News

Editor's note: President Joe Biden is scheduled to walk the floor of the 2022 Detroit auto show Sept. 14.

Dear Mr. President,

Welcome back to the Detroit auto show. We've missed you and every other self-professed auto enthusiast who still garners a visceral thrill just seeing and sitting in the latest and greatest from global automakers.

It's been a while — almost the length of a presidential term — since we've had an auto show in the Motor City.

So as long as you're here, I'd like to take this opportunity to get you up to speed on our industry — beyond just 0-to-60 in the Ford F-150 Lightning or a quarter-mile in a mid-engine 2023 Chevy Corvette Z06. Trust me, you're going to need a deeper understanding of what this transition to electrification means beyond just "This sucker's quick!"

You see, Mr. President, this huge, multitiered trillion-dollar industry is in kind of a weird place right now. Parts of it have never been financially healt…

DETROIT — The 2022 Detroit auto show, which returns this week after a 44-month hiatus, won't be the media-centric news extravaganza of years past.

Only about 10 new vehicles are slated to be unveiled, fewer than half the usual number of journalists are registered to attend, and many major automakers are skipping it altogether.

And that's OK, show organizers say.

Instead, they're focused on improving the consumer experience with a new indoor-outdoor layout featuring numerous ride-and-drive opportunities going well beyond the stodgy, static displays that defined the show for decades.

"The days of 60 reveals happening at our show are probably behind us," Thad Szott, president of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, which runs the show, told Automotive News. "This is a complete reboot. This is not the cars-on-carpet show you've been to in the past. It's a completely different, re-imagined show."

To be sure…

Someone stole the catalytic converter from Diane Reid's Hyundai Veracruz while it was parked at a dealership awaiting service. But when the dealership denied liability for the theft, Hyundai stepped in to compensate Reid and apologize.

The automaker had Reid's Veracruz towed to another dealership, paid for it to be detailed inside and out, provided a rental car for a week and gave her a $500 gasoline card for her trouble.

"When a customer's vehicle is in the property of a Hyundai dealership, they have an obligation to take care of the vehicle," Jennifer McCarthy, national manager of public relations for Hyundai Auto Canada, told Global News last week.

Hyundai got involved after Reid's daughter posted about the situation on Facebook, complaining that Orangeville Hyundai in Ontario was refusing to cover the $2,000 cost to replace the stolen catalytic converter. Reid's daughter said the dealer principal, Phil Richards, called police after she mentioned in…

Electric vehicles are becoming more commonplace around the world. This is driving demand for a charging infrastructure that can support this turning point in transportation.

The individual cost may still be a challenge, but the move to EVs is inevitable. This is change driven by need, rather than the whim of suppliers.

The charging infrastructure supporting e-mobility is less coordinated. This can be viewed positively for those looking to enter the market. Public money is in good supply, and private investment is also high. The underlying technology is not particularly complex, which means the barriers to entry are low.

But it isn't quite as simple as putting a socket in a public location and calling it a charge point. Those that are putting equipment into service are referred to as charge point operators, and they must work with the electric vehicle supply equipment manufacturers to develop a strategy that will support the chargi…

California electric vehicle startup Rivian just got a leg up on entering the European market by inking a deal with Mercedes-Benz's van business to produce electric vans in a factory in central or eastern Europe in the next few years.

The collaboration could help Rivian keep up with its more established American EV competitor Tesla, which launched a plant in Germany this year.

This all comes at a crucial time for Rivian, as customers are clamoring for its new electric SUV, pickup and vans. But the company is struggling to ramp up production at its sole factory in Normal, Ill., amid supply chain disruptions and rising materials prices.

Rivian's stock price is down nearly 68 percent year-to-date.

Sharing the costs of a European assembly plant with Mercedes should help Rivian channel more of its cash to build a second U.S. assembly plant slated to open in Georgia in 2025. The young company burned through $1.2 billion in the …

A Texas urologist performed what he says was probably "the world's first Rivian powered vasectomy" after losing electricity during a patient's appointment.

Dr. Christopher Yang posted photos on Twitter showing an extension cord running from his Rivian R1T pickup into the Austin, Texas, clinic where he works. "Patient didn't want to reschedule cause he already had time off," Yang wrote. "Electrocautery was normal, procedure went great!"

Yang told Motor Trend — which named the battery-powered R1T its 2022 Truck of the Year — that he planned to cancel the procedure until a member of his staff joked that he should use the pickup as a power source. The R1T has two 120-volt outlets in its bed, which Rivian undoubtedly figured owners would be more likely to use for camping or cooking than performing surgery. Yang said his cauterizer uses 400 watts, well below the outlets' 1,500-watt maximum.

