News

TEL AVIV, Israel — Amnon Shashua, the CEO of automated-driving technology developer Mobileye Global Inc., wants to change the conversation around automated driving.

Shashua told Automotive News the number-based nomenclature the auto industry relies on to confer automation capabilities must be more straightforward and adequately convey the division of responsibilities between human and robotic drivers.

"You either have eyes-on or eyes-off," he said. "With eyes-on, you are responsible. With eyes-off, you are not responsible."

As automated-driving technology has developed over the past decade, the auto industry has relied on what is known as the SAE Levels of Driving Automation.

Developed by the automotive engineering trade group, the taxonomy is numbered from zero to five to demarcate the gradations of automated driving. The range starts at zero — where the driver operates the vehicle manually — to five — where the car is self-piloted, regardless …

The Appellate Court of Connecticut has declined to reinstate a gender and pregnancy discrimination suit by a service adviser who was fired by a Simsbury dealership for insubordination and creating a hostile work environment.

In its decision, the court said, "Although she had strong sales numbers and was a good salesperson in many respects, throughout her tenure (with Hoffman Honda) she demonstrated what colleagues and customers described as a 'poor attitude' and rudeness." It cited her six written warnings and three-day suspension for "substandard work, conduct, attitude and carelessness" after customers complained.

Hoffman Honda hired Janetta Marrero in 2010 and fired her in 2018 after multiple warnings about her rudeness and poor attitude, according to the decision, which noted the store's lengthy paper trail documenting her behavior.

Dealership attorney Carolyn Trotta of Hartford, Conn., said: "Hoffman Auto Group's meticulous appr…

TEL AVIV, Israel — The autonomous vehicle landscape is littered with failures as companies find they can't raise the capital to get the technology across the finish line.

Those likely to succeed, namely Waymo (the Alphabet subsidiary) and Cruise (the General Motors subsidiary), have deep-pocketed corporate parents and additional blue-chip investors.

Analysts expect Mobileye Global Inc. to join them as an industry survivor by supplying automakers rather than operating robotaxis.

As a division of Intel Corp., the Santa Clara, Calif., chip giant, Mobileye grew without the spotlight that shined on other autonomous technology developers, said Michael Ramsey, automotive and smart mobility analyst at Gartner Inc.

But since its October spinoff as a public company, "it has become clear that they have the technical expertise and the commercial relationships to become the supersupplier for autonomous equipment," Ramsey said.

Others agree. Consulting…

Between ongoing talent shortages, inflation concerns and vehicle affordability worries, operating a dealership has arguably never been more challenging — and it doesn't seem to be getting any easier anytime soon.

Although dealers have made record profits in the last couple of years, getting back to the brass tacks of controlling expenses and maximizing profitability is a must in our current market. One strategy that dealers may overlook but that can be a significant revenue stream is labor and parts warranty reimbursement at retail.

Our internal research reveals the average dealer can add $100,000 to $200,000 in annual gross profit when reimbursed at its client repair rate for warranty repairs. Why isn't every dealer jumping on this bandwagon? That's where things get complicated.

Nearly all states have legislation entitling dealers to be reimbursed at retail, but state statutes often are couched in the kind of legalese that make t…

MUNICH — The move toward electrified mobility is a way for Germany and China to expand relations, BMW CEO Oliver Zipse said.

Meanwhile, his counterpart at Mercedes-Benz, Ola Kallenius, said tariffs and trade barriers with China are not the way forward.

"We should uphold free trade," he said, while also echoing what Zipse said regarding BMW's desire to see Germany and China create a deeper relationship.

Both CEOs took part in the Chinese-operated World New Energy Vehicle Congress here on Wednesday.

China's electric mobility trade show was held in conjunction with the IAA Mobility show in Munich. It was the first time the WNEVC has taken place outside of China.

Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume, whose namesake brand this year is likely to lose the No. 1 sales title to BYD in China, said the German giant wants to be in China's top three for overall volume. He also wants VW to remain the top-sellering international brand in the world's lar…

TOKYO -- James Kuffner, the American computer whiz who has led Toyota’s software subsidiary since 2018, will resign as chief executive at Woven by Toyota and hand the wheel to an automated driving veteran as the Japanese automaker readies the launch of a key operating system for cars.

