VW brand freezes new hirings until end of 2020

FRANKFURT -- The Volkswagen brand has stopped hiring new staff until year end, Ralf Brandstaetter, the unit's chief, said Wednesday.

Despite a slight recovery in demand, car sales remain below levels seen before the coronavirus crisis, Brandstaetter said in an interview published in an internal VW newsletter, which was seen by Reuters.

"We remain under substantial cost pressure. Deliveries and therefore revenue have dropped sharply. At the same time a large amount of costs remain. This is why we have decided not to add new people," Brandstaetter said.

VW's job guarantee for German employees until 2029 remains in place, the CEO said.

The company's works council chief Bernd Osterloh said that without external hiring, VW needs to do more to retrain existing staff.

In an interview with the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, Osterloh said he expected production at the plant in Wolfsburg this year to drop to around 500,000 cars, instead of 700,000 w…

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Toyota tweaks sedans for 2021 after dropping Yaris

Toyota is tweaking its sedan lineup for 2021, adding an upgraded suite of safety features to the Camry, a new trim level for the Camry and Corolla and optional all-wheel drive to the Avalon as the brand "recommits" to remaining in the once-dominant but dwindling segment.

But one shriveled sedan segment has proved a bridge too far.

The North American run for the Toyota Yaris is ending with the 2020 model. Through the first six months of the year, Toyota sold just 1,098 Yaris sedans in the U.S., down 93 percent from 2019, and 2,610 Yaris hatchbacks, which were introduced last year at the New York auto show, and 21 Yaris liftback imports. The hatchback was a rebadged version of the Mazda2.

Cynthia Tenhouse, vice president for vehicle marketing and communications at Toyota Motor North America, said this week that the Yaris sedan, which received a midcycle freshening in 2018, and the Yaris hatchback were dropped for unspecified homolog…

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N.Y. Honda dealership sued by 2 former employees for discrimination

Two former sales employees at a New York Honda dealership filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against management for not rehiring them after COVID-19 prompted closures.

Friendly Honda of the Friendly Auto Group of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., laid off most of its 18-person sales force in March when the state ordered dealerships to cease physical sales operations to slow the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a July 9 lawsuit filed in the state's Southern District Court.

By early June all but three employees had been rehired — Reginald Edwards, who is Black, Rafael Rodriguez, who is Hispanic, and one white employee, the lawsuit states.

Friendly Honda failed to rehire Edwards and Rodriguez because of their race and the color of their skin, the suit alleges, citing a history of discriminatory behavior at the dealership. In the complaint, Edwards and Rodriguez say they endured racist jokes and unfair treatment during their employment.

On mult…

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Texas county approves tax breaks for Tesla plant

Texas is moving forward with efforts to woo Tesla Inc. and lure its next electric-vehicle factory after the county that’s home to the state capital signed off on a tax-relief package.

Commissioners in Travis County voted Tuesday to approve a 70 percent property-tax rebate on the first $1.1 billion the company invests in a site near Austin. The abatement is worth at least $13.9 million.

The areas of Austin and Tulsa, Okla., are the finalists for landing the facility where Tesla plans to build the Cybertruck pickup that CEO Elon Musk first unveiled late last year. He has said on Twitter that the site also will supplement production of Model Y crossovers already being made at the company’s lone U.S. car-assembly plant in Fremont, Calif.

Tesla has told Travis County that its planned factory will eventually employ 5,000 full-time workers with an average salary of roughly $47,000 a year. At least half of those will be county residents.

The weeks-long ef…

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Nissan vows to hop back on EV podium with Ariya

TOKYO — Nissan's next electric vehicle, the long-awaited Ariya crossover, is a technological powerhouse with performance chops and a 379-mile range that the Japanese carmaker hopes will rekindle its reputation as a leader in battery-powered vehicles.

In showing the production version of its Tesla fighter in an unveiling online Wednesday, Nissan Motor Co. promises an EV that beats the brand's all-electric Leaf hatchback in almost every way.

The Ariya will be longer, wider and taller, while packing more power and a longer driving range. Lower grade models will target eco-friendly, tech-savvy customers, while high-end variants go for gusto.

"For Nissan, the Ariya is not just another new model. It is a model that opens a new chapter in the history of Nissan," CEO Makoto Uchida said at an online launch on Wednesday. "The Ariya itself represents the future Nissan envisions."

To herald the new nameplate, Nissan also unveiled a new logo. The refreshed br…

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Volvo readies subscription reboot to satisfy California

After more than two years of protest from California dealers, Volvo Cars USA will replace a controversial subscription program in its biggest market.

The Swedish automaker plans to introduce an updated — and more dealer-friendly — version of the Care by Volvo program in California.

