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The Mercedes-Benz eSprinter has attracted the interest of commerce giants in Europe such as Amazon. But the electric delivery van will not be available in the U.S., for now — putting the company behind rivals such as upstart Rivian and Ford's planned Transit EV.

Mercedes has decided not to offer the eSprinter in the U.S. because safety specifications and other performance requirements cannot be sufficiently met.

"The components for the electric drive system do not meet Daimler's internal standards for crash tests that go beyond legal requirements," a source told Germany's Automobilwoche, a sibling publication of Automotive News.

The cost of adapting the van for America would be so expensive that Daimler is initially foregoing it.

Mercedes has been selling the all-electric eSprinter delivery van for about six months in Europe.

Interest from logistics providers is strong. At the end of August, Mercedes booked a major order from Amazon for so…

DETROIT — Fiona Meyer-Teruel grew up enthralled by the wonders she read about in science-fiction books. At age 26, she's a General Motors battery engineer helping to turn some once-fantastical concepts into reality.

"What really drew me toward automotive ... is that thought that this is the area where you can invent the future and really create those scientific marvels," she told Automotive News.

Meyer-Teruel is now a lead technology development engineer behind GM's new wireless battery management system, which will debut on the GMC Hummer pickup next year and eventually make its way across GM's entire lineup.

She's "very innovative," said Tim Grewe, GM's director of global battery cell engineering. "She saw a need here. She started developing these wireless systems against these very demanding requirements for the Ultium system. She considered a lot of options. She worked with the supply base and Analog Devices to make this industry-first solution." Read more

Unlike neighboring states in the Southeast, North Carolina does not have an auto assembly plant, although it has come close to landing one or two in recent years. A site near Greensboro, N.C., was the runner-up for the Toyota-Mazda joint venture assembly plant that ultimately went to Huntsville, Ala. The state also pitched Tesla for its truck plant that ended up in Austin, Texas, this year.

North Carolina officials are determined to play a larger role in the auto industry, and one key step toward getting there is identifying and designating large, readily available industrial tracts of real estate known as certified megasites. In recent years, the state has assembled a number of certified megasites that, if called for, could be turned over to an automaker to accelerate construction of a major plant, said Chris Chung, CEO of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. Chung, 44, discussed megasite certification with Staff Reporter Jack Walsworth. He…

Uber Technologies Inc. is in talks to sell its autonomous driving unit, Uber Advanced Technologies Group, to self-driving startup Aurora Innovation TechCrunch reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The talks between the companies could falter, the report said. Uber declined to comment on the report, while Aurora did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. TechCrunch reported the two companies have been in talks since last month.

Aurora is among dozens of startups, automakers and large technology companies working on self-driving car systems. TechCrunch reported that the deal, if completed, could triple Aurora’s work force. Uber, meanwhile, would shed an expensive long-term project.

The startup, which is already testing ivehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area and Pittsburgh, in July said it was expanding testing and development of its vehicles to the Dallas-Fort Worth Area in Texas.

Laura Schwab, president of Aston Martin the Americas, the British ultraluxury brand's largest region by sales volume, is leaving the company.

Schwab, 47, had been in her post for a little over five years, having started in October 2015. She was the first woman to hold that title at Aston Martin.

Before Aston Martin, Schwab worked at Land Rover for 14 years.

"After five years with Aston Martin, Laura Schwab has elected to leave her post as regional president, Aston Martin the Americas in order to pursue other opportunities; effective Friday, November 13," the company said in an emailed statement to Automotive News. "Aston Martin thanks her for her service and until a permanent successor is named, Ed Moran, head of sales for the Americas, will assume the role of interim president for the Americas, reporting to Jon Pollock, head of global sales, Aston Martin Lagonda."

Schwab's departure occurs in what has been a tumultuous year for the automaker, whi…

WASHINGTON -- U.S. motorists drove 8.6 percent fewer miles in September, marking the lowest monthly decline since the coronavirus pandemic led millions of Americans to begin working from home in March.

The Federal Highway Administration on Friday said road travel fell by 23.4 billion vehicle miles in September, but it was up 2.8 percent over August and the first time that travel fell by less than 10 percent since February.

In the first nine months of 2020, Americans have driven 355.5 billion miles, down 14.5 percent, the lowest number in that period since 2000.

