an interview with the Handelsblatt newspaper published Friday.

“That would be a situation in which I would be much more skeptical about whether we could get Tesla to stick with it,” Steinbach said, adding that the U.S. manufacturer needs to have a convincing proposal to meet local environmental demands and gain approval for the project.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently tried to ease local concerns about water usage for the plant, which is located in a forest bordering on a nature reserve. That’s one of the bureaucratic challenges for the…

Self-driving shuttle company May Mobility has revamped its senior management team.

COO Alisyn Malek will leave her position with the company at the end of this week, but will retain an advisory role. Her departure follows the exit of former chief technology officer Steve Vozar, who left last week. Both are co-founders of the company.

Their departures come at a time when the company plans an expansion. May Mobility closed a $50 million invement round in December that will enable it to deploy its six-passenger electric vehicles on routes in more communities. Toyota Motor Corp. was the largest investor in the latest investment round.

"After we wrapped up that fundraising, I thought about what I wanted to lean into next," Malek said. "I'm really proud of everything we accomplished, and the team we've brought in. I trust that they're going to keep killing it and continue to grow the company."

Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., May Mobility has pilot projects…