News

A former service adviser who was replaced after several hospitalizations has sued a Kalamazoo, Mich., dealer group for disability discrimination and violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Heather Crummel's suit, filed Dec. 21, accuses Maple Hill Auto Group of illegally discharging her without warning while on medical leave and without showing the leave posed any problems for the store. The company has Subaru, Hyundai, Volvo, Volkswagen, Genesis and Audi franchises.

Owner and general manager Jim VandenBerg told Automotive News he couldn't comment on the case.

The store hired Crummel as a service adviser in October 2017, and she was initially hospitalized in early 2019, according to the complaint. Maple Hill notified her that she was eligible for medical leave under FMLA, and she used it several times before her December 2019 termination, it said.

The month before the termination, management gave her high job perfor…

Auto technicians getting ready to graduate from training programs, or established technicians looking for new opportunities can now compare data to see which U.S. states might be the best fit for them.

The website FindTheBestCarPrice.com compiled data from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. examining such factors as the number of people working as technicians, auto technician jobs per 1,000 jobs, annual median salary and the cost of living. Each state is ranked on how well it fares overall.

Oklahoma is the top state for technicians looking for work. Median annual salary for auto techs there is $46,180 — almost $10,000 more than the median pay across all jobs in the state. Additionally, Oklahoma has the second-lowest cost of living of all 50 states, and job opportunities for technicians are better than average, with 4.9 mechanic jobs per 1,000 jobs.

In contrast, Washington, D.C. ranks last in the survey. While it has the highest m…

Lisa McIntyre is CEO of the Greater Pittsburgh Automobile Dealers Association.

First car: Pontiac Sunbird

First concert: Shaun Cassidy (Yep, I am that old.)

Pet peeve: Adults using emojis

Most thrilling/adventurous thing you've done: I threw out the first pitch at a Pittsburgh Pirates game.

Personal hero: My mom. She is 88 and still inspires me every day.

First job: Making burgers at Wendy's

Something on your bucket list: Sitting in the gallery at the Waste Management Open

One thing you learned on the job you never forgot: In sales, merely following up sets you apart from the majority of the competition.

Three people you'd invite to dinner, living or dead: My dad (deceased), my husband and my daughter ... there is no one I would rather have at my dinner table!

What did you want to be when you were a kid? Newspaper reporter (Yep, I am that old.)

BEIJING — Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD is embarking on a rapid global expansion to challenge Tesla but for now it's stuck in the slow lane on its rival's home turf.

While BYD has not fully articulated its global ambitions in public, a concerted worldwide push has become the single most important strategic focus for China's biggest EV maker, four sources familiar with BYD management's thinking said.

Besides a drive into some European markets already underway, BYD spent much of last year conducting a study on how to set up a U.S. distribution network for its latest electric models, two of the sources said.

They described the study as advanced and serious, with specific recommendations from Detroit consultancy Urban Science on how many outlets in each state and city BYD would need, as well as formats for the brick-and-mortar stores.

The momentum was building toward an announcement at this year's global CES tech show in Las Vegas, where BYD was…

A 2016 video that Tesla Inc. used to promote its self-driving technology was staged to show capabilities like stopping at a red light and accelerating at a green light that the system did not have, according to testimony by a senior engineer.

The video, which remains archived on Tesla’s website, was released in October 2016 and promoted on Twitter by CEO Elon Musk as evidence that “Tesla drives itself.”

But the Model X was not driving itself with technology Tesla had deployed, Ashok Elluswamy, director of Autopilot software at Tesla, said in the transcript of a July deposition taken as evidence in a lawsuit against Tesla for a 2018 fatal crash involving a former Apple engineer.

The previously unreported testimony by Elluswamy represents the first time a Tesla employee has confirmed and detailed how the video was produced.

The video carries a tagline saying: “The person in the driver’s seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything…

Automotive News reporter Audrey LaForest talks about the confusion and unanswered questions surrounding new EV tax credit rules in the U.S. Used-vehicle sales in 2022 tumbled to their lowest numbers in nearly a decade. White hat hackers gain access to data from seven automakers. And Ford scales down its EV partnership with VW.

