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TOKYO — Electric vehicles took center stage when incoming Toyota CEO Koji Sato outlined plans to introduce a new EV platform and "drastically change" the way the company does business.

But another overhaul is underway that's just as important to Toyota's bold electrified future — the development of the software needed to run those battery-powered automobiles.

Woven Planet Holdings, Toyota's critical software-first company tasked with programming its next-generation digital cars, is itself going through some reinvention.

Among changes Sato identified in last month's business road map were tweaks affecting the spinoff, founded in 2018 as Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development.

Woven CEO James Kuffner, the goateed American computer guru who has led the high-tech company since its beginning, will be taken off the board of directors at Toyota Motor Corp.

Kenta Kon, meanwhile, outgoing Toyota Motor CFO, will give up that role but keep hi…

In our most recent survey of both car shoppers and dealers we once again try to uncover what points in the car buying process were crucial to deliver a positive experience. Just as importantly, in our 2023 Friction Points study we discovered what needs improvement.

Car buyers spent more time at the dealer in 2022 than they did in 2021 — and what they had to wait on is surprising. And while these shoppers gave a slightly higher NPS score in 2022, we found specific actions that should boost that number.

In the study you’ll find:

What dealers told us was their top focus for 2023, 5X more than managing inventory That the amount of time spent at the dealer dramatically impacts promoter and satisfaction scores The tasks in the purchase process that cause the most pain How staffing has changed and where dealers are placing bets on manpower

Two analytics companies are joining forces to try to provide a real-time look into electric vehicle battery behavior and increase production speed.

The partnership announced Thursday is between PDF Solutions and Voltaiq.

PDF Solutions is based in Santa Clara, Calif., and collects data during manufacturing, performs analytics and employs machine learning for semiconductor companies. Voltaiq is a Cupertino, Calif., company that makes software to analyze battery function.

The companies said in a news release that they're working on an "integrated solution" to examine battery quality earlier in the production process.

"Our partnership with PDF Solutions will help battery manufacturers adopt the agile mindset to better compete in the global transition to battery power," said Tal Sholklapper, Voltaiq's founder and CEO.

The companies say the partnership will correlate issues visible through data collection with root causes, giving battery manufact…

"If our group was known as anything it would be a leadership development company disguised as a car dealership. I believe if we teach people and lead people well, they become better leaders of themselves, and they will lead others well. If someone ends up leaving our organization, I hope we had some type of impact on how they lead themselves." — Christopher Vester, COO of the Hubert Vester Auto Group, on the "5 to Thrive with Dave Foy" podcast

Toyota Motor Corp. this week launched sales of the first full electric vehicle it has developed with BYD, China’s largest electrified-vehicle maker. 

The Toyota bZ3, a compact electric sedan, has a starting price of 169,800 yuan ($24,421), according to FAW-Toyota, Toyota’s joint venture with China FAW Group Corp.

The bZ3 was developed by BYD Toyota Electric Vehicle Technology Co., a partnership the Japanese automaker established with BYD in 2020. 

It is 4,725 mm long, 1,835 mm wide and 1,475 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,880 mm.

The EV is based on Toyota’s platform dedicated to EVs, the e-TNGA architecture, and is powered by iron phosphate batteries and an electric motor that BYD supplies.

It is available with a standard range of 517 kilometers or a long range of 616 km.

The bZ3 is the second bZ-series EV model Toyota is producing in China following the bZ4X crossover. 

The bZ4X, also assembled at FAW-Toyota, w…

Mercedes-Benz appointed Duan Jianjun, a Chinese national, president and CEO of its local sales company, Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Co.

The appointment will become effective on May 1, Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Co. said this week. 

Duan joined the sales company in 2013 as an executive vice president. He was promoted to COO in 2019.

After serving as president and CEO for nearly four years, Jan Madeja will return to Germany to take over a post at Mercedes-Benz’s headquarters, Beijing Mercedes-Benz Sales Co. added. 

China is Mercedes-Benz’s largest market worldwide. 

In 2022, the German luxury brand delivered 751,700 vehicles in China, a one-percent dip from a year earlier. 

A consortium of some of the world's biggest automakers is investing in a holographic head-up display technology startup.

Hyundai Mobis, the parts and service affiilate of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co., led a $50 million series C funding round valuing the United Kingdom's Envisics at $500 million.