The story is among the numerous examples of how people have used the…

There’s more evidence that electric vehicle charging challenges are a big problem for renters. Tesla wants tax breaks for a potential expansion in Texas. Nissan raises the stakes in its ongoing Carlos Ghosn case. Plus, research shows a national right-to-repair law would not spell doom for service departments.

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"

The latest electric vehicle startup to enter the commercial fleet market, an outfit based in Los Angeles called Harbinger Motors, will show its product Wednesday at the show.

The company, led by a team of engineers and executives who have experience at other new-era startups, such as Canoo, Faraday Future and Coda Automotive, plans to launch an electric chassis cab by the end of next year.

Chassis cabs are bought by fleet operators and then sent to upfitters for fitment of bodies. They underpin ambulances, delivery vans, garbage trucks, tow trucks and other types of work vehicles.

Harbinger has developed in-house an electric axle that packages the electric motor with the inverter and gearbox in a single unit.

The 800-volt battery pack is liquid-cooled and designed to use cells from the customer's manufacturer of choice.

Harbinger says the chassis should last 20 years or about 450,000 miles.

DETROIT - Ford Motor Chief Executive Jim Farley will go to Las Vegas next week to roll the dice on a strategy to convince dealers to cut as much as $2,000 from the cost of delivering an electric vehicle to a customer.

Ford has told dealers that one key topic for the meetings will be a discussion of new agreements that would govern how dealers sell Ford's expanding lineup of electric vehicles.

Farley told analysts in July that Ford needs to cut $2,000 a vehicle out of selling and distribution costs to be competitive with Tesla and other EV startups that sell directly to consumers without franchised dealers.

About a third of those savings could come from what Farley called a "low inventory model," where customers order a vehicle and Ford ships it to the customer, rather than stocking vehicles on dealer lots for weeks or months.

"We think that's about -- worth maybe $600, $700 in our system," Farley told analysts. Tesla c…

Ringless voicemails, a phone call method that deposits a message directly into a consumer's voicemail box without the typical ring sound, has been a way some dealerships and other companies have skirted restrictions surrounding automated marketing calls.

The technology's legality has been in dispute for over a half decade. While the Federal Communications Commission and even Congress have been petitioned to enshrine the approach as protected under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, such action hasn't happened. Instead, the modern-day legal consensus, based on numerous court decisions, is that the practice is illegal without prior consent.

And that means dealerships should be careful — violations can be costly, as demonstrated by a recent $2.5 million settlement in California.

"If [dealers] think that they can just do business the way they've always done it, and they don't have to worry about this stuff, they're making a mistake," Brian Maas, presid…

TOKYO — Nearly four years after the arrest of Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn at a Tokyo airport, acrimony and legal wrangling continue to fester as the carmakers he once ran fight to recover from the chaos.

In recent moves, Nissan Motor Co. has increased the pressure on Ghosn and Greg Kelly, the American director they accuse of being his accomplice, by dramatically jacking up its damages claims in civil cases against both men.

In March, Kelly was cleared by a Japanese criminal court in seven of the eight years Nissan alleged financial misconduct. But a Nissan motion in late June seeks to triple the amount he could be found liable for to ¥4.4 billion, or roughly $30.5 million. From Ghosn, Nissan now seeks ¥15.5 billion ($108 million). For now, Kelly's lawyers are fighting to dismiss it.

At the same time, Nissan's former general counsel, Ravinder Passi, has settled with his ex-employer, following his claim of wrongful dismissal in the matter. That case had…

TOKYO — Hiroto Saikawa, former CEO of Nissan who presided over the arrest and ouster of his boss and mentor Carlos Ghosn — only to be drummed out of the company himself — is back in the business almost four years after the scandal nearly derailed the Renault-Nissan auto alliance.

After finishing a two-year noncompete agreement, the 68-year-old industry veteran is in talks to consult on autonomous urban mobility and is writing a book about his experience.

The Nissan lifer shocked Japan by accusing Ghosn of rampant financial misconduct at a news conference the night of the chairman's arrest. Now, Saikawa is weighing in on the carmaker's fitful recovery from the ensuing chaos and talking about Ghosn's legacy.

Saikawa insists he would have been perfectly happy to have Ghosn, now 68, continue at the helm of the Renault-Nissan alliance, had it not been for what Saikawa called overwhelming evidence of misconduct.

Ghosn's de…