News

Ford Motor Co. is increasing the starting price of the Mustang Mach-E electric crossover between roughly $3,000 and $8,000, depending on trim, due to rising material costs and supply chain constraints that have wiped out the vehicle's profitability.

The largest price hike comes on the California Route 1 all-wheel-drive extended range, which will cost $64,875 including shipping, up from $56,575. The California Route 1, previously offered in either a rear-wheel-drive or AWD configuration, will now be offered only as AWD, Ford said.

The cheapest model — the Select RWD standard range — will now cost $48,195, including shipping. The MSRP of that and the AWD standard range model has been increased by $3,000.

Prices of the Premium RWD and AWD standard range models are up $5,875.

The GT AWD extended range model's price has been increased $7,900 to $71,195, including shipping.

In addition to the changes in MSRP, F…

Auto industry brass and multigeneration enthusiasts collided this month around Monterey, and Carmel on California's central coast to ogle shiny, futuristic electric concept vehicles, new and vintage performance cars and priceless antique autos.

More like an al fresco experience than a traditional tire-kicking auto show, the annual celebration draws throngs of dapper, big-budget attendees to peruse would-be purchases and admire museum-quality collectibles. But amid the dreamy sheet metal art of decades past, new concepts provided a glimpse of what the coming decade might bring — in some cases sure bets, in others, stunning maybes.

Czinger 21C V Max, above: A hypercar with no rear wing, an extended tail and fighter jet-inspired tandem seating. The 21C V Max uses a turbocharged hybrid V-8 with 1,250 hp.

Genesis X Speedium Coupe: An electric grand touring coupe concept that embodies Genesis' future EV design language.

Audi urbansphere: The third an…

CATL, China’s largest EV battery maker, saw its net profit spike 82 percent from a year earlier to 8.2 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) in the first half of this year. 

The main driver of its profit surge was strong battery demand in and outside China, enabling its sales revenue to rally 156 percent to 113 billion yuan, the company said in its financial statement for the first six months. 

It also attributed the profit growth to cost control measures such as signing long-term contracts with battery material suppliers and recycling battery materials. 

In addition, it has “dynamically adjusted product prices through friendly negotiation with customers, which has to some extent passed on the pressure of raw material price increases,” CATL said.

In the first half, the Chinese battery giant shipped 71 gigawatt hours of batteries for EVs, a 116-percent jump from a year earlier, according to Korean market research firm SNE Research.

CATL…

Electric-vehicle startup Leapmotor Technology Co. has received the go-ahead from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to launch an initial public offering in Hong Kong.

It approved Leapmotor’s plan to raise up to 291 million yuan ($42.4 million) via an IPO on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, the Beijing-based market watchdog said this week. 

In China, companies seeking to go public in overseas stock markets must clear regulatory oversight at home. 

Leapmotor filed its IPO application to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in March. 

With the green light from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the company is on track to become the fifth Hong Kong-listed Chinese EV startup, following Nio, XPeng Motor and Li Auto.

Leapmotor, established in the east China city of Hangzhou in 2014, has launched sales of four products -- the C11 compact crossover, the C01 and S01 compact sedans, and the T03 subcompact sedan.

In Ju…

SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile, General Motors’ light-vehicle partnership with SAIC Motor Corp., began sales of its first hybrid vehicle on Thursday as part of its effort to improve its product lineup’s fuel economy. 

The vehicle, the Xingchen, is a hybrid compact crossover marketed under the Wuling brand. It has a 99,800 yuan ($14,569) starting price, SAIC-GM-Wuling said. 

The vehicle is 180 inches long and 72 inches wide, roughly the same size as a Chevrolet Equinox. 

The Xingchen is fitted with two electric motors and a 2.0-liter gasoline engine. It can reach a speed of 60 kilometers per hour in 3.2 seconds. 

The hybrid crossover drives on batteries only at low speeds, and is powered by engines at high speeds.

Its overall fuel consumption is 5.7 liters per 100 km. On urban roads, the fuel consumption can be lowered to 4.6 liters per 100 km, according to SAIC-GM-Wuling.

