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WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that, in part, will provide billions of dollars to boost domestic semiconductor production — an action long-awaited by the auto industry as it continues to navigate a global shortage of microchips.

The bipartisan bill — known as the CHIPS and Science Act or "CHIPS-plus" — provides about $52 billion in government subsidies for U.S. semiconductor research, design and production, including $2 billion for "legacy chips" used by automakers and parts suppliers.

It also includes a 25 percent tax credit for investments in semiconductor manufacturing through 2026 and invests billions of dollars in science and technology innovation to strengthen economic growth, job creation and national security.

The legislation, approved 64-33 with a bipartisan vote, now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives, where it is expected to pass as early as this week.

The bill is a trimmed-…

Dealership giant Group 1 Automotive Inc. reported Wednesday that revenue and net income rose in the second quarter in part on higher new-vehicle profitability and gains from acquisitions.

The Houston-based dealership group said net income rose 2.6 percent to $195.9 million and revenue rose 14 percent to a record $4.15 billion. Net income from continuing operations for the quarter ended June 30 increased 5.6 percent to $199.3 million. That figure includes Group 1's U.S. and U.K. operations but not its Brazilian unit, which was reported as discontinued operations. The company had previously said it would divest its operations in Brazil, and the sale of those dealerships closed in early July.

Group 1 reported its highest-ever revenue and gross profit and attributed its financial performance to the strength of its U.S. business, citing a 34 percent growth in parts and service revenue and a roughly 20 percent increase in finance and insurance revenue. The acquisitio…

Ally Financial remains bullish about both auto loan demand and the company's ability to raise the interest rates offered to car buyers despite high inflation and the prospect of more Fed rate increases.

"The story remains consistent," CEO Jeffrey Brown said on an earnings call July 19.

Vehicle demand was strong and supply challenged, Brown said. Consumers earning more than $50,000, the demographic representing the majority of Ally's portfolio, showed strong demand, Chief Financial Officer Jennifer LaClair said on the call. Ally still projected 4 million to 5 million consumers were poised on the sidelines to replace shoppers who dropped out of the market, Brown said.

Brown and LaClair's assessment came a week before the Federal Open Market Committee on July 27 raised the federal funds rate by 0.75 percentage points to a target of 2.25 to 2.5 percent. The Federal Reserve rate has a ripple effect upon consumer interest rates and spending.

In the se…

NXP Semiconductors, the second-biggest supplier of chips to the automotive industry, gave a strong forecast for the current quarter driven by demand for components used in light vehicles.

Third-quarter revenue will be $3.35 billion to $3.5 billion, NXP said Monday in a statement. That compares with an average analyst estimate of $3.32 billion. Gross margin, or the percentage of sales remaining after deducting the cost of production, will be as high as 58.3 percent. Analysts has projected a margin of 57.6 percent.

NXP is completely sold out through the end of 2022, CEO Kurt Sievers told Bloomberg on Tuesday. The company is “very cautious” with regards to high inflation, COVID-19 lockdowns in China, the war in Ukraine and a possible energy crisis, he said. 

“It’s a bit of a schizophrenic situation,” Sievers said. “I am still in my seat, fighting customer shortages; while, of course from a macro perspective, you would assume the world is going under.…

Jaguar Land Rover reported a quarterly loss before tax of 524 million pounds ($632 million), compared with a loss of 110 million pounds a year earlier.

Quarterly revenue fell 11 percent from a year earlier, mainly due to a weaker model mix, inflation and adverse currency movements.

The prolonged semiconductor shortage, surging commodity prices and a slow ramp up of the new Range Rover and new Range Rover Sport, also contributed to the loss, JLR owner Tata Motors said in a statement on Wednesday.

COVID-19 lockdowns in China also impacted production and sales in the quarter.

JLR's retail sales fell 37 percent to 78,825 vehicles in the quarter.

However, demand for JLR vehicle…

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. will cut domestic production by around 4,000 vehicles in July, it said on Wednesday, after heavy rain disrupted parts supplies, raising the possibility it could fall short of its global target for the month.

Heavy rains, especially in its home prefecture of Aichi in central Japan, impacted procurement of parts and will force it to stop production at a total of three lines in two domestic factories, Toyota said in a statement.