Rural travel fell by about 5 percent in September, while urban traffic is down about 10 percent.

In contrast, travel fell by 39.8 percent in April amid state-at-home orders with Connecticut, Hawaii and New Jersey reporting around 50 percent drops that month.

Volkswagen Group of America CEO Scott Keogh said at a Reuters Events conference on Friday the number of first-time U.S. car buy…

The all-new redesigned and reimagined 2021 Kia Sorento sends a clear message to the highly competitive SUV market: The bar just got raised. Considerably.

Kia designers and engineers made sure this fourth generation Sorento checks off a lot of boxes that consumers hold dear: Rugged capability, bold and confident styling and more standard state-of-the-art safety features and technology. A wide range of powertrain offerings. Great fuel economy. Not to mention fun to drive.

“The 2021 Sorento will appeal to so many different audiences – city-dwelling professionals, families, first-time SUV buyers, boomers – the list goes on,” says Russell Wager, Kia’s head of marketing operations. “Sorento just fits into everyday life. It is big enough to be capable, but not cumbersome, yet it still retains its fun-to-drive proposition while offering all the safety, tech and comfort features consumers look for in an SUV.”

One of Kia’s best-selling models, the Sorento now sta…

DETROIT — General Motors on Friday said it is recalling more than 68,000 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles, a month after regulators began investigating whether they were at risk of catching fire.

GM said it has identified five Bolt fires — two more than NHTSA cited in opening a preliminary evaluation of the matter. The fires possibly relate to high-voltage batteries produced by LG Chem in South Korea, GM said.

The automaker and NHTSA are still working to determine the cause of the issue, but GM plans to have a remedy as soon as possible after the first of the year, Jesse Ortega, the Bolt's executive chief engineer, told reporters.

In October, NHTSA said it had received two complaints claiming "the vehicles caught fire under the rear seat while parked and unattended." NHTSA also found a 2017 Bolt with a similar pattern.

GM and NHTSA found two cases of smoke inhalation related to the fires but there are no other known injuries.

The recal…

Velodyne Lidar Inc. said Friday it would introduce a new lidar unit, a key sensor in self-driving cars, with a target price of less than $500 and no moving parts.

Velodyne became a public company in September and is one of the several companies vying to supply automakers with lidar, a sensor that generates a three-dimensional map of the road ahead. Velodyne was an early entrant into the market and its units have powered research operations for many automakers.

Some of those early research units were bulky, contained many moving parts and cost well above $10,000. For mass production in passenger vehicles, automakers and their major suppliers seek units that are sleek enough to fit into attractive car designs and cost well below $1,000.

An increasing number of devices, such as Apple's new iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro models, include lidar sensors that help with applications such as augmented reality, in which digital content is overlaid on the real world. Read more

Ford Motor Co. is considering manufacturing battery cells for electric vehicles as a way to offset potential job losses as a result of products that require fewer parts to build, CEO Jim Farley said Friday.

Speaking at a Reuters Automotive Summit, Farley said Ford plans to transition its work force from building internal combustion engines to assembling inverters and electric motors, but that may not be enough. The UAW in recent years has raised concerns about employment levels should most automakers transition to products that aren't as complicated to build.

"The fact of the matter is electric vehicles have 40 percent less parts, and that means they're a lot easier to put together," Farley said. "We do have to solve for the reality that when electrification becomes 25 percent or 50 percent of our industry in the coming years, what are we going to do about the jobs? One of the obvious choices is going into cell production."

So far,…

General Motors is temporarily suspending its planned overtime production at its SUV plant in Arlington, Texas, The Detroit News reported Friday.

GM spokesman David Barnas told the newspaper, "Due to a temporary parts supply issue, Arlington will cancel its planned overtime production this coming Saturday, Nov. 14. Regular production is not impacted, and the plant will resume normal operations on Monday, Nov. 16. GM's supply chain, engineering and manufacturing teams continue to work closely with our suppliers to minimize any parts disruption."

Barnas told Automotive News in an email that GM is not providing details on the interruptions with supplier partners and is not releasing the names of impacted parts.

Arlington Assembly builds the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL, Chevrolet Suburban and Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV.

This is the second GM plant experiencing production halts this week. The Bowling Green Assembl…