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WASHINGTON — An independent group composed of auto safety experts and consumer advocates issued recommendations Tuesday to the U.S. Transportation Department as it develops a safety standard to prevent impaired driving.

A provision in the infrastructure law passed in 2021 orders NHTSA to issue a final rule by November 2024 requiring new vehicles to be equipped with an advanced impaired-driving prevention technology.

Once the rule is issued, automakers would have between two and three years to implement the technology as standard equipment in all new light-duty cars and trucks.

The technical working group's guidance comes after months of research and aims to help NHTSA meet the statutory deadline for completing the rule-making.

Among its recommendations, the group suggests first incorporating a system into vehicles that can detect blood alcohol content and later expanding those systems to eventually detect driver impairment caused by drugs, drowsin…

The southeastern used-vehicle dealership chain U.S. Auto Sales has closed its 39 locations indefinitely, the company's website stated Tuesday.

"We have temporarily closed our dealerships and are working on a solution to re-open them as soon as possible," a pop-up on usautosales.info said late Tuesday morning. "But don't worry, we aren't going anywhere!"

The group, which works with car buyers regardless of credit history, told customers its consumer auto loan servicing company USASF Servicing remained open for business and car payments.

A phone call to U.S. Auto Sales was met with a similar recorded message: "Unfortunately, we have had to temporarily close our dealerships," it began.

A U.S. Auto Sales customer service representative reached by Automotive News said no one was available to talk.

Financing for cars has become harder to come by as lenders tightened their underwriting standards for consumers who have burned through much of their …

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., is seeking more information from Ford Motor Co. about the automaker's deal with China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. to use its technology at a planned $3.5 billion battery plant in Michigan.

In a letter sent Monday to Ford CEO Jim Farley, Smith raised concerns over whether the arrangement leans on a "loophole" in the electric vehicle tax credit's battery component sourcing requirements and goes against the law's intent of U.S. energy security and reducing dependence on foreign adversaries such as China for battery materials and manufacturing.

"This arrangement appears to leverage a loophole in the [Inflation Reduction Act] rules regarding battery components manufactured or assembled by a 'foreign entity of concern,' " wrote Smith, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. "I am alarmed about how Ford has structured this project in the context of the IRA's clean vehicle credits and am concerned that o…

Electric-vehicle company Lordstown Motors Corp. said on Tuesday production and deliveries of its Endurance electric pick-up truck resumed this month after a pause in February to address quality issues.

EV startups have been struggling with dwindling cash balances and production challenges as access to capital tightens amid rising U.S. interest rates to tame inflation.

Ohio-based Lordstown, whose shares were trading 1 percent higher premarket, also said it has struck a deal with Amerit Fleet Solutions for service and maintenance for its fleet customers.

The company said in February that it had made only 31 units for sale, and recalled 19 vehicles from those delivered to customers, and those being used internally.

In January, the EV company forecast production would slow through its first quarter due to supply-chain constraints, particularly with respect to the availability of hub motor components.

Tesla Inc. has been cutting prices this year to bolster sales of its aging EVs, but that has also likely reduced its industry-leading profit margins. That volume-over-profit approach will be the major focus of its first-quarter earnings report Wednesday.

The EV maker likely sold 161,630 vehicles in the U.S. in the January-March period, according to Cox Automotive, which represents a 25 percent increase compared with a year earlier but far below CEO Elon Musk's 50 percent global growth target.

Tesla doesn't break out U.S. sales but reported global deliveries of 422,875 for the first quarter, a 4.3 percent increase compared with the previous quarter. That increase suggests that price cuts were necessary to maintain growth amid rising EV competition.

At the same time, Tesla is expected to report auto gross margin of 23 percent after the market close Wednesday, according to a Visible Alpha survey of market analysts. A year earlier, Tesla reported a 33 perce…

Hyundai is accelerating the rollout of a software upgrade for vehicles not equipped with engine immobilizers as part of its response to the nationwide hotwiring frenzy spurred by social media posts showing how to easily steal models lacking the anti-theft device.

At the same time, AAA is stepping in to help Hyundai secure insurance coverage for owners of affected vehicles, following State Farm and Progressive's decision to stop writing new policies for models without immobilizers.

