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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has a plan to help tackle soaring car thefts in the city: Sue the automakers. 

The city has filed a civil suit against Kia Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. for failing to include engine immobilizers in various models, causing “a steep rise in vehicle thefts, reckless driving, property damage, and a wide array of related violent crimes in Chicago,” according to a statement on Thursday.

Hyundai said in response that it’s committed to helping customers and communities affected by the theft of vehicles not equipped with push-button ignitions and engine immobilizers. Engine immobilizers, meanwhile, are now standard on all Hyundai vehicles produced since November 2021.

Thefts of Kia and Hyundai cars have surged across the country after social media users exposed security flaws, sparking what’s been termed the “Kia Challenge” where people livestream their larceny. At least 20 state attorneys in the U.S. have urged Hyundai and Kia…

A joint venture battery plant said on Thursday it will hike the wages of workers at its Ohio plant by an average of 25 percent after some U.S. senators blasted the company for paying workers as little as $16 an hour.

Ultium Cells, a joint venture of General Motors and LG Energy Solution, said workers must still ratify the interim wage increase that takes effect Aug. 28. The UAW said the increase is worth $3 to $4 an hour for workers.

The interim wage increase will be retroactive to December 2022 and some workers will receive between $3,000 to $7,000, based on hours worked.

"Providing this wage increase is the right thing to do for our team members," Ultium said.

Workers voted in December to join the UAW but have not yet reached a contract. "We continue to bargain in good faith with the UAW to reach a comprehensive contract for our employees, including a final wage scale," Ultium said.

UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement "after mo…

Electric-first automakers such as Tesla and Nio outshined established brands such as Jaguar Land Rover and Toyota in a new ranking that grades companies on their software skills.

The Digital Automaker Index was created by consultancy Gartner to assess automakers in eight software-centric-areas. Those scores are tabulated to come up with an overall ranking, which this year covers 20 automakers.

The categories include culture and leadership, talent, architectures, connected vehicle, autonomous driving, electrification, smart cockpit and online sales potential.

The core goal of the index is to determine which brands are in the best position to monetize their software capabilities, which will be an essential part of their future success.

Stellantis, for example, plans to generate about 20 billion euros (about $22 billion) by 2030 from software-enabled product offerings and subscriptions. The automaker, however, ranks No. 14 out of 20 in Gartner's ind…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ In San Francisco, being a human instead of a robot will cost you

Want to drive a taxi in San Francisco? You're better off as a robot.

Hundreds of human taxi drivers in the city purchased taxi medallions for $250,000 — then some saw their wages plummet. Human drivers may receive tickets for violating traffic rules. They are required to participate in programs that provide rides for elderly people and those with disabilities in San Francisco.

Robotaxis such as those run by Waymo and Cruise are subject to none of those pesky regulations, and they're about to operate in greater numbers following a vote by the California Public Utilities Commission last week. At the root of most of these disparities is the way vehicles are categorized and managed in California. Cities govern taxis while the state regulates buses, limousines, ride-hailing vehicles and, yes, robotaxis.

"It is a deeply felt sense of unfairness amongst the taxi d…

WASHINGTON — Tesla Inc. and Rivian Automotive Inc. have endorsed an agreement backed by major automakers and independent repair shops on automotive right to repair that would include necessary telematics data.

In separate letters sent to executives at the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, Automotive Service Association and Society of Collision Repair Specialists, the two EV makers pledged their support for tenets outlined in a new commitment unveiled in July.

"Rivian agrees that our customers should have access to safe and proper repairs throughout a vehicle's life cycle and further is aligned with supporting the independent repair community as provided in the commitment," Alan Hoffman, Rivian's chief policy officer, wrote in a letter sent Aug. 9.

Tesla's Rohan Patel, vice president of public policy and business development, also said the EV maker agrees with the commitment's standards and is "happy to support this effort."

"In addition to sup…

Mercedes-Benz's entry-level electric crossover receives an update that delivers design tweaks and technology upgrades.

The 2024 EQB will arrive at U.S. stores in the first half of 2024. Pricing was not disclosed.

With a newly designed black panel surface with its star pattern at the front, the EQB visually catches up with its electric model siblings. A light band connects the headlights' daytime running lights, while a new bumper emphasizes the compact crossover's wide front.

