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Always touted as the fuel of the future but never the present, the age of hydrogen is about to start.

Billions of dollars of federal subsidies are part of a massive industrial policy pushing the energy source. The Department of Energy is pouring $7 billion into a series of regional hydrogen production hubs to make sure that it's available for transportation and heavy industry. It also plans to subsidize the price of hydrogen when produced with green technologies.

By subsidizing the production of clean hydrogen, the government is encouraging its use by the steel, cement, iron, ammonia, petrochemical and specialty-fuel industries.

But policymakers need to make sure the methods used to produce hydrogen are clean. Nearly all the hydrogen currently produced in the U.S. requires carbon-emitting energy sources.

Automakers have spent years developing hydrogen fuel cell passenger cars only to discover there's almost no consumer interest. New-car buyers loo…

The executive director of GM’s hydrogen fuel cell business highlights the automaker’s history with fuel cells, explains when to use fuel cells vs. electric vehicle batteries and shares how GM is taking the tech to other industries. The episode is part of an Automotive News project on hydrogen technology.

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A Michigan Supreme Court opinion could help suppliers get what they've been longing for over the past few years: more leverage to extract price concessions from their customers.

Michigan's high court ruled this month that buyers must be explicit in contracts in saying what they intend to buy from a seller. Contracts between auto suppliers and their customers sometimes use "wishy-washy language," said Dan Rustmann, co-chair of Detroit law firm Butzel's global automotive group.

But because of the court ruling, customers in Michigan must now either state a specific number of parts that they intend to purchase or specifically say what percentage of parts they will buy over the course of the contract.

"You have to use very specific language that says you're buying your [contractual] requirements," Rustmann said. "You have to use clear language now."

The ruling in MSSC Inc. v. AirBoss Flexible Products Co. — a dispute betwee…

Nissan, an electric vehicle pioneer that has seen its early lead in the segment evaporate, will seek redemption with a fleet of high-performance, smartly designed battery models, including a fastback and lightweight pickup.

Nissan expects zero-emission vehicles to account for more than 40 percent of its U.S. sales by 2030.

To deliver more affordable EVs, the Japanese automaker is developing an integrated powertrain unit that is 10 percent smaller and costs 30 percent less to produce than its current hardware.

But Nissan is off to a sluggish start with its EV comeback in the U.S.

The heavily hyped Ariya electric crossover arrived in late 2022 — about a year behind schedule. Manufacturing problems this spring had Ariya production reportedly running at least a third below plan. Meanwhile, the Japan-made EV has been iced out of the $7,500 U.S. federal tax credit for EV purchases that is available to some U.S.-built competitors. In the first six mont…

Five of the six major publicly traded franchised dealership groups reported double-digit percentage declines on new-vehicle gross profits during the second quarter, as inventories grew and rising interest rates cut into shoppers' buying power. That came as all of the publics except Asbury Automotive Group Inc. posted new-vehicle sales gains in the quarter.

The six publics — Penske Automotive Group Inc., Sonic Automotive Inc., Asbury, Group 1 Automotive Inc., Lithia Motors Inc. and AutoNation Inc. — collectively averaged about $5,000 in profit on each new vehicle sold during the second quarter, compared with about $2,000 in the second quarter of 2019, before COVID-19 disrupted the industry in 2020.

All of the publics except Sonic also experienced year-over-year drops in second-quarter gross profit per used vehicle, but the group's combined average profit of about $2,000 was about $500 higher than the average in the second quarter of 2019.

If the world is indeed throwing an electric vehicle party, it's pretty clear by now that someone forgot to invite most of Japan.

While Nissan pioneered the segment with the Leaf and Toyota had a short-lived dalliance with Tesla almost a decade ago, most of the largest Japanese brands find themselves lagging behind in the rapidly growing EV race.

And they seem armed with last-minute offerings that look less than competitive against more advanced EVs on sale from Europe, the U.S. and their competitors elsewhere in Asia.

But if this industry has learned anything over the last half a century, it is this: Japan's largest automakers and their tagalong premium brands rarely stay behind for long in any automotive technology competition.

