WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed by voice vote President Joe Biden's nominee to serve as the top auto safety regulator, the first to win approval since January 2017.
Steven Cliff has been serving as deputy administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration since 2021 and was nominated by President Joe Biden for the top job last year. His approval by the Senate comes amid soaring U.S. traffic deaths.
The Illinois Secretary of State's office on Thursday implemented a stay on its May 10 order that Carvana Co. suspend vehicle sales in the state.
The stay will allow Carvana to sell vehicles in Illinois as long as it follows "strict guidelines."
But the online used-vehicle giant still has limitations. Carvana won't be allowed to issue temporary registration permits or license plates, according to an email from Henry Haupt, spokesman for the Illinois Secretary of State's office.
Carvana is now required to register titles through Illinois remitters — third-party entities licensed in the state to process title transactions. The retailer also must post a $250,000 bond "to guarantee payment of any fines or fees incurred by customers that resulted from Carvana's failure to follow the law," Haupt said in the email.
"My top commitment is protecting the interests and well-being of Illinois consumers," Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said in a state…
Kellen Walker gives you the top headlines and dealers associations weigh in on VW’s Scout brand, another manager leaves Apple Car, and Elon Musk drops his plan to use a Tesla margin loan to buy Twitter. Plus, GM Fleet VP Ed Peper talks with Automotive News GM reporter Hannah Lutz.
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BMW's $1 billion Mexico assembly plant could become the automaker's first dedicated electric vehicle production center.
A source familiar with BMW's product plans said the automaker is set to begin manufacturing the next-generation 3 Series electric sedan and iX3 electric crossover starting in 2027 in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
The source said that production of the crossover will begin in the first half of 2027, followed by sedan output in the second half of the year.
A BMW spokesman declined to comment on future production plans.
In April, Automotive News reported on BMW's plans to move some X3 production to Mexico.
The X3 crossover is BMW's bestseller in the U.S. The company sold 204,658 X-badged utility vehicles in the U.S. last year, up 55 percent from five years earlier. In comparison, the overall luxury light-truck segment grew about 24 percent during that period, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center.
BMW…
German supplier Robert Bosch signed a partnership deal with WeRide, a Guangzhou-based autonomous driving technology provider, to develop software enabling autonomous driving functions for passenger vehicle makers in China.
Vehicles equipped with the software can deliver SAE Level 2-3 advanced intelligent driving experiences on urban, highway, and elevated roads in China, Bosch said this week.
It has also received a strategic investment from Bosch, WeRide said, without divulging the amount of the stake.
WeRide previously signed partnership deals with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, and Chinese automakers Yutong Group and GAC Motor Co. to develop autonomous driving vehicles.
WeRide was established in 2017. It became the first domestic autonomous driving technology approved to test driverless vehicles in China in 2019.
Last year, it received a permit from the California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to conduct …
ECARX Holdings Inc. said on Thursday it would go public through a merger with a blank-check firm in a deal that values the automobile technology company at $3.82 billion.
The deal with COVA Acquisition Corp. includes a $45 million investment from mobility tech company Geely Holding Group, lidar sensor maker Luminar Technologies Inc. and automotive company Lotus Technology.
It is also supported by $300 million raised by COVA Acquisition in its initial public offering (IPO) in February last year.
With facilities in China and Europe, ECARX was founded by Ziyu Shen, its CEO, and Li Shufu, Geely's chairman, in 2017.
Digital cockpits
ECARX develops software and hardware such as digital cockpit and infotainment systems for cars. It serves both combustion-powered vehicles as well as automated and electric cars. Its clients include 12 car brands such as Geely, Lotus, Mercedes-Benz and Smart.
“We are getting bigger and we want to be an intern…
Elon Musk is dropping plans to partially fund his purchase of Twitter Inc. with a margin loan tied to his Tesla Inc. stake and increasing the size of the deal’s equity component to $33.5 billion.
Musk will provide an additional $6.25 billion in equity financing for the $44 billion buyout, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. That’s enough to eliminate the margin loan of the same size, which had already been reduced earlier this month.
The new structure could reduce the risk of the deal for both Musk and his lenders, particularly given the recent slide in Tesla’s stock price. Shares in the EV maker has sunk about 40 percent since Musk first announced his stake in Twitter in early April. An extended slump raised the prospect that he wouldn’t have enough unpledged shares to cover the margin loan.