How do I subscribe?

Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

iPhone / iPad

Android

Spotify

Elon Musk and Tesla Inc. are set to go to trial in San Francisco on Tuesday in a case where the company's shareholders claim they were defrauded by Musk's 2018 statement that funding was "secured" to take the electric car maker private.

The lawsuit seeks damages for shareholders who bought or sold Tesla stock in the days after Musk's tweets on Aug. 7, 2018. The company's shares shot higher and then fell again after Aug. 17, 2018, when the New York Times reported that funding for the take-private bid was "far from secure."

The shareholders have not specified the damages, but said Musk's tweets cost investors "billions."

The defendants, who also include seven current and former Tesla directors, have denied wrongdoing.

Opening arguments could get under way later on Tuesday, after the jury is selected. Potential panelists were asked ahead of time about their opinions of Musk and whether they own a Tesla vehicle.

Musk had asked U.S. District Co…

A group of white hat hackers cracked customer and back-end operations of a variety of automakers, including BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Jaguar-Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Rolls-Royce.

The findings are a followup to the group's discovery late last year of flaws in SiriusXM's telematics service that created breaches in Honda, Hyundai, Nissan and Toyota models.

The latest round of vulnerabilities gave the hackers access to detailed customer information and internal administrative functions that was not disclosed until earlier this month because of a self-imposed 90-day moratorium, Sam Curry, an Omaha, Neb., security engineer, told Automotive News.

The moratorium, inspired by the policies of the Google Project Zero security research team, is designed to express intent to disclose, but also to allow time to work with vendors to plug the security gaps, Curry said. The researchers also hacked service providers Spireon and Reviver, Curry said.

Ford, …

TOKYO -- A Nissan board committee reviewed proposals from Renault on Monday and endorsed pressing ahead on final terms for a reshaped alliance with its French partner, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Renault CEO Luca De Meo is scheduled to travel to Japan this month for talks with Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida, the second time he will have visited since the two sides began talks in October about a restructured partnership, the people said.

The Nissan board-level review also marked progress after three months of working-level negotiations aimed at restructuring a partnership that dates back to 1999, when Renault bailed out Nissan.

On Monday, Uchida briefed Nissan's independent directors on progress in the negotiations, such as recent proposals from Renault intended to address concerns by the Japanese automaker over safeguards for its technology, including hybrid systems, the people with knowledge of the meeting told Reuters.

The Ni…

DETROIT -- General Motors' chief economist is optimistic about the health of the economy and Michigan's position to win more business — including from GM.

That's despite results of the Michigan Economic Outlook Survey, released last week, showing a declined sentiment among companies toward the business environment in Michigan.

"I think not only are we not in a recession now… but that we are seeing inflation declining and still strong economy and labor market and that the odds of a soft landing are looking better," Elaine Buckberg said during a Detroit Economic Club event.

Buckberg also indicated that Michigan is a prime contender for more battery plants as the automaker makes the mammoth transition to electric vehicles.

"We have more assembly plants here than anywhere else, so it would make sense that we should have more battery plants in or near Michigan," Buckberg told Crain's Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News, after the event. "…

BERLIN -- Volkswagen Group wants to expand both its higher-end and lower-end offering in the Chinese market, China chief Ralf Brandstätter said, calling the country's high-paced, competitive market a "giant fitness center for the industry."

Volkswagen has long dominated the combustion engine car market in China but lags domestic competitors on electric vehicles - most notably BYD, which sold 40,046 EVs between Jan. 1-8 compared to VW brand's 1,962, according to Chinese brokerage CMBI.

"We do not want to give up this competition - we want to participate," Brandstätter said at a media roundtable.

Asked if the automaker aspired to remain the number 1 foreign automaker in China in the electric era, he said: "We want to play a leading role... the cards are being mixed anew."

The company aims to speed up its time to market for new models from four years closer to the 2.5-year average for its Chinese counterparts, in part by localizing research and devel…