But still unclear is whether the changes in the newer version will satisfy the California dealer complaints.

The original Care by Volvo launched in 2017 as a two-year subscription service. The program bundles the use of a vehicle, insurance and maintenance costs into a monthly payment that ranges from $700 to $800, depending on the vehicle. After a year, subscribers can swap for a different vehicle.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles earlier this year deemed the subscription service to be in violation of several state franchise and consumer protection laws.

Last fall, Volvo broadened the service to include more models and make some dealer-friendly updat…

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Massachusetts sues Uber, Lyft over driver status as contractors

Massachusetts on Tuesday followed California in suing Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. over allegedly misclassifying their drivers as independent contractors instead of employees entitled to extensive benefits.

The complaint filed in Suffolk Superior Court claims Uber and Lyft violate state minimum wage, hour and sick time laws.

"Uber and Lyft have built their billion-dollar businesses while denying their drivers basic employee protections and benefits for years,” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement.

Uber and Lyft argue that the vast majority of their drivers enjoy the flexibility that comes with on-demand work, and a recent analysis by Cornell University of Seattle driver data supplied by the companies showed that some 75 percent of drivers work fewer than 20 hours.

Massachusetts' lawsuit comes roughly two months after California filed a similar complaint, accusing Uber and Lyft of evading workplace protections and…

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RETAIL FORUM DEALER DISCUSSIONS: Execs share best practices, lessons learned during the pandemic

Leaders from NADA, TrueCar, CDK and the Carter Myers auto group discuss what's working and what they've learned during the pandemic.

Speakers:Mike Darrow, President & CEO, TrueCarBrian Krzanich, President & CEO, CDK GlobalLiza Borches, CEO, Carter Myers Automotive GroupKerri Wise, VP Communications, TrueCarRhett Ricart, 2020 Chairman, NADAJason Stein, Publisher, Automotive News

This conversation was originally broadcast on July 14, 2020 as part of the Automotive News Retail Forum: Dealer Discussions series, which runs through August 4. To learn more and register to watch future broadcasts live, visit http://autonews.com/retailforum.

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How automakers, dealerships can set themselves up for success post-COVID

As we emerge blinking into the light, through the proverbial dust cloud of the asteroid of COVID-19, what will it take to make sure that automotive brands are on the right side of the competition during recovery? How to set up organizations to navigate what is undoubtedly an uncertain and rapidly shifting future is an existential question for many. How do brands ensure they are the nimble and adaptable mammal, as opposed to the lumbering dinosaur?

There's been plenty of discussion around the impacts of the pandemic. Consumer behavior shifts can be viewed in two categories: the acceleration of existing trends and the emergence of new COVID-19 specific ones.

Existing trends include increasing demand for convenience in the retail and servicing experience. Our own research with a leading automaker shows a 6 percent increase in comfort with purchasing a vehicle completely online as a result of COVID-19. In addition, there has been clear growth o…

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GM face masks receive N95 certification

DETROIT -- General Motors said its filtering facepiece respirators have received N95 certification from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

To achieve the N95 rating, a filtering facepiece must filter out "at least 95 percent of airborne particles during 'worst case' testing using a 'most-penetrating'-sized particle," GM said in a statement Tuesday.

The automaker said this required a new manufacturing process at its plant in Warren, Mich. The process mandates that N95 masks include certain components, such as a wire nosepiece and a sonic weld that extends from the nose to the chin.

After excess material is trimmed off and ear bands are welded into place, the masks are subjected to a "quality check." The masks are then "cleaned, bagged and prepared for shipment," the company said.

GM also said sonic welders that were used in its Brownstown Township, Mich., battery assembly plant have been repurposed for the N95 respirators. T…

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DAILY DRIVE PODCAST: July 14, 2020 | Ford's Hau Thai-Tang: An insider's take on how Bronco came to life

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.

Ford's product development boss explains why the automaker waited so long to bring back the Bronco SUV and how the iconic off-roader and its variants will stand out in the market and differentiate itself from rival Jeep.

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15 U.S. states to jointly work to advance electric heavy-duty trucks

WASHINGTON -- A group of 15 U.S. states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday unveiled a joint memorandum of understanding aimed at boosting the market for electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and phasing out diesel-powered trucks by 2050.

The announcement comes weeks after the California Air Resources Board approved a groundbreaking policy to require manufacturers to sell a rising number of zero-emission vehicles, starting in 2024 and to electrify nearly all larger trucks by 2045.

The 14 states said the voluntary initiative is aimed at boosting the number of electric large pickup trucks and vans, delivery trucks, box trucks, school and transit buses, and long-haul delivery trucks, with the goal of ensuring all new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales be zero emission vehicles by 2050 with a target of 30 percent ZEV sales by 2030.

The states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oreg…

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