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TOKYO — Nissan said cratering sales of some of the brand's most popular compact vehicles should start to recover this quarter as the company ramps up microchip-constrained production.

Slumping sales of the Sentra and Versa small cars and Kicks compact crossover helped fuel an overall 6.9 percent decline in global sales at Nissan Motor Co. for the October to December quarter.

COO Ashwani Gupta said sales of those models, all made in Mexico, have been torpedoed by severe production constraints caused by the ongoing global semiconductor shortage.

"Where we faced the challenge was Sentra, Kicks and Versa, which dropped 40 percent with respect to last year because of the very particular semiconductor shortage for these cars," Gupta said Thursday in announcing the Japanese carmaker's fiscal third-quarter financial results.

Traditionally, these popular nameplates combine to comprise about 18 percent of U.S. dealer inventory. But recently, they have acco…

The new-vehicle market is on the mend in California, the nation's top volume state, thanks to pent-up demand and booming sales for electric and hybrid vehicles. Toyota remained the market leader last year, while Tesla displaced Honda for the No. 2 spot.

The California New Car Dealers Association forecast a 5.5 percent increase in new-vehicle registrations this year to about 1.8 million. That's still short of the 2 million vehicles the state registered in each of the five years before the pandemic hit in 2020.

"Due to pent-up demand and low vehicle inventory availability since the pandemic, an estimated 43 percent of sales have been delayed," the association said Tuesday. Better supply should push down prices and drive deliveries, the association added.

But the group warned that higher interest rates and lingering supply chain issues remain a drag on the market.

As a trendsetter for the nation, California is bolstering its leadership role in sales …

WASHINGTON -- A group of 34 Republican senators said on Thursday they would seek to overturn U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules that aim to drastically cut smog- and soot-forming emissions from heavy-duty trucks.

The senators said the Biden administration rule finalized in December was overly challenging to implement, would make trucks cost prohibitive for small business owners and would increase supply chain costs.

Under the Congressional Review Act, a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress can reverse recently finalized rules. Democrats hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate, while Republicans narrowly control the House.

The new standards, the first update to clean air standards for heavy duty trucks in more than two decades, are set to take effect March 27 and are 80 percent more stringent than current standards.

U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., is leading the effort to repeal the rule. She said the "aggressive" EPA rule would in…

DETROIT — Chevrolet is freshening the Trailblazer subcompact crossover with new exterior features and interior technology. It's also raising the starting price by $1,000.

Updates for the 2024 model include the front fascia, grille details and exterior lighting, Chevy said Wednesday. Inside, an 11-inch touch screen and 8-inch driver information screen are now standard on all trims. The Trailblazer also will come in two new colors: Copper Harbor Metallic and Cacti Green.

The RS and Activ trims will have a two-tone roof available. The RS exterior styling includes blacked-out features, a mesh grille and 19-inch wheels, while the Activ will have off-road capabilities built into its tires, shocks and dampers, Chevy said.

All trims will come standard with automatic emergency braking, front pedestrian braking, lane keep assist, lane departure warning and other advanced driver-assistance systems. Adaptive cruise control is an option on the LT, Activ and RS trims.…

TOKYO — Just as a World Cup soccer team adjusts its player formation for a new opponent, Toyota’s recently appointed CEO Koji Sato is reordering his lineup for a challenging new era.

That is the scene unfolding today at the world’s largest automaker as Sato picks a new management team before he takes the helm from current boss Akio Toyoda on April 1.

“Compare it to soccer,” Toyota’s Chief Communication Officer Jun Nagata said on Thursday, while announcing quarterly financial results for Toyota Motor Corp.

“The Japanese soccer team for the World Cup took different formations depending on their opponent teams, Germany or Spain,” Nagata said. “Likewise, our new management team will adopt various formations in managing the company. President Toyoda thinks the company has reached a stage where a younger team can run it in a different management style.”

Added Nagata: “Toyota will be led by Captain Sato’s team.”

Toyoda, the grandson of the automa…

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Volvo Cars said on Thursday that 2023 is likely to be another challenging year despite strong demand for its vehicles as the Swedish automaker reported a fall in quarterly profit.

Volvo, which is majority-owned by Chinese automotive company Geely Holding, said its fourth-quarter operating profit dropped to 3.4 billion crowns ($322.2 million) from 3.7 billion crowns a year ago.

Profits were hit by high lithium prices, high logistics costs and having to buy semiconductors in the spot market, which can be more expensive than under long term contracts.

Volvo and its rivals have faced lingering chip shortages over the past year that have periodically hit manufacturing, with the Sweden-based company forced at times to halt production at some factories temporarily.

Other supply chain issues, the energy crisis and red-hot inflation have also made life tougher for the company.

"While 2023 looks to be another challenging year, we…

CHICAGO — The 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander, which debuted Wednesday on the eve of the Chicago Auto Show, takes the body and bones of one of the Japanese brand's top-selling crossovers and super-sizes it to deliver a more comfortable and competitive family vehicle — at least without sliding rear doors.

The biggest feature of the Grand Highlander is its bigness, especially in the third row. Overall, the Grand Highlander is larger in every dimension compared with the Highlander, yet not quite as big as either the Toyota Sienna minivan or Toyota Sequoia body-on-frame SUV.

The Grand Highlander's third row features an additional 5.8 inches of legroom compared with the Highlander, 2.5 extra inches of shoulder room and more than an inch of extra headroom. With all the seats in use, there's an added 4.6 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third row, which the brand says is now able to hold seven carry-on suitcases. With all second- and third-row seats down, the Grand …

Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay $300 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it improperly charged customers for unneeded auto-collision protection insurance -- and hid the practice from investors.

The deal was announced Tuesday by the law firm that sued the bank after a New York Times investigation revealed that about 274,000 customers were put into delinquency and almost 25,000 vehicles were wrongfully repossessed.

“While we disagree with the allegations in this case, we are pleased to have resolved this legacy issue,” a bank spokesperson said in a statement.

Wells Fargo stopped charging customers for the insurance but didn’t tell investors, according to a statement issued by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP. The law firm filed a securities-fraud class action alleging that the bank’s stock traded at artificially inflated prices.

Wells Fargo disclosed in a regulatory filing that it had been aware of the problem since 2016, the year befor…