In announcing a wide-ranging organizational overhaul on Thursday, Toyota said Hajime Kumabe will take over as Woven’s CEO on Oct. 1. Kumabe is currently CEO of J-QuAD Dynamics, an automated driving joint venture between several Toyota Group suppliers.

Kuffner will slide over to serve as a senior fellow at a newly created Software Development Center being set up inside Toyota to better coordinate the rollout of a critical automotive operating system around 2025.

The system, called Arene, is Toyota’s bid to introduce programmable, next-generation digital cars sometimes likened to smartphones on wheels.

Toyota said the reorganization will strengthen ties with top suppli…

An evaluation of 25 vehicle brands' consumer privacy policies found that none of them offer adequate protection, according to Mozilla's "*Privacy Not Included" survey. Each brand collects too much data, can share or sell data too widely and fails to grant drivers control over their data, Mozilla said in its survey released Tuesday.

The "*Privacy Not Included" survey, launched in 2017, found that all 25 car brands reviewed collect more personal data than necessary and use that information beyond operating the vehicle. Some brands even collect data about drivers' sex lives and genetics. Automakers harvest personal information through sensors, microphones, cameras, connected phones and other devices, company websites, dealerships and vehicle telematics, Mozilla said.

"There are no good choices for consumers because pretty much all car companies are a privacy nightmare," said Jen Caltrider, the survey's program director. "People are not talking about this enough. …

Retailers planning to meet with representatives of their noncaptive partner lenders should do their homework, advises David Davenport, president of consulting firm Davenport Business Services.

Davenport encourages bringing documentation to the lender meeting and suggests multiple areas a retailer might wish to study ahead of the conversation.

"Look at reports from your internal systems and find out what your level of engagement with this bank looks like," he writes. "Take a careful look at the deals they have funded in the previous period and make note of any problems that may have occurred. Take another, closer look at deals your store submitted to this bank that were not bought, especially those deals that your team viewed as ones the bank absolutely should have bought."

The retailer should also review performance metrics, such as finance-and-insurance gross profit on deals the lender purchased and average funding time, Davenport …

A customer has accused a Florida dealership of tacking on hundreds of dollars in unauthorized fees when he sought to buy his vehicle at the end of its lease period.

Darrell Evans alleges Sunrise Volkswagen of Fort Pierce failed to disclose those fees would be added to his purchase option price when he agreed to lease a new 2019 Atlas. The purchase price was listed as $20,843 plus "official fees" such as tags, taxes and registration, according to the suit, which seeks damages under the federal Consumer Leasing Act and Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act.

Evans went to the dealership in August 2022 to exercise his purchase option and was surprised to learn that he would have to pay two pre-delivery service fees: a $399 "electronic registration filing fee" and a $32 "third-party private tag agency fee," the suit said, calling them "profit" for the dealership, not official taxes or fees.

In addition, Sunrise Volkswagen ch…

When Germany last convened its biennial car show, Ola Kallenius couldn’t have sounded more bullish about China.

Mercedes-Benz Group had enjoyed a string of successful years in the country, the CEO said, but the best was yet to come. “If we look at the GDP growth, if we look at how many buyers come into the segment that is relevant for Mercedes,” he said, “the next 10 years presents probably the biggest absolute growth opportunity for our company.”

Two years later, Källenius delivered a glum assessment of China’s prospects, telling Bloomberg Television ahead of the 2023 Munich auto show that the luxury-car maker can’t count on the country for brisk expansion.

“After 30, 40 years of an economic wonder, they’re reaching a level of maturity,” the CEO said of China. “We have to take a little bit of a cautious stance on that and see how things develop, and not expect rapid growth as far as the economy is concerned in the short term.”

The change in tune…

MUNICH — Mini will bring a pair of new battery-powered models to market next year as it races toward an all-electric future by the start of the next decade.

But geopolitics will keep them out of American garages for now.

That's because the new subcompact crossover and two-door hardtop will be made in China and would be subject to a 25 percent U.S. tariff. Importing them would tack several thousand dollars onto their sticker prices.

But Mini has a plan.

"Either we find a way to produce [the models] at a lower cost standpoint, or we produce [them] in another region of the world," Mini chief Stefanie Wurst said ahead of the Munich auto show last week. "We are well underway evaluating those cars for the [Americas] region."

Michael Peyton, vice president of Mini of the Americas, said the automaker will announce a decision on the U.S. prospects in the fourth quarter.

"It'll be good news for North Ameri…