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NORMAL, Ill. — Rivian Automotive CEO RJ Scaringe likens the launch of the in-house Enduro electric motor to the EV maker's start of vehicle production two years ago.

While less important than launching an entire brand, the Enduro's arrival this year opened up possibilities for the startup, which had been struggling with supply chain shortages and elevated manufacturing costs at its factory here.

"More than just what this motor represents in terms of performance or efficiency or range, it's also emblematic of the capabilities we have as an organization today," Scaringe said at the Normal plant last week.

The new drive unit, which incorporates the gearbox and power inverter with the motor, is less expensive to build. It allows Rivian to offer a base model for $8,000 less compared with the third-party motor that Rivian launched with, the company said. The R1T pickup now starts at $74,800, and the R1S crossover starts at $79,800. Both prices include shippin…

Electric vehicle charging network companies know that this is crunch time.

Low utilization rates and high operating costs are hamstringing profits. Money is tight. Charging satisfaction is at an all-time low. And after waiting years for networks to get it together, automakers are joining with Tesla Inc. in an unexpected alliance.

Two of the largest publicly held charging networks in the U.S., ChargePoint and Blink Charging, have less than a year of cash left, according to their most recent quarterly filings.

They both said their business models, reliant on charger equipment sales more than owning and operating networks themselves, were not as sensitive to cash burn. But company leaders and industry analysts agree that this is a decisive moment for the networks.

"It's kind of a perfect storm" for charging network companies, said Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst at Guidehouse Insights. "They're facing new competition, and their…

Legislation supported by used-vehicle retailer Carvana Co. that codifies vehicle home delivery and other e-commerce sales procedures in Illinois was recently signed into law. It is set to take effect Jan. 1, 2024.

In late July, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 1896, which clarifies language about modern automotive retailing practices in the Illinois Vehicle Code. As signed, the bill amends that statute to add text clearly stating that licensed vehicle dealers are permitted to conduct sales activities — including collecting electronic signatures — via the Internet.

Carvana was one proponent of updating Illinois law because online sales and home delivery are critical to its business model.

The provisions included in the legislation aren't related to motor vehicle titling and registration requirements central to Carvana's previous, contentious interactions with the state. Illinois twice last year suspended Carvana's dealer license over titli…

TOKYO — A malfunction that shut down all of Toyota Motor Corp.'s plants in Japan on Tuesday happened during an update of the automaker's parts ordering system, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The world's top-selling automaker has not given any details of what went wrong to cause the closure and a company spokesperson on Wednesday was unable to say whether the glitch happened during a system update.

Toyota, which restarted operations at its Japanese assembly plants on Wednesday, has seen production recovering this year. The full-day outage at its domestic plants could be equivalent to $356 million in revenue, Reuters calculations based on output data and financial reporting showed.

The company said its global sales had risen 8 percent in July from the same month a year earlier to a record 859,506 vehicles. It also reported a 15 percent increase in global production in that month.

The automaker has now posted year-on-year inc…

BYD remains confident of selling 3 million cars this year despite economic challenges and an intense price war in the world’s second-biggest economy, founder and Chairman Wang Chuanfu told analysts at a briefing, according to people who were present at the event.

China’s best-selling auto brand also signaled solid profits will continue in the second half of 2023, further boosting the outlook for the company, according to the people, who declined to be identified because the analyst meeting on Tuesday was private.

The automaker on Monday unveiled a 145 percent increase in second-quarter profit to 6.8 billion yuan ($934 million), and a 67 percent jump in revenue to 140 billion yuan after selling a record number of cars in a three-month period.

A price war started by Tesla at the start of the year has squeezed other EV manufacturers.

Both Xpeng and Nio this month reported wider-than-estimated second-quarter losses.

BYD, however, has resisted j…

Two former South Carolina Mitsubishi dealership employees accused of a two-year scheme to mislead lenders about customers' creditworthiness have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud and making false statements to financial institutions.

Shawn Rustin had served as general manager at then-Hoover Mitsubishi, now used-vehicle dealership Car Fare Charleston, from an unspecified time in 2013 to August 2018; Kentrell Davis had worked as Hoover Mitsubishi's finance manager from November 2015 to April 2018. According to authorities, both men scammed the store's partner lenders from January 2016 to April 2018.

