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DETROIT — Penske Automotive Group Inc. said its retail automotive business improved in May over sharp drops in business in late March and April amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The nation's second-largest new-vehicle retailer said its May U.S. new- and used-vehicle sales were down 25 percent year over year, while U.S. service and parts gross profit declined 39 percent.

That's better than the drop of about 50 percent Penske experienced in new and used sales in April and its 52 percent decline in service and parts gross profit the same month amid stay-at-home orders.

Penske said all of its U.S. dealerships' sales and service departments were open and that it was seeing sequential improvement in business.

"I am encouraged by the significant improvement we continue to see in our operations," CEO Roger Penske said in a statement Tuesday. "Since the COVID-19 pandemic began impacting operations in the second half of March, we …

General Motors' top executive expects it will take decades for electric vehicles to take over as the dominant form of transportation but sees driverless cars on the road within five years.

CEO Mary Barra said American drivers will go electric, but it will take a long time for most of the 250 million vehicles on U.S. roads to be battery powered.

“We believe the transition will happen over time,” Barra said on “Leadership Live With David Rubenstein” on Bloomberg Television. When asked if all cars will be electric in 20 years, she said that may be too soon. “It will happen in a little bit longer period, but it will happen.”

That outlook underscores the tricky task Barra will have budgeting billions for new models and deciding which of them will run on battery power. Following inroads made by Tesla Inc., GM is one of the most aggressive automakers when it comes to electrifying its lineup. It currently sells just one EV in the U.S. but is developing…

Subaru's midcycle freshening for the subcompact Crosstrek crossover includes updated styling at the front, a new trim level and — for the first time in the nameplate's history — an available 2.5-liter engine.

The 2021 Crosstrek, the brand's smallest crossover, will now be offered with the same 2.5-liter engine with 182 hp and 176 pound-feet of torque found in the Forester compact crossover, Legacy midsize sedan and Outback midsize crossover.

For the Crosstrek, the larger engine equates to a power increase of 30 hp and 31 pound-feet of torque over the 2.0-liter engine.

Subaru will offer the 2.5-liter in two trims: Sport, which is new for the 2021 model year, and the top-of-the-line Limited. It's only available with a continuously variable transmission. Base and Premium trims will continue to have the 2.0-liter engine and the option of a six-speed manual transmission or a continuously variable transmission.

Despite the increase in power, the 2.5-li…

The 2021 Mercedes-AMG GLS 63 is powered by a 4.0-liter V-8 biturbo engine with 603 hp, a nine-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive. In a first for the performance variant, the three-row GLS 63 has an integrated EQ boost starter-generator, which combines a starter motor and an alternator in a single electric motor situated between the engine and transmission, Mercedes says. It provides an additional 21 hp and 184 pound-feet of torque. Here's a roundup of snippets of GLS 63 reviews from the automotive media.

"It took me only a few pulse-quickening, temper-heating miles to realize that driving the GLS 63 AMG on the freeway is nothing but an exercise in frustration, so I headed for the serenity of my favorite canyon roads. I've driven enough high-end SUVs that I should no longer be amazed at their competence, but the GLS 63 turned my frustration to utter awe. It was like driving a sport sedan from a flybridge on the roof. Steering response is sharp. There is …

LOS ANGELES -- Honda Motor Co. is coping with a global computer network disruption that is forcing it to cut some production in North America.

The disruption could be part of a deliberate attack, the automaker's U.S. sales company, American Honda Motor Co., said Monday.

Honda did not offer details on what production plants have cut output or what other operations might be affected. The company is investigating the cause of the computer disruption and has not ruled out a cyberattack.

"On Sunday, June 7, Honda experienced a disruption in its computer network that has caused a loss of connectivity, thus impacting our business operations. Our information technology team is working quickly to assess the situation," American Honda said in a statement.

British news outlet Sky News has reported that the computer problems also are affecting Honda's networks in Japan and Europe.

It was unclear Monday whether Honda was the victim of ransomware, in whi…

Tesla Inc. is proffering a decidedly different take on the coronavirus-related shutdowns CEO Elon Musk called “fascist” and sued over weeks ago by suggesting they may bolster the case for banning internal-combustion engine cars.

In its 2019 Impact Report released Monday, Tesla pointed to sharp improvements in air quality in recent months tied to restrictions on business and travel aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19. The company said the drop in pollution could embolden governments that already have been making plans to eventually ban vehicles that run on fossil fuels.

