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<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Battery recycling crucial to EV transition, execs say

SAN DIEGO — The auto industry must find ways to recycle electric vehicle batteries as the transition from internal combustion engines accelerates toward the end of this decade, executives from automakers and major battery suppliers said at the Advanced Automotive Battery Conference.

Automakers such as Ford Motor Co. have agreements with lithium, nickel and other material suppliers to meet EV production targets for 2025 and into the latter half of the decade, said Ted Miller, senior manager of battery cell research and advanced engineering at Ford.

But the industry faces "bigger risks" starting in 2030, and he said companies are "working feverishly" to manage those threats.

"There's never been this much demand for lithium on Earth, ever," Miller said at the conference Wednesday.

While companies are pouring billions of dollars into new mining and processing facil…

WASHINGTON — With Republicans gaining control of the House and Democrats securing a slim majority in the Senate, the shifted balance of power come January likely will mean no major overhauls of existing policy affecting the auto industry, but it could change command of deciding votes.

In a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock narrowly defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker, expanding the Democrats' majority next year to 51-49 in the upper chamber. In the House, Republicans will have a 221-213 majority.

The congressional shakeup could diminish the swing-vote influence of dissenting Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin — the West Virginia lawmaker who wielded the power of a single vote to shape major legislation in an evenly split Senate — while boosting the profile of members such as Warnock, whose state has landed multibillion-dollar investments from the electric vehicle industry.

"The Warnock victory was a huge,…

DETROIT — General Motors is working to build a resilient battery supply chain as it moves into the next phase of electric vehicle development, drawing on lessons learned during the ongoing semiconductor shortage, CEO Mary Barra said Thursday.

The automaker wants battery suppliers, many of which are new to working with GM, to source from multiple locations as it begins to secure materials for EV production starting in 2026, Barra said at an Automotive Press Association event in Detroit. GM learned from its approach to securing microchips for future production so the company is not as reliant on any one factory, she said.

Adding redundancy in the supply chain would help to prevent production stoppages created by issues at a single supplier, such as the COVID-19 outbreak that took a Malaysian chip factory offline last year. It also will be crucial as vehicles require more chips to power the software and technology built into them, she said.

GM says it has …

Mexico and Canada won a trade dispute with the U.S. over cars shipped across regional borders, potentially giving manufacturers more incentive to make auto parts in those nations.

The dispute-resolution panel set up under the 2020 US-Mexico-Canada Agreement made a preliminary ruling on Nov. 14, according to people familiar with the decision who declined to be identified because the report hasn't yet been made public. The nations have an opportunity to give feedback on the report before a final version is issued within 30 days.

Mexico first sought the panel's help in resolving the conflict in January. The dispute focuses on the nations' differences over how to calculate the percentage of a vehicle that comes collectively from the three countries under the USMCA, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement, also known as Nafta.

The ruling could potentially benefit consumers and carmakers alike because it would allow the manufacturers to build mo…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has lifted the upstart automaker to impressive heights as the top-selling EV brand and industry loyalty leader. But the tech billionaire is undermining that goodwill with his recent dive into electoral politics and divisive social issues as the new owner of Twitter, analysts say.

While Musk has long been quick to defend Tesla and attack the media, his promotion of political candidates in the midterm elections and his tolerance of hateful speech on Twitter is a significant shift that threatens to estrange Tesla owners and alienate car shoppers, according to marketing experts.

"If you think about the halo of Musk and the halo of Tesla, they definitely intersect," said Mario Natarelli, managing partner at MBLM, an agency that studies brand intimacy, the emotional connection between consumers and companies. "You can't argue with his success. He's operating on a different plane than many of us can comprehend."

But Musk's swerve into Twitt…

Canada's Knight Automotive Group expanded in the U.S. for the third time in a year with its Tuesday purchase of four dealerships in Elk Grove, Calif., from Lasher Auto Group.