Rustin pleaded guilty to the single fraud conspiracy count July 28, and Davis pleaded guilty Aug. 17. Rustin and Davis could each face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

According to authorities, Rustin and Davis produced two contracts on vehicle sales — an accurate one for the dealershi…

A man authorities say was responsible for losses of more than $400,000 by using stolen identities to obtain vehicles and credit in California has pleaded guilty to a few of the many charges of identity theft and vehicle grand theft brought by the state and San Diego County prosecutors.

Jean Parret will serve 11 years in prison, California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said Aug. 22.

Parret, 49, had faced seven counts of grand theft, three counts of attempted grand theft and 10 counts of illegally using another party's personal information in a case prosecuted by Bonta's office. The attorney general's office said Parret carried out an "extensive" scheme in Kern, Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties from November 2021 to February 2022.

"His victims included not only the lenders and dealerships who lost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but also the identity theft victims who were left dealing with the financial, legal, and …

Zurich North America encourages dealerships to have sales staff consistently use a short, templated speech when they hand a customer over to the finance department. A trainer at a June finance and insurance seminar offered examples of behavior to avoid.

Time expectations: Customers normally spend a half-hour or more in a finance office, said Tony DiGregory, Zurich North America regional finance executive. So when a salesperson declares the business manager will " 'get you in and out' ... it's unrealistic expectations," he said.

Jargon: A customer may not know what terms such as F&I or "the box" mean, said DiGregory. "They don't live it," he said. For this reason, Zurich recommends calling the finance manager a "business manager."

Joking: DiGregory recalled a salesperson who used to describe him to customers as "the one that's going to offer you all the stuff you don't need." The joke wasn't mean-spirited, but "that doesn't help anything, right?" DiGr…

A federal judge has denied Hyundai and Kia's $200 million settlement agreement in a multidistrict class action against the automakers following a car theft frenzy that targeted certain model years, ruling that the amount is not enough for some owners.

The settlement had offered different awards based on the severity of financial loss, and it was reached by Hyundai and Kia as well as lawyers representing plaintiffs who claimed their vehicles are too easy to steal because they lack engine immobilizers, a crucial anti-theft device.

About 9 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles spanning the 2011-2022 model years use a physical key instead of a push-button start system and do not have the capability to prevent the engine from starting without a key fob present. Last summer, videos on social media demonstrated how to easily hot wire the vehicles, sparking a nationwide crime spree.

Following the rampant spike in car theft, lawsuits against the automakers began popp…

U.S. auto regulator NHTSA has sent a special order to Tesla Inc.  asking questions about changes to the driver monitoring system for its Autopilot software, documents released on Tuesday showed.

Federal regulators are honing in on the systems Tesla uses to ensure that drivers are paying attention while their vehicle is operating on Autopilot.

In its order dated on July 26, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration raised concerns about a change by Tesla which allows drivers to use Autopilot for extended periods without prompting the driver to apply torque to the steering wheel.

"The resulting relaxation of controls...could lead to greater driver inattention and failure of the driver to properly supervise Autopilot," NHTSA said in its letter to Tesla.

The agency is investigating the performance of Autopilot after identifying more than a dozen crashes in which Tesla vehicles hit stationary emergency vehicles. It is also investigating…

Mitsubishi Motors North America had sufficient grounds to terminate a New York City dealership that had paid more than $500,000 in civil fines and $304,902 in restitution after pleading guilty to committing "at least 7,939" consumer protection violations in the sale of used vehicles, a federal court has ruled.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Wicks refused to nullify the termination of Brooklyn Mitsubishi's franchise, finding ample evidence the dealership violated its sales and service agreement. He cited provisions about impairment to Mitsubishi's reputation, submissions of false reports to customers, license suspensions and failure to maintain good customer relations.

In June 2022, the dealership signed a consent agreement with the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection that included the financial penalties and a one-week prohibition from acquiring and selling used vehicles, the Aug. 14 decision said. In addition, the settlement…

General Motors is using artificial intelligence technology from Google to improve voice recognition through its OnStar safety and connectivity service and quickly answer some customer questions.

The automaker on Tuesday said its collaboration with the technology giant, dating to 2019, has woven Google Cloud's Dialogflow technology into OnStar's Interactive Virtual Assistant that debuted last year. It can give users turn-by-turn navigation help and improves OnStar's ability to pick up on a customer's spoken request the first time, GM said.

The virtual assistant's help with route assistance and other nonemergency requests through the in-vehicle OnStar button frees up advisers to handle issues that need human intervention.

The Google technology also is present in chatbots that GM has placed on its corporate and vehicle brand websites, enabling conversational responses to consumers' questions, the automaker said. GM and Google are piloting other uses for A…