Trade News

A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers introduced legislation Wednesday to bar automakers from eliminating AM broadcast radio in their new vehicles, citing safety concerns.

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., one of the sponsors of the bill, said at least eight automakers have removed AM broadcast radio from their EVs, including Tesla, BMW, Ford and Volkswagen. Lawmakers say losing AM radio undermines a federal system for delivering key public safety information to the public.

The bill would direct NHTSA to issue regulations to mandate AM radio in new vehicles without additional charge.

"Carmakers shouldn’t tune out AM radio in new vehicles or put it behind a costly digital paywall," Markey said.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing major automakers, said "mandating AM radios in all vehicles is unnecessary. Congress has never mandated radio features in vehicles ever before. Automakers remain 100 percent commit…

More than 2.5 million U.S. vehicles are under "do not drive" or "park outside" safety recalls that remain unrepaired despite the danger they present, vehicle history specialist Carfax said Wednesday.

This is the first time Carfax has specifically analyzed urgent recalls — part of their efforts to address the 20 to 25 percent of all recalls that typically go unrepaired, Patrick Olsen, editor in chief for Carfax, told Automotive News.

"Do not drive" notifications advise owners to cease operating their vehicle because a safety issue has led to an increased risk of accidents or physical harm, and "park outside" recalls occur when a vehicle is at risk for fire.

Takata airbags are the most famous contributor to "do not drive" recalls, Olsen said. The largest automotive recall in history, 67 million of these airbags have been recalled due to a potentially lethal defect.

The urgent recalls encompass about 200 different models from a variety of brands and …

GMC will add even more off-road capability to its top-end off-road Canyon midsize pickup.

General Motors' premium truck brand plans to introduce the 2024 GMC Canyon AT4X AEV edition, in partnership with off-road aftermarket equipment manufacturer American Expedition Vehicles, on July 6. GMC released a teaser photo Wednesday showing the front fascia and an underbody angle.

The redesigned 2023 Canyon adds the AT4X trim for the first time in a bid to capture more of the rugged performance midsize pickup market. Redesigned versions of the Toyota Tacoma and Ford Ranger midsize pickups will debut this year. Ford is adding a Raptor high-performance off-road variant of the Ranger for the 2024 model year.

GMC already has announced AEV-badged versions of the light-duty and heavy-duty Sierra full-size pickup. The AEV edition of the Sierra 1500 offers increased front approach angle, departure angle, breakover angle and ground clearance compared with the AT4X, and al…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk assures investors that he isn’t changing his role at the automaker – but he did indicate a change in thinking on advertising. Used car demand remains strong. Plus, auto suppliers are grappling with an array of challenges – we ask a top consultant what they can do about it.

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WIXOM, Mich. — Cirba Solutions, a new battery recycler formed from companies with decades of industry experience, plans to expand its electric vehicle battery recycling business sevenfold in the next few years.

The key to Cirba Solutions' future are its regional facilities.

"The name of the game is to make sure we've got locations where we can price materials close to our customers, and also sell that material back close to where the customers are going to be building new batteries for the industry," said CEO David Klanecky on a tour of the Cirba Solutions plant here.

The company now has six plants, but that will nearly double in the next five years. Cirba has plants in Wixom, Mich., near Detroit; Anaheim, Calif.; Mesa, Ariz.; British Columbia in Canada; and Lancaster and Baltimore in Ohio, both near Columbus. A seventh facility, its flagship, near Columbia, S.C., is slated to open next year.

A small player in the battery recycling sphere, Cirba …

Tesla Inc. has proposed setting up a factory in India to build electric cars for domestic sale and export, the carmaker told government officials on Wednesday, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. 

The proposal comes after India refused to agree to Tesla's request last year to lower the import tax on cars, which can reach as much as 100 percent. India wanted the carmaker to build vehicles locally but Tesla wanted to test the market first with imports and the talks ended in deadlock.

