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Republicans remain on the road, while Democrats pump brakes

Need further evidence the nation's political divide has pervaded almost every facet of American life? Differences extend right down to our collective driving habits.

Democrats have hit the brakes on driving more so than Republicans since the outbreak of the pandemic, according to an analysis published Tuesday by Sivak Applied Research.

According to the latest data, drivers in states that are either solidly or likely Democratic have trimmed their driving by 14.1 percent. That's nearly twice the 7.6 percent drop among drivers in solidly or likely Republican states.

Researcher Michael Sivak gathered the latest available vehicle-miles-traveled figures from the Federal Highway Administration and compared them with data on political preferences from the Cook Political Report.

In states that leaned in only one direction or the other or were considered toss-ups, drivers had decreased the…

LOS ANGELES — Acura will show a prototype of the fourth-generation MDX crossover on Oct. 14, marking the third vehicle in its lineup to undergo a full redesign as the brand seeks to move upmarket by leveraging its performance heritage.

Acura released a teaser image and short video showing the redesigned midsize crossover with an accentuated beltline and fastback styling. The next-gen MDX "will usher in new levels of Acura design, performance, technology and craftsmanship, assuming the mantle as the brand's new flagship model," Acura said.

The redesigned MDX is expected to go on sale sometime next year. Sales of the three-row crossover have tallied more than 1 million over the last two decades, Acura said, making it the brand's bestselling model.

Acura's redesigned TLX midsize sedan went on sale this month as a 2021 model. The RDX compact crossover was the first of Acura's core models to adopt the brand's new styling language and mechanicals when it was…

Lithia Motors Inc. said it anticipates third-quarter net income to surge and announced plans to raise more than $1 billion through debt and equity offerings.

The Medford, Ore., retailer said Tuesday that net income per diluted share will be between $6.10 to $6.40, an increase of 68 percent and 76 percent, respectively, compared with $3.64 per share recorded last year. Assuming Lithia retains about 23 million outstanding shares it reported in the second quarter, that would translate to a net income of $140 million to $147 million. That compares with a net income of $78 million in the second quarter in 2019 and $85 million in the third quarter.

Lithia also said it expects to report revenue rising "in the mid- to high single-digit range" compared with 2019's reported $3.3 billion for the third quarter.

Separately, Lithia announced plans to raise $1.2 billion in capital through debt and equity offerings. The company expects $500 million to come from a senio…

DETROIT — The past two leaders of the UAW are now admitted felons.

Dennis Williams, who served as the union's president from 2014 to 2018, pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzling money from the members he once led. Appearing in U.S. District Court by videoconference wearing a dark suit and dark tie, Williams admitted wrongdoing and apologized for his actions.

"As an officer of the UAW, I held a position of trust," Williams said. "I know my actions and failures to act abused that trust. It hurt the union I loved. I'm here now to take full responsibility."

His admission comes almost four months after his successor, Gary Jones, pleaded guilty to similar charges as part of a yearslong federal corruption probe.

Prosecutors last month charged Williams, 67, with conspiring to embezzle funds from rank-and-file workers for nearly a decade.

Court documents say Williams and others spent hundreds of thousands of member dollars on trips to Palm Springs…

Velodyne Lidar Inc. could ride higher as the self-driving car revolution takes hold -- that is if such modes of transport come to realization sooner rather than later.

The maker of sensors used in advanced driver-assistance systems and self-driving vehicles is projected to see robust revenue growth and hit full-year profitability as soon as 2022, according to CEO Anand Gopalan.

“We have seen a tremendous momentum, even in our own pipeline, of customers moving to mass-market commercialization of their applications,” Gopalan said in an interview, referencing the greater use of ADAS systems in consumer cars and the growth of autonomous vehicle companies whose systems rely on lidar. Yet, the timeline for broad deployment of autonomous vehicles appears to be in question.

Velodyne Lidar shares sank on Wednesday after emerging from a special-purpose acquisition company in the wake of controversy around Nikola Corp., which made its public market debut in similar…

The number of auto loans more than 30 days past due inched up in August, an early sign that customers coming out of forbearance programs aren't keeping up with their car payments, credit bureau TransUnion said last week.

