News

A broad coalition of national trade groups sent a letter last week to congressional leaders asking for changes to the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program that would provide more flexibility to participating small businesses.

In the letter, sent Thursday, May 21, the groups called for "emergency legislative and administrative action" to repeal the program's requirement that 75 percent of the loan be used to cover payroll costs and 25 percent be used to cover mortgage, rent and utilities during an eight-week period.

Additionally, the groups — including the National Automobile Dealers Association and the American International Dealers Association — are asking for an extension of the eight-week period that the funds must be spent to qualify for loan forgiveness and for an extension of the June 30 safe-harbor date for rehiring workers and restoring salary levels.

"These steps would conform the PPP with the reality of the gradual reopen…

PARIS -- The French government has pledged a total of 8 billion euros ($8.8 billion) to help the auto industry recover from the coronavirus crisis, including increased incentives for new electric vehicles and boosting a scrapping program to get higher-polluting older models off the road.

Speaking Tuesday at a Valeo parts factory in northern France, President Emmanuel Macron said the government wanted France to be the European leader in EVs by getting automakers to repatriate production from abroad and develop new models on French soil.

"We need a motivational goal: Make France Europe's top producer of clean vehicles by bringing output to more than 1 million electric and hybrid cars per year over the next five years," Macron said at the news conference.

To help reach that aim, Macron said France would increase the state bonus for private consumers buying electric cars (that cost up to 45,000 euros) to 7,000 euros ($7,680)  from 6,000 euros.

MEXICO CITY -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Tuesday began reopening its operations in Mexico.

The company said two plants in the central Mexican city of Toluca are ramping up after a gradual restart of its operations in the northern city of Saltillo a day earlier.

The spokesman for FCA Mexico said the company's operations in Saltillo had restarted on Monday with 40 percent of personnel.

The company idled its operations in Mexico on March 19.

The last Model T, the car that put the masses behind wheels, is produced on May 26, 1927, with Henry Ford and his son, Edsel, driving the last one off the assembly line.

The Model T was billed as the universal car -- "the motor car for the great multitude" -- that Henry Ford envisioned for years. While other manufacturers at the time focused on luxury cars for the wealthy, mostly for recreation, Henry Ford wanted a utilitarian car "large enough for the family but small enough to run and care for."

It combined low weight -- about 1,200 pounds -- simplicity and durability with a reasonable price of $850. Fuel efficiency was decent for the day -- about 13 to 21 mpg -- and it could travel up to 45 mph.

Ford initially used vanadium steel, a metal that only French luxury cars featured at the time, to give the Model T greater durability. It was capable of navigating rough ground, since the few roads at the time were relatively poor. The …

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is adding a new trim to the Edge lineup for customers who want the looks of the high-end ST performance model but may not want to pay the nearly $45,000 sticker price.

The 2020 Edge ST-Line, available later this year, comes with the base model's 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder that generates 250 horsepower. But it looks like the higher-trim ST with a special grille, body-color bumpers, black ST beltline molding, black roof rack side rails and 20-inch black aluminum wheels, among other features.

The ST-Line will slot between the ST and Titanium models. It has a starting price of $39,345, including shipping, which is about $5,000 less than the ST's base price.

The Edge was last redesigned in 2015 and underwent a freshening in 2019 when the ST model was added. Ford is facing competition in the midsize crossover segment from the Honda Passport, Chevrolet Blazer and Toyota Venza, and plans to retool the Edge f…

KARLSRUHE, Germany -- A German federal court judge ruled that Volkswagen has to pay compensation to motorists who purchased vehicles with manipulated diesel engines, a major blow for the automaker in its home market as it continues to reel from the emissions scandal.

Germany's highest court for civil disputes ruled on Monday that those who purchased the vehicles in question are entitled in principle to receive damages.

The ruling, which will allow owners to return their vehicles for partial reimbursement of the purchase price, serves as a template for about 60,000 lawsuits that are still pending with lower German courts.

