News

A bill in California that would allow automakers, commercial truck manufacturers and rental car companies to bypass dealerships and sign month-to-month electric vehicle memberships directly with consumers failed to pass this week.

The proposed law — Assembly Bill 326 — would have created a legal framework for EV memberships and allowed consumers access to EVs without financing or long-term commitments through a direct month-to-month agreement with the EV manufacturer.

The measure's defeat on Tuesday in the California legislature is a big win and relief for franchised new-vehicle dealers in the state but a disappointment to some consumer and environmental organizations as well as EV startup Canoo, the sponsor of the bill.

Ride-hailing company Lyft and Rivian, an EV manufacturer backed by Ford, Cox Automotive, Amazon and others, both supported the bill. Proponents said the measure would expand consumer access to EVs, help the state achieve clean air goals …

Kia Motors America and Hyundai Motor America are recalling more than 600,000 vehicles because of the possibility of leaking brake fluid that can lead to fires.

The recalled U.S. vehicles are 283,803 Kia Optima sedans from the 2013-15 model years, 156,567 Kia Sorento crossovers from 2014-15 and 151,205 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport crossovers from 2013-15.

The recall also includes 52,000 2013-15 Santa Fe Sport crossovers in Canada, a spokesman from Hyundai told Automotive News.Brake fluid may leak into the Hydraulic Electronic Control Unit, which could cause an electrical short over time.

"An electrical short in the HECU increases the risk of an engine compartment fire while driving," according to a NHTSA document.

NHTSA reported there are no known crashes or injuries related to the recall.

The Associated Press reported on the recall earlier Thursday.

Kia will begin notifying dealers Oct. 12 and owners starting Oct. 15. Dealers will inspect …

Demand for new light vehicles in China showed signs of losing steam in August, casting shadows on the market’s prospects heading into the final months of 2020.

Sales of new light vehicles including sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses increased 4.4 percent last month from a year earlier, according to estimates the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released Wednesday.

The increase is sharply lower than the 8.5 percent growth recorded for July. By contrast, sales of commercial vehicles including buses and trucks remain robust, surging an estimated 38 percent last month, the trade group said.

Taken together, new-vehicle deliveries industrywide rose 11 percent to about 2.18 million in August, according to the industry group’s estimates.

CAAM didn’t provide a breakdown for light-vehicle or commercial-vehicle sales in its estimates for last month. To date, light-vehicle sales in China have grown four straight months …

London Electric Vehicle Co., a U.K.-based taxicab manufacturer owned by Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, appointed dealers in two major German cities to expand its distribution network in Europe. 

Koch Gruppe Automobile in Berlin and AMC Kruell in Hamburg will provide sales and aftersales services for its taxicabs, London Electric Vehicle Co. said this week. 

The first electric vehicle to be marketed and serviced by the two German dealers will be the TX Shuttle, which is based on London Electric Vehicle Co.'s iconic London black taxi. It will be followed by the VN5, a light van, in spring 2021. 

London Electric Vehicle Co. has signed up three dealers in Germany. 

The first, Autohaus Markötter Bielefeld, in northwestern Germany, was appointed in July to support customers in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region, the manufacturer said. 

London Electric Vehicle Co., previously known as Manganese Bronze, was…

Tech on tractor-trailers could prevent more crashes, study shows

Driving home from work one night in the left lane of Interstate 94 in metro Detroit, I noticed cars had backed up from an exit ramp onto the highway.

A truck driver in the right lane didn't see the stoppage ahead. Precious seconds passed. Then, the squeal of tires and a tractor-trailer swerving into my lane. Through the stroke of good fortune, the truck missed the stopped traffic by mere feet.

But the acrid smell of locked brakes returns to my memory every time I drive past the westbound Exit 172, and the prospect of watching a passenger car get flattened by a tractor-trailer at highway speeds remains the stuff of vehicular nightmares.

A study issued this morning from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety provides increased evidence that new technology can help prevent such scenarios from becoming reality. Equipping trucks with forward collision warning and automated emergency…

Sales at major Japanese automakers were mixed in August, with Honda deliveries hitting a high for the month and Nissan demand dropping after rising four consecutive months. 

Honda rebounded for the second straight month, with sales jumping 20 percent to 148,636, an August high, Honda Motor Co.’s China office said. 

Driving the rebound were the Civic sedan and the CR-V crossover, each generating volume of more than 20,000 last month, according to the office. 

By contrast, deliveries at Nissan slid 2.4 percent to 126,592 in the month, the brand’s first decline since April. 

In the first eight months, Honda sales dropped 9 percent to 897,289, while Nissan deliveries contracted 12 percent to 843,879. 

Toyota hasn’t revealed August sales. 

