News

TOKYO — Subaru, a slow starter in the global electrification race, is overhauling its product development strategy and building a new R&D center to better compete in an era of electrified vehicles.

The comparatively small Japanese automaker will plow $272.2 million into a new seven-story technical center at its domestic production hub in Gunma prefecture just north of Tokyo.

The facility will open in spring 2024 and bring under one roof about 2,800 workers from engineering, product planning and design. The goal is to speed the automaker's product development process and improve flexibility as the industry shifts to electrified vehicles.

Under a new product development strategy announced in May, Subaru will adopt a matrix-style development approach focused on features — such as powertrains, driver-assist systems and connectivity — and on values, such as safety and the environment.

Subaru said the change will improve…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. on Friday said it's asking the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to rescind General Motors' "Cruise" and "Super Cruise" trademarks, the latest in a spat between the two automakers over the phrasing of Ford's new driver-assist system.

GM last month sued Ford over its use of the term Ford BlueCruise, arguing it's "a brazen attempt" by Ford to take advantage of positive press about GM's hands-free Super Cruise technology and Cruise, the San Francisco company GM bought in 2016. GM claims BlueCruise is "far less advanced than Cruise's technology and thus likely to yield an inferior consumer experience, with the potential for comfort and safety issues."

Ford announced it would use the name BlueCruise for its hands-free driving technology in April this year. It has called the complaint meritless and frivolous.

"To defend itself, Ford has no choice but to ask the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to rescind both of GM's 'Cruise' and 'Supe…

Lordstown Motors Corp., the embattled electric vehicle startup, renewed a warning about its ability to continue as a going concern.

The company said in a regulatory filing Friday it doesn’t have enough money to fund large-scale production or commercially launch the battery-electric pickup it plans to manufacture. That came two days after telling investors it was on-track to start limited production in September.

“The current level of cash and cash equivalents are not sufficient to fund commercial scale production and the launch of sale of such vehicles,” it said. “These conditions raise substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least one year.”

The aspiring truckmaker’s shares fell 6.5 percent to close at $5.37 on Friday in New York. The stock is down more than 70 percent this year.

Lordstown is one of a number of SPAC-acquired EV startups struggling to raise cash and move into produc…

Lamborghini has resurrected a storied nameplate from decades ago for one last ride before the Italian supercar company transitions to an all-electric future.

The 2022 Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 pays homage to its famous predecessors built between 1974 and 1990, with their sharply angled wedge shape, sculpted rear and unusual doors. Originally designed by Bertone, posters of the previous-generation rear-engined, scissor-doored, exotic-looking Countach were as ubiquitous on bedroom walls in the late 20th century as were posters featuring equally glamorous-and-unobtainable Hollywood starlets.

The modern version, which will be displayed at The Quail as part of Monterey Car Week, is outfitted with a naturally aspirated rear-mounted 6.5-liter V-12 engine that combined with the brand's 34-hp hybrid supercapacitor technology produces a total of about 825 hp, Automobili Lamborghini says.

Equipped with standard all-wheel drive, the Countach LPI 800-4 is capa…

Electric-vehicle technology advances and growing consumer acceptance has sparked unprecedented investment in EV startups.

While the race to become the next Tesla is on, these fledgling automakers face steep challenges getting products to market.

This Automotive News Intelligence Report tracks the progress of EV startups furthest along their journey, giving you a comprehensive picture of the landscape  from product plans to financial health.

Automotive News subscribers will also get access to more Intelligence Reports in the coming weeks that focus on lidar, digital retail and vehicle inventory.

Read the report

Intelligence Reports

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Dutch startup pitches its two-seat solar EVs for car-sharing

A Dutch startup is putting car-sharing in a new light.

The company, Squad Mobility, plans to roll out small battery-electric vehicles that it believes are well suited to car-sharing fleets and mobility as a service. The vehicles are equipped with rooftop solar panels to extend their range. The company says its goal is safe and accessible urban mobility.

The Squad Solar City car is a two-seater that runs on swappable batteries. The name Squad is short for solar quadricycle.

The company plans to launch the cars in Europe, then expand to the U.S. A prototype is expected to be unveiled in September 2022. Production is slated to begin in the last quarter of 2022.

The vehicle is about 4 feet wide, 5 feet tall and 6.7 feet long. Its small size allows for easy navigation and parking in cities. The company says three of the cars can fit comfortably in one pa…

Mechanics at 56 Chicago-area car dealerships are on strike for a second week as their union and the Chicago New Car Dealer Committee, which represents the stores, spar over work contract details and who should make the next move in negotiating a new four-year contract.

The employees are members of Local 701, which is part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers trade union. The Chicago Automobile Trade Association — which says it is not part of these specific negotiations — supports its members that are part of the car dealer committee, known as the NCDC.

Local 701 posted a negotiation update to its website, in which it said the NCDC is prolonging the strike by ignoring the union's rejection of its contract proposal.

The union is asking the NCDC to pay certain contributions set by the union's Health and Welfare Fund; to not make it easier to reduce weekly guaranteed pay if a skilled worker is not meeting work expectations be…

DETROIT — General Motors said it will restart production at its full-size pickup plants Monday, as scheduled, after downtime this week due to the global microchip shortage.

Throughout the chip crisis, GM aimed to keep production of high-demand pickups running, opting to idle crossover production instead. But in late July, the automaker began intermittently pausing production at its three pickup plants, in Flint, Mich.; Silao, Mexico; and Fort Wayne, Ind.

Flint builds the heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups. Silao builds the Cheyenne for Mexico, along with the Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500 light-duty pickups. Fort Wayne builds the Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500.

"Although the situation remains complex and very fluid, our global purchasing and supply chain, engineering and manufacturing teams continue to find creative solutions and make strides working with the supply base to minimize the impact to our highest-demand and capacity-constr…

MUNICH -- The owners of Hella will pick a buyer for their majority stake this weekend, the German automotive lighting group said on Thursday.

A person familiar with the matter said Hella had received binding offers from three bidders -- French suppliers Faurecia and Plastic Omnium, and Germany's Mahle.

All three offers are at the expected level of around 60 euros ($70) per share, the person said.

That price, based on the three-month average of Hella's share price, values the group at about 7 billion euros ($8.2 billion). The stock closed at 64.50 euros on Wednesday and fell 2.6 percent to 62.86 euros on Thursday's news of the offers.

Hella's founding family, which is seeking a buyer for its 60 percent stake, is working with investment bank Rothschild on the transaction, sources told Reuters earlier this week.

Under German takeover rules, buying a 60 percent stake in Hella would trigger a takeover bid for the remaining shares.

Hella s…

Vroom reported strong revenue and vehicle sales growth in the second quarter along with a higher net loss as the online used-vehicle retailer continued to expand in the U.S.

The net loss widened 4.1 percent to $65.8 million. The loss included $22.6 million in one-time, IPO-related costs. Vroom went public in June 2020.

Shares of Vroom fell 19 percent to $30.66 in afternoon trading Thursday in New York.

Vroom was able to grow its salable inventory throughout the period, going from 11,280 vehicles listed at the end of the first quarter to 13,676 at the end of the second, the company said on a conference call Wednesday after releasing its report.

CEO Paul Hennessy said the company was able to grow those units in a "very constrained market" while improving unit economics, and he pointed to the firm's acquisition of data analytics firm CarStory as having played a role in the operational improvements. "Our now combined data-driven team is buying the rig…

McKinsey & Co. Senior Partner Hans-Werner Kaas discusses how the auto industry can boost productivity through manufacturing and software innovation.

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