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Elon Musk is hailed as an innovator and disruptor who went from knowing next to nothing about building cars to running the world’s most valuable automaker in the space of 16 years.

But his record shows he is more of a fast learner who forged alliances with firms that had technology Tesla Inc. lacked, hired some of their most talented people, and then powered through the boundaries that limited more risk-averse partners.

Now, Musk and his team are preparing to outline new steps in Tesla’s drive to become a more self-sufficient company less reliant on suppliers at its “Battery Day” event on Sept. 22.

Musk has been dropping hints for months that significant advances in technology will be announced as Tesla strives to produce the low-cost, long-lasting batteries that could put its electric cars on a more equal footing with cheaper gasoline vehicles.

New battery cell designs, chemistries and manufacturing processes are just some of the developments tha…

China’s carmakers risk falling behind global rivals because the country trails in the production of advanced components like chips and software that are crucial for modern vehicles, a prominent industry adviser warned.

The government should form a comprehensive component strategy and build a platform that connects automakers with suppliers, helping local developers of advanced parts, Zhang Yongwei, vice president of China EV 100, a high-profile electric-vehicle industry think tank, said Thursday at a forum in Nanjing, China.

China is pushing for greater self-reliance amid tensions with trade partners including the U.S. As the auto industry moves toward electrified and self-driving vehicles in a once-in-a-century shift, suppliers of software and semiconductors are gaining in importance.

“The supply-chain problem has to be solved,” Zhang said at the industry gathering. An automobile powerhouse must have a strong supply chain of its own, he said.

Chi…

A federal judge narrowed Tesla Inc.'s lawsuit against a former employee it accused of hacking into its computers and leaking proprietary data to a reporter. The judge also dismissed a defamation counterclaim by the former employee.

In a decision on Thursday, Chief Judge Miranda Du of the federal court in Reno, Nev., said Tesla failed to show that Martin Tripp's disclosure of confidential information caused a $167 million decline in the electric car maker's market value.

But she refused to dismiss some other Tesla claims, including that Tripp's alleged unauthorized use of data might have violated a Nevada computer crimes law, and that his conduct justified punitive damages.

The defamation counterclaim arose from four statements made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Tesla's communications staff, but Du said none was false and Tripp could not show actual malice.

Tripp had worked as a process technician at Tesla's Gigafactory near Reno.

Tesla fired hi…

As Nissan Motor Co. struggles to recover from a boardroom scandal surrounding Carlos Ghosn and a sales slump that threatens its alliance with Renault, China is emerging as its best bet for a turnaround.

Thanks to an early mover advantage and strategic partnership with Dongfeng Motor Group in 2003, Nissan is one of the strongest Japanese passenger automakers in China. It ranked fourth -- excluding multipurpose vehicles -- in June with a 6.7 percent share after Volkswagen Group's two joint ventures and General Motors's tie-up with SAIC Motor.

Former Chairman Ghosn, who was arrested in 2018 on financial misconduct charges and fled in a dramatic escape to Lebanon at the end of last year, called China a "new frontier" when he unveiled Nissan's push into Asia's largest economy almost two decades ago.

Now, the world's biggest automobile market is looking more like a key line of defense as China's economy returns to growth and demand for cars recovers. Nissan h…

PARIS -- Major investors in Faurecia have agreed to a six-month hold on selling shares following the closing of the merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group, which would trigger the distribution of PSA’s 46 percent stake in the supplier.

PSA’s shares in Faurecia would go to all shareholders of the new combined company, to be called Stellantis, as part of a modification of the consolidation agreement announced this week.

The investors who agreed to the share lockup are Exor, FCA’s parent company; EFP/FFP, the Peugeot family holding company; Bpifrance, the French public investment bank that holds a 12 percent stake in PSA; and Dongfeng Motor, the Chinese automaker that also holds a stake in PSA. 

The original combination agreement between PSA and FCA called for Faurecia’s shares to go to PSA investors; FCA shareholders would get a payout of 5.5 billion euros ($6.5 billion).

But the dropoff in business attributed to the coronavirus …

Dale Willey, who was chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association in 2007, died Aug. 14. He was 79.

Willey started his automotive retail career at his father's Chevrolet-Oldsmobile dealership in Lee's Summit, Mo., in 1961. After his father's death in 1965, his family sold the store and Willey went to work as a salesperson for Dave Cross Motors. In 1970, he purchased his first store, a Pontiac-Cadillac dealership in Lawrence, Kan.

Today, Dale Willey Automotive represents Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Honda brands across three dealerships.

Willey once was president of the Kansas Automobile Dealers Association and represented the state on NADA's board.

During his 2007 NADA chairmanship, Willey leveraged Capitol Hill connections to rally support behind the Hill-Terry bill on fuel economy standards. Under the bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Lee Terry of Nebraska and Democrat Baron Hill of Indiana, cars an…

LOS ANGELES — Mitsubishi is using the midcycle update of the Eclipse Cross compact utility vehicle to clean up its styling, particularly at the rear, and is adding a new powertrain option with a plug-in hybrid that could make it to North America.

