News

The surge of saltwater that pummeled Florida's Gulf Coast during Hurricane Ian caused at least eight electric vehicles to catch fire, according to state officials.

Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis called the situation "a real-world experiment ... with saltwater and EVs." He said officials received unconfirmed reports of fires happening outside the state as well, highlighting the threat that compromised EVs can pose if they are resold unscrupulously.

The Florida fire marshal's office and motor vehicle department determined that 9,700 EVs were registered in the three counties hit hardest Sept. 28, when Ian made landfall packing 150- mph winds. More than 7,000 of those EVs were Teslas and about 3,400 of those Teslas were registered within the 50-meter impact zone that experienced the highest storm surge.

While eight fires represents a tiny percentage of the EVs in the affected area, Patronis noted they are "uniquely dangerous" events. The fire marshal's office sa…

As electric vehicles grow in popularity, issues surrounding charging are a stumbling block for consistent uptake.

Limited availability of chargers and slow charging speeds caused 1 in 5 EV drivers in California to switch back to gasoline vehicles in 2021. These are also pain points for fleet operators — which have larger vehicles with larger batteries such as buses, trucks and delivery vans, and time constraints on charging opportunities. It's no surprise that the advent of ultrarapid charging — which can fully charge a commercial EV the fastest, with power levels far exceeding 150 kilowatts — has been welcomed by fleet operators and governments. This solution, however, may be a problem in disguise. Major drawbacks include increased costs and emissions, faster battery degradation and additional pressures on an already overworked electric grid.

For fleet operators, ultrarapid charging may finally offer the solution they have been looking for …

CHARLESTON, S.C. — German supplier Robert Bosch is in the midst of transforming a portion of its factory to build electric motors and other components for electrification as part of a $260 million investment.

The project will require Bosch to build flexible lines that can support e-motor configurations that vary from customer to customer. Doing that requires the use of artificial intelligence — along with a healthy dose of good, old-fashioned trust between Bosch and the automakers it sells to, said Li Jiang, Bosch's head of engineering for eMotor & eAxle, North America.

Jiang, 40, a 2015 Automotive News Rising Star, spoke with Staff Reporter John Irwin at the Bosch Charleston plant in late October about the company's thinking. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: How is Bosch using AI in the e-motor design and production process?

A: We have a design approach where we aren't defining exactly what the product is. But we are defining the fundamental te…

If there's one place where Volkswagen lags — pun intended — it's speed to market. And nobody knows that better than VW's U.S. dealers.

Need a proof point? Walking through the VW display on the press day of this month's Los Angeles Auto Show, I was struck by how many people were climbing all over VW's ID Buzz minivan, a vehicle that was first shown in concept form in January 2017, hasn't changed much and still isn't available here. Pandemic or not, that's the automotive definition of slooooowwww.

My point is not to bemoan the Buzz but to say VW's failure over the last decade to put a pickup — any pickup — onto U.S. dealership lots is an almost Shakespearean-level tragedy and an indictment of the German automaker's lack of market agility, at least in Wolfsburg.

Let me be clear: I've covered VW of America under three different CEOs: Hinrich Woebcken, Scott Keogh and now Pablo Di Si. Each one knew VW dealers needed a pickup to at least give them a shot to c…

Import auto brands have been mostly circumspect about how the new Inflation Reduction Act will impact their efforts to market electric vehicles in the U.S. Steve Center, COO of Kia America, is a bit more blunt. The law pulls the rug out from the entire industry, he said.

"To have anything just changed 'presto change-o' is very disruptive to everybody," Center told Automotive News at the Los Angeles Auto Show this month.

"You have the whole industry aggressively developing and getting ready to manufacture electric cars ... and you go in, you change it and it disrupts everybody's planning," he said.

Enacted in August, the IRA requires that to qualify for a $7,500 tax credit, an EV and its battery must be assembled in North America and certain battery materials must be sourced or processed in North America.

Hyundai Motor Group's three brands — Kia, Hyundai and Genesis — each has made robust plans to build and sell EVs in the…

DETROIT — The burgeoning electric vehicle market is flush with opportunities for minority entrepreneurs looking to make a play in that world, top auto executives say.

Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis, each pursuing ambitious EV product goals, said it's not too late to get involved.

Ford CEO Jim Farley and Stellantis North America COO Mark Stewart talked about opportunities for minority businesses in the EV sector during the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Automotive Summit this month in Detroit. Coalition founder Jesse Jackson Sr. and John Graves, chairman of the coalition's automotive project, also talked with the executives about the pursuit of diversity in the upper ranks of their companies and dealerships.

Stewart said the EV market is young, with relatively few zero-emission models being sold in the U.S. compared with the rest of the world. He said the "time is still prime" for minority businesses to make a move on EVs.

Stellan…

Dealerships don't always need to sell customers on the car.

Sometimes just putting them in the right environment can do the trick. It helps to add a little glitz to the mix with drinks and fancy hors d'oeuvres, as Helfman Maserati of Houston has found.

The store showcased the luxury brand's new Grecale crossover for prospective clients during a launch event in September. Consumers got a chance to look at three Grecales on the showroom floor, enjoy plenty of food and beverages, and mingle with brand ambassadors who could share details and answer questions about the vehicle.

Dealer principal Steven Wolf said the store took "six or seven" orders on the spot.

He's a firm believer that putting products in front of people, without creating urgency or high pressure, still works. The store used this approach, with similar success, for the Maserati Levante crossover in 2016.

For the Grecale event, the dealership arranged the food and drink service…

After repeated delays, the European Commission this month released its proposed Euro 7 pollution rules, succeeding Euro 6, which came into force in 2014. The tighter vehicle emission rules create some new realities for automakers across the multination market.

Euro 7 will most likely be the final internal combustion engine regulations enacted in Europe, since the EU is requiring the sale of only zero-emission vehicles after 2035.

Automakers had fought against the new rules, arguing that money spent on new compliance measures could better be invested in lowering the cost of electrification. They argued that there will be little need for new rules because the proportion of internal combustion engine sales will continue to fall ahead of the 2035 zero-emission deadline.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares recently called Euro 7 a "diversion from the major goal of electrification."

The recent surge in inflation — especially in ve…

Sustainability takes a back seat to other values for the current U.S. vehicle buyer, but environmental friendliness is expected to take the wheel as Gen Z enters the market in larger numbers, a Simon-Kucher & Partners survey shows.

Data from 1,003 U.S. consumers shows about a third of vehicle buyers are willing to pay more for sustainable options, especially the youngest generation of U.S. adults who participated in Simon-Kucher & Partners' Global Sustainability Study 2022, fielded in July and August.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans consider environmental sustainability when making purchases, a 14 percent jump from 2021.

When buying vehicles, 55 percent of Americans say it's important to consider sustainability. The survey, which looked at 19 purchasing categories, found sustainability considerations in automotive purchases were of lower significance than other categories, such as energy and utilities (69 percent), construction (61 percent) and co…

LOS ANGELES — The Toyota brand's North American boss has a long-term homework project: Figure out a way to convert recent lessees-turned-buyers back into lessees three or four years down the road.

It's a tough task, David Christ admits, and one that will require a lot of creativity to complete as inventory and reduced incentives have slashed leasing penetration this year. But given what a vital tool leasing historically has been for automakers and dealers, Christ says the industry will need to find an effective answer.

"Toyota's leasing percentage right now is about 14 percent [of total sales], and it would normally be [near] 30 percent, so that's 15 percent of business which is now in a retail contract instead of a lease," Christ told Automotive News here on the eve of the Los Angeles Auto Show. "That's a concern, because a customer on a lease cycle is normally back in three years, and it's an automatic opportunity to re-lease them a new car o…

A conversation with Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson, who says its crucial for the EV startup to focus on efficiency. At least three analysts downgrade Carvana's stock and slash their targets. Dealers in the Ford Blue Advantage program are seeing double-digit gains. And the FBI joins the probe into the cyberattack against Continental.

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

“Daily Drive” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Android

“Daily Drive” is available on the Google Play store. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Spotify

"Daily Drive" is available on Spotify. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"