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Hyundai Motor Co. wants to speed up completion rates of a software patch that will protect its vehicles targeted by thieves following a national social media-driven crime wave.

The automaker is staging a mobile service center in Washington, D.C., this week for owners of the affected vehicles residing within 25 miles of Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, where the event will take place.

According to company spokesperson Ira Gabriel, about 37,000 Hyundai owners were alerted via email about the opportunity.

The service center will cover two of the stadium's parking lots. Technicians will be on-site to install and complete the software upgrade, a process Hyundai estimates will take less than an hour.

Gabriel said the clinic is the first in what could be a series of events and is a response to its dealer network being swamped with customers asking for the software update.

In a statement, Hyundai said the clinic is "intended to complement Hyun…

Join us at noon Thursday for a LinkedIn Live chat on the 2023 UAW contract talks with Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell University.

The discussion, where we will take questions from the audience, will also be simulcast on Facebook.

Wheaton will be joined by Automotive News Executive Editor Jamie Butters and Staff Reporter Michael Martinez as they discuss the top issues facing both unionized workers and the Detroit 3 automakers.

We welcome questions and comments in advance and encourage Automotive News readers to submit voice notes about UAW contract talks to [email protected]

Chevron Corp. is considering opportunities to produce lithium that would be used in EV batteries, CEO Mike Wirth said in a Bloomberg interview.

Extracting lithium fits with the “core capabilities” of a company like Chevron that has deep experience producing oil and gas, Wirth said on Sunday, without providing details of specific plans.

Earlier in July, Exxon Mobil Corp. CEO Darren Woods said the energy giant is exploring opportunities to produce lithium. The price and availability of lithium is crucial to whether EVs can scale up.

The lithium interest from U.S. oil majors contrasts with their counterparts in Europe, which have been more aggressive in certain energy-transition areas like wind, solar and power services.

U.S. companies have focused on adjacent areas of their fossil fuel business such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and lithium. Chevron itself has made clear it has no plans to invest significantly in big wind and solar proje…

Audi’s sales chief Hildegard Wortmann joins the show to talk about what she calls the brand's largest product initiative ever. Wholesale used-car pricing is set to rebound. And Unifor is taking a less adversarial approach to contract talks than the UAW.

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An electric truck previously damaged from a fire behind Nikola Corp.'s headquarters in Phoenix reignited Sunday afternoon, the company said.

"At approximately 2 p.m. at Nikola headquarters, one of the trucks that was previously damaged reignited. No one was injured and the fire was quickly contained. The damaged trucks have remained at the company's HQ site for safety monitoring and the ongoing investigations," the company said in the statement.

There were no injuries reported.

On June 23, a fire behind the Nikola headquarters destroyed two trucks and heavily damaged another two.

Nikola said it suspected foul play behind the fire last month. The June fire affected multiple trucks but caused no injuries.

"Foul play is suspected as a vehicle was seen in the area of the affected trucks just prior to the incident and an investigation is underway," the company said in a tweet that day.

But foul play has not yet been confirmed by the Pho…

A high-performing service department has long been the key to a profitable dealership. It carries even more importance today, as other areas have struggled due to inventory allocation, fluctuating consumer demand, and changing customer preferences. Measuring service-to-sales conversion performance is key to knowing how you stack up against your competition. Service departments continue to drive profitability for dealerships but, more importantly, remain the primary source to build strong, long-term loyalty with customers. The more dealers can do to make service a valuable experience for the customer, the harder it will be for them to shop around when it comes time to purchase their next new vehicle.

Toyota Motor Corp. has dismissed some workers at one of its plants in China, three workers told Reuters, as the Japanese automaker struggles with a price war and sales slump in the world's largest auto market.

The joint venture between Toyota and China's state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) laid off the workers over the weekend and offered them compensation, said the workers, who declined to be named for privacy.

The workers affected were hired by labor service companies and dispatched to work at the factory of GAC Toyota in the southern city of Guangzhou.

Reuters was unable to determine how many workers in total were dismissed. GAC and Toyota did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.

