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Daimler AG is suspending production at a Mercedes-Benz SUV plant – one of the first car factories in the U.S. to reopen -- due to a shortage of parts supplied from Mexico.

The Vance, Ala., operation won’t build vehicles next week, according to an internal notice viewed by Bloomberg. Workers are being given the option to use vacation time or go without pay and file for state and federal unemployment benefits.

The Mercedes plant reopened late last month after idling for five weeks as much of the U.S. manufacturing base shut down to contain the coronavirus outbreak. Now, as U.S. carmakers plan to restart their operations beginning next week, Mexico’s government has sent mixed messages as to how soon it will allow auto companies to reopen.

After sending several conflicting messages over the past three days, Mexico said Friday that plants can reopen before June 1 if they follow various safety protocols. Numerous automakers and suppliers are confident that the…

Canadian supplier Linamar Corp. is cranking its factories back into production as the industry attempts to restart operations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are very much focused on recovery at this point,” Linda Hasenfratz said on BNN Bloomberg TV Friday. “I feel we’ve really come through the toughest point.”

Some plants are now running in North America and Europe. “Next week, the rest of the North America plants will be coming back online,” Hasenfratz said.

The comments may help soften the blow from U.S. factory production data today which showed an almost 72 percent slump for motor vehicles and parts as car plants shuttered to slow the spread of the virus.

The Guelph, Ontario-based company has established safety protocols based on screening, making sure workers get the protection they need, including masks, establishing physical barriers to keep people apart, cleaning and hygiene and contact tracing, she said. 

China factories…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. says engineers have been able to boost the upcoming Mustang Mach-E electric crossover's fast-charging capabilities on the rear-wheel-drive version by up to 30 percent ahead of its launch this year.

Ford says the electric vehicle's rwd variant with an extended-range battery will gain 61 miles after 10 minutes plugged into a DC fast charger, up from initial estimates of 47 miles over that period. The all-wheel-drive model with an extended-range battery will gain 52 miles after 10 minutes.

Rwd variants with a standard-range battery will gain 46 miles over that period, while awd models with standard-range batteries will get 42 miles.

"We've made it a priority to make it faster to recharge [the] Mustang Mach-E, and we're continuing to work with providers to ensure even more charge points are available through FordPass to make it easier to recharge," Mark Kaufman, Ford global director, electrification, said in a statement.

FordP…

DETROIT — Plant shutdowns due to the coronavirus will result in roughly two-month delays for several of Ford Motor Co.'s key vehicle programs, including the redesigned F-150 pickup and new Bronco SUV, but a top executive said the automaker doesn't envision additional postponements.

"Given our inability to work in our assembly plants during the shelter-in-place restrictions, it will have an impact to program timing, in terms of the launches, but we expect the launch delays to be commensurate with the duration of the shutdown period," Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's chief product development and purchasing officer, said Friday in a Bank of America presentation.

Ford on March 18 said it would shutter its North American facilities as the coronavirus spread across the globe. It plans to resume limited production at most plants Monday.

Ford has already delayed public unveilings of the Bronco, Bronco Sport crossover and F-150 this spring.

The Bronco Sport, F-150 a…

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. on Friday said it would reduce vehicle production in Japan by 122,000 units in June, as a lack of demand for new cars due to the coronavirus prompts the automaker to keep its plants running on limited operations.

The drop in Toyota's production underscores the challenging conditions for carmakers around the world due to the fallout from the virus. Besides weak demand, problems with procurement and social distancing measures at plants are also expected to hit output.

The automaker said it would halt production at all of its 15 plants for four days next month, while stopping output for up to 7 days on 10 of its production lines, which make models including the Prius gasoline hybrid, Corolla sedan, and 4Runner midsize SUV.

In addition, it plans to operate only single shifts on five production lines next month, an arrangement which would continue on two lines through July, and through August on another, it said in a statement.

…

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.

Nissan's Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta discusses the automaker's transformation strategy; Jose Valls' departure; relationships with dealers and what the company is learning from the coronavirus crisis. 

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MILAN -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is in talks to obtain a state-backed credit line of about 6.3 billion euros ($6.8 billion) from Italy to buttress the automaker's finances against the steep downturn caused by the coronavirus, Bloomberg and Reuters reported.

