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A California judge on Thursday refused to give Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. more time to appeal his decision forcing them to classify drivers in that state as employees, which they have said would necessitate restructuring their businesses.

At a hearing in San Francisco Superior Court, Judge Ethan Schulman said he found no reason to extend his Aug. 20 deadline for the ride-hailing companies to appeal the preliminary injunction he issued on Monday before it could take effect.

"I am unconvinced that any extension of the 10-day stay is required," Schulman said. "Both applications are denied."

Uber and Lyft have said they will appeal.

The injunction came in a lawsuit where California and the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco accused Uber and Lyft of violating Assembly Bill 5, a new state law making it harder to treat "gig" workers as independent contractors.

Uber and Lyft prefer using that classification for drivers, be…

Toyota and Mazda said Thursday they will pour another $830 million into their joint manufacturing plant under construction in Huntsville, Ala., to boost production efficiency at what had been a $1.6 billion plant slated to start making new crossovers next year.

The added investment, which the automakers said would be used to "incorporate more cutting-edge manufacturing technologies into its production lines and provide enhanced training" to its 4,000 planned workers, boosts the total investment to $2.33 billion. It also represents a roughly 50 percent increase in its planned costs less than a year before it is due to start producing new compact crossovers for both Mazda and Toyota.

Construction of the plant, which was announced in 2018, was slightly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but Toyota says that most work has been completed on its roof, walls, floor, ductwork and fire protection.

The automakers revealed no further details of …

With the arrival of summer, traditionally a slack season for sales, new-vehicle dealerships in China saw their average backlog rise to a nearly two-month supply in July. Average stockpiles at dealerships increased to 57 days last month, up from 52 days the previous month, the China Automobile Dealers Association said.

Stores marketing Chinese brands reported the biggest inventory burden, at 64 days’ supply, up from 62 days in June.

The average backlog of dealerships stocking domestically built, foreign mass-market brands grew to 59 days from 53 a month earlier.

Inventories at stores distributing luxury brands and imported foreign brands jumped to 50 days from 41 the previous month. 

The highest average dealership backlog in July, at 106 days, was reported by Jaguar Land Rover. 

It was followed by a 92-day supply of vehicles at Beijing Hyundai stores – Hyundai Motor Co.’s joint venture with BAIC Motor Co. – and …

Tesla Inc. established a brokerage in Shanghai that will offer auto insurance to Chinese buyers.

The brokerage, with registered capital of 50 million yuan ($7.2 million), is wholly owned by Tesla’s Hong Kong subsidiary, according to Tianyancha, a Beijing-based website that tracks registration information of Chinese businesses.

The legal representative of the insurance brokerage is Zhu Xiaotong, a global vice president at Tesla, who is in charge of the U.S. electric vehicle maker’s operations in the greater China region.

Additional information about the brokerage was not available. 

The EV maker has begun offering auto insurance in California, where rates are generally high and a deterrent to Tesla ownership, the company has said.

It also plans to offer insurance that taps internal data from its AutoPilot driver-assist system to help reduce rates.

Analysts say Tesla could offer lower insurance rates because AutoPilot will decreas…

SHANGHAI – After the coronavirus outbreak was brought under control in March, new-vehicle sales swung back – increasing 4.4 percent in April after a 42 percent slump in first quarter. 

By July, the market had racked up four straight monthly gains. 

Now, there are signs that the rebound may be about to end. In the first 10 days of August, vehicle sales at all foreign automakers producing in China and 11 major domestic auto manufacturers, which account for nearly all output in China, slumped 18 percent to some 384,000, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said Thursday. 

During the period, light-vehicle sales at the top producers fell 18 percent to roughly 357,000 while commercial-vehicle deliveries declined 11 percent to about 26,000. 

Could sales rally in the final weeks of the month?

In theory, they could. But rising inventory levels at dealerships signal some consumers may be taking a break. 

…

BERLIN -- Daimler reached an agreement to settle U.S. proceedings relating to investigations into software to cheat diesel emissions tests that will result in costs of about $1.5 billion, the German carmaker said Thursday.

The maker of Mercedes-Benz cars said it expects an impact on its free cash flow over the next three years as a result, with the main impact within the next 12 months.

"With the proposed settlements, the company takes an important step towards legal certainty with respect to various diesel proceedings in the United States," it said in a statement.