In 2019, Honda and Nissan each delivered some 1.55 million vehicles in China; Toyota trailed with 1.42 million.

Volvo Car Corp.’s sales in China have kept recovering at a double-digit pace for five consecutive months since April in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. 

In August, its China deliveries advanced 11 percent from a year earlier to 15,835, according to numbers the Swedish carmaker released Wednesday.

The number enabled Volvo to offset the 31 percent sales plunge in the first quarter to grow local deliveries through August by 1.5 percent to 95,986. 

In 2019, Volvo delivered 154,961 vehicles in China, surging 19 percent from a year earlier. The volume made it the sixth-largest luxury car brand in the market for the year, following Mercedes-Benz, BMW Audi, Cadillac and Lexus. 

Other global luxury brands haven’t disclosed their China sales for August. 

Magna International on Thursday said it has agreed to acquire majority ownership of Honglizhixin (HLZX), a major seat supplier to Chinese automakers, expanding the Canadian supplier’s seating capabilities across China.

Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

Magna also announced that it will acquire a majority stake in its existing seating joint venture with HLZX. The two companies currently operate a 50/50 venture formed in 2015.

The current Magna-HLZX partnership includes two manufacturing plants. Under the new ownership agreement, 10 plants will be added to Magna’s manufacturing footprint, adding what the supplier calls “critical mass and scale” to its seating operations in China. 

“China is an important market for Magna where we are committed to delivering high quality seat technology to both domestic and foreign automakers, as well as non-traditional startups in the area of mobility,” Magna Seating President&nb…

Members of the Global Alliance for Vehicle Data Access disagree with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation over who controls access to vehicle data, the group said in an open letter published Wednesday to "all global motor vehicle manufacturers."

The group — which represents a diverse coalition of stakeholders including the American Automotive Leasing Association, the Auto Care Association, consumer groups and corporations Avis Budget Group and Enterprise Holdings — said its members disagree with positions on vehicle data control stated in a June 3 letter sent to Congress by the alliance.

In its letter, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation cited a Massachusetts ballot initiative up for a vote this November that would require vehicle owners and independent repair facilities be given expanded access to mechanical data related to vehicle maintenance and repair.

Starting with the 2022 model year, the proposed law would require makers …

PARIS – Renault Group has announced a new corporate structure pegged to four brands rather than geographic regions, in the first move by new CEO Luca de Meo to turn around the struggling automaker.

Alongside Renault, Dacia and Alpine, a fourth business unit will be formed for new mobility, according to a statement Thursday. Top executives will run each operation, with de Meo heading up the flagship Renault brand.

Renault, which took aid in the form of a 5 billion euro ($5.9 billion) state-backed loan from the French government this year, is trying to recover from the coronavirus pandemic while also patching up a strained relationship with its Japanese partner Nissan. Renault reported a record 7.29 billion-euro first-half loss due to the pandemic and losses at Nissan. 

De Meo, who had led Volkswagen's Spanish brand Seat to record sales, joined Renault in July to try to reboot the French group, which had already embarked on cost cuts and a j…

BERLIN -- Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk met with three German ministers and other senior politicians Wednesday to discuss the progress of a collaboration between the automaker and a German biotech company and a planned electric vehicle factory.

Ralph Brinkhaus, leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU conservative parliamentary bloc, said Musk was satisfied with the progress of Tesla's alliance with vaccine developer CureVac.

On the sidelines of a conference of the parliamentary bloc in Berlin, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur also met economy minister Peter Altmaier, health minister Jens Spahn and research minister Anja Karliczek, but not Merkel.

Tesla is helping to build mobile molecule printers to make the potential COVID-19 vaccine under development by CureVac.

Last November, the U.S. electric vehicle maker announced plans to build an assembly plant in Gruenheide in the eastern state of Brandenburg that surrounds Berlin.

Musk checked on t…

Mercedes-Benz wants its lineup of battery-powered cars to extend all the way up to ultraluxury vehicles to help defend its high-end market position, where electric offerings remain scarce.

To underline its ambition, the Daimler subsidiary could make use of the Maybach brand -- for now reserved only for its most exclusive vehicles -- and add the name to variants of the EQS sedan debuting next year, CEO Ola Kallenius said in an interview.

“There’s room to do more with the Maybach brand name,” Kallenius said. “The electric platform offers some opportunities.”

Focusing on larger luxury cars in the shift toward electric vehicles is a cornerstone of Kallenius’ strategy to revive margins at Mercedes. Bigger vehicles generate higher profits that are critical to fund large outlays for new technology, expand software operations and foot the bill for restructuring costs.

In a sign that efficiency measures introduced last year are beginning to bear fruit, cap…