Trade News

The 1968 Ford Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove in the classic car chase in the movie Bullitt, one of the most famed cars from American cinema, sold for $3.4 million at auction in Florida on Friday, Mecum Auctions said.

It was the highest price ever paid for a Ford Mustang at auction, according to David Morton, marketing manager for the auction house in Kissimmee, near Orlando. The buyer has not been publicly identified.

"The hammer dropped at $3.4 million, but with buyers' fees, the total cost is $3.74 million," he said, adding that it shattered the auction house's previous record set last year of $2.2 million.

Mecum auctioneer Matt Moravec started the bidding on the fastback at $3,500, but the price jumped to $1 million almost instantly and then jumped to $2 million within a minute.

The unusually low starting price for such a well-known car was requested by the car’s owner, Sean Kiernan, who told the auction room before the…

The Four Rings won't stand alone in Manhattan — at least not this year.

Audi of America will be bypassing the 2020 New York auto show in April, joining fellow German luxury brands BMW and Mercedes-Benz on the sidelines of one of the largest and most prestigious auto shows in the United States.

In a statement to Automotive News on Friday from Tara Rush, Audi of America's chief communications officer, the German luxury brand confirmed that it would not participate in the 2020 show. In the statement, Rush said it is "important to review the way we bring the Audi experience to life and introduce our new products and innovations to media and consumers."

Rush said Audi would "continue to evaluate auto shows on a case-by-case basis moving forward to determine if they are the best platform for U.S. and world premieres of our upcoming models."

The New York auto show has traditionally drawn more than a million visitors annually to the Javits Convention Cent…

General Motors Co. will revive the Hummer name to sell a new family of electric pickups and SUVs and will tout the return with a Super Bowl ad featuring NBA star LeBron James, two people briefed on the matter said on Friday.

The vehicles will be sold under the GMC nameplate.

Reuters reported in October that GM planned to build a new family of premium electric pickups at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant beginning in late 2021 and was considering reviving the Hummer name, citing several people familiar with the plans.

The Wall Street Journal reported GM's decision to move forward earlier on Friday. GM declined to comment.

GM is considering selling the battery-powered truck in existing dealerships under the marketing name “Hummer by GMC,” Bloomberg reported Friday.

GM also has a large SUV in the works for Hummer. It will be produced soon after the pickup truck if the brand relaunch proves successful, Bloomberg reported.

If the company follow…

The world’s most important interest rate may disappear in as early as two years’ time, at the end of 2021. The London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), is one of the most recognizable and dominant rates in the world, underpinning tens of millions of financial contracts worth more than $400 trillion dollars worldwide.1 But LIBOR, as it exists today, is no longer reflective of actual transactions in the market. Regulators have identified significant structural risks with LIBOR and have called on the market to transition away from LIBOR to alternative reference rates. This article explains what LIBOR is; the reason LIBOR is coming to an end; the alternative reference rate that likely will replace LIBOR; and the steps the market, and Wells Fargo, are taking to prepare for this transition. 

LIBOR emerged as a benchmark interest rate in the 1980s, representing the cost of borrowing between banks. Its adoption spread quickly as market participants saw the value in …

Asbury Automotive Group Inc.'s outgoing operations head will walk away with more than $822,000 in compensation for 2020, according to a regulatory filing.

John Hartman, who led operations at Asbury for two years, left the public dealership group last week on the heels of the company striking its largest-ever store acquisition deal. Hartman's departure came three weeks after Asbury announced it would buy 10 dealerships in Texas from Park Place Dealerships.

Asbury said in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that Hartman, as part of a Jan. 3 separation agreement, will receive his 2019 base salary of $600,000 as severance payable over a year and an undisclosed "lump sum bonus" for the year.

Hartman also will receive a $222,182.63 bonus, paid over a year, "as consideration for his continued cooperation and assistance to the company," the filing said, and he is entitled to health and dental insurance for the next 12 months.

More …

Technology giant LG Electronics and software engineering company Luxoft have formed a joint venture to further the deployment of production-ready advanced vehicle technologies.

Using LG's webOS Auto platform, the joint venture aims to advance digital cockpit, infotainment, rear-seat entertainment and ride-hailing systems, the two companies announced Friday at CES.

The auto offering of webOS — LG's digital consumer platform for intelligent services and content streaming — will be expanded with the joint venture to enable large-scale connected-vehicle and mobility solutions. The open platform integrates multimedia processing, connectivity and security that will expand Luxoft capabilities in the automotive industry.

Luxoft will lead the deployment of webOS Auto in a variety of systems using its global delivery network.

Luxoft is a company of DXC Technology that provides digital strategy consulting and software engineerin…

LONDON -- Jaguar Land Rover posted a 5.9 percent fall in 2019 vehicle sales after a challenging year in which its performance was hit by the weakening Chinese market and falling European demand for diesels.