German carmakers, among the global leaders in diesel technology, have been caught in the crosshairs of courts and regulators after Volkswagen Group admitted in 2015 to using engine control devices to skirt diesel emission tests.

The scandal triggered a global backlash against diesel vehicles that so far has cost VW 30 billion euros ($35.45 billion) in fines, penalties, vehicle buyback…

Mich. explores dedicated lanes for autonomous, connected vehicles

Michigan leaders intend to place connected and autonomous vehicles in the fast lane toward the future.

With an eye toward embracing industry R&D efforts, the state said Thursday it has embarked on efforts to sketch a corridor between Detroit and Ann Arbor loaded with infrastructure that can speed deployment and enables safe movement of these vehicles.

Chiefly, renderings for the project — which will explore the viability of building such a corridor — depict the creation of dedicated lanes reserved for connected and autonomous vehicles that are separated from human traffic by "separation barriers" that "ensure safety and efficiency," according to Cavnue.

Cavnue, a subsidiary of Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners — itself a division of Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company — will run the exploratory project along with Google subsidiary Sidewalk Labs, the company's urban digitaliz…

Michigan leaders intend to place connected and autonomous vehicles in the fast lane toward the future.

With an eye toward embracing industry R&D efforts, the state said Thursday it has embarked on efforts to sketch a corridor between Detroit and Ann Arbor loaded with infrastructure that can speed deployment and enables safe movement of these vehicles.

Chiefly, renderings for the project — which will explore the viability of building such a corridor — depict the creation of dedicated lanes reserved for connected and autonomous vehicles that are separated from human traffic by "separation barriers" that "ensure safety and efficiency," according to Cavnue.

Cavnue, a subsidiary of Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners — itself a division of Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company — will run the exploratory project along with Google subsidiary Sidewalk Labs, the company's urban digitalization platform.

Officials say they will evaluate the potential of th…

Online used-vehicle seller Vroom said Wednesday that decreased demand and uncertainty around vehicle pricing in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic led the company to reduce inventory in the first half of the second quarter.

Vroom's second-quarter net loss widened to $63.2 million from $33.3 million during the same period last year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and other adjustments in the quarter dropped to a loss of $39 million from a loss of $29.8 million.

Revenue slipped 3 percent to $253.1 million. It was Vroom's first quarterly earnings report since going public in June.

"I am pleased with our results for the second quarter, in which we performed substantially ahead of our growth plan, and I am encouraged by both the continued validation of the Vroom model and the performance of our employees in a tough environment," Vroom CEO Paul Hennessy said in a statement.

Vroom's total e-commerce revenue increased 45 percent to $175.6…

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.

Hireology CEO Adam Robinson discusses how the pandemic is changing dealership staffing models; why more people may soon be applying for jobs in auto retail.

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The effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the number of dealerships in the United States remains to be seen. That's according to Urban Science's mid-year review of its Franchise Activity Report, which tracks the number of dealerships in the country.

Total dealership count has dipped only slightly this year to 18,161 at July 1, 2020, the latest study shows, compared to 18,195 dealerships at the end of 2019, and 18,251 on July 1, 2019. Total franchises slid to 32,031 as of July 1, 2020, compared to 32,185 at the end of 2019, and 32,296 at July 1, 2019.

"Right now the brick-and-mortar stores are pretty much stable," said Mitch Phillips, Urban Science's global data director. However, the number of dealerships tends to be a lagging indicator after a significant drop in new-vehicle sales, he added.

U.S. sales of new cars and light trucks skidded 33 percent to 2.97 million in the second quarter, as Americans hunkered down and many showrooms were shuttered by …

HOLLY, Mich. — Ford Motor Co. has pushed back its return-to-work plans twice, most recently giving some salaried employees the option of working remotely until at least the end of this year.

Outgoing CEO Jim Hackett thinks that policy is likely to continue beyond what the automaker has announced.

"It's my bet it will be extended beyond that," Hackett told reporters earlier this week on the sidelines of an event promoting the new Bronco SUV. "If you come this far to manage this and just say 'Well I'm tired of this' and change the profile and the risk, why did we do all the safety planning to begin with?"

Hackett, who will retire effective Oct. 1, said the automaker is shifting what he calls "we spaces," or common office areas, to be more mindful of social distancing should workers elect to return to Ford facilities.

Ford resumed production at North American manufacturing facilities in mid-May. At the same time, it recal…