Trade News

WAIMEA, Hawaii — The Toyota Tacoma, the top-selling midsize pickup in the U.S., has been retooled from top to bottom for 2024. Journalists had a chance to look it over here late Thursday. Here are six key things that stand out on the fourth-generation Tacoma, due in dealerships late this year. Pricing for the 2024 Tacoma will be announced later.

1. A choice of powertrains: The redesigned Tacoma will come standard with a turbocharged 2.4-liter engine that produces up to 278 hp and 317 pound-feet of torque. Also available is an optional i-Force Max hybrid, similar to the hybrid setup in the Tundra full-size pickup, that adds a 48-hp electric motor integrated into the eight-speed automatic transmission and uses a 1.87-kilowatt-hour battery. The system boosts output to 326 hp and 465 pound-feet. Hybrid versions are expected to begin shipping to dealerships early next year, Toyota says.

2. A kitted-up, off-road ready trim: Toyota plans a Trailhunter …

WAIMEA, Hawaii — With the possible exception of the RAV4 compact crossover, no nameplate in Toyota's U.S. lineup is more important to the brand than the Tacoma midsize pickup — not just because of its sales, but also the way it continues to dominate the competition, albeit with less of a stranglehold than before.

With the redesigned 2024 Toyota Tacoma arriving at U.S. dealerships this year, the Japanese brand looks to brush back newly improved offerings from Detroit 3 rivals and reinforce its formerly vicelike hold on the important segment.

The Tacoma's segment share in the U.S. peaked in 2013 at a massive 65.1 percent as other automakers exited midsize pickups in favor of more profitable full-size pickups. However, their return a few years later began to bite into Toyota's dominance: By 2018, the Tacoma's share of the segment had fallen to 46.9 percent, and in 2022, it dropped to 39 percent, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center.

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Hyundai and Kia have agreed to pay more than $200 million to owners of as many as 9 million vehicles on the road that lack engine immobilizers as part of a class-action lawsuit.

The automakers did not include the crucial anti-theft device, which prevents the engine from starting without a key present, on base trims levels of certain 2011-2021 model year Hyundai and Kia vehicles. Owners claimed that runs afoul of a vehicle safety rule that requires that a car must not be able to start without the key.

Last summer TikTok users posted how-to videos that exposed a method to easily hot wire the vehicles. The social media posts triggered a spike in a vehicle theft across the U.S.

Attorneys representing plaintiffs called the settlement "comprehensive, welcome relief."

A large portion of the settlement, $145 million, will go toward out-of-pocket losses experienced by owners, including vehicles lost or stolen, vehicles that incurred damages, loss of perso…

Constellium and the UAW returned to the bargaining table Thursday, strike coordinator Michael Shumaker told Automotive News. About 160 members of UAW Local 174 began striking Wednesday at the Constellium plant in suburban Detroit that supplies aluminum components to Ford.

Workers are concerned about frequent oil spills and other safety issues in the plant as well as pay raises that have not kept up with the cost of living, Michael Murray, a 10-year employee, told Automotive News.

"There's a lot of safety concerns inside and we have outwardly brought it to their attention and they fail to fix it. We've had people falling and hurting themselves," Murray said.

The contract was originally set to expire May 13. The UAW extended it through May 16 before striking May 17. The UAW wanted to negotiate during that extension but were not able to schedule a meeting with the company, Shumaker said.

A spokeperson for Constellium did not respond to a request for…

Sony Pictures Entertainment is partnering with beleaguered Vietnamese EV upstart VinFast to launch an in-car streaming service. We now have two UAW strikes against auto suppliers in the U.S. And it looks like Kia might launch more EV production in North America.

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Melody Lee, a former marketing executive at Cadillac, is taking over as CMO at Mercedes-Benz USA.

Lee is one of three senior hires announced by Mercedes at the brand's annual dealer meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Thursday. The Atlanta company has seen executive churn in recent years, including in sales, finance and customer service. Mercedes-Benz USA is on its second CEO since 2019.

Lee, who will take on her new role July 1, joins from the design company MillerKnoll, where she led brand strategy for Herman Miller and Knoll brands.

Previously, Lee served in two executive roles at Cadillac, including brand marketing director over the course of her six-year tenure with the luxury brand.

One of GM's youngest-ever executives, Lee developed and oversaw the launch of Cadillac's "Dare Greatly" campaign and created and launched Book by Cadillac. She was appointed global director of the subscription service in November 2017, but eight months la…

Pensions, wages, transition plans to electric vehicle production and new investment emerged as Unifor’s bargaining priorities in upcoming negotiations with the Detroit 3 automakers.

Unifor’s Special Auto Council – comprised of active and retired members from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis  – met in London, Ont., May 17 and 18 to prioritize the demands that will be brought to the table when negotiations for the union’s 20,000 auto sector members begin in August.

“This is going to be a big year. One of the most closely watched and highly anticipated rounds of Detroit 3 bargaining that we’ve seen in a long time,” Lana Payne, Unifor national president, said in a statement. “The auto council has worked to identify our key, overarching priorities amid hundreds of specific proposals put forward by our members to set our strategic course. Our members expect us to deliver and they deserve it.”  

Unifor’s collective agreement covers members wor…

TuSimple Holdings Inc TSP.O said on Thursday it will cut 30% of its workforce in the United States under a restructuring as the autonomous driving technology company looks to preserve its balance sheet amid a funding crunch in the sector.

The shares of the company closed up 14 percent on Thursdsay.

The San Diego-based company also said it is no longer seeking strategic alternatives for its Asia Pacific business, backtracking on plans it announced in March last year for the unit.

Industry executives and investors have been worried about the funding poured into the self-driving technology sector at a time when access to capital has been tight.

The restructuring is expected to cost the company between $12 million and $13 million, it said in a statement, adding that the layoffs will only impact its U.S. employees.

The move comes days after the firm received a delisting notice from Nasdaq for not filing its quarterly report on time.

TuSim…

Panasonic Holdings Corp. plans to roughly quadruple annual battery production capacity to 200 gigawatt-hours by March 2031, a sign that it anticipates greater demand for EVs.

The Osaka-based company, which supplies batteries to Tesla Inc., intends to tap subsidies provided by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, as well as focus on cylindrical batteries and the North American market to expand, CEO Yuki Kusumi said Thursday.

Panasonic broke ground on a new $4 billion battery factory in De Soto, Kansas, in November as it seeks to ramp up production. Although Panasonic has supplied Tesla from its early days, the Japanese manufacturer has been slower to build scale compared with rivals LG Energy Solution Ltd. of South Korea and China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. 

Panasonic will step up large-scale investments to meet rapidly growing demand, Kusumi said, adding that the company sees the North American EV market growing at an average rate of 35 pe…

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UAW workers at a Ford-supplying plant in suburban Detroit began striking Wednesday after nine failed negotiation meetings. The Constellium Automotive plant produces aluminum structures and crash management systems for the Ford F-150, F-150 Lightning, Explorer and Super Duty at six assembly plants.

The 160 workers on strike are concerned about health and safety issues at the plant and management's disciplinary practices, according to a UAW statement. The union said they have filed unfair labor practice charges against the company for bad-faith bargaining.

"Our negotiating team has met with the company nine times since April 18," UAW Region 1A Director Laura Dickerson said in a statement. "And on every single occasion, Constellium has made it very clear they have zero interest in taking our members' proposals seriously."

A spokesperson for Constellium said negotiations should resume soon. "We do not anticipate any disruption to our production and will wor…