Envisics develops augmented reality head-up displays or AR HUD, an advanced display technology that some automakers are planning to install in new models in the coming years.

The fresh funding will be used to speed up the product development and delivery of displays to automakers.

General Motors will be the first automaker to feature Envisics' second-generation AR-HUD technology in its electric Cadillac Lyriq 2024 model.

"Our collaboration with Envisics is moving into production this year, as we add AR-HUD technology to the all-electric 2024 Cadillac LYRIQ," Sandy Lipscomb, senior manager for Ultifi Design at General Motors, said in a ne…

Retail sales of new passenger vehicles such as sedans, crossovers, SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles rose 10 percent from a year earlier to some 1.39 million in February, the China Automobile Dealers Association said Wednesday. 

The main reason for the market expansion is the timing of the Chinese New Year holiday, which resulted in more working days in February as compared with the same month last year, the trade group noted. 

The week-long Chinese New Year holiday began on January 21. Last year, it started on January 31. 

In February, electrified passenger vehicles continued to penetrate the market at a fast pace: some 439,000 full electrified vehicles were delivered across China, a jump of 61 percent from a year earlier. 

In January, the market skidded 38 percent to 1.29 million due to the lingering pandemic, the termination of government incentives at the end of 2022 and fewer working days. 

At the end of December…

Determining the results of the UAW's presidential runoff election will take at least a week longer than originally anticipated, according to the federally appointed monitor overseeing the process.

Ballot counting in the tight race has been halted since Saturday as the monitor's office works to resolve more than 1,600 challenged ballots. The monitor previously planned to resume the vote count Thursday but said this week it has delayed that re-start until March 16.

"Given the time-consuming nature of collecting information to resolve questions as to the eligibility status of the individuals who voted the challenged ballots, the monitor has determined that the vote count will not reconvene on March 9, 2023, as originally contemplated," the monitor's office said in a statement. "Instead, the monitor, UAW, and election vendor will continue the information gathering process until a sufficient number of challenged ballots have been resolved. In light of the remaining…

General Motors said it will offer buyouts to most of its U.S. salaried employees as it works to cut $2 billion in costs over the next two years.

Voluntary severance packages will be offered to U.S. employees who have been with the company for at least five years and global executives with at least two years of service, CEO Mary Barra said in a memo to employees Thursday.

The buyouts are "designed to accelerate attrition in the U.S.," Barra said in the memo, which was obtained by Automotive News and confirmed by GM.

"This voluntary program offers eligible employees an opportunity to make a career change or retire earlier. We are offering three packages based on level and service to the company. Employees are strongly encouraged to consider the program," GM spokesperson Maria Raynal said in an emailed statement. "By permanently bringing down structured costs, we can improve vehicle profitability and remain nimble in an increasingly competitive market." Read more

BEIJING -- BYD Co., the world's leading seller of battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, on Thursday announced discounts on some models, intensifying competition in the biggest auto market.

The discounts will be for buyers who place orders for the Song Plus and Seal models between March 10 and March 31, the company said on its social media account.

In return for an 88 yuan ($12.64) deposit, Seal EV buyers can get 8,888 yuan deducted from the price, while for Song Plus models, the discount is 6,888 yuan.

BYD, with its Dynasty and Ocean series of electrified models, was China's best-selling passenger vehicle brand in February, outselling Volkswagen for the second time in four months, retail sales data from China Merchants Bank International show.

BYD sold 34,621 Song Plus crossovers and 14,372 Seal sedans in the first two months, according to China Passenger Car Association.

The company's new discounts follow price cuts announced by T…

The most profit-rich, two-year-long blowout party in automotive retail history may finally be winding down.

So grab some aspirin, because here comes the inevitable hangover.

Bloomberg noted this month that an increasing number of consumers are showing up at dealerships carrying boatloads of negative equity and rolling it into longer and longer-term loans.

That trend, of course, isn't novel. It predates the COVID-19 breakout, though the number of U.S. customers with negative equity dipped temporarily because of rising values of supply-constrained used vehicles, plus many received government-issued stimulus checks while spending less money overall during the pandemic. But what is more concerning is what's coming.

At roughly this point in 2019, the average new-vehicle list price in the United States was $36,513, according to Cox Automotive. Now, it is $47,673, a difference of $11,160.

And then there's the int…