News

There's no ejector seat, oil slick maker or machine gun, but the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 that Sean Connery bought for himself more than a half-century after driving one as James Bond in Goldfinger is up for sale.

The actor bought the DB5 at the suggestion of his children in 2018, two years before he died at age 90. It's the only one he ever personally owned, and auction company Broad Arrow Group expects it to sell for $1.4 million to $1.8 million.

"Dad used to talk about owning his own DB5, for no other reason than he loved the car," son Jason Connery said in a statement from Broad Arrow. "He did tell me that driving the movie cars, all laden down with the gadgets, especially the machine guns in the front, made the car really front heavy and turning at slow speed was a Herculean task, so driving without gadgets was a joy! He loved how well balanced it was. Dad also said he would have kept the ejector seat. I didn't ask who for."

After a yearlong search, …

WASHINGTON — As the auto industry endures global supply chain disruptions, including a semiconductor shortage that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, one trade association is hoping to avoid déjà vu.

"Right now, our No. 1 public policy issue is to get passage of the competition bill that is making its way through Congress," said Ann Wilson, senior vice president of government affairs at the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association, which represents original equipment and aftermarket automotive parts suppliers in the U.S.

Congress this month held its first meeting of the conference committee, which is tasked with negotiating a final competitiveness bill approved by both chambers. The Senate passed its version of the bill in June 2021, followed by the House passing a similar bill in February. Major focuses of both bills are improving U.S. competitiveness with China and boosting semiconductor manufacturing.

Both versions also include $52 billion to …

Supplier American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. is exploring a potential sale, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The company has hired an adviser to help with the process, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. A leveraged buyout through a private equity firm is a likely option, one person said. No decision has been made and the company could decide to stand pat.

American Axle didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Its shares jumped 11.4 percent to $7.52 in extended trading late Friday following Bloomberg's report. The stock had fallen 28 percent this year through Friday's close, compared with an 18 percent drop for the S&P 500 index.

The manufacturer has been a stalwart supplier of axles and drivetrain components to automakers. The company faces challenges to maintain revenue as key customers such as Ford Motor Co. and General Motors electrify their vehicles and switch to di…

A new software stack developed by steering supplier Nexteer Automotive and Israeli tech startup Tactile Mobility allows vehicles to get a better "feel of the road" in hazardous conditions — and even to detect the health of a tire.

The software is integrated into a vehicle's steering system to instantly detect when the tires have contacted an icy patch of road highway. The vehicle then converts road surface information into data that the vehicle "interprets and assigns to various road-condition scenarios," according to the companies.

Detecting a change in conditions, the software could instruct an adaptive cruise control system to increase the distance between the vehicle and the one in front of it, according to the companies.

"We are providing the car the ability to sense the road itself," Shahar Bin-Nun, CEO of Tactile Mobility, told Automotive News. "It's all about understanding the micro-slips and the dynamics between the surfac…

In early summer 2020, Infiniti of Denver debuted a vehicle pickup and delivery program for its service customers. It was an effort to keep customers from defecting because the dealership knew it was going to be without a critical vehicle for months.

Production of Infiniti's previous-generation QX60 midsize crossover would end in December 2020, and a redesigned version wouldn't arrive at U.S. stores until a year later as a 2022 model.

"While we were offering lease extensions to current customers, I was concerned about them leaving the brand altogether," Infiniti of Denver dealer principal Christopher Smith told Automotive News. "We needed something to differentiate ourselves, especially in this time of a product void."

The convenience for customers has also helped draw new business to the out-of-the-way dealership in Aurora, Colo.

"We are difficult to find and not necessarily in the best part of town," Smith said. "What better way to get customer…

With new-car supplies disrupted, Nissan Motor Co. is helping its dealers step up their used-vehicle game.

This fall, the automaker will launch a certified pre-owned program for non-Nissan brand vehicles.

The vehicles will receive an 84-point inspection and a 6-month/6,000-mile limited warranty, compared with a 167-point inspection and a 7-year/ 100,000-mile warranty for Nissan-brand CPOs.

Nissan hopes the expanded program will draw shoppers who might not have otherwise considered the brand to its stores, creating an opportunity to flip them into a new or used Nissan when it's time to upgrade or buy a second vehicle.

