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When the pandemic began last year, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles reviewed its manufacturing processes and work stations to ensure employees would be safe while still churning out quality vehicles.

FCA had a stellar showing in 2020's J.D. Power Initial Quality Study, with Dodge becoming the first domestic brand to lead the rankings and Ram jumping to third place from below average previously. To keep that momentum going, the company would have to adjust to a health crisis that reshaped the factory environment — and based on this year's study, it did just that.

Ram claimed the No. 1 spot for the first time, followed by Dodge in second place. Jeep joined its stablemates in the upper tier by moving up three spots to a tie for eighth.

The success was a product of both vehicle design and discipline in the assembly plants, said Mark Champine, head of North America customer experience at Stellantis, the entity formed by FCA's January merger with PSA Group. Read more

Tesla set an aggressive timetable for its $1.1 billion greenfield assembly plant in Austin, Texas. The electric vehicle maker announced the project only last summer but vows to start production there by the end of this year.

To meet that target, which is part of a plan to quickly launch its Cybertuck, Tesla also must draw suppliers into the Austin area. Supplier plant investments are expected to boom in the region. But so far, few parts companies have declared their intentions.

When asked during a July earnings call about Tesla's ability to stay on plan and expand production, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was philosophical. "Things will move as fast as the slowest part in the entire supply chain," he said, "which goes all the way back to raw materials — lithium and nickel and that kind of thing."

Some suppliers recently have arrived in Tesla's new Texas corridor, although they are not specifying that the secretive Tesla is the reason.

Among the projects t…

Mitsubishi needed a big hit with the new-generation Outlander that launched this year. And for a small automaker struggling to maintain its relevance in the U.S. , it was pretty much a home run.

But Mitsubishi also needed a smaller hit. And it got that with a freshened Eclipse Cross crossover that allowed it to play in the same ballpark as its Asian rivals. The Cross, a large-ish subcompact — or small-ish compact — is a modest success.

The problem now for Mitsubishi is the brand doesn't have any big hitters coming up to bat anytime soon. There will be a plug-in hybrid version of the new-generation Outlander in the second half of 2022, but there's little sign of other new metal coming behind it.

The redesigned 2022 Outlander has been well received, partly because it's heavily based on the new-generation Nissan Rogue, which is Nissan's top seller. The game plan that some Mitsubishi dealers were betting on was that a series of vehicles…

Mazda's rapidly evolving lineup is moving in several different directions at once.

Smaller vehicles are getting more luxurious on the high trims but remaining affordable at the base. A new rear-wheel-drive, large-product platform is being developed to take on premium brands. And there's a greater focus on all-wheel drive, even on cars.

Meanwhile, the Japanese brand is planning hybrids, plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, some likely using technology from automotive partner Toyota. The two automakers are near completion of a joint-venture assembly plant in Alabama that will build distinct vehicles for each of them.

For Mazda's current small-platform vehicles, the Mazda3 sedan/hatchback was redesigned for 2019, and the CX-30 crossover was new for 2020. The top-selling CX-5 is ready for a significant freshening. And the Mazda6 midsize sedan and CX-3 subcompact crossover are discontinued.

Mazda's large-product platform under development will use …

The new Tesla Roadster, CEO Elon Musk said at its unveiling, will be the quickest street-legal production car ever.

But there's nothing quick about production of the Roadster itself. Musk last week said the car, first shown in 2017, "should ship" starting in 2023. And that's only "assuming 2022 is not mega drama," he tweeted.

Mega drama, of course, is an apt description of Musk's history with deadlines. He even used to miss the bus as a kid, so his brother, Kimbal, would lie to get Elon outside on time, according to a 2018 story in The Washington Post.

"I think I do have, like, an issue with time," Musk said at Tesla's 2018 annual shareholders meeting. "I'm a naturally optimistic person. I wouldn't have done cars or rockets if I wasn't. I'm trying to recalibrate as much as possible."