The GAC Toyota factory has an annual output capacity of 1 million vehicles and employs around 19,000 people, according to its website. It produces models including Camry, Levin and bZ4X.

Toyota's move comes after peer Mitsub…

NEW DELHI - Tesla representatives are set to meet India's commerce minister this month to discuss plans to build a factory to produce what the company has described as a new $24,000 car, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Tesla has expressed an interest in building a factory in India to produce low-cost EVs for the local market and for export, the person said, adding that the company had indicated the factory would be for the new vehicle.

The meeting with the commerce minister would be the highest level discussions between Tesla and the Indian government since June when Elon Musk met India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he intended to make a significant investment in the country.

The 2 million rupee ($24,000) EV Tesla representatives were said to have described in discussions about an Indian plant would be 25 percent cheaper than its lowest priced offering, the Model 3 sedan, selling for a bit more than $32,200 in China.<…

Stellantis and Samsung SDI are teaming up on a second battery plant in the U.S. as the automaker works to develop a supply chain to support its electric vehicle ambitions.

The companies, already building a battery plant in Kokomo, Ind., that begins production in 2025, have signed a memorandum of understanding to build another facility slated to go online in early 2027. The second facility's location remains under review.

The plants are being established under StarPlus Energy, the Stellantis and Samsung SDI joint venture company.

Stellantis is planning for EVs to make up 50 percent of its passenger car and light-duty truck sales mix in the U.S. by 2030, while aiming for 100 percent in Europe during that time frame. Stellantis said it is securing about 400 gigawatt hours of battery capacity to achieve these sales targets.

Stellantis is aiming for the latest plant to have an initial annual production capacity of 34 GWh. The automaker said it intend…

General Motors is launching a new advertising campaign that aims to reposition its OnStar service as the digital connection underpinning in-vehicle safety, connectivity and entertainment.

The campaign set to launch Monday gives OnStar a new tagline — "Better Never Stops" — and includes a commercial promoting the brand as the link behind all of GM's vehicle technology, from its Super Cruise hands-free driver-assist technology to real-time navigation.

Previously, OnStar used the tagline "Be Safe Out There," which GM said will continue to be part of safety-related messaging.

GM is transitioning to an all-electric lineup and developing its Ultifi software platform, which will enable software-defined vehicles offering apps and other features through over-the-air updates. The automaker has said it expects software and subscription services to generate revenue in the range of $20 billion to $25 billion by 2030.

Amid that transition, the automaker in re…

The definitive guide for all-new, redesigned, freshened and reengineered vehicles hitting the market in the next five years just got an update.

Our annual Future Product Pipeline series kicks off this week with a new, interactive tool that allows you to filter our vehicle database by brand, segment, powertrain, year and type of update. This puts the entirety of our Future Product intelligence at your fingertips.

The new feature adds to the breadth and depth of coverage from our staff experts.

Our first deep dive covers the new metal coming from General Motors, which is in the early stages of its electrification transformation. After starting its journey with higher-end models, EVs are coming to more mainstream segments. Production has begun or is scheduled to begin this year on electric versions of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and Equinox and Blazer crossovers.

GM CEO Mary Barra has said getting more affordable EVs in mainstream segments to mark…

Our annual Future Product Pipeline: Redesigned for 2023

The definitive guide for all-new, redesigned, freshened and reengineered vehicles hitting the market in the next five years just got an update.

Our annual Future Product Pipeline series kicks off this week with a new, interactive tool that allows you to filter our vehicle database by brand, segment, powertrain, year and type of update. This puts the entirety of our Future Product intelligence at your fingertips.

The new feature adds to the breadth and depth of coverage from our staff experts.

Our first deep dive covers the new metal coming from General Motors, which is in the early stages of its electrification transformation. After starting its journey with higher-end models, EVs are coming to more mainstream segments. Production has begun or is scheduled to begin this year on electric versions of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and Equinox and Blazer crossovers.

GM CEO Mary Barra ha…