While Tesla did not discuss lower import taxes with Indian officials, it proposed setting up a new factory, albeit without specifying a location or investment, said the source, who declined to be named as the talks were private.

Making cars locally aligns with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pitch to attract companies with his "Make in India" campaign, especially as companies look to diversify their supply chains beyond China.

Senior …

TOKYO — The Toyota-led push to plug hydrogen combustion as a path to carbon neutrality has gained backing from rivals such as Honda and Suzuki as a group of Japanese minicar and motorcycle makers launch a fresh nationwide effort to promote the technology.

Honda Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp. will join Kawasaki Motors and Yamaha Motor Co. to develop hydrogen combustion engines for "small mobility," a category they say covers minivehicles, motorcycles, boats, construction equipment and drones.

The new effort, announced Wednesday, injects fresh energy into a clean powertrain strategy championed by Toyota Motor Corp., which has largely been a lone voice in the wilderness on the technology.

Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda has been positioning hydrogen combustion as one route to achieving carbon neutrality since 2021. Japan's biggest automaker has been developing hydrogen-burning engines and deploying them in race cars, and the Toyoda is expected to take his tur…

At the company's annual shareholder meeting in Austin, Texas, Tesla CEO Elon Musk spoke about car demand, making more money than competitors in a slow economy, and also said he would conduct a third-party audit in cobalt mines that supply Tesla with a key ingredient to make batteries.

In a sign of tough times even for Tesla, the market leader in electric cars, Musk said the company would try to advertise its vehicles, something it has not done before.

"Tesla is not immune to the global economic environment. I expect things to be just at a macro economic level difficult for at least the next 12 months," said Musk.

At the meeting, shareholders voted to appoint the company's co-founder and former chief technology officer, JB Straubel, to the board. Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis had urged investors to vote against Straubel's appointment, citing worries about his independence.

They also rejected a proposal to publish a report that sought to establis…

Watch the livestream here at 4 p.m. Eastern:

Tesla Inc. and CEO Elon Musk may be under pressure at the EV maker's annual meeting to address investor concerns about the lack of a clear successor, softening demand and delays of some new models.

Investors will also vote on the appointment of Tesla co-founder and former chief technology officer JB Straubel as one of the board members.  

Ford reporter Michael Martinez talks about the automaker's hopes that its newly redesigned Ranger will help cut into Toyota’s truck lead overseas. Legacy automakers continue chipping away at Tesla’s EV lead. And Audi’s former boss admits in court to fraud by negligence.

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Senior executives of small EV brands Polestar and Smart said Tuesday they are open to new technology and investor partners as they fight for sales against larger rivals.

Smart, a joint venture of Germany's Mercedes-Benz Group and China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group  is "open for a third, fourth, fifth investor, not only for funding but technology," Dirk Adelmann, CEO of Smart Europe, said on Tuesday at the Reuters Events Automotive Europe conference.

Smart is launching two new EVs in Europe, China and other markets. In Europe, the new Smart #1, launching now, and the future Smart #3 compact crossover, will steer into the heart of the market against models such as the Volkswagen ID.3 electric car and combustion models such as the Peugeot 208. 

The brand has the backing of its two large automotive parents, but Adelmann said they expect Smart to pay back their investments "in the first life cycle" of products, or within six years.

AutoNation Inc. has hired a new CFO in what is the auto retailer's second major executive change within the last few weeks.

Thomas Szlosek, 59, an executive from outside the auto industry, will start by Aug. 7, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company announced Tuesday.

He replaces Joe Lower, who come August will move to a newly created role at the company overseeing "business transformation initiatives," AutoNation said.

Lower was named CFO in late 2019 after working in that role at office-supplies company Office Depot.

"I am excited to welcome a best-in-class Fortune 500 CFO and business leader like Tom to the AutoNation team," AutoNation CEO Mike Manley said in a statement. "He has delivered outstanding results across multiple industries."

Szlosek since December 2018 has been CFO of Avantor Inc., a products and services company focused on biopharmaceuticals, health care, education and government, advanced technologies and applied materials. H…