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General Motors' U.S. light-vehicle sales rose 41 percent in the fourth quarter to finish 2022 slightly higher than 2021. This marks the second straight year GM is the top-selling automaker in the U.S. after falling behind Toyota Motor North America in 2020.

GM's fourth-quarter gains followed a 43 percent drop for the same period a year earlier related to the ongoing semiconductor shortage that has curtailed vehicle production. GM delivered 623,261 vehicles from October through December, up from 440,745 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2021.

GM said customer demand and supply improvements contributed to the gains in the fourth quarter.

For the full year, GM sold 2.27 million vehicles in the U.S., up 2.5 percent from 2021.

All GM brands except Buick posted increases for the fourth quarter, led by Cadillac. The Encore was Buick's only model to post a sales gain. Among other GM brands, only the Chevrolet Blazer, Camaro and Colorado and the GMC Yukon …

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ 2023 will bring advancements in EV infrastructure, battery tech, autonomous freight and cars as marketplaces

Despite recession fears and the tightening of capital markets in 2023, the world's automotive and mobility sectors will expand their rapidly evolving digital transformation, Consumer Technology Association chief economist Steve Koenig said at CES.

The transformation will be spearheaded by the development of an electrification ecosystem. Advancements in self-driving vehicles and the continued emergence of a subscription-based service business model for electric vehicle features are the other top developments that will shape the automotive and mobility sectors over the next decade, Koenig said.

The expected increase in EV use by consumers and businesses over the next 10 years will create a need for a far greater and more complex infrastructure to ensure that the electric transport sector is viable, he said.

"What I'…

Subaru sales jumped 11 percent in December to 56,760 with gains on all models except the Impreza and BRZ. For the year, the Japanese brand's U.S. sales fell 4.7 percent to 556,581, primarily on production and inventory struggles.

Brands: (Dec) Subaru, up 11%; (2022) down 4.7%.

Notable nameplates (Dec): Forester, down 2.9%; Outback, up 17%; Crosstrek, up 42%.

Incentives: $586 per vehicle, down 59% from a year earlier, TrueCar says.

Average transaction price: $35,408, up 16% from a year earlier, according to TrueCar.

Quote: "Thanks to our stellar retailers, we had a strong finish to 2022," Jeff Walters, senior vice president of sales, said in a written statement. "In 2023, our customers can look forward to an exciting lineup of Subaru vehicles, including the all-new Impreza arriving later this year."

Did you know? Subaru ended the year reporting 919 Solterra sales, including 825 in December, after sales of its first BEV were halted by …

Stellantis is expanding its partnership with Archer Aviation to build the Midnight, an electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft.

The aircraft is optimized for trips of about 20 miles and has a range of up to 100 miles. The charging time between trips is about 10 minutes.

Stellantis is providing up to $150 million in equity capital for Archer to draw down this year and next. But Archer will need to achieve certain business milestones to tap the funds, which Stellantis declined to reveal. Stellantis will support Archer's recently announced manufacturing facility in Covington, Ga., that will begin building Midnight in 2024.

Stellantis brings advanced manufacturing technology and expertise, experienced personnel and capital to the partnership.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares says the automaker is all about the "freedom of mobility," so the Archer relationship aligns with this thinking. Tavares sees a need for air transport in urban sett…

Finance and insurance provider and administrator APCO Holdings on Jan. 3 bought competitor National Auto Care, creating one of the industry's largest providers.

Tony Wanderon, 60, who led National Auto Care as CEO, replaced Scot Eisenfelder as CEO of APCO Holdings. Eisenfelder left APCO, the company said.

Leadership from both companies would not disclose the purchase price, but Wanderon told Automotive News combined revenue for the companies is close to $300 million.

Wanderon said he and APCO President John Lee had been discussing ways to merge their companies, "and finally, we had the opportunity this past year to be able to put that in play and close today."

"We're going to be one of the top two or three providers in the country at the size and scale that we are today," Wanderon added. "Our focus is really going to be driven around adding dealer profitability and adding value to our relationships in the marketplace and investing heavily as we ne…

Hyundai and Kia capped a year of U.S. market share gains with double-digit sales gains in December as the auto industry's lean stockpiles continued to rebound, overcoming rising interest rates and new-vehicle prices, and the growing prospects of an economic slowdown.

Volume rose 40 percent last month to a December record of 72,058 at Hyundai Motor America, driven by a 27 percent rise in retail deliveries. Hyundai said it was its fifth straight month of record retail sales, with utility vehicles accounting for 74 percent of retail volume.

