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I've heard from numerous dealers over the last several weeks who quickly spun up digital services and don't expect to drop them once business returns to pre-pandemic levels. The commitment to digital sales is holding even as dealerships across the country begin to reopen to in-person transactions.

"We're going to see this continue, even as we come out to having more of a traditional [sales] opportunity," John Bergstrom, chairman of Bergstrom Automotive in Wisconsin, told Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein on the "Daily Drive" podcast last week. "More and more, people are going to shop from home."

To a large degree, that's because many consumers want to shop from home. Even before the virus moved a lot of shopping online, customer surveys have shown greater interest in remote transactions for convenience and efficiency. The pandemic added contactless purchasing for safety's sake to that list.

Yet not everyone is ready to buy a car over the Internet. A …

Nearly 6,000 Michigan automotive customers will be eligible for relief and possible loan forgiveness from Santander Consumer USA as part of the settlement agreed to between the subprime lender and a coalition of state attorneys general.

Santander allegedly violated consumer protection laws by placing borrowers with subprime credit into auto loans it knew carried a high probability of default, according to the settlement announced last month with attorneys general in 33 states and the District of Columbia.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said in a statement Monday that the 5,925 consumers have been identified and will each receive a $225 relief payment. A portion of those consumers will qualify for loan forgiveness, Nessel's office said.

"Many individuals who enter into subprime lending agreements are working to build their credit and have few other options to obtain financing for a vehicle. For a business to take advantage of those consumers by exp…

DETROIT — A UAW employee last week filed a lawsuit alleging multiple union leaders, including the current and former vice presidents of the Ford department, sexually harassed her numerous times, according to court records.

Patricia Morris-Gibson, a 56-year-old UAW international service representative, said in the lawsuit that she was "subjected to discrimination and sexual harassment including but not limited to unwelcome sexual advances, comments, and offensive conduct of a sexual nature."

Gerald Kariem, vice president of the Ford department and a member of the union's international executive board, is among three named defendants. The other two are Miguel Foster, an assistant director of technical office professionals, and George Hardy, an assistant director of independent parts suppliers.

It's the second allegation of sexual misconduct against a current board member in roughly two months. After allegations surfaced in March against former Region 2B Di…

A U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday that Volkswagen Group cannot escape potential financial penalties from two counties in Florida and Utah that may amount to a "staggering" additional liability arising from the German automaker's diesel emissions scandal.

The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting in Anchorage, Alaska, was a victory for Utah's Salt Lake County and Florida's Hillsborough County in their litigation against VW. The counties sued VW for causing excess diesel emissions harmful to the environment and could in theory seek billions of dollars in damages.

Volkswagen settled U.S. criminal and civil actions prompted by the scandal for more than $20 billion, but that did not shield it from liability from local and state governments, the 9th Circuit noted.

The 9th Circuit found that nothing in the Clean Air Act "raises the inference that Congress intended to place manufacturers beyond the reach of …

MEXICO CITY -- The Mexican unit of Volkswagen Group said Monday the automaker was ready to restart operations in the states of Puebla and Guanajuato on June 15 after activity was idled in late March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Volkswagen has had to wait to restart the plant in Puebla, one of its biggest worldwide, due to a decree from the state government, which said conditions were not yet right for a restart because of the pandemic's ongoing spread.

Buick's redesigned 2021 Envision, a key pillar in the brand's crossover lineup, will offer more safety features, infotainment options and a premium trim package.

The retooled compact crossover will go on sale early next year and will continue to be built in China.

Helen Emsley, executive director of global design for Buick and GMC, said in a statement that the 2021 Envision will be lower and wider, with premium proportions "designed to combine the expressiveness of a car with the practicality of an SUV."

The Envision will be powered by a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbo engine and a nine-speed automatic transmission, Buick said. The current Envision comes standard with a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine, with a turbo 2.0-liter as an option.

The Envision, introduced in 2016, has become Buick's No. 3 seller behind two other crossovers, the subcompact Encore and the large Enclave.

"The all-new 2021 Envision is part of Buick's strategy to grow i…

MILAN -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said it planned to list its robot-making business, giving more detail Monday about the future of Turin-based Comau, which it already planned to spin off.

Comau will be spun off shortly after FCA completes its merger with Peugeot maker PSA and its shares distributed to shareholders of the new group.

The deal to create the world's fourth-largest automaker is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of next year.

FCA said that it had appointed Paolo Carmassi as Comau's new CEO to pursue the listing. For the past four years Carmassi ran scientific equipment maker Malvern Panalytical, a unit of Britain's Spectris, and previously worked for more than 20 years at Honeywell, it said.

It also appointed Alessandro Nasi, a board member of Exor, the holding company of Italy's Agnelli family which controls FCA, as Comau's new chairman.

Exor is set to become the largest single shareholder of the comb…

Electreon Wireless Ltd. is pressing ahead with projects to test its technology that allows electric cars to be charged while driving, potentially demonstrating a way to overcome a key barrier to the mass adoption of the vehicles.

The startup plans to install 600 meters (656 yards) of coils under a 2 kilometer (1.2 mile) stretch of road in Tel Aviv in mid-August, CEO Oren Ezer said in an interview at Electreon’s offices in Beit Yanai, Israel.

The company is now in the final stages of coordinating the engineering work with various groups like the municipality, utility companies and internet providers. Electreon will then test-run an electric-powered bus fit for public transportation on the track, he said.

The following month, the company expects to run a similar trial in Gotland, the Swedish island where it successfully tested a long-haul heavy truck in February, Ezer said. The coronavirus pandemic slowed the project, but it aims to finish deploying 1.6 ki…

Over the weekend, several dealerships on the West Coast and elsewhere were vandalized during protests stemming from the death of George Floyd last week in Minneapolis.

Mercedes-Benz of Oakland, in California, is one of the dealerships that was looted. Photos show broken showroom windows and vehicles that had been smashed and spray-painted with words such as "eat the rich." CBS BayArea reported that the store also had severe smoke damage from fires in the area.

On Saturday, the dealership posted a video on Facebook of its cleanup effort and said, "Our family is rebuilding. We are part of the community. #protectoakland."

Customers of the dealership commented on the post with supportive messages.

"This is so sad," customer Kathy Ryan wrote. "I will be back to support you when you reopen."

Down the street from the Mercedes-Benz dealership is Honda of Oakland. A video from Friday shows a vehicle being stolen and driven through the showroom wind…

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Lear Corp. is implementing costly safety measures that may hurt productivity at its operations in Mexico after suffering the deadliest known factory-related coronavirus outbreak in the Americas, but the U.S. auto supplier still faces a battle to win back workers' trust.

The northern Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez remains in the throes of the pandemic as it mourns the deaths of numerous factory workers, including 20 from Lear's Rio Bravo plant, which makes trim seat covers for Mercedes-Benz and Ford.

"I don't think you'll find anyone who says they're not scared," Alma Sonia Trevizo, an employee at the Rio Bravo plant, told Reuters while on a break from safety training ahead of its planned June 1 partial restart.

Following one-way arrows along hallways, eating at cafeteria tables with tall dividers, and stamping shoes on a mat soaked in disinfectant are among the new measures being adopted.

"But we have to take the fir…