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BERLIN -- Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kallenius ruled out the possibility that two major Chinese shareholders could increase their stakes and create a blocking minority in the automaker.

BAIC Group is the largest individual shareholder in Mercedes with 9.98 percent of voting rights. Geely Chairman Eric Li holds an equity interest of 9.69 percent, and the Kuwait Investment Authority holds 6.84 percent.

Geely, in particular, is quietly disrupting Europe's auto market. The Chinese conglomerate, founded by Li, now owns or collaborates with more than a dozen companies that do business in the region, including Volvo Cars, Polestar and Lotus.

Kaellenius and Winfried Kretschmann, the president of Baden-Wuerttemberg, the German state where Mercedes is headquartered, dismissed the possibility of a takeover by Chinese investors.

"We would not allow that at all," they told the business daily Handelsblatt in a joint interview.

In 2016 the purchase of …

Former Hollywood movie producer Harvey Weinstein, now in prison after being convicted of sex crimes, on Tuesday sued the U.S. business of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles over a 2019 crash in which he flipped a Jeep Wrangler while trying to avoid a deer.

Weinstein is seeking $5 million in damages, saying the Aug. 17, 2019 accident in Bedford, New York, about 40 miles north of Manhattan, left him "catastrophically injured and rendered paralyzed" with "significant and continuing conscious pain and suffering" from what his lawyer called "severe spine and back injuries."

According to the complaint filed in a New York state court in Manhattan, Weinstein was wearing his seatbelt when the brakes on the 2017 Wrangler failed as he approached the deer, causing a rollover.

Weinstein said the defendant FCA US LLC, now owned by Stellantis, had provided him the "unreasonably dangerous" vehicle in exchange for product placement in one of his films.

"We intend to vigoro…

WASHINGTON — U.S. auto safety regulators are investigating potential safety issues with certain Honda Pilot midsize crossovers after reports alleging engine failure.

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation said it has received 221 complaints and several field reports alleging a defect with the auto stop-start feature on Pilot vehicles from the 2016-19 model years.

The safety probe covers an estimated 194,731 vehicles in the U.S. equipped with the 3.5-liter engine coupled with a nine-speed automatic transmission and includes Pilot vehicles from the 2020 model year, according to a NHTSA document posted Tuesday.

The complaints allege that the "engine fails to restart on its own from a complete stop at a traffic light or road intersection" when the auto stop-start function is engaged, the document states. Some of the complaints also allege a jump was required for the vehicle to restart.

Both Pilot Touring and Elite trim-lev…

Swedish automaker Polestar Cars will introduce what it says will be its highest-volume vehicle in the U.S. yet.

The Volvo affiliate will bring the Polestar 3, a Porsche Cayenne-sized crossover, to the U.S. in the first quarter of 2023.

Ahead of the launch, Polestar released a new film and the first undisguised image of the midsize crossover. Unlike the current Volvo-inspired Polestar 2 sedan, the Polestar 3 features new design elements that include a sloping silhouette and headlight and rear light styling that are distinct from other Polestar models.

"With this car, we bring the 'sport' back to the SUV, staying true to our performance roots," Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said.

Polestar plans to equip the new model with hardware and electronics that would enable autonomous highway driving by mid-decade, including lidar sensors from Luminar Technologies and computer electronics components from Nvidia Corp. The sensors are packed into the so-called …

Self-driving truck startup Gatik will expand its operations through an agreement with new partners Georgia-Pacific and KBX to deliver paper goods to 34 Sam's Club hubs and stores in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area.

For Gatik, which concentrates on traveling shorter "middle mile" truck routes and foregoing interstate travel, the new partnership represents substantial growth in both business opportunity and operational scale.

The company has existing partnerships with the likes of Walmart and Canadian grocery-store chain Loblaw. With Walmart, Gatik operates a driverless route in Bentonville, Ark.

For more coverage of autonomous vehicles, click here.

The Georgia-Pacific and KBX service is expected to begin next month, starting with six trucks in an overall operation that will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. At least for now, human safety drivers will sit behind the wheel in the new deployment.