“It is not hard to imagine that many cities could become electric-only in the near future as they begin to witness the impact that ICE vehicles have on air quality,” Tesla said in the report.

Tesla’s rosy view is consistent with the Energy Information Agency’s forecast in April that emissions from cars, power plants and other sources may fall 7.5 percent this year as a result o…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. said its Escape plug-in hybrid will offer 37 miles of electric range when the electrified variant goes on sale this summer, in line with what the automaker expected when it unveiled the vehicle last year.

That's less than the 42 miles the upcoming Toyota RAV4 plug-in hybrid is expected to produce on a single charge. But Ford says the Escape plug-in's 100 mpg equivalent will best its rivals in the compact-crossover segment, including the RAV4, which will have a 94 mpg equivalent.

The Escape PHEV is a key piece to Ford's electrification strategy, which involves a combination of hybrids as well as battery-electric vehicles. Ford is in the midst of investing more than $11.5 billion in electrified vehicles through 2022.

The vehicle's importance in Ford's lineup — it's Ford's second-bestselling nameplate behind the F-Series — has grown in recent months as the automaker continues to cut sedans from its lineup. Ford plans to split the co…

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen Group named Ralf Brandstaetter as VW brand CEO, promoting him from his current role as the brand's COO.

The change -- effective July 1 -- means that VW Group CEO Herbert Diess gives up his role as VW brand CEO. The change will give Diess greater leeway for his tasks as group CEO, VW said in a statement on Monday.

In Brandstaetter, 51, VW's supervisory board has picked a company veteran to head its core brand. Porsche CEO Oliver Blume was also a contender for the post.

Brandstaetter, a German national, joined VW in 1993. He was promoted to brand COO from head of purchasing in 2018.

The leadership discussion comes at a time when VW is attempting to push through painful cost cuts at the VW brand with the company's powerful labor representatives.

Diess, 61, has embarked on radical reforms of the group, which includes the Audi, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Porsche and Bentley brands, but has run into opposition from the labor side.…

LONDON -- A reported visit by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to the U.K. has prompted speculation that the entrepreneur is reconsidering Britain as a site for the production of batteries or cars.

Musk flew to the U.K. last week to visit Bristol in southwest England to view a potential car factory site, the Times of London reported, without quoting sources. Musk may have visited the site of a former munitions plant in Bridgewater, southwest of Bristol, the paper said. The site is being redeveloped as an energy-related business park.

Tesla is currently building a car factory plant in Berlin, Germany, initially to build the Model 3. Production is scheduled to start in 2021, casting doubt on whether Tesla would need a second plant in the U.K.

Musk has previously said Britain had been in the running for the plant location but Germany was chosen because of concerns about the future of the U.K.'s future trading relationship with Europe. The U.K. quit the EU on Jan. 31 and…

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.

American Honda's auto division boss Dave Gardner discusses the automaker's incentive strategy for retailers, his new role at the company and the protests stemming from the death of George Floyd.

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BRUSSELS -- EU antitrust regulators are concerned about Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group's combined high market share in small vans and may require concessions to clear their $50 billion merger, people familiar with the matter said.

The companies, which are seeking to create the world's fourth-biggest automaker, were told of the European Commission's concerns last week.

If FCA and PSA fail to dispel the European Commission's doubts in the next two days and subsequently decline to offer concessions by Wednesday, the deadline for doing so, the deal would face a four-month long investigation.

The EU competition enforcer, which has set a June 17 deadline for its preliminary review, declined to comment. FCA was not immediately available for comment while PSA had no immediate comment.

FCA and PSA produce vans through a 50-50 joint venture called Sevel, which is based in Atessa, Italy, and is Europe's largest assembly plant for vans. It built 1,20…

In 2008, Schaeffler, a family-owned German supplier, made an offer to buy the shares of its listed rival Continental. It almost collapsed under the debt it amassed to fund the deal, which was unveiled shortly before the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy.

A decade later, another privately held German supplier, ZF Friedrichshafen, has made a similarly ill-timed, debt-funded takeover: the $7 billion acquisition of truck-braking specialist Wabco Holdings. ZF is now cutting thousands of jobs to keep its creditors at bay.

ZF is not a household name in the public domain because it does not sell directly to consumers and is not listed on the stock market. But many have heard of Ferdinand von Zeppelin, the man who set up ZF a century ago to start building gears for his airships. This mode of travel captured the world's imagination until the 1937 Hindenburg fire ended the era of luxurious passenger-carrying airships.

Today ZF is one of the largest suppliers, with almost…