AAA will provide support for owners having "difficulty securing and sustaining auto insurance as a result of the increased criminal activity targeting Hyundai vehicles," Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker said in a statement.

AAA insurers will issue new and renewal policies for eligible affected Hyundai customers in all states except Alaska, Massachusetts and Washington, where it does not offer insurance.

The initial Hyundai upgrade, announced in February, covered m…

Hesai Group said it will "vigorously defend itself" against allegations of patent infringement by Ouster, a rival company.

The Shanghai lidar maker is facing a patent-infringement lawsuit and a U.S. International Trade Commission complaint by Ouster, a San Francisco lidar maker. Ouster says Hesai stole information from five of its lidar patents, while Hesai's response claims its designs and technology are original.

"We believe Ouster's complaints are deeply flawed and lack merit," said Yifan David Li, Hesai's CEO, in a statement released Monday. "We invest heavily in proprietary research and development. We have more than 700 staff working in our R&D and manufacturing teams."

Ouster asked the International Trade Commission to investigate imports of Hesai lidar sensors that the company says infringe on its patents, and is seeking a cease-and-desist order to bar the import of those products to the U.S. Ouster also sued for patent infringement in U.S. D…

Tesla Inc. disclosed to U.S. regulators another fatal crash involving automated driver-assist systems, bringing its total to 17 since June 2021 when the government required carmakers to begin submitting data on these accidents.

The crash involved a Tesla Model S that collided with an emergency vehicle in February in the San Francisco Bay Area. At the time of the accident, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked the company for more information.

The crash was one of 66 reported accidents that were included in the latest public release of data collected by the NHTSA about crashes involving so-called Level 2 automated driving systems, gathered under a June 2021 order demanding carmakers and technology companies report the incidents.

Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Safety advocates in Washington have called for regulators and lawmakers to set firmer rules for so-called self-driving cars and technologies that…

We now know which models qualify for U.S. EV tax credits and which ones don’t. A UAW strike could savage struggling suppliers. Plus, Constellation co-founder and CEO Diana Lee talks about the ad tech start-up’s big growth.

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WASHINGTON - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by General Motors Co. to revive its racketeering lawsuit against rival automaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), now part of Stellantis, over bribery allegations involving the United Auto Workers union.

The justices turned away an appeal by General Motors of a lower court's dismissal of its lawsuit that accused Fiat Chrysler of bribing employee union officials in a bid to undermine GM and pressure the Detroit-based automaker into a merger with FCA.

GM brought a civil lawsuit in 2019 under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law designed to target organized crime, claiming FCA bribed United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials over many years to corrupt the bargaining process and gain advantages, costing GM billions of dollars. GM sought an estimated $6 billion in damages.

A federal judge in Michigan dismissed the lawsuit in 2020, saying GM's alleged injuries were no…

WASHINGTON — Only 10 electric vehicle models will qualify for a full $7,500 tax credit when increasingly stringent critical mineral and battery component sourcing requirements take effect Tuesday.

Seven models are eligible for a partial credit of $3,750 under the tougher eligibility rules, while nine previously eligible models would no longer qualify, according to an updated list released Monday.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, buyers who meet certain income thresholds can get a tax credit of up to $7,500 for North American-assembled new EVs that also meet sticker price restrictions.

Starting Tuesday, the credit will be split in two, with $3,750 for EVs that have at least 40 percent of the value of the battery's critical minerals extracted or processed in the U.S. or in a country where the U.S. has a free-trade agreement, or from materials that were recycled in North America. Another $3,750 is available if at least half of the value of the EV's batte…

Inflation Reduction Act’s EV tax credit timeline

Note: The Inflation Reduction Act includes several tax credits related to electric vehicle sales. The credit for new EVs falls under Internal Revenue Code Section 30D and features more eligibility limitations and rules. The used EV credit is under section 25E, and the commercial clean vehicle credit is under section 45W.

2022

July 27: U.S. Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia reach an agreement on a landmark health, climate and tax bill — now known as the Inflation Reduction Act — that includes a revamped system of federal tax credits for new and used electric vehicles.

Aug. 16: President Joe Biden signs the Inflation Reduction Act into law, triggering a shift from the old $7,500 tax credit for consumers purchasing new EVs to a more complicated one designed to incentivize domestic EV production, reduce reliance on foreign supply chains and prevent wealthy buyer…