Toyota and Lexus, Nissan and Infiniti, and Honda and Acura have all laid out strategies to greatly expand their EV offerings and promise dramatic range advances if solid-state battery technology becomes commercially viab…

WASHINGTON — Consumers will continue have a choice between electric and combustion powertrains for the next several years, but Audi's global head of marketing and sales says automakers need much more "edutainment" to salve consumer apprehension about electric vehicles.

Hildegard Wortmann visited the U.S. this month as part of the German premium brand co-hosting the Major League Soccer All-Star Game against Premier League champion Arsenal at the Audi Field stadium in Washington, D.C. Wortmann said automakers shouldn't be "dogmatic" when marketing EV, but they need to educate consumers about their benefits while entertaining them and easing their concerns.

"I want the customers to be aware that there is a choice and that they can go for an electric car, and that this electric car does offer 300 miles, does offer fast charging, which I think is more important than actually the range," Wortmann told Automotive News here. But, she said, automakers ne…

As the U.S. auto industry attempts to do its part to slow the warming of the planet, there's room for debate about how big that role needs to be.

The head of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the industry umbrella group for many automakers and suppliers, argues that the EPA's proposed emissions rules for the 2027 to 2032 model years are pushing manufacturers too hard. The group calls the EPA's draft rule "a de facto battery-electric vehicle mandate" that is "neither reasonable nor achievable in the time frame provided."

By the EPA's own projections, its proposed regulatory scheme would require EVs to make up more than half of new-vehicle sales by the 2030 model year and two-thirds by 2032.

The alliance says the tougher regulations will force large parts of the industry to rely on Chinese suppliers, giving an even bigger advantage to an already dominant player in mining and processing batteries' critical minerals.

T…

Once considered a niche environmental play as the automotive industry focused on battery-electric and fuel cell vehicles, hydrogen internal combustion engines have gained renewed attention as a green vehicle technology.

A pending European Union regulatory change would classify heavy-duty trucks using the engines — which burn hydrogen to push pistons — as zero-emission vehicles. That could spark an echo in pickups and smaller vehicles in other markets.

"It was a light-switch moment," said Jim Nebergall, general manager of Cummins Inc.'s hydrogen engine business.

EU regulators have proposed changing their zero-emission definition to ensure that buses and heavy-duty trucks equipped with hydrogen internal combustion engines qualify. They said such vehicles should be included because hydrogen is a fuel with no carbon content. The proposal is passing through the legislative procedure in the European Parliament and Council of the European Union. The vehicles w…

Toyota will see several new nameplates and a widening of the brand's collection of crossovers in the next four years, including new battery-electric offerings, while it also finishes the redesign of its body-on-frame vehicles.

Led by the return of the Land Cruiser nameplate — albeit on a different vehicle — after a three-year absence, the brand will add a square-backed version of the Crown Crossover and an electric three-row crossover over the next three years. A Corolla-based pickup remains a possibility, but its appearance is a work in progress.

Toyota will also remain in the sedan segments, where the departure of most competitors has allowed it to gobble up market share, though look for the product cadence for sedan nameplates to be extended to lower costs.

bZ4X: The electric compact crossover launched in the first half of 2022, but it tripped out of the gate when a stop-sale order was issued because of a problem unrelated to its electric powertrain…

The emergence of U.S. government industrial policy designed to slash greenhouse gas emissions will push the country's most polluting and carbon-intensive sectors to hydrogen as their fuel choice.

By subsidizing the production of clean hydrogen, the government is encouraging its use by the steel, cement, iron, ammonia, petrochemical and specialty fuel industries. Combined, heavy industry accounts for about 23 percent of annual U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the federal government.

Shipping and logistics companies and heavy-vehicle manufacturers — transportation accounts for about 28 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions — also stand to benefit from producers expanding production and using government subsidies to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen.

Federal financial support will make hydrogen one of the most cost-effective decarbonizing fuels, said Patrick Molloy, manager for the climate-aligned industries program a…