News

STOCKHOLM/LONDON — Swedish lithium-ion battery producer Northvolt has raised $1.2 billion from investors including BlackRock and several Canadian pension plans as it prepares to build new factories in Europe and North America, its finance chief told Reuters.

The fresh funding, through a convertible note, comes as investor demand for companies set to benefit from the move to a low-carbon economy picks up pace, aided by policy initiatives in both regions to accelerate the transition.

"It's a very capital intensive industry... finding the right mix is always hard in this new greenfield kind of transitional projects," Chief Financial Officer Alexander Hartman said in an interview.

Leading the round alongside BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, were Canada Pension Plan, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and, as previously reported, pension investor Investment Management Corporation of Ontario.

"The battery manufacturing sector h…

Fast-growing Anderson Automotive Group completed its second multi-dealership acquisition in South Carolina this year with a seven-store purchase Monday.

Anderson Automotive, of Raleigh, N.C., bought Toyota of Greer, Hyundai of Greer, Genesis of Greer, Nissan of Greer, Kia of Greer, Kia of Greenville and Mike Hovart Chevrolet in Easley, from Mark Escude, president of MCE Automotive Inc., according to Michael Anderson, the group's CEO. Escude still owns one dealership, Terry Lambert Hyundai in North Augusta, S.C.

The stores were renamed Fred Anderson Toyota of Greer, Fred Anderson Hyundai of Greer, Fred Anderson Nissan of Greer, Fred Anderson Kia of Greer, Fred Anderson Kia of Greenville and Fred Anderson Chevrolet of Easley. The Genesis store's name remains. Fred Anderson, Michael's father, is the group's chairman.

Hyundai and Genesis are new brands for the group, Anderson, a 2017 Automotive News 40 Under 40 honoree, noted. Genesis of Greer was one of t…

WASHINGTON — The nation's top auto safety agency proposed a rule Monday that would require automakers to equip vehicles with seat belt warning systems for front and rear passenger seats in an effort to establish consistency and improve seat belt use.

NHTSA's proposed rule would amend a federal regulation for occupant crash protection known as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208, which mandates visual and audible alerts to encourage seat belt use for the driver's seat but does not require a warning for other seating positions.

For rear seats, the proposal would require automakers to add a visual warning once a vehicle is started that lasts at least 60 seconds and an audiovisual "change of status" warning that lasts at least 30 seconds if a rear seat belt is unbuckled while the vehicle is in operation.

For front seats, the proposal would require an audiovisual seat belt use warning for both the driver and front passenger seats that remains active un…

Few global auto shows can compete with the quality of new car debuts during Monterey Car Week in Carmel, California. The annual multi-day festival of all things automotive — classic car concours, product launches, races, auctions, rallies and plenty of posturing — has replaced the traditional auto show as among the best places to be for car brands and enthusiasts alike.

This year, more than 20 automakers showed their best efforts to attract elite car buyers: There were electric crossover concepts with doors that open in reverse, and one-of-one supercars covered in gold and intricate hand-painted pictures of other cars. Elsewhere, 3D-printed hypercars and an SUV that runs on hydrogen attracted prospective clients.

And while the traditional status symbols of horsepower and torque still held sway (Exhibit A: The 1,877-hp Pininfarina B95, above), these days the best new cars are using technology, rather than brawn, to seduce buyers with promises of how they can im…

GM plans to cut about 200 engineering jobs. A Tesla data breach is blamed on "insider wrongdoing." And Hyundai makes a deal to put its name on Georgia Tech's football field. Plus, a look at how San Francisco is bracing for more robotaxis on the street.

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

Android

Spotify

New TrueCar CEO Jantoon Reigersman stands to make at least $500,000 in his first year in charge of the vehicle listings company and potentially millions more through a series of stock awards, according to a July 31 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Meanwhile, former CEO Mike Darrow will pull in $1 million-plus in compensation for a year after his June 14 departure, based on a June 15 regulatory filing.

Reigersman was promoted from COO to TrueCar's chief executive on June 14 after the company replaced Darrow and announced a restructuring that has slashed 24 percent of its work force. TrueCar, of Santa Monica, Calif., lost more than $20 million in the second quarter, nearly double its loss from a year earlier.