The automaker is seeking to shore up liquidity after burning through $5.5 billion in the first quarter while its plants were shuttered and new-car demand stalled.

FCA has gradually restarted its operations in Italy since the end of last month after they were closed due to government coronavirus lockdowns. The automaker on Tuesday released plans detailing how it will resume North American production next week.

FCA, which has its legal headquarters in the Netherlands, runs several plants in Italy and may qualify for the government program, which offers more than 400 billion euros worth of liquidity and bank loans to companies hit by the pandemic.

Companies using the program for state guara…

MILAN -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' decision to scrap its dividend marks another setback for plans by the Agnelli family's Exor arm to raise cash after a $9 billion sale of its reinsurer unit PartnerRe collapsed this week.

FCA and PSA Group, which have agreed a tie-up to create the world's fourth largest automaker, said on Wednesday they were both withdrawing their annual dividend. That will allow them each to preserve 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in cash during the coronavirus crisis.

Exor, led by Agnelli scion John Elkann and FCA's controlling shareholder with a 28.9 percent stake, will miss out on around 320 million euros in cash at a time when two deals to reshape its portfolio of businesses have either been scrapped or delayed.

The coronavirus crisis had already forced vehicle and equipment maker CNH Industrial, also controlled by Exor, to delay to late 2021 "or beyond" a plan to split in two and list its truck, bus and engine business, which wa…

FLINT, Mich. --  I stepped out of the rain into a black tent where a masked man thrust a pair of grill tongs my direction.

Pinched at the end was a fresh basic surgical-grade mask. A thumbs up signaled to the next masked man that I had not knowingly been in contact with a person infected with COVID-19, nor was I experiencing any symptoms. My temperature was taken and I was permitted to enter the facility.

I returned to work Thursday. Not my Crain Communications Inc. office in Detroit, but Lear Corp.'s just-in-time seating plant on Flint's historic Buick City site.

The automotive seating supplier held an open house, of sorts, for its production line leaders to get them acclimated with the rigorous new safety protocols as the plant is set to begin limited production Monday.

Admittedly, walking into a production plant in the middle of a pandemic that's claimed the lives of nearly 86,000 Americans in the last 100 days is nightmare fuel. I was fe…

Cruise, the self-driving car unit majority owned by General Motors, is laying off almost 8 percent of full-time employees to cut costs in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The company will offer affected staff financial support to help them transition, plus health care coverage through the end of the year, Cruise CEO Dan Ammann wrote in a staff memo, a portion of which was viewed by Bloomberg. The cuts mostly fall outside of Cruise’s engineering and core development teams.

“In this time of great change, we’re fortunate to have a crystal-clear mission and billions of dollars in the bank,” Cruise spokesman Ray Wert said. “The actions we took today reflect us doubling down on engineering work and engineering talent.”

DETROIT — Ex-UAW President Gary Jones was arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court via video conference weeks ahead of a hearing in which he is expected to plead guilty to embezzling union funds.

The former president, who resigned his post late last year as an ongoing federal corruption investigation closed in on him, appeared on video wearing a dark suit and navy blue tie. His attorney, Bruce Maffeo, entered a not-guilty plea on two counts of conspiracy to embezzle funds and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Each of the charges could send Jones to prison for up to five years.

Jones was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond that came with certain conditions, including that he report to pretrial services. His travel was restricted to within the continental U.S. and he is required to surrender his concealed pistol license and passport.

Jones was mostly silent, aside from responding, "Yes, sir, your honor," to a few basic questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge S…

A push to clear up confusing auto tech terminology

Understanding the difference between a driver-assist feature and a self-driving system is a life-or-death matter.

Unfortunately, the terminology used to describe them has devolved into a morass of marketing jargon that often exaggerates capabilities or blurs the line between the two.

Efforts are underway to improve that language. This week, a group of safety organizations put forth a set of common definitions that aims to cut through the clutter and, among other items, better define the differences between collision warnings and collision interventions.

The definitions are not intended to override the marketing strategies of individual automakers, the group says, but instead to standardize key functions of driver-assist systems.

"This is critical to ensure that drivers are aware these systems are designed to assist, not replace, an engaged driver," said the group, composed of member…