News

Monthly sales fall at Ford. GM boosts Bolt production while adding some EV expertise to its board. Former Toyota executive Jim Lentz joins Lithia's board. Plus, Hyundai Canada CEO Don Romano talks about why the agency model works for Genesis, and where it may not work.

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Elon Musk is proposing to buy Twitter Inc. for the original offer price of $54.20 a share, potentially avoiding a courtroom fight over one of the most contentious acquisitions in recent history.

The Tesla Inc. CEO made the proposal in a letter to Twitter, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Shares in Twitter surged on the news, and is now halted. Representatives for Musk and for San Francisco-based Twitter didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Musk’s proposal to match the original deal terms means Twitter is facing a future under the leadership of a mercurial billionaire who has spent months publicly criticizing its management and questioning its value. It also means that his claims -- about how many of Twitter’s users are bots, for instance -- are not likely to be scrutinized in a courtroom.

Musk had been trying for months to back out of his contract to acquire …

Lithia Motors Inc. has added former Toyota Motor North America CEO Jim Lentz to its board of directors, expanding it from seven to eight members.

The dealership group's board elected Lentz to fill a vacancy created by an expansion from seven to eight directors on Sept. 30, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Lentz's service on the board began Oct. 1, Lithia said in the filing.

Lentz, 66, retired from Toyota in March 2020. He had been with Toyota for 38 years and began his automotive career as a management trainee in Ford Motor Co.'s Denver region in 1978.

A 2017 Automotive News All-Star, Lentz oversaw the expansion of Toyota's North American sales and operations, while guiding the company during a crisis over unintended acceleration in late-model cars. He also helped steer Toyota North America's successful corporate relocation from Southern California to greater Dallas.

Lithia said Lentz will receive a…

Subaru sales rose 8.6 percent in September to 45,658, led by record sales of the Crosstrek and favorable comparables from ongoing inventory and production woes. It was the company's second straight monthly increase. The company's U.S. sales are off 13 percent year to date.

Notable nameplates in Sept: Crosstrek, up 36%; Forester, down 9.8%; Outback, up 20%.

Incentives: $453 per vehicle in Sept., off 62% from a year earlier, TrueCar says. For the quarter, incentives were $574, down 56% from a year earlier, TrueCar says.

Average transaction price: $35,008 for September, up 5.9% from a year earlier, according to TrueCar. For the quarter, ATP was $34,795, up 3.5% from a year earlier, TrueCar says.

Did you know? The Crosstrek bested its previous sales record from August 2019 by 232 vehicles. Of the eight nameplates in its lineup, four were up in September, and four were down.

Hyundai Motor America reported another strong month at its Hyundai and Genesis brands, reflecting wider availability of crossovers and fuel-efficient vehicles for Hyundai and continued demand for new Genesis products.

Hyundai's Ioniq 5 electric crossover, the Elantra hybrid midsize crossover as well as plug-in hybrid variants of the Santa Fe and Tucson crossovers led sales for the quarter, according to Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker.

It is the ninth month in a row the Korean automaker has gone without fleet sales, which Parker says demonstrates the company's "commitment to supporting our dealers with ... a great flow of product."

Parker said Hyundai's September retail sales increased 20 percent compared with the same period last year. Third-quarter retail sales rose 13 percent, he said.

Speaking of higher interest rates and negative consumer sentiment, Parker said Hyundai will "need to go through another month or so to have a better unders…

A double-digit decline at Stellantis' biggest brand, Jeep, led the automaker to a 6.4 percent decline in third-quarter U.S. sales.

The company's top sales executive, Jeff Kommor, blamed the company's latest results on "challenging industry supply constraints."

Jeep was hurt by a 53 percent slump in deliveries of the Grand Cherokee, its biggest seller, during the latest quarter.

Stellantis' No. 2 brand, Ram, also posted a decline during the period on slightly weaker pickup deliveries. Jeep and Ram sales have now dropped five straight quarters.