Knight Automotive bought Elk Grove Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram, Elk Grove Subaru, Elk Grove Acura and Elk Grove Audi-Volkswagen. The Audi store was renamed Audi Elk Grove, while the other dealerships retained their names. The Volkswagen-Audi dealership has separate showrooms. Elk Grove is south of Sacramento.

Braeden Mueller, Knight Automotive vice president, told Automotive News that the group loves the Sacramento market.

"We think it's a great place to live and a great place to do business," Mueller said. "We really like the brands and the synergy of having the five stores together in a row. It fit our business model."

Mueller said Knight also bought some property as part of the deal and plans to work with Subaru and Audi in the coming months to design new buildings for those s…

Lithia Motors Inc. on Monday expanded its exotic and ultraluxury vehicle footprint with the purchase of a Colorado dealership selling multiple high-end brands including Ferrari, Bentley and Lotus.

Lithia bought the dealership, located in Highlands Ranch, south of Denver, from Aleks Vekselberg, according to Bill Scrivner, CEO of Pinnacle Mergers & Acquisitions, a Frisco, Texas, buy-sell firm that represented Lithia in the transaction.

Lithia, in a LinkedIn post, said this is its first Ferrari store.

"We're thrilled to welcome this Denver team into the Lithia & Driveway family," said Lithia CEO Bryan DeBoer in a statement, noting the location will become "a centrally located hub for premium luxury vehicles in the country."

While it was not immediately clear if Lithia has owned Colorado dealerships in the past, the Highlands Ranch dealership appears to be the auto retail giant's only store in the state, according to the group's website.

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Self-driving truck developer Einride completed another funding round and secured a large asset-backed debt facility as it works to develop an autonomous and electric freight mobility ecosystem.

The deals will provide Einride with up to $500 million in capital, the Stockholm, Sweden, company said Wednesday.

In October, Einride completed a test of its autonomous pod truck on open roads, traveling between a GE Appliances manufacturing facility and warehouse in Selmer, Tenn. The test followed approval in June by U.S. regulators for Einride to operate the vehicle on public roads.

Einride's self-driving truck has no cab or seating area for a human driver. It looks like a high-tech shipping container on wheels. The truck is controlled remotely by a human operator using a joystick and other controls while sitting at a desk behind large screens that provide a view of where the truck is headed.

The company's approach is different from others developing auto…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday said Chief Marketing Officer Suzy Deering, who joined the automaker in early 2021 from eBay, is leaving the company at the end of the week.

The automaker did not give a reason for her departure.

"We thank Suzy for her contributions to Ford and wish her all the best in the future," Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue, said in a statement.

Deering, in a post on LinkedIn, said she still believes in the company’s mission and vision.

“I’ve made the decision that it is time for me to move on and let the team fly,” she wrote. “My respect for the team and what’s ahead as Ford evolves and lands the new brand positioning and the new brand design system will elevate the brand to greater heights… The shift to focusing on the customer and aligning all aspects of the business to exceed their expectations isn’t easy but I believe in what’s possible and what’s ahead. “While I may not be in ‘the building’ I will be root…

Brandon Steven Motors punctuated a bustling three-month dealership growth period with its Nov. 16 purchase of WIN Hyundai Carson in California from Jerry Heuer and Hani Nassif.

Company President Brandon Steven told Automotive News that the deal marked the Wichita, Kan., dealership group's fourth addition since late August. Also added were a Honda store, Jaguar-Land Rover dealership and an open-point Hyundai dealership, all in California.

Brandon Steven renamed the WIN store Hyundai Carson. Carson is south of Los Angeles.

Heuer and Nassif have sold their final two dealerships, according to Jesse Stopnitzky, a partner with Performance Brokerage Services Inc., a buy-sell firm in Irvine, Calif. Performance Brokerage co-founder Jason Stopnitzky brokered that transaction.

Heuer and Nassif also on Nov. 16 sold WIN Chevrolet in Carson to Bob Nouri and Pete Shaver of the newly formed Nouri/Shaver Automotive Group. Performance Brokerage co-founder Jason Sto…