Musk, Tesla’s co-founder, is still on the hook for coming up with the full $33.5 billion equity component. But he can turn to others for help.
Musk …
Cannon Motor Co. of Oxford, Miss., has acquired three dealerships to add to its footprint in the Southern state.
Cannon Motor on May 2 bought Estabrook Toyota in Moss Point, Estabrook Ford-Lincoln in Pascagoula and Estabrook Nissan in Pascagoula from Estabrook Motor Co., Cannon Motor CFO Andrew Wood told Automotive News in an email. These were the Estabrook family's only dealerships.
Click here for all dealer group coverage from Automotive News.
"These stores have done really well, have a great reputation and great people working there," Wood said in the email. "We've been wanting to expand to the Mississippi Gulf Coast due to the population growth and opportunity in the area."
The dealerships were renamed Cannon Toyota, Cannon Ford-Lincoln of Pascagoula and Cannon Nissan in Pascagoula.
Cannon Motor, a family-operated company, formed in 1956 in Calhoun City, Miss., starting as a used-car business.
The group has 19 franchised dealer…
Helping Ford Motor Co. debut the Bronco has been a major challenge for Webasto.
"It took a lot of energy, nerves and money," CEO Holger Engelmann said last week during the German supplier's annual press conference. He added, however, that the situation is under control.
The trouble included Ford being forced to delayed production of the SUV after coronavirus-related logistics issues hampered Webasto's ability to equip its Michigan facility in time to make the vehicle's removable roof, Automotive News reported in late 2020.
Another setback came last summer when Ford said it needs to replace all hardtop roofs made up until that point because of quality problems, my colleague Mike Martinez outlined.
Ford continues to struggle with getting enough Broncos delivered to customers, but that delay is because of the chip shortage. Despite this, Ford sold 13,113 Broncos in the U.S. in April -- the most of any month since its June 2021 launch.
Webast…
DAVOS, Switzerland -- Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said he sees "clear improvement" in semiconductor supplies and expects the automaker's global production can recover during the rest of this year.
Diess, speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum conference in Davos, Switzerland, said disruptions to VW's supply chain in Ukraine are also easing.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine temporarily halted production of wiring harnesses and other components used in VW vehicles.
"The situation from Ukraine is under control now if nothing bad really happens anymore we will not lose too many cars," Diess said.
Diess and other senior VW executives covered a wide range of topics in a meeting with reporters.
VW plans to decide this year on a site in the U.S. to assemble its proposed Scout brand electric trucks and SUVs, Diess said.
The company is assessing "brownfield sites and some greenfield locations," he said, using terms for exis…
The nation's largest new-vehicle retailer is commencing a multimillion-dollar "Go Be Great" advertising campaign that it says coincides with an employee retention and recruitment effort.
Auto retail giant AutoNation Inc. said on Tuesday that it was launching the campaign, featuring its employees, on television stations including ESPN, CNBC and NBC ahead of the Indianapolis 500 race on Sunday. AutoNation is a sponsor of Indy 500 driver Helio Castroneves, who is seeking a record fifth Indy 500 win. The race airs Sunday on NBC.
The campaign, which also will appear in radio, print, online and in social media, was developed by AutoNation, I Think Studios and Zimmerman Advertising.
Marc Cannon, AutoNation's chief customer experience officer, in an email to Automotive News, did not specify how many millions of dollars the retailer plans to spend on the campaign.
Cannon said the ads highlight AutoNation employees, "the people wh…
The National Automobile Dealers Association and several state associations are reaching out to Volkswagen Group of America looking for assurances on how the German automaker's new Scout brand will be retailed in the U.S., and making sure any plan doesn't violate state franchise laws, Automotive News has learned.
In announcing creation of the Scout brand on May 11, Herbert Diess, CEO of VW Group, said the automaker's plan was to build a "separate, independent company" to operate the brand, sharing a sketch of a future battery electric SUV and pickup. But Diess made no mention of how the U.S.-made vehicles would be distributed in the market, leaving concerned dealers wondering whether the new brand with products they have long coveted would either sell direct to consumers or be a competing franchise.
In a letter dated Tuesday to Scott Keogh, CEO of VW Group of America, NADA CEO Mike Stanton addressed the lack of information from the Scout announcement and urged …