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A federal judge in Florida last week ruled that Hyundai Motor America was within its rights to terminate two Napleton Automotive Group dealerships.

Hyundai served the dealerships notices of termination because it alleged that reputational harm was suffered after Napleton executive Edward Napleton Jr. was charged with sexual battery of an employee. Napleton Jr. is the son of company president Ed Napleton. Napleton Jr. was sentenced to five years probation under a "best interest" plea that does not admit guilt.

The wrongful termination suit was brought against Hyundai by North Palm Hyundai and West Palm Beach Hyundai — both owned by Napleton Automotive Group — claiming that Hyundai violated Florida law when it tried to end their franchise agreements.

"The order issued by Judge Aileen Cannon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida confirmed the propriety of Hyundai's decision to terminate these two dealerships," Mitch Widom, an atto…

General Motors has agreed to hike salaries by 10 percent this year at its largest Mexico factory, the local union said on Monday, making for one of the biggest recent raises in the sector in Mexico.

The increase, at GM's pickup truck plant in the central city of Silao, will go into effect for one year as of March 25 and tops last year's deal for 8.5 percent pay raises, said the Silao union, SINTTIA.

"This overcomes the two-digit barrier that has not been reached in the automotive industry in many years," SINTTIA said in a statement.

It added that the above inflation increase, as well as other benefits, will help workers recover purchasing power.

GM did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Workers at GM's Silao plant elected SINTTIA in February 2022 after ousting their long-time labor representatives, hoping the new union would fight for better pay and conditions.

In other recent salary deals in Mexico, automakers agreed to…

Ever since Michigan passed its right-to-work law in 2012, union bosses have been longing for an opportunity to overturn it.

As residents of a right-to-work state, Michiganders are free to join and pay dues to a labor union, and they're free to choose not to.

The bosses that control Michigan's biggest unions would rather workers not have that choice — they want dues to be mandatory.

Any other private organization, be it a church, a civic group or a political party, would be laughed right out of Lansing if they asked the state legislature to mandate contributions to their groups.

But in politics, money talks. Union bosses spent millions of dollars on Michigan's elections this year, and now they're eager to cash in.

It's a shame, but not a surprise, that among the union bosses calling for the reinstatement of compulsory union dues is Ray Curry, president of the UAW, who called right to work a "travesty."

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Volkswagen Group plans to build its first North American battery cell manufacturing plant in St. Thomas, Ont., as the automaker establishes a regional supply chain to build electric vehicles for Canada, the U.S. and Mexico.

The company and its in-house battery subsidiary PowerCo on Monday announced the landmark investment in the southwestern Ontario city midway between Toronto and Windsor.

Financial details were not immediately available.

Volkswagen said the plant is scheduled to begin producing battery cells in 2027. It shared few other specifics. The value of the investment and further details about production capacity are expected to be announced at an event in St. Thomas in the coming months.

Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen’s technology chief as well as chair of the PowerCo board, said the investment will drive the automaker’s battery strategy forward “at full speed.”  

“Our gigafactory in Canada sends a strong message: PowerCo is on t…

A Chinese automaker’s plan to pay cash rewards to people exposing Internet trolls has backfired, with social-media critics saying it should have spent the money making better cars.

Great Wall Motor Co., best known for making SUVs and pickup trucks, on Friday announced a 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) program to reward people who alert it to organized or paid internet trolling against any Chinese automaker. If the tip-off’s accuracy is verified by the company and a law enforcement agency, a reward will be paid based on the value of the information.

The plan is in response to an unhealthy social-media discourse surrounding the auto industry, according to Fu Xiaokang, a vice president at Great Wall. He cited an example of paid trolls disputing claims a manufacturing defect caused an EV-battery fire, instead blaming the driver for setting the vehicle alight in an attempt to mislead consumers about the safety of electric cars. He also said Chinese media has turned a…

Electric-vehicle maker Rivian Automotive Inc. and its largest shareholder Amazon.com Inc. are in talks to end the exclusivity part of their electric van deal, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday citing people familiar with the matter.

Online retailer Amazon had placed an order for 100,000 electric delivery vans from the Irvine, Calif.-based EV maker in 2019, as part of the company's plans to cut carbon emissions. It has taken deliveries and inducted the EDVs into its fleet, with over 10 million packages delivered using the vans.

Amazon informed the EV maker it wanted to buy about 10,000 vans this year, which was at the low end of a range it previously provided Rivian, the report added.

Rivian said it continues to work closely with Amazon. Shares of the EV maker fell 2.5 percent to $13.82 in midday trading.

"While nothing has changed with our agreement with Rivian, we have always said we want others to benefit from their technology in the lo…

Chinese driverless technology startup Guangzhou WeRide Technology Co. has filed confidentially for an initial public offering in the U.S. and is looking to raise as much as $500 million, according to people familiar with the situation.