"We want to build connections with customers about the Nissan brand and the Nissan experience," Dan Mohnke, Nissan U.S. vice president of eCommerce, told Automotive News. "The biggest benefit for the dealer is new customers that they wouldn't have normally seen."

Tyler Slade, operating partner…

A West Virginia jury ruled Tuesday that Ford Motor Co. must pay $7 million to the family of a 19-year-old woman who was killed in a 2016 accident involving her Ford Mustang.

According to the suit, a pickup struck the 2014 Mustang, which subsequently caught fire, and Breanna Bumgarner was ultimately killed.

The lawsuit, filed in February 2018 in Charleston, W.Va., alleged the Mustang was "defectively designed thus creating an unreasonable propensity to ignite into flames under normal and foreseeable operating conditions."

According to the Charleston Gazette-Mail, the jury ruled Ford was 99 percent at fault for Bumgarner's death because the Mustang did not reasonably prevent leakage from the brake fluid reservoir during the crash. The jury reserved the remaining 1 percent of fault for the driver who struck the Mustang.

Mike Andrews, an attorney representing Bumgarner's family, wrote in an email to Automotive News that Ford knowingly hid important sa…

ELLABELL, Ga. — Hyundai Motor Group — solidly No. 2 in the U.S. electric vehicle market in the first quarter — will plow $5.5 billion into its first dedicated EV factory in the world in this Georgia town, the South Korean automaker said Friday. Suppliers will invest an additional $1 billion.

The plant, about 30 miles northwest of Savannah, Ga., is a cornerstone of Hyundai's long-term investment in electric vehicles, and would make it the first Asian automaker to commit a North American plant exclusively to EV output. All vehicles produced there will be sold in the U.S.

Along with the new plant, the automaker is planning to build a battery-manufacturing factory with a joint partner, the automaker's CEO told Automotive News. An announcement will come "shortly."

Hyundai Global COO José Muñoz, who is also the head of the automaker's North American operations, confirmed that up to six models will be built there by 2028, and that the factory will bu…

Lear Corp. is acquiring a German automotive supplier of temperature-controlled seats and steering wheels for nearly $150 million, beefing up its comfort seating capabilities.

The suburban Detroit seating and electronics supplier agreed to buy Gruendau-Rothenbergen, Germany-based I.G. Bauerhin in a deal expected to be finalized in the next six to nine months, according to a Friday statement.

Lear is also purchasing Romania-based software supplier Thagora Technology SRL for an undisclosed sum, giving it scalable industry 4.0 software to help reduce scrap and lower energy usage during production, the company announced Thursday.

The I.G. Bauerhin deal follows Lear's acquisition last year of Kongsberg Automotive, a $200 million play for increased vertical integration and capturing more vehicle content, including massage seating, lumbar support, heating and ventilation.

"Combining Lear's industry-leading seating expertise and Kongsberg's products and ca…

HAMBURG – Volkswagen Group supervisory board has called on management to present a reworked plan for the automaker's software division, which forms the backbone of its strategy but has run into problems, two people familiar with the matter said.

The board is expecting an update at the last supervisory board meeting before the summer break, one of the people said, adding no date has been set yet.

"What the [management] board has presented is not enough," said the other person.

VW declined to comment.

VW has called its software division, Cariad, which is the central element in its autonomous driving push, "the most ambitious project of our entire industry to tap into the most relevant profit pools of the future."

Cariad plans to challenge existing software incumbents, including Apple and Tesla, but has hit bumps in the road, which could become a problem for VW boss Herbert Diess, who is responsible for the unit on the group's management boa…

It took Wally Darwish more than 20 months to bring his first dealership purchases across the finish line — something he said he had prepared decades for.

Darwish last month purchased 10 franchised dealerships in New York state from Billy Fuccillo Jr. and Fuccillo Automotive Group, picking up four Ford dealerships and three Stellantis stores, plus Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and Nissan outlets to form Wally's Auto Group. In total, he was awarded 19 franchises.

The acquired stores are located in Nelliston, Seneca Falls, Adams, Watertown, Latham, Schenectady, East Greenbush and Amsterdam.

"This is the never-ending deal," Darwish said. "I made this deal right when COVID hit."

Darwish, formerly a minority partner in a New Jersey Audi dealership and a platform manager for Napleton Automotive Group, said that after entering into an agreement with Fuccillo in August 2020, he ran into several delays. His lawyer's office shut down because of COVID-19, and Darw…