Still, six years from the Roadster's unveiling to production is a long wait, even by the standards of "Elon time." The latest delay is more …

The auto industry’s shortage of semiconductors grew still worse last week, causing AutoForecast Solutions to ratchet up its worst-case scenario once again.

The forecaster now estimates the global industry will lose more than 8.5 million vehicles from its collective production plans before the crisis is over. 

That estimate is 440,000 vehicles higher than its outlook one week earlier.

The shortage shows no sign of easing soon, and automakers in North America, Asia and Europe last week continued to warn of further negative impact.

General Motors said it will cut output at its light-duty pickup plants in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Silao, Mexico, because of inadequate supplies of chips.

In Europe, Daimler CEO Ola Källenius told Automotive News’ German-language sibling publication, Automobilwoche, that “our sales in the third quarter are likely to be noticeably lower than in the second quarter” as a result of chip shortage-related factory cuts.…

The battery cell "is tomorrow's combustion chamber," Porsche CEO Oliver Blume declared at parent Volkswagen Group's Power Day.

The VW event, which came not long after Tesla's Battery Day in September 2020, marked the first of a series of announcements from European automakers that laid out their plans to replace internal combustion engines with battery- driven propulsion.

They included VW's Power Day in March, Renault's eWays ElectroPop event in June, and Stellantis' EV Day and Daimler's EV strategy announcement, both in July.

The automakers used the events to expand on how they were going to meet the 468 gigawatt-hours of battery cell capacity IHS Markit estimates will be needed in Europe to meet the European Union's proposed 55 percent CO2 reduction target by 2030.

The promise of new battery plants, mostly with cell partners, was the concrete result of €2.9 billion ($3.5 billion) of investments from EU countries promis…

TOKYO — When its newfangled e-Palette people mover hit a visually impaired judo wrestler in the athlete village for the 2020 Paralympic Games last month, Toyota proposed a rather ironic safety solution for a supposedly self-driving vehicle: more humans and more human oversight.

The boxcarlike shuttle buses — a public display of Toyota's interest in autonomous vehicles — each got a second safety operator. And the number of crossing guards directing traffic and protecting pedestrians was more than tripled along the e-Palette's route.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda also quickly apologized for the accident and just as quickly issued a reality check about the rudimentary state of today's autonomous driving technology. "I don't think it's at all realistic yet that self-driving cars can travel normally on ordinary roads," he said afterward.

Toyoda's appraisal may be a buzzkill for an industry that's furiously pursuing a new wave of futuristic technologies. But …

DETROIT — A gasoline leak at Ford Motor Co.'s Flat Rock, Mich., assembly plant is likely the cause of vapors and gasoline found in the city's sewer system, prompting a state of emergency in the area, southwest of Detroit, the company said.

The factory, where the Ford Mustang is built, is closed through the Labor Day weekend as previously planned while Ford continues to investigate the matter. The leak and Ford's role were first reported late Friday by The Detroit News.

"We take our responsibilities as a corporate citizen and to protect the environment seriously," Bob Holycross, Ford's vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering, said in a statement. "We've been working with city, state and federal agencies over the last several days to understand and address the issue in Flat Rock."

The News, citing the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, said an estimated 1,000 to 3,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline are t…

The Tesla owner killed along with a friend last spring in a fiery crash outside Houston had almost twice his state’s legal limit of alcohol in his system, an autopsy report first obtained by Bloomberg News shows.

The gruesome deaths of anesthesiologist William Varner, 59, and Everette Talbot, 69, in the wealthy neighborhood of The Woodlands on April 17 drew widespread attention because first responders found the driver’s seat was unoccupied.

Initial comments from local police said that “no one” was driving, which generated news headlines about a “driverless” Tesla and speculation on whether the Autopilot driver-assistance system on Varner’s car was engaged at the time of the crash. Tesla shares fell the next trading day and two federal agencies -- the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board -- launched probes.  

The owner’s alcohol level at the time of the crash adds complexity to a case that has …