The first waves of consumers to exit forbearance programs have mostly displayed positive payment performance, said Matt Komos, vice president of research and consulting at TransUnion. Though the longer an account is in hardship status — defined by factors such as a deferred payment, forbearance program, frozen account or frozen past-due payment — the less likely it is for that consumer to smoothly take up their debt obligations.

"It's still much too early to tell," Komos said about rising 30-day auto loan and mortgage delinquencies. "It could simply be 'sloppy' payment behavior where consumers miss an occasional payment or are late by a few days or weeks, though their intention is still to make the payment."

The rat…

A Missouri Supreme Court verdict in a case that started with a dispute over a vehicle repossession could have far-reaching implications beyond the auto lending industry. Legal experts say the ruling could open the door for consumers from multiple states to form class-action lawsuits against any business, even if the laws from the various states differ from those in the state where the plaintiff resides. The Missouri high court affirmed a lower court's certification of a class in the dispute.

Ally Financial Inc., one of the largest U.S. auto lenders, filed a petition Aug. 14 to the U.S. Supreme Court to review Ally Financial vs. Alberta Haskins, et al., a conflict that began when Missouri residents Alberta Haskins and David Duncan defaulted on an auto loan with Ally for a used 2006 Chevrolet Colorado.

Ally repossessed the truck and sold it at auction in 2012. The lender sued for the couple's $4,000 deficiency on their finance contract in March 2…

Nikola Corp. is rescheduling its in-person Nikola World conference, where it was planning to show its electric pickup truck, as the company regroups in the wake of a stock sell-off and the departure of its chairman.

The postponement follows the startup’s efforts to pivot from denying allegations of deception to talking up its technology and partnerships to calm investors who have seen the stock price plunge 45 percent since the company went public in June.

Nikola said Wednesday its expects its first prototypes of another battery-powered truck, a semi called Nikola Tre, to be “substantially completed” in the next few weeks at a factory in Germany and reaffirmed its plan to start sales in late 2021.

The Phoenix-based company has a strategic partnership with General Motors to manufacture its pickup, known as the Badger, and provide other technology in return for an 11 percent stake. The startup had hoped to finalize that deal by Wednesday, but talks between…

Continental said its massive restructuring that will lead to the elimination or transfer of 30,000 jobs was spurred in part by Asian rivals piling into Europe and flooding the market with too many tires.

The supplier's plant in Aachen, Germany’s westernmost city, will be roughly the 10th tire factory in Western Europe to close or restructure in a five-year period, CEO Elmar Degenhart told reporters Wednesday. Asian companies have added production of about 50 million tires in Eastern Europe over the last decade, even as the market has stagnated.

“We had so far been able to withstand this development, but now reached a point where the overcapacity in Western Europe is between 13 and 15 million passenger-vehicle tires,” Degenhart said. Continental will shut down the Aachen factory at the end of next year, affecting as many as 2,000 jobs.

Degenhart, 61, spoke after Continental’s supervisory board approved a more drastic reorganization of the almost 150-year-…

BEIJING -- Tesla Inc. is poised to start selling some Model 3 vehicles made in China equipped with cobalt-free lithium iron phosphate batteries, two people familiar with the matter said.

Currently the Model 3 electric sedans made at the automaker's Chinese plant use nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries. The starting price for the vehicle is currently 271,550 yuan ($39,900) after factoring in government subsidies.

Tesla will announce the product change as early as Thursday, the two people said. They declined to be named as the matter is confidential.

Tesla was not immediately available for comment.

LFP batteries are cheaper to make and contain no cobalt, one of the most expensive metals used in electric-vehicle batteries. Tesla will use LFP batteries in all Model 3 vehicles made in China with standard driving ranges, according to the people.

In China, the world's biggest car market, Tesla sold more than 11,000 vehicles, mostly Model 3s, in Augu…

Join Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for a daily podcast series about the coronavirus crisis. He’ll speak with industry experts, insiders and Automotive News reporters about how the virus is impacting and reshaping the automotive industry.

Cardinale Automotive CEO Erich Gail explains how the dealership group is increasing showroom traffic and sales by using a simple formula the company adopted nearly a decade ago after being on the brink of bankruptcy following the Great Recession.

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