One bright spot: Stellantis said commercial shipments rose 57 percent during the quarter, without providing details.

Brands: Jeep, down 18%; Ram, off 3.8%; Dodge, up 22%; Chrysler, up 39%; Fiat, down 48%; Alfa Romeo, down 24%.

Notable nameplates: Ram pickup, down 3%; Jeep Grand Cherokee, down 53%; Jeep Gladiator, down 5%; Jeep Cherokee, down 1%; Jeep Wrangler,…

Nissan sales continue to sputter in the year's second half, though dealer inventory shows improvement.

Nissan Motor Co.'s U.S. sales tumbled 23 percent during the third quarter to 154,086. Nissan Division sold 142,845 vehicles in the latest period, down 24 percent from a year earlier.

Most Nissan brand nameplates witnessed year-over-year sales declines in the third quarter. However, the updated Altima midsize sedan and Z sports car saw a surge in sales.

Infiniti's volume rose 5.4 percent to 11,241 vehicles in the July-September period, powered by sales of the redesigned QX60 midsize crossover.

Judy Wheeler, Nissan Division vice president of sales and regional operations in the U.S., said dealers began seeing "incremental improvements" in inventory starting in August.

Shipments to dealers are estimated to improve 30 percent through the end of 2022, Wheeler said in an email to Automotive News.

"W…

In his final interview as Ford’s chief industrial platform officer, Hau Thai-Tang talks about his career and his decision to retire. The first sales results are in for the third quarter. Tesla reveals its humanoid robot. And the head of Stellantis expects the chip crunch to continue through next year.

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. 

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“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"

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

Georgia state officials said on Monday they were disappointed after a local court rejected a joint proposal to secure local incentives for Rivian Automotive Inc.'s $5-billion manufacturing plant in the state.

"We remain undeterred in our efforts to bring high-paying, American manufacturing jobs to Georgia, and are currently assessing all legal options," the Joint Development Authority (JDA) of Jasper, Morgan, Newton, and Walton counties and Georgia Department of Economic Development said in a joint statement.

Morgan County Superior Court Judge Brenda Trammell on Thursday rejected the agreement between the local development authority and the Amazon.com Inc-backed EV company on grounds that the proposal did not appear feasible and failed to establish that it would promote the welfare of local communities.

A Rivian spokesperson declined to comment.

Rivian had announced in December its plans to set up the Georgia plant and had said at the time that …

General Motors on Monday said improved microchip supplies helped stabilize its production in the third quarter, pushing its U.S. sales 25 percent higher than a year ago.

It was the first increase in five quarters for GM, which said its retail market share rose nearly 3 percentage points as a result. Increased deliveries to commercial customers propelled fleet sales up 66 percent, the automaker said.

Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac each posted double-digit gains, but Buick sales fell for a fifth consecutive quarter, giving the brand its lowest total in the first nine months of a year since 2009.

GM said it achieved record combined sales of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV, with volume more than tripling from a year earlier after a $6,000 price cut. The company plans to build more than 70,000 Bolts in 2023, about 60 percent more than this year.

GM also plans to increase output of the Cadillac Lyriq in the fourth quarter and add production shifts for the GM…

Intel Corp. has filed for an initial public offering of its self-driving technology business, Mobileye Global Inc., braving the worst market for new U.S. listings since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

The company didn’t disclose terms of the planned share sale in its filing Friday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Mobileye will continue to be controlled by Intel after the IPO, according to the filing.

Intel expects the IPO to value Mobileye at as much as $30 billion, less than originally hoped, Bloomberg News reported this month.

If the listing goes ahead this year, it would be one of the biggest U.S. offerings of 2022. Currently, only two companies have raised $1 billion or more on New York exchanges since Jan. 1, compared with 45 in 2021. This year, the U.S. share of IPOs has shrunk to less then a seventh of the global total from half in 2021.

Mobileye would also be following in the tracks of Porsche's market-defyin…