TrueCar is paying Reigersman, who was 41 upon his appointment, an annual base salary of $500,000, according to the filing last month. He's eligible for an annual bonus of 100 percent of his base salary if certain company and …

The Acura Integra Type S is a souped-up, 320-hp sport sedan that has moved into the brand's halo position this year.

Intended to be a specialty vehicle, the Integra Type S targets the driver more interested in extreme performance. It comes with a standard 6-speed manual transmission and a 2.0-liter engine recalibrated to deliver 320 hp.

The Type S increases output from the standard Integra by 120 hp and 118 pound-feet of torque. Its stance is also 2.8 inches wider, and the front exterior was reworked to improve airflow.

The Integra Type S replaces the NSX hybrid-electric supercar that was retired last year and represents a new product strategy for Acura. This new model costs $51,995, a stark contrast to the previous halo at $171,495, including shipping but before any options.

"We want to create sufficient demand to satisfy enthusiasts yearning for a specialty vehicle like this with limited production and avoid saturating the market because that t…

WASHINGTON — U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating Ford Motor Co.'s handling of a June 2022 recall of nearly 50,000 Mustang Mach-Es after new reports of power loss.

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation said it received 12 consumer complaints alleging a high-voltage battery main contractor failure in 2021-22 Ford Mustang Mach-E crossovers that were included in the recall and had been remedied prior to the incidents.

The agency said it has opened the investigation — known as a "recall query" — to assess Ford's recall remedy. About 64,727 Mustang Mach-Es could be affected.

There have been no reports of injuries, fires, accidents or deaths, according to a document detailing the investigation.

In a statement to Automotive News, Ford spokesperson Maria Buczkowski said the automaker is "working with NHTSA to support their investigation."

The June 2022 recall covered 48,924 2021-22 Mustang Mach-E vehicles in the U.S. that were built fr…

Tesla Inc.’s May data breach impacted more than 75,000 people, included employee-related records and was a result of “insider wrongdoing,” according to a notice posted by the office of the Maine Attorney General Friday.

A total of 75,735 people were affected by the data breach, including nine residents of Maine. The people appear to be current or former employees of the Austin, Texas-based automaker.

“A foreign media outlet (named Handelsblatt) informed Tesla on May 10, 2023, that it had obtained Tesla confidential information,” according to a copy of an Aug. 18 letter by Tesla to those impacted that accompanied the data breach notification. “The investigation revealed that two former Tesla employees misappropriated the information in violation of Tesla’s IT security and data protection policies and shared it with the media outlet.”

The letter goes on to state that Tesla filed lawsuits against the two former employees, without specifying in which juris…

Joey Lawrence, well known around Hollywood as a car enthusiast, has never been a big fan of electric vehicles — he’s even publicly criticized Teslas for being poorly made. But now he’s found an EV automaker he can get behind.

The actor not only stars in Vietnamese EV maker VinFast’s first U.S. campaign, breaking this week, but he’s also revived his iconic catchphrase, “Whoa” — from the ’90s sitcom “Blossom” — as the central theme of the spot.

In the 30-second commercial, created by the agency Acceleration, Lawrence is seen using the phrase repeatedly, and in different inflections, to marvel at VinFast’s VF8 electric sedan — which the company began selling in California in 2022. This is the first time Lawrence has used “Whoa” so prominently in advertising.

The spot, directed by Aaron Huisman of Anaheim Studios, goes on to highlight the VF8’s eight body colors, Italian Pininfarina interior design, 10-year/unlimited battery warranty and various …

Crunch time looms for UAW talks

Labor experts called the UAW’s walkout against Chrysler in 2007 a “Hollywood strike” because it lasted just six hours and was more for show than to actually harm the automaker, which was less than two years away from bankruptcy. There have been baseball games and tennis matches that lasted longer than Chrysler workers spent on the picket lines.

My most lasting memory of covering that strike as a reporter for The New York Times was being yelled at by a worker who later found me and apologized, saying it was his first strike and he got too amped up. Then everyone went home before dinnertime.

In this year’s contract talks, the UAW is threatening to call a far more damaging strike — the kind that has actually shut down Hollywood for the past three and a half months. A study released this week estimated that a strike against the Detroit 3 simultaneously could cost the economy some $5 billion in just 10 days and push Michigan …