SAIC-GM-Wuling, based in the southwest China ci…

GM Financial will replace its General Motors-branded finance-and-insurance product portfolio in the fourth quarter with a new lineup developed with Safe-Guard Products International.

Safe-Guard will replace the Amynta Group as GM Protection's white-label F&I product partner. Amynta did not respond to a request for comment.

"We're out talking to dealers right now," GM Financial Senior Vice President Matt St. Charles told Automotive News Tuesday. St. Charles, who leads the GM Protection arm of GM Financial, said the reception has been positive.

St. Charles said the switch in providers and product revamp followed General Motors' decision about 18 months ago to move F&I protection operations from its manufacturing business into GM Financial.

That change led to a re-examination of the protection business and a rethinking of "what the experience should look like for both our dealers and our customers," St. Charles said, adding Safe-Guard seemed …

Mercedes-Benz Group and Volkswagen Group on Tuesday signed deals with the Canadian government to secure access to Canada’s large stores of key battery materials such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite, as the German companies compete for scarce supplies of raw materials with other automakers shifting to electric vehicles.

Markus Schaefer, chief technology officer at Mercedes-Benz, and outgoing Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess each signed a memorandum of understanding with François-Philippe Champagne, federal Minister of innovation, science and industry, in Toronto Tuesday morning.

The signing of the pair of battery value chain collaboration agreements followed comments from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the need for greater Canadian-German collaboration as global unrest roils traditional supply chains.

“What we are experiencing right now is a perfect storm — a multitude of overlapping and mutually reinfo…

Mercedes and Nissan's vehicle and engine-sharing collaboration moves closer to ending. Some of Hyundai and Kia’s most popular models get hit with a stop sale. Ford discontinues the Transit Connect in the U.S. after next year. Plus, electrification advocate Ari Matusiak talks about what the Inflation Reduction Act means for electrifying cars, trucks, and just about everything else in our lives.

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WASHINGTON — Toyota Motor North America has agreed to recognize California's authority to set vehicle emission standards under the Clean Air Act, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday.

In a letter sent to California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state's Air Resources Board Chair Liane Randolph, Toyota said it is "committed to emission reductions and vehicle introductions consistent with CARB's programs," including pending regulations that would accelerate a transition to zero-emission vehicles and strengthen standards for new light-duty cars and trucks sold in the state.

"Our success in helping to electrify transportation depends in large part on success here, and in working with you to ensure we can deliver affordable and compelling solutions for all Californians," Toyota wrote in the letter.

California plans to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered cars and light trucks and achieve 100 percent ZEV sales by 2035.

The recognition allows Toyota to b…

Mercedes and Nissan's years-old vehicle and engine-sharing collaboration will move another step toward unraveling in March when production ends at a Tennessee engine plant built specifically to share.

Nissan will "suspend operations at the powertrain facility in Decherd pending future product announcements," Nissan North America spokesman Brian Brockman said of the East Tennessee plant that opened in 2014.

Its 400 employees will be reassigned.

Earlier this month, Mercedes told dealers it will ditch the Tennessee-made four-cylinder engine that powers the brand's GLE midsize crossover as well as its Sprinter and Metris commercial vans.

Known as the Infiniti Powertrain Plant and constructed for $319 million next to Nissan's Decherd engine and components plant, the facility produced a Mercedes-developed turbocharged 2-liter four-cylinder engine — designed by Mercedes, manufactured by Nissan, and installed in models carrying both Infiniti and Mercedes…

A unit of powertain supplier Dana Inc. plans to open a $54.2 million electric vehicle battery cooling plant in suburban Detroit that would create 200 new jobs.

Dana Thermal Products LLC plans to lease space in a 350,000-square-foot building in Auburn Hills, Mich., where it will manufacture battery cooling plates designed to extract heat from lithium-ion battery cells, according to a briefing memo from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

The company anticipates production beginning in 2023 with all 200 of the jobs to be created by the end of 2024 at the site.

The project is being supported by a $2.5 million business development grant from the state following approval Tuesday by the Michigan Strategic Fund.

The incentive is a "critical factor" in swaying the supplier to choose Michigan over alternative sites in the southeast U.S. and Canada, according to state officials.

"In addition to an experienced and strong local labor pool in the a…