The Guangzhou-based startup is working with advisers on a potential listing that could take place as early as the first half of this year, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.

Chinese companies have only just resumed pursuing U.S. IPOs in recent months, after Didi Global Inc.'s 2021 listing prompted a crackdown by Beijing on companies with sensitive data selling shares abroad. To address the issue, WeRide will outsource data collection to an entity that won't be part of the planned U.S. listing, the people said.

Deliberations are ongoing and details of the IPO including size and timing could change, the people said. A representative for WeRide didn't respond to a request for comment. Read more

A Canadian dealership group entered the U.S. via California in February, then expanded there this month in separate first-quarter transactions.

Ride Automotive Group on Feb. 2 purchased Simi Valley Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Marin Mazda in San Rafael on March 1, VJ Sehdev, executive vice president of Ride Automotive, confirmed to Automotive News.

Sehdev said his group, which has two Kia dealerships in Canada, wanted to grow more.

"We found the opportunity in the States," he said.

Ride Automotive's venture into the U.S. follows several other Canadian dealership groups expanding south of the border. Canada's Alpha Auto Group, for example, added to its U.S. portfolio with the Nov. 22 purchase of a Mercedes-Benz store in California.

Jason Stopnitzky, co-founder of buy-sell firm Performance Brokerage Services in Irvine, Calif., facilitated both transactions for the growing auto retailer, which started in 2019 in Ottawa, Canada.

Stopnit…

Porsche offered glimpses on its future full-electric models -- including a flagship electric crossover positioned above the Cayenne -- as part of its goal of delivering more than 80 percent of its new vehicles as full-electric models in 2030.

The crossover will be designed to offer strong performance and automated driving functions with the typical Porsche flyline, the automaker said in a statement on Monday. It will use Volkswagen Group's SSP Sport platform, which Porsche is developing. 

"We are observing growing profit pools in this segment, in particular in China and the U.S.," CEO Oliver Blume said in the statement.

Porsche's other upcoming full-electric vehicles will be:

An all-electric Macan crossover available to customers in 2024 as the brand's second battery-electric car after the Taycan sedan Full-electric versions of the 718 Boxster and Cayman are planned for the middle of the decade The Cayenne is poised to receive an full-electric …

In her four years leading U.S. marketing for Nissan Motor Co., Allyson Witherspoon drove the brand into lots of new ad territory. 

That includes experimenting with new TikTok features, striking Nissan’s first NIL deal as part of its long-running “Heisman House” campaign, and putting Nissan back in the Super Bowl for the first time in seven years with a 2022 ad that starred actress Brie Larson, whom the brand began using as a spokeswoman earlier in Witherspoon’s tenure. She even came up with the moniker for Nissan’s new electric vehicle. It’s called Ariya, which is the name of Witherspoon’s nine-year-old niece.

Now Witherspoon will have a chance to leave her mark internationally as she takes on the role of corporate vice president, global marketing, brand and merchandising for Nissan, which will give her oversight of the Nissan and Infiniti brands. The promotion, announced on March 8, will bring her back to Japan, where she earlier served as Nissan’s gener…

Pondering what diversity brings to our industry

Last fall, I wrote about Automotive News' ongoing mission to cover diversity, equity and inclusion in the automotive business. This week's issue has stories that are intended to inspire and provoke thought.

■ Vince Bond Jr. tells the story of Daniel Mekuria, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ethiopia during college to realize his business potential. After years of honing his skills in automotive retail — including turning "a good, sleepy dealership into a very, very, very good dealership " — he now owns a piece of one store and has been approved to own another. The Ford store he manages has also embarked on another form of inclusion: Providing opportunities for addicts who need a job and support to stay clean. One convicted felon is now a master service technician and helping the dealership recruit others for potentially life-changing jobs in auto retail.…

Last fall, I wrote about Automotive News' ongoing mission to cover diversity, equity and inclusion in the automotive business. This week's issue has stories that are intended to inspire and provoke thought.

Vince Bond Jr. tells the story of Daniel Mekuria, who immigrated to the U.S. from Ethiopia during college to realize his business potential. After years of honing his skills in automotive retail — including turning "a good, sleepy dealership into a very, very, very good dealership " — he now owns a piece of one store and has been approved to own another. The Ford store he manages has also embarked on another form of inclusion: Providing opportunities for addicts who need a job and support to stay clean. One convicted felon is now a master service technician and helping the dealership recruit others for potentially life-changing jobs in auto retail. I recently spoke with Hyundai Motor America marketing executive Erik Thomas and Eunique Jones Gibson, CEO of Culture Bran…