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New vehicle demand from U.S. retail and commercial customers is outpacing expectations, two top Detroit auto executives said on Thursday.

Their positive comments underscored an upbeat report by the U.S. Commerce Department that showed U.S. retail sales unexpectedly rose in May as consumers bought more motor vehicles and a range of other goods.

"If the consumer remains at this strength, we could significantly outperform what we said" about full-year performance, General Motors CFO Paul Jacobson told a Deutsche Bank investor conference.

Ford Motor Co. CFO John Lawler, in a separate interview at the conference, said "the consumer is hanging in there" while noting continued strength and "pricing power" in the company's Ford Pro commercial business.

The comments from the two CFOs marked a shift from earlier in the year when many economists and some auto sector executives were bracing for a U.S. recession.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk in January forecas…

Tesla has regained its rapid sales momentum in the U.S. during the first four months of 2023 after deep price cuts. TrueCar replaces its CEO and cuts nearly a quarter of its workforce. Plus, Gartner Vice President and Analyst Mike Ramsey talks about why he’s skeptical of a bill that would force carmakers to keep AM radio in all future vehicles.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a measure prohibiting most direct-to-consumer vehicle sales, but certain provisions will allow Tesla to continue to operate its franchiseless model.

It was thought by some the bill would be a threat to Tesla's alternative method of online and retail location sales. However, the bill only prohibits automakers from selling directly if they have a franchise agreement in place.

Ted Smith, president of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association, said the provision will not encroach on digital innovation at stores but instead ensure legacy automakers cannot bypass dealerships.

"In doing that, we made a clear delineation between a manufacturer that has never had dealers and maybe never will, and those who have been heavily dependent upon their dealerships to be their marketing and sales presence in Florida," Smith said.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group in Washington, D.C., believes making t…

It took some time, but electric vehicle adoption is on the rise. But what caused the shift in momentum?

In this insightful new white paper from Cox Automotive Mobility EV Battery Solutions, we dive into the momentum behind EV adoption, and explore some of the leading factors:

Affordability and supply-chain issues Technological advances in charging infrastructure Significant OEM investments Federal Policy Impacts Range anxiety and battery replacement costs

Download the white paper today for an expert analysis of EV trans that are sweeping the industry.

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It took some time, but electric vehicle adoption is on the rise. But what caused the shift in momentum?

In this insightful new white paper from Cox Automotive Mobility EV Battery Solutions, we dive into the momentum behind EV adoption, and explore some of the leading factors:

Affordability and supply-chain issues Technological advances in charging infrastructure Significant OEM investments Federal Policy Impacts Range anxiety and battery replacement costs Download the white paper today for an expert analysis of EV trans that are sweeping the industry.

Josh Nassar, the legislative director for the UAW who led the union's lobbying efforts in Washington for more than a decade, has been fired as President Shawn Fain continues to build out his international staff.

A handful of employees were notified this week that they had been terminated, two sources told Automotive News. They include Nassar, who has been in his role since 2011, along with other management personnel in a range of departments.

It's expected that Dawn Le, the union's national political and government affairs director who was hired shortly after Fain was elected, will assume Nassar's duties.

A UAW spokesman declined to comment.

Nassar's departure comes as Fain seeks to move the union in a new political direction. Last month, he said the UAW, which traditionally supports Democrats, would withhold its endorsement of President Joe Biden's 2024 candidacy until he addresses concerns over the transition to electric vehicles.

Ahead…

Inspired by the remarkable success of Tesla in the 2010s, a slew of new automaker ventures rose in hopes of claiming their own share of the emerging global electric vehicle market. New U.S. government policies to encourage EV adoption fanned their ambitions, as did a receptive stock market and a new finance approach know as reverse mergers, or Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, which made billions of dollars in cash available overnight to develop EVs and build and tool the necessary factories for them.

Tesla was once a startup but is now one of the nation's leading manufacturers. Rivian Automotive, following in its footsteps, is still dealing with ramp-up challenges, but is no longer a true example of a startup.

But for several of the aspiring new ventures of recent years, the car business has proven difficult.

The market reality has revealed fickle shoppers and increasingly competitive sales landscapes. Strategic plans have been complicated by ris…

TrueCar Inc. is laying off nearly a quarter of its work force and appointed COO Jantoon Reigersman as its new CEO to help the struggling vehicle listings company amid a restructuring.

The Santa Monica, Calif., company said Wednesday that it will cut 102 positions, or 24 percent of its work force. Reigersman, 41, replaces CEO Mike Darrow, 66, who also has left his board position.

Barbara Carbone, TrueCar's incoming board chair, said in a statement that restructuring would help the company better align its costs with revenue "and is designed to make TrueCar a nimbler, more efficient company."

Shareholders reacted favorably to the news, driving shares of TrueCar up more than 12 percent to $2.78 in after-hours trading.

The company said the job cuts and a realignment of its leadership structure will slash employment expenses by more than $20 million annually, excluding stock-based compensation.

TrueCar said it will incur $7 million in restructu…

FedEx Express Canada deployed 50 all-electric vehicles with BrightDrop in an effort to reduce carbon emissions in last-mile delivery.

The 50 Canadian-made BrightDrop Zevo 600 electric delivery vehicles will serve communities in Toronto, Montreal and Surrey.

General Motors' commercial EV business locked in FedEx Express as their first customer in 2021. The 50 Canadian EVs are part of a larger agreement of 2,500 total vehicles being incorporated across FedEx locations, including more than 400 that are already in operation in Southern California.

The Canadian launch is BrightDrop's first venture outside of the U.S. Brightdrop started producing EVs in Canada in December.

BrightDrop is manufacturing the Zevo 600s at GM's CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario.

"FedEx is a key collaborator in our journey to help reduce carbon emissions for deliveries," said Steve Hornyak, chief commercial officer at BrightDrop, in a statement. "As our first customer to…

President Joe Biden on Wednesday vetoed a measure approved by Congress that would overturn his administration's sharp new limits on emissions from heavy-duty trucks responsible for significant soot and smog.

The veto preserves EPA rules that will "make our air cleaner and prevent thousands of premature deaths by limiting hazardous heavy-duty vehicle pollution," Biden said on Twitter.

The EPA standards tighten yearly emissions limits, the first update to clean air standards for heavy duty trucks in more than two decades. They are 80 percent more stringent than current standards.

The heavy vehicles include delivery trucks, motor homes, refuse haulers, transit, shuttle and school buses and tractor-trailers.

Republicans opposed the EPA rules, finalized in December, saying they are too challenging to implement, will increase supply chain costs and will make trucks too expensive for small business owners.

The EPA estimates by 2045, the rule wi…

FRANKFURT, Germany — Continental AG today debuted its greenest tire, as the German parts supplier and tire maker looks to meet environmental targets set by its customers, governments and itself.

Continental's UltraContact NXT tire is made of up to 65 percent sustainable materials, the highest proportion of any of its tire models in production. Those materials include renewable and recycled materials such as plastic bottles and silicate made from the ashes of rice husks, according to the company.

The tire comes nearly two years after Continental showed off a green concept tire that featured many of the same renewable sources as the production series UltraContact NXT. It signals the company's efforts to bring sustainable products to the market, Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer said.

"This tire shows we have concepts, and we bring them into production with the best ratings on the technology side, as well," Setzer said during a news conference in Frankfurt. Read more