Launched in 2017, the Eclipse Cross is Mitsubishi's newest product and one of its most compelling, with the only turbocharged engine in its U.S. lineup.

The automaker's headquarters in Japan has confirmed the plug-in hybrid version of the small crossover "in select markets."

The restyled CUV will hit U.S. showrooms in the first quarter of next year as a 2022 model, Mitsubishi said Thursday.

A teaser photo shows a more cohesive, coupe-like design that appears to eliminate the horizontal taillight bar that bisected the rear hatch glass. The front design is also heavily revised.

"The new design draws inspiration from the Mitsubishi e-Evolution concept, emphasizing the strength and dynamics from our SU…

BMW Group completed expansion of a battery production facility at its joint venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings this week to double battery output for locally built electrified vehicles. 

The expanded facility is in BMW Brilliance's Tiexi plant in the northeast China city of Shenyang. 

While ramping up output, the expanded center will become the first production site worldwide to build BMW's fifth-generation high-voltage batteries, the automaker said. 

The batteries will be first supplied to the BMW iX3 full-electric crossover to be built at the joint venture’s Dadong plant, also in Shenyang. The factory is set to launch mass production of the iX3 at the end of this month. 

BMW to date has launched sales of four locally produced electrified vehicles in China: plug-in hybrid versions of the BMW X1 crossover and BMW 5 Series sedan, and two Zinoro-badged crossovers -- the full-electric 1E and…

Unifor and Ford Motor Co. remain “miles apart” in bargaining as Monday’s contract expiration looms, according to the union’s president.

“We’ve got a ton of work to do,” Unifor President Jerry Dias said. “We are far apart right now on everything: product, economics. Ultimately, I realize we have several days yet to go, but the clock is starting to tick.”

The union is seeking an investment and new product for Ford’s Oakville, Ont., plant, where production of the Edge crossover will reportedly end in 2023. Unifor also wants changes to the 10-year wage grow-in period and other economic gains.

The master agreement between Ford and Unifor covering about 6,300 Canadian workers is set to expire Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET. Unifor last week picked Ford as its target company, meaning it will look to pattern subsequent deals with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and General Motors based off an eventual contract with Ford.

Ford COO Jim Farley, who will take over as CEO …

SAIC Motor Corp. aims to capture 10 percent of the Chinese market for fuel cell vehicles by the end of 2025, according to a plan disclosed this week. 

The state-owned automaker plans to launch sales of its first fuel cell vehicle, the Euniq 7 multipurpose vehicle, under the Maxus brand at the end of the year. 

A second fuel cell vehicle, the Maxus FCV80 van, is also planned. Earlier this year, SAIC received approval to build the van in China.

SAIC said it plans to roll out at least ten fuel cell models, including passenger vehicles, trucks and buses, by 2025. 

It will also produce more than 30,000 fuel cell battery systems for the vehicles, according to the plan. 

The Chinese government has ambitious goals to promote FCVs. Under a blueprint drafted in 2016, the government expects to expand the domestic fuel cell vehicle fleet to 1 million and build some 1,000 hydrogen stations across China by 2030. 

Song…

Evergrande Group, a leading Chinese property developer, said its electric vehicle unit raised 4 billion Hong Kong dollars ($516 million) from a consortium of institutional investors including tech giant Tencent Holdings and ride-hailing provider Didi Chuxing. 

Two other investors are Silicon Valley-based private equity firm Sequoia Capital and Chinese private equity firm Yunfeng Fund, Evergrande Group said this week. 

It marks the first time the property developer has raised funds from external investors for its new EV unit. 

Evergrande Group ventured into the EV market in 2019 with a slew of acquisitions. 

Several European companies dominated the list of acquisitions: •    National Electric Vehicle Sweden, a Swedish company that bought assets of bankrupt Saab Automobile in 2012 to build EVs on the Saab 9-3 platform.•    U.K. electric motor maker Protean Holdings Corp.•    Dutch…

Shift to EVs would reduce public health costs by billions, lung association says

The traffic ceased. The skies cleared.

Even with all the tumult wrought by the coronavirus, one of the ancillary effects of the crisis was its contribution to improved air quality in major cities across the world. As commuters stayed home, their vehicles stopped spewing pollutants.

In March, Los Angeles, for example, experienced its longest stretch of “good” air days in at least four decades, per data maintained by the EPA. Not engulfed in a brown haze, residents could see for miles.

In many cities, the opportunity to experience life with cleaner air brought greater scrutiny of the costs of living with smog and pollution and of transportation's contribution to the problem.

A first-of-its-kind report issued this week by the American Lung Association details those societal ramifications, and importantly, says $72 billion in public-health benefits can be achieve…