News

General Motors has undertaken a major warehouse and industrial leasing spree supporting electric and autonomous vehicle production at two area plants.

The automaker has inked one deal in Pontiac and is expected to be an incoming occupant of a major Detroit redevelopment project on the city's west side, Crain's Detroit Business has learned. Crain's is an affiliate of Automotive News.

Dan Labes, executive managing director in the local offices of New York City-based brokerage firm Newmark, said GM has signed a lease for about 715,000 square feet of newly built space on 44.5 acres of Pontiac land formerly owned by defense contractor Williams International Co. developed by Flint Development, based in Kansas City.

Newmark represented Flint Development while the Royal Oak office of Chicago-based brokerage firm JLL represented GM.

GM spokeswoman Maria Raynal said in an email that the building will be supplemental "to support logistics and other EV work …

Electric-vehicle battery maker CALB Co. said on Thursday it plans to raise about HK$11.56 billion ($1.47 billion) in a Hong Kong initial public offering as it looks to raise funds for the construction of battery production lines.

The estimated net proceeds from the Hong Kong listing assumes an offer price of HK$44.50 per share, which is the midpoint of CALB's offer price range.

The company could raise up to HK$13.56 billion based on the maximum offer price of HK$51.00 per share.

CALB said it plans to use the funds to construct EV battery production lines totaling 95 Gigawatt hours for new production facilities in China at Chengdu, Wuhan, Hefei, Guangdong and Sichuan.

Ford Motor Co. on Thursday said it is reorganizing its executive ranks as it adds new talent and gives a handful of leaders expanded roles in conjunction with the previously announced retirement of Hau Thai-Tang, the longtime product and purchasing chief.

CFO John Lawler will temporarily oversee a makeover of Ford's global supply chain operations as the company looks for a permanent chief. Jonathan Jennings, Ford's vice president of supply chain, also will take on additional responsibility for supplier technical assistance and quality, the company said.

Doug Field, who was chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer, becomes chief advanced product development and technology officer. In addition to his current duties overseeing EVs and software, he'll now be in charge of design and vehicle hardware engineering.

Lisa Drake, vice president of EV industrialization, will now also be responsible for manufacturing engineering. And Jim Baumbick, form…

Visteon Corp. opened a tech center in the central China city of Wuhan this week to strengthen product development and testing capabilities for automotive customers in the key country. 

The tech center, covering a ground area of 3,000 square meters (32,292 sq. ft.), now has more than 100 employees. 

It will mainly conduct development and tests of cockpit electronics, battery management systems and in-vehicle charging products, the U.S. supplier said.

The facility is Visteon’s second tech center in China, following an existing site in Shanghai. 

Nio, a leading Chinese electric-vehicle startup, opened a plant in Pest in central Hungary to manufacture battery swap stations for EVs delivered in the European market. 

The first battery swap station from the Hungarian factory will be shipped to Germany, Nio said.

The plant, the first battery swap production facility Nio will operate outside of China, covers a ground area of some 10,000 square meters (107,639 sq. ft). 

It will serve as the center of manufacturing, service and R&D for its battery products and related services in Europe, Nio said. 

Nio is set to export vehicles to the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark in coming months. 

Later this year, the Hungarian factory will ship battery swap stations to the three European countries, the company added. 

In the third quarter of 2021, Nio began exports of the ES8 crossover and battery swap stations from China to Norway as the first step in an expansion i…

DETROIT -- Automotive industry suppliers are raising prices to their customers across the board, not just with Ford Motor Co., which warned this week it was taking a $1 billion inflationary cost hit.

Several suppliers said Ford isn't suffering alone, as automakers across the board are being asked to shoulder more of the burden suppliers have faced from spiking energy, labor and raw material costs. Suppliers contacted by Reuters said they have raised prices on parts in the range of 7 percent to 20 percent.

"During the course of this year, more and more suppliers have gone in to their customers," demanding higher pricing from automakers, said Andreas Weller, CEO of aluminum parts maker Aludyne.

"They've been trying to hold everybody off, but eventually the dam breaks and then you've got to pay people," he said of the automakers.

Weller said in Europe alone, natural gas and electricity prices are almost 10 times what they were two years ago thanks t…

A Chinese EV battery maker plans a big investment in Michigan. Record shipping costs are adding to auto supply chain woes. NTSB calls for passive alcohol-detection systems in all new vehicles. Plus, a look at the role that utilities are playing in the electrification revolution.

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Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton broke his own company’s social media rules, sharing potentially nonpublic information on platforms like Twitter and Instagram, a jury in Milton’s criminal fraud trial was told.

Milton, accused of lying to investors about the company’s progress, flouted policies on the treatment of confidential information including financial and product matters, Nikola Social Media and Digital Marketing Manager Stephanie Amzallag testified Wednesday in Milton’s trial on securities and wire fraud charges.

Amzallag told the jury she tried to follow what Milton was posting to his personal accounts as well, because he would also share information that wasn’t known within the company, as she worked to keep up with the voluble founder. She said she didn’t have the technical background to verify the accuracy of some of his statements.

Social media use was a mainstay of Milton’s tenure at the company, from which he resigned in September 2020 af…

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The redesigned Mitsubishi Outlander and its about-to-arrive plug-in hybrid variant are more than an infusion of new blood into an anemic product lineup of just four nameplates for the Japanese automaker.

The midsize crossovers are billed as a launch pad to propel Mitsubishi beyond its low six-digit annual volumes and bargain-brand status.

At a media event here last week, Mitsubishi Motors North America CEO Mark Chaffin teased a product-led "evolution" that he vowed will lift consumer perceptions.

"We're leaning into the key features that differentiate us — Super-All Wheel Control, PHEV technology," Chaffin said. "Before, we were a bit deal-focused, incentive-focused. We're never going back there."

The combustion engine Outlander, which was redesigned last year, is off to a rousing start. Mitsubishi was among the fastest-growing nonpremium brands in the U.S. last year, with sales up 17 percent from 2020.

Expectations are …

It wasn't long into our Fixed Ops Journal Forum discussion on customer retention before panelist Dan Beakey, service manager at 24 Ford of Easton in Massachusetts, crystallized the many obstacles service departments are currently trying to overcome.

"We're surrounded by challenges," he said. "Every time we look at our business, we've got a challenge. We've got a challenge with technicians. We've got a challenge with parts. We've got a challenge with this overabundance of business. It requires us to go to work. We've got to get aggressive and go to work and really go after taking care of our clients, because if we shoot ourselves in the foot or — in some cases — continue to shoot ourselves in the foot, we're going to lose more customers."

That Week 1 panel, featuring Beakey along with Dave Foy from training company Quantum5 and Alan Freeman from Jim Ellis Automotive Group, covered a lot of good territory on how to better retain service customers.

If you m…

A Chinese electric vehicle battery maker wants to build a multibillion-dollar plant in West Michigan, state officials confirmed Wednesday, saying an announcement is expected within days.

The yet-to-be-constructed factory would be located near Big Rapids, about 50 miles north of Grand Rapids. The Detroit News first reported the plan late Tuesday. It cited anonymous sources who said Gotion Inc. could spend up to $3.6 billion while adding 500 jobs initially and possibly 2,000 within 10 years.

Local and state officials are expected to designate the land as a Renaissance Zone, exempting the company from property taxes for decades. It was not immediately clear if the state would provide other incentives like a grant from the new Michigan Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund.

Green Township Supervisor Jim Chapman confirmed there is a special meeting scheduled Monday when the applicant — which he would not confirm as Gotion but said is a Chinese batt…