The scandal over engine control devices that mask excessive nitrogen oxides emissions has so far cost VW more than 30 billion euros ($32.7 billion) in damages and regulatory fines, mainly imposed in the United States.

In the U.S., authorities had banned the affected cars from roads after the so-called defeat devices were discovere…

It usually takes Beep about a month to launch its self-driving shuttles on a new route. Following a late-night phone call at the onset of the pandemic, the mobility operator implemented a new route in roughly a week to assist in the fight against COVID-19.

Planning, mapping, testing and training were fast-tracked so Beep could carry medical tests from a drive-through coronavirus testing site to a Mayo Clinic laboratory about a half mile away in Jacksonville, Fla.

"It was one of those Hail Mary things," Beep CEO Joe Moye said during an appearance on the Shift mobility podcast last month. "We had a week to pull this one off."

Unlike the company's regular operations, no human safety drivers have been aboard the Navya-built shuttles. Beep's involvement allowed front-line medical workers to reduce their contact with the medical tests.

"Using artificial intelligence enables us to protect staff from exposure to this contagio…

Byton, one of many would-be Tesla rivals that have sprung up in China, finally seemed poised at the beginning of the year to make big headway toward launching its first product.

Last September, Chinese rival Faraday Future dealt Byton a blow by poaching its CEO, Carsten Breitfeld, the BMW veteran who co-founded the electric vehicle startup in 2017.

But in November, Byton rebounded with word that it received licenses to sell its M-Byte electric crossover in California as part of a plan to begin North American sales in 2021. And in January, Byton showed the final production version of the M-Byte to its U.S. target audience at CES.

Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the economic slowdown and California lockdown, Byton furloughed about half the 450 workers at its North American headquarters in Santa Clara in April. And the company said it would reevaluate the launch timing of the M-Byte, a sleekly styled crossover with a massive 48…

It looked for a while as if Rivian might power through the pandemic crisis unfazed, with interest in the startup's electric pickups and SUVs gaining momentum following the completion of a $1.3 billion investment round in December.

After Ford Motor Co. said it was investing $500 million in Rivian last year, Ford kicked off 2020 with the news that Rivian would co-develop an all-electric vehicle with Lincoln, based on the EV "skateboard platform" Rivian has developed and intends to produce in Normal, Ill.

But late last month, as COVID-19-related cancellations and concerns mounted around the industry, Ford said it was dropping the Lincoln program, although the automaker said it will continue to collaborate with Rivian.

In a statement to Automotive News last month, Lincoln said it is still committed to its partnership with Rivian and will continue to work with the EV startup "on an alternative vehicle based on Rivian's skateboard plat…

A lot of us in the media, like many in the automotive industry, have learned a lot about working remotely these last couple of months.

Some conference calls and other routines stay the same. Other practices are modified or dropped based on priorities and what is possible. This is an important time for us to be working; we have the tools to do it from anywhere and we can just carry on.

But it isn't the same.

It isn't the same as a newsroom humming with theories and gossip and the latest actual news. It isn't the same as sharing coffee with a colleague, shaking the hand of a dealer or looking in the eye of a CEO.

We do the best we can. And compared with how our parents or grandparents worked, it's amazing what so many of us can do from our homes with this fabulous 21st-century technology.

But it isn't the same.

John Krafcik knows. The Waymo CEO was on a "Daily Drive" podcast last week with Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein (Shamele…

Danny Shapiro, senior director of automotive at Nvidia, discusses the company’s pivot to support ADAS technologies, consumer trends to watch and how AI is helping in the fight against COVID-19.

How do I subscribe?

Apple Podcasts: “Shift: A podcast about mobility” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe.

Spotify: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" can be streamed through Spotify on your desktop, tablet or mobile device. Click here to subscribe.

Google Play: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" is available on Android devices through the Google Play store. Click here to subscribe.