While it finished the year with five consecutive monthly sales gains, Hyundai's 2022 U.S. sales tallied 724,265, a 2 percent decrease compared with 2021. The company said it ended December 2022 with 37,379 cars and light trucks in U.S. inventory, down slightly from 39,898 in November but up from 21,420 at the close of 2021.

At Kia, sales rose 25 percent to a December record of 60,422, its fifth straight monthly advance.…

Chrysler will be the first Stellantis brand in North America to deploy the automaker's next-generation technology in the cockpit.

Stellantis is demonstrating a mock-up of its two-seat Chrysler Synthesis layout during CES in Las Vegas this week. The Synthesis design incorporates several upcoming Stellantis tech platforms, including STLA Smart Cockpit, STLA Brain and STLA AutoDrive. The automaker brands the trio as "Advanced Technology for Real Life."

The company says the advanced artificial intelligence technology will be able to adapt and enhance the user interface over time. For example, it will be capable of learning owner preferences.

The system also allows Stellantis to make over-the-air vehicle updates, a function automakers are racing to adapt.The use of such updates, according to Stellantis, will enable the "quick creation and updating of software features, automatically downloading content and enhancements over the air to keep the vehicle fresh, e…

Rivian Automotive said it came up just short of its 2022 production target of 25,000 units due to supply-chain issues and a slow ramp at its assembly plant in Normal, Ill.

The EV startup on Tuesday said it produced 24,337 vehicles in its first full year of production, comprised of R1T pickups, R1S crossovers and EDV delivery vans for Amazon. Rivian does not break down production by model.

Rivian had originally forecast 2022 output at 50,000 vehicles before a lack of critical parts caused repeated shutdowns of its assembly line and a re-assessment of its potential in mid-2022. The Irvine, Calif.-based automaker delivered 20,332 vehicles last year, leaving about 4,000 in inventory.

For the fourth quarter, Rivian produced 10,020 vehicles after adding a second production shift on improving parts supply and delivered 8,054. In its third-quarter earnings report, the company said it had a backlog of more than 100,000 preorders for the R1T and R1S, in addition…

Making new sedans sexy to consumers is proving to be an increasingly heavy lift in the U.S. market, so Volkswagen has settled on ensuring that the debut of its upcoming electric sedan at CES is "lit" — albeit temporarily — while giving the car a new name to go along with its unique camouflage scheme.

The German brand has redubbed what had been known as the ID Aero the ID7, a roughly Passat-sized sedan that will go on sale next year in the U.S. with what is expected to be VW's best range from its growing family of battery-electric vehicles. The vehicle on display, a production-intent version, is expected to be rated at around 700 kilometers (435 miles) of range in Europe under the continent's looser Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure regimen, the brand said. Range figures for U.S. versions have not been released.

VW said the ID7 will feature a 15-inch infotainment screen incorporating a "new display concept," along with digitally controlled autom…

A coveted luxury auto account will be up for grabs in 2023 as BMW of North America is conducting an agency review for creative, media, social and CRM, the brand confirmed to Ad Age on Tuesday. Ad Age is an affiliate of Automotive News.

Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners has held the creative account since 2018, when it took over from KBS, which later rebranded as Forsman & Bodenfors after a merger with the Swedish shop. The incumbent media agency is Interpublic’s UM, while IPG’s Performance Art handles CRM. Other roster agencies include Omnicom’s Critical Mass, whose duties include web development and digital marketing, and independent shop Anchor, which has social media.

BMW in a statement referred to the review as “part of our normal course of business,” meaning that it is a procurement-mandated review that happens on a regular basis every several years. The review, which is already underway, is expected to take the majority of the calendar…

Roland Berger's Isaac Chan talks about the industry's move toward electric vehicles and the possible barriers in the way of wider acceptance of EVs. Plus, NVIDIA’s Danny Shapiro discusses the future of in-car gaming as the tech titan announces an array of partnerships with automakers from around the world.

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A transforming market on display in Las Vegas

Electric vehicles, leaps in sensor technology, car connectivity and in-cabin gaming will head the automotive-related news coming out of the sprawling CES in Las Vegas this week.

Stellantis, which has trailed most rivals in the electric vehicle transition, will unveil its Ram 1500 Revolution battery-electric vehicle concept. Ram needs the pickup to stay competitive with the Ford F-150 Lightning — already on the market — and the Chevrolet Silverado EV, which goes into production this year.

Also at CES, BMW will showcase its Neue Klasse next-generation platform, which it expects to build vehicles upon starting in 2025.

The Ram 1500 Revolution illustrates how the electric vehicle market is transforming. A decade ago, it was a niche business dominated by Tesla and augmented by small-volume compact models such as the Nissan Leaf and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid. But now EVs have spread to giant v…