A Toyota spokesperson said the temporary halt would likely make it difficult for it to reach its global production target of around 800,000 vehicles for July. Toyota has struggled to meet its global production goals in recent months, hit by shortages of semiconductors and the impact of COVID-19-related lockdowns in China.

The latest stoppages start from the night shift on Wednesday at one line and are due to start tomorrow at the other two and will run until Friday, the carmaker said. One of the lines is …

Bentley has pushed back production of its first electric car to 2026 from 2025, CEO Adrian Hallmark said.

Hallmark denied reports that software delays were responsible for the slip in timing for the car, which is part of Audi’s Artemis project.

The car – expected to be a coupe -- will still be revealed in 2025 as planned, Hallmark said. The delay is a “matter of months,” he told Automotive News Europe.

He gave no reason for the schedule change. Volkswagen Group, which owns Audi and Bentley, is working to a tight timetable to launch cars on the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) electric architecture that will underpin cars in the Artemis project.

Audi’s first car from the project has been delayed to the end of 2026, sources told Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche.

Bentley said in November 2020 that it would drop internal combustion engines from its cars by 2030 and switch its entire model range to full-electric vehicles.…

The automotive semiconductor market will equal $250 billion by 2040, based on rapid development of electric and luxury vehicles.

That's the conclusion of a report from consultant KPMG titled "Automotive Semiconductors — Accelerating Into the New ICE Age."

KPMG's study follows a 2019 analysis that estimated the industry would reach $200 billion by 2040. It predicted the "internal computing engine," which is much more reliant on semiconductors, would take over as the "heart" of the automotive industry.

Two years of pandemic, supply chain woes and chip shortages later, and that prediction has only accelerated. In 2021, the semiconductor industry jumped 26 percent from 2020, and the firm predicts another double-digit jump in 2022.

The forecast comes with record confidence. The Semiconductor Industry Confidence Index, made up of market signals and KPMG analysis, was placed at 74 for 2022 — the highest recorded in the measurement's lifetime.

Much…

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate voted 64-32 on Tuesday to advance legislation to dramatically boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing in a bid to make the domestic industry more competitive with China.

The legislation provides about $52 billion in government subsidies for U.S. semiconductor production as well as an investment tax credit for chip plants estimated to be worth $24 billion.

The Senate is expected to vote on final passage in coming days and the U.S. House could follow suit as soon as later this week.

President Joe Biden and others have cast the issue in national security terms, saying it is essential to ensure U.S. production of chips that are crucial to a wide range of consumer goods and military equipment.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo called the vote "a symbol of the strong bipartisan coalition working to build more chips in America. These chips keep our economy strong and our country safe."

The bill aims to ease a persisten…

WASHINGTON — NHTSA has ended a safety probe into 2016 Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivans but isn't ruling out that a potential safety defect exists, according to a report released Tuesday.

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation launched the probe in July 2021 to investigate more than 300 consumer complaints alleging one or both of the sliding doors on those vehicles could not be opened either by using the mechanical handle or electronic remote switches or controls.

The investigation, formally closed Friday, covered an estimated 233,084 vehicles in the U.S., with complaints totaling 439, according to the report.

In 2016, Chrysler — part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and now under Stellantis — issued a technical service bulletin to its dealership network, instructing technicians to replace one or both of the sliding door lock actuators when vehicle owners described an issue with the locks not functioning or "emitti…

DETROIT -- General Motors has lost nearly $5 billion since 2018 trying to build a robotaxi business in San Francisco, and now as the automaker's Cruise unit starts charging for rides, the losses are accelerating.

GM said on Tuesday it lost $500 million on Cruise during the second quarter -- more than $5 million a day -- as it began charging for rides in a limited area of San Francisco.

Cruise's costly effort to transform autonomous driving technology from a long-term research project to a profit-spinning business comes as investors are backing away from riskier bets on technology, and reassessing how soon robot vehicles of any kind will be deployed in large scale on public roads.

Shares of autonomous vehicle technology company Aurora Innovation Inc., for example, are down 80 percent for the year to date. Shares of robo-trucking company TuSimple Holdings Inc. have lost more than 70 percent of their value. Some automakers, including Ford Motor Co., have s…