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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The American Center for Mobility is working toward building out an electric vehicle charging hub at Willow Run, 44 miles west of Detroit, as it aims to further diversify from strictly autonomous vehicle testing.

The project at the vehicle test track would consist of installing up to 24 DC fast chargers of different makes and models and require an investment of between $4 million and $6 million, said Reuben Sarkar, president and CEO of the center.

Sarkar said he is pursuing federal grant money and commitments from charging manufacturers and automakers to scale the project, which could break ground as soon as the fall.

The charging hub seeks to provide automakers and charging manufacturers solutions to the issue of interoperability between different vehicles and charging systems. Michigan has relatively few varieties of chargers in operation and no single location where various types can be tested, Sarkar said.

Washington, D…

AutoForecast Solutions added 104,792 vehicles to its year-to-date estimate of the number of vehicles automakers have removed from their production schedules because of the microchip shortage.

The jump, one of the largest in recent months, is explained in part by “historical updates” that were added to the tally, which now stands at about 1.85 million vehicles, said Sam Fiorani, AutoForecast Solutions' vice president of global vehicle forecasting.

South American assembly plants accounted for a majority of the newly reported cuts, as the forecasting firm added about 57,000 to its estimate of the number of vehicles axed in the region.

Source: AutoForecast Solutions Inc. autoforecastsolutions.com

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Tesla appears to be trolling Ford Motor Co. by dressing up a Cybertruck prototype to look like an oddly shaped F-150.

Photos of the wrapped Cybertruck driving or being transported around the San Francisco Bay Area began spreading around the Internet in late July, just as Tesla said it would begin limited production of the electric pickup this year.

The Cybertruck's angular shape makes it all but impossible to fool anyone with the disguise, though the wrap does hide some of the truck's details in the same way more traditional camouflage regularly used by automakers does. The truck has a manufacturer license plate, making clear that Tesla itself added the costume.

Ford CEO Jim Farley recently took a dig at the Cybertruck — which Tesla CEO Elon Musk originally promised would arrive in 2021 — during an interview on CNBC, saying he doesn't consider it a rival of the top-selling F-Series line.

"If he wants to design a Cybert…

Audi will begin culling internal combustion-powered vehicles from its lineup this year with the sunsetting of its low-volume sport coupes, the TT and R8, while it continues to expand its electric vehicle offerings as the premium brand transitions to an EV-exclusive lineup by 2033.

Audi, part of Volkswagen Group, says it will end development of new gasoline engines in 2026. That means most of its popular combustion vehicles should have at least one more product cycle left before they are replaced with battery-powered alternatives.

To delineate between powertrains, Audi is temporarily altering its alphanumeric model naming system. It will keep the A prefix for sedans and Q for crossovers, but future electric models will adopt even numbers, while combustion models remain with odd numbers. The switch is expected to take place gradually as vehicles are redesigned.

The brand will expand the EVs on its PPE architecture, which will slowly merge with other platf…

Fixing the minor damage to a Rivian pickup involved in a fender-bender last winter cost $42,000 — nearly half the price of the truck.

"I expected it to be expensive," the truck's owner, Chris Apfelstadt, told The New York Times for a story last month, "but it was still a shocking number."

The case is an extreme example of car repairs that have become exponentially costlier as automakers pack their vehicles with more electronics and parts that are more difficult to replace.

Apfelstadt's repair, which was done at one of only three Ohio businesses certified to fix Rivians, involved replacing a panel that spans much of the R1T's length and necessitated removing the windshield and headliner. The insurance carrier of the driver who rear-ended the truck initially offered only $1,600 because the damage had been deemed minor.

The report cited figures from Mitchell, which collects insurance claim data, saying the average cost of re…

Mercedes-Benz is reshaping its expansive U.S. product portfolio as it accelerates toward an electric future. 

The automaker aims to become an all-electric brand globally by 2030 but acknowledges that some markets will be slower to flip than others. Given lingering consumer skepticism of electric vehicles and inadequate public charging infrastructure, the U.S. is likely one of those markets. 

Mercedes expects EVs to account for 40 percent of its new-vehicle sales in the U.S. by 2026 and 70 percent by 2030. At a retailer meeting in May, Mercedes teased eight new vehicles, including electric variants of the CLA coupe and GLC crossover. 

Electrification is also coming to Mercedes’ light commercial vehicle business. 

Mercedes will bring a battery-powered Sprinter to the U.S. this year. A luxury midsize passenger van and a range of electric RVs will follow.

eSprinter: A battery-powered U.S.-made version of the Sprinter van a…

At the NADA Show in Dallas this year, Damian Mills attended a presentation by the National Urban League on a new automotive technician training program it was launching with the car dealer association. Mills immediately decided to take part.

"Once I saw what the program was and the intentions, my team got behind it 100 percent," said Mills, CEO of Mills Automotive Group, which has 29 dealerships in six states.

The pioneering program in Louisiana brings together two organizations — the National Urban League and the National Automobile Dealers Association — and their diverse resources to help alleviate a The hope is to establish a nationwide network of auto technician training apprenticeships.

"We hope the industry can take pilot programs and partnerships like this, use our model and take this across the country," said Will Green, CEO of the Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association.

The National Urban League is an ideal…

Eight months ago, Justin Dodd was living at a Salvation Army in Louisiana with his two daughters. Today, he is an apprentice automotive service technician at Banner Chevrolet in New Orleans and has a new home of his own.

Dodd, 41, became homeless after resigning from his previous job managing contracted sanitation crews at food processing plants. He left, he said, because he and his daughters, ages 8 and 13, had grown tired of moving to a new city every time one contract ended and a new one started.

Looking for new opportunities, he heard about the apprentice training program from two Urban League of Louisiana representatives. He was initially told no slots were open, but he persisted, and a spot opened up.

Dodd had more work experience than some others in the program, and he leveraged it to advise his classmates.

"It gave me a chance to stand out as a leader," he said. "A lot of these guys were lost and confused. I knew where they were coming f…

Mercedes-Benz is marching into the EV era.

In the U.S., the luxury automaker expects battery-powered vehicles to account for of new-car sales by 2026 and 70 percent by the beginning of the next decade.

But first, Mercedes must prepare its retail network to service those next-generation vehicles. To do that, the brand is investing in technician training.

CCC Intelligent Solutions' 2022 Crash Course report said there will be 100,000 technician job openings over the next decade.

Mercedes has partnered with job training program Job Corps to help build the talent pipeline for its dealers.

The automaker will develop the curriculum, train Job Corps instructors, provide technical support and donate materials, tools and equipment. The training of 16- to 24-year-olds will take place at Job Corps centers in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Utah to start.

Ralf Paul, Mercedes-Benz USA director of custome…

The deals are back in America's new-car showrooms.

Automaker spending on new-vehicle incentives rose sharply in July compared with the year-earlier month, driven by electric vehicle offers, luxury car lease deals and growing inventory across the industry, according to estimates by Motor Intelligence and J.D. Power.

Incentives averaged $2,151 per vehicle last month compared with $1,174 in July 2022, according to Motor Intelligence, with EV startup Lucid Motors leading the way with $12,907 on the Air sedan. J.D. Power estimated July incentives at $1,830 per vehicle compared with $908 in the year-earlier month.

"The reason automakers are spending again is that retail inventory is growing," said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power. "Last year it was under 800,000 retail units but this year is over 1.2 million. Production issues are quickly receding into the background, and as production goes up, inventory on the ground will incr…