The EQB gets Mercedes' current-generation steering wheel with touch control panels.

Technology upgrades include updated driving assistance systems, a new backup camera and Mercedes' latest MBUX infotainment system.

The EQB arrived in the U.S. last summer. The electric version of the GLB is similar to its internal combustion sibling and available as a three-row, seven-seater.

The EQB delivers up to 288 hp and can accelerate from 0 to 60 in as little as six seco…

Nissan Motor Co. gave dealers a peek at its future product lineup — both electric and internal combustion — and laid out an ambitious data-driven retail model that calls for greater customer information sharing between dealerships and the factory to boost the customer experience.

The new retail model is intended to "create an ecosystem where customers love Nissan and buy Nissan for the [brand's] value and not for the most recent rebate out there," the automaker's North America sales and marketing boss Michael Colleran told Automotive News ahead of a Las Vegas meeting on Wednesday with some 3,000 dealership executives and managers from across the Americas region.

Top Nissan executives in attendance previewed what will be a rapidly electrifying product portfolio of about a dozen new and updated vehicles.

Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida committed to a diversified powertrain strategy in which the company invests in both internal combustion vehicles and electric ve…

The supply chain is becoming synonymous with disruption. And now a new one could further cloud what was shaping up already as an uncertain holiday season.

Drought conditions have led to a backup of ships looking to traverse the Panama Canal, potentially putting retailer inventory restocking in jeopardy just as North American retailers are looking to build stockpiles back up.

“Ongoing challenges at the Panama Canal are making existing worries for industries even worse," Christian Roeloffs, co-founder and CEO of Container xChange, said in a blog post this week. “New industry information shows that the U.S. economy’s consumer spending has seen an uptick, which is good.  With inventories falling and demand expected to rebound, the Panama Canal, which carries 40% of container traffic from Asia to Europe, is likely to experience increased pressure.”

Backlog begins dropping

The Panama Canal Authority, in an update on Tuesday, said the backlog of vessels wa…

SHANGHAI - The former vice president of autonomous driving at Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng, Wu Xinhou, is joining U.S. artificial intelligence giant Nvidia, he said on Thursday.

Wu did not disclose what role he was taking up at Nvidia but Chinese media outlet Jiemian News said he would become its head of automotive products. It did not give a source for the news.

Wu did not immediately respond to a request for further details from Reuters. Nvidia also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wu, who resigned from Xpeng this month, said on his Weibo account that he had joined Nvidia, posting a photo of himself alongside Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Xpeng's chairman He Xiaopeng.

Wu had led Xpeng's autonomous driving development efforts from 2018 with more than 1,000 engineers in China and the United States.

Chinese automakers such as Xpeng have been big buyers of Nvidia's chips as they equip their cars with intelligent s…

Automotive tool-and-die companies, many of which have struggled financially in the past three years, should soon be in a stronger position as automakers launch more than 130 new electric or hybrid models as well as redesigns for internal combustion mainstays, according to a new study.

Automakers plan to significantly increase spending on tooling in North America ahead of those vehicle arrivals, the study by Harbour Results Inc. and AutoForecast Solutions says.

The study projects automakers' base tool spending in the region is set to hit $7.1 billion in 2025, up from $5 billion last year.

That's because the boom in new models is coming.

Those 130 vehicles are expected to launch between now and 2030, with plans to convert or build 56 plants to assemble them in North America, according to the study. All of those projects require new tools and dies and production machinery.

"I'm very bullish about the tool-and-die industry," said Laurie Harbou…

Ultium LLC, the electric-vehicle joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution, is working on a deal to raise wages at its Ohio battery plant, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The two sides are close to a deal that would give workers an interim pay increase to tide them over while management and the UAW  negotiate the plant's first contract, the people said. The deal would raise pay from a starting wage of $15.50 an hour to more than $20 and would give back pay to tenured employees.

A spokesperson for Ultium declined to comment.

Ultium and the UAW are in the midst of negotiating a labor deal for the plant, where workers voted to join the union in December.

Pay has been one of the biggest issues at the battery plant, which is supplying GM EVs such as the Cadillac Lyriq crossover and the 9,000-pound electric Hummer pickup. The Ultium workers make half the top wage at GM’s assembly plants.

That has also made…