"Once proven, we believe autonomous de…

Diehl Automotive Group of Butler, Pa., added three dealerships in two recent transactions, including its first Kia store.

Diehl Automotive, with stores in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, acquired Chevrolet, Toyota and Kia stores in Hermitage, Pa., from Matthew Taylor, owner of Taylor Auto Group. Hermitage is north of Pittsburgh, near the Ohio border.

The Taylor Chevrolet and Toyota stores were purchased on May 25 and the Kia dealership on Wednesday, Diehl Automotive CEO Corina Diehl told Automotive News. The transactions also included a collision center.

"We firmly believe that our customer‐first focus will increase sales and service in the region and be well received by consumers in our new trade area," Corina Diehl said in a statement.

The stores were renamed Diehl Chevrolet of Hermitage, Diehl Toyota of Hermitage and Diehl Kia of Hermitage.

In May 2021, Diehl Automotive acquired its first Ford and Hyundai dealerships when it pur…

The latest SL — the famed roadster from the House of Mercedes — has come forth from a different wing of the mother ship.

AMG, Mercedes-Benz' esteemed performance division, has taken over the role of SL developer, bidding to add some spark from a clean slate.

The 2022 SL heralds a new AMG architecture. Mercedes says nothing under the sheet metal has been carried over from the last model and no parts or components are shared with the AMG GT roadster.

AMG engineers used a combination of lightweight aluminum and steel alloys and composites to craft a unibody chassis that is extremely stiff, yet relatively lightweight.

The 2022 Mercedes-AMG SL is only offered as a two-door roadster, with a power-operated soft convertible roof that is 46 pounds lighter and easier to package than a folding hard top. The other big change comes in the seating configuration — now 2+2, a first for the SL.

The addition of small seats i…

MEXICO CITY/WASHINGTON -- The Biden administration has asked Mexico to probe alleged worker rights violations at a Mexican auto-parts plant owned by Italian-French carmaker Stellantis, the fourth such investigation under a revised trade deal.

The U.S. request for Mexico to look into possible rights abuses at Teksid Hierro de Mexico in the northern border state of Coahuila comes under the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that aims to improve conditions at Mexican workplaces.

Companies have been closely watching these early cases to see how tougher labor rules play out under the trade pact that replaced NAFTA. Under the USMCA, factories that violate worker rights could lose their tariff-free status on exports.

Stellantis, the world's fourth-largest auto group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has previously said it respects collective-bargaining rights.

Since 2014, Teksid -- which employs nearly 1,500 people…

Toyota Motor North America announced a series of top-level executive moves, including the pending retirement of its longtime head of sales, Bob Carter, effective this month.

A large number of the Japanese automaker's North American executive team will be reshuffled.

Carter, 62, has been executive vice president of sales for the Toyota and Lexus brands since 2017 and has worked primarily in sales and marketing capacities since joining Toyota as a warranty processor in 1981. He will retire June 30. 

“For over four decades, Bob has been an advocate for our dealers and customers, providing insightful leadership and sound and principled judgment in sales and marketing,” Toyota Motor North America CEO Ted Ogawa said in a statement. "Bob leaves a legacy of many 'firsts,' including Toyota and Lexus leadership in key segments, dealer satisfaction and profitability, and sales leadership in North America, to name a few." 

Carter will be succe…

J.D. Power has acquired U.K.-based automotive analytics company We Predict, the data analytics and customer intelligence company announced Monday.

We Predict's software uses machine learning and predictive analytics to assess vehicle ownership costs as well as predict warranty claims and repair costs. J.D. Power said it will utilize this to "enhance its vehicle quality and dependability analytics, expand repair cost forecasting and provide critical valuation data."

In an interview with Automotive News, Doug Betts, president of the global automotive division at J.D. Power, said his company will combine its customer data on vehicle quality with We Predict's objective data from dealerships to help accurately predict vehicle quality and dependability.

"What [We Predict] has is actual objective data, like data from thousands of dealerships that says, 'Here's a car, here's what broke, here's what got fixed,' " Betts said. "So if you think about putting those …