Retail sales were 557,706 in 2019, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Land Rover sales fell 3.8 percent to 396,105 for the year, while Jaguar sales dropped 11 percent to 161,601.

JLR's sales last year were hit by a 14 percent slump in China, but in the last six months the company reported double-digit growth in the country.

"2019 was a year of two halves," said Chief Commercial Officer Felix Brautigam. "Over the last six months we saw a marked improvement in China, where intensive work with our retailers, combined with significant process and product improvements are starting to gain traction," he said.

JLR's global sales increased 1.3 percent to 52,814 in December. Land Rover's volume rose 9.6 percent to 39,442, but Jaguar sales…

FRANKFURT -- Soaring demand for SUVs and crossovers drove record sales for premium carmakers including BMW and Mercedes last year, leaving the industry on collision course with government efforts to tackle global warming despite big investments in electric vehicles.

BMW said on Friday deliveries by its main luxury brand rose 2 percent to a record 2,168,516 vehicles last year, thanks to a 21 percent jump in sales of its "X" branded crossovers that now make up 44 percent of the BMW brand's global sales.

At Mercedes-Benz, the world's best selling premium car brand, every third luxury car sold last year was an SUV or crossover.

Automakers across the world are investing billions in electric vehicles to try to meet tougher emissions regulations. But the jury is out on how many drivers will buy them.

"Consumer preferences for SUVs could offset the benefits from electric cars," the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned in its November Wo…

Mercedes-Benz successfully defended its crown as the world’s bestselling luxury-car brand, beating out arch-rivals BMW and Volkswagen Group’s Audi for the fourth year in a row.

The win emerged on Friday when BMW reported sales of its namesake branded vehicles rose 2 percent to a record 2.17 million cars last year. Daimler's Mercedes-Benz said Thursday its own sales increased 1.3 percent to 2.34 million vehicles. Audi lagged behind both.

Demand for upscale vehicles has proved to be more resilient than the mass-market segment, which has seen sales crimped in some regions by slower economic growth and fallout from trade disputes. While deliveries of expensive models in China -- the world’s largest auto market -- have held up, the outlook could darken for the German luxury manufacturers due to their exposure to potentially higher auto tariffs between the U.S., China and Europe.

Looking ahead, BMW said it’s targeting a slight increase in group sales this…

TOKYO -- Japan is seeking an Interpol "Red Notice" for Carole Ghosn, the wife of Carlos Ghosn, the latest move by the country to put pressure on the former auto executive after his surprise escape from trial.

Investigators have asked Interpol for the notice, which could restrict Carole Ghosn’s movements outside of Lebanon, where she joined her husband, national broadcaster NHK reported, citing unidentified sources.

Representatives for Japan’s Ministry of Justice and prosecutors declined to comment on the report. Interpol didn’t respond to a request seeking comment.

Interpol has already issued a Red Notice for Carlos Ghosn at the request of the Japanese government. If one is granted for Carole, it would make it difficult for her to leave the Lebanon, although, as Interpol stresses, "a Red Notice is an international wanted persons notice, but it is not an arrest warrant."

Ghosn, the former chairman of Renault and Nissan, made his way to Beirut at th…

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Belvidere assembly plant near Chicago will be temporarily idled for two weeks starting Monday as the company aligns production with demand.

Normal output at the factory, which assembles the Jeep Cherokee, will resume the week of Jan. 27, the company said Thursday.

U.S. sales of the Cherokee, Jeep's No. 3 seller after the Grand Cherokee and Wrangler, fell 20 percent last year to 191,397. Demand slid 30 percent in the fourth quarter.

FCA had 53,000 units of the Cherokee in inventory on Jan. 1, the Automotive News Data Center estimates, or a 97-day supply, up from a 91-day supply on Dec. 1.

FCA invested $350 million in the plant, starting in 2016, to produce the Cherokee, which was moved from Toledo, Ohio. Cherokee production began in Belvidere in June 2017.

The plant also briefly shut down in August to match production with demand, according to the Rockford Register Star. About 1,400 people were laid off at the fact…

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky began production of the 2020 RAV4 Hybrid crossover this week.

The RAV4 Hybrid had its best sales year to date in 2019 at 92,525, up 92.3 percent from 2018.

The plant in Georgetown, Ky., Toyota's largest in the world, is known for producing the Toyota Camry and now builds four electrified vehicles, including the Avalon Hybrid, Camry Hybrid and Lexus ES 300h, Toyota said in a release.

"We are excited to see the past nine months of preparation come to life with the completion of our first Kentucky-built 2020 RAV4 Hybrid," TMMK President Susan Elkington said in a statement.

Toyota's global goal by 2025 is to offer an electrified option -- hybrid, plug-in, fuel cell or battery-electric -- on all Toyota and Lexus models.

TMMK has more than 8,000 full-time employees and more than 9 million square feet of floor space.