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DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles planned to roll out a digital retailing platform that allows the buying process to take place online late this summer.

But the coronavirus outbreak forced the automaker to hurriedly pull up the release date to the spring as millions of consumers suddenly became confined to their homes. A tool that was envisioned as a convenient perk before the pandemic suddenly became a necessity for shoppers who still need to buy vehicles during a disruptive crisis.

Even though FCA started running commercials on April 1 promoting "the ability to shop and buy from the safety of your home," only some of its dealers were ready for such a monumental shift.

Jeff Kommor, FCA's head of U.S. sales, told Automotive News on Tuesday, April 14, that almost 20 percent of dealers were on the platform and that he expects more than 30 percent to be by the end of the month.

Kommor, in an email, said FCA began a pi…

TOKYO — Japanese auto supplier Denso Corp. is joining the fight against COVID-19 by teaching medical researchers how to harness the powers of quantum computing.

The auto industry knows the Toyota Group parts maker for its air conditioners, inverters, sensors, electric electronic control units and myriad other components. But Denso is also a leader in the field of quantum computing -- a science being developed to crack a host of big data problems in the automotive field.

Because it can handle thousands of variables much more quickly than conventional computers, quantum computing is ideally suited to optimizing problems with a multitude of outcomes. Traditional computers code information as either a zero or a one in bits. But quantum computing increases the amount of data that can be processed by using a quantum bit, or qubit. A qubit can be coded as a zero, a one, or a zero and a one at the same time.

Leading Denso's efforts is one of the world's quantu…

Ford Motor Co. is warning of significant damage wreaked by a tornado in South Carolina this week that knocked out a BorgWarner Inc. auto parts plant supplying a key component for the automaker’s most profitable models.

The Seneca, S.C., parts factory makes transfer cases, an important component of four-wheel-drive systems that Ford uses in its F-150 pickup, its biggest moneymaker, as well profitable SUVs such as the Explorer and Lincoln Navigator, the automaker said Friday in a securities filing.

“We do not have sufficient information to estimate when the facility will be back online or whether, or the extent to which, this incident will impact our plans to resume production of four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive vehicles,” Ford said.

BorgWarner’s plant, one of its largest drivetrain manufacturing facilities, was struck by a tornado on April 13 and the company said it’s still assessing the extent of the damage. “Currently, the time to resume operations,…

Automotive sales are now considered an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to updated guidance released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The new guidelines include "workers critical to the manufacturing, distribution, sales, rental, leasing, repair, and maintenance of vehicles and other transportation equipment, including electric vehicle charging stations, and the supply chains that enable these operations to facilitate continuity of travel-related operations for essential workers."

"Based on feedback we received, we released version 3.0 of the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers Guidance, which provides clarity around a range of positions needed to support the essential functions laid out in earlier versions," said Christopher Krebs, the agency's director. "As new or evolving challenges emerge, we are looking at what kind of access, personal protecti…

The CEO of Toyota Financial Savings Bank has been promoted to head of Toyota Motor North America's information operations.

Holly Walters will become chief information officer and group vice president of information systems for Toyota Motor North America, the company said in a news release. She will oversee information systems, solutions and technology, and she will report to Zack Hicks, chief digital officer and executive vice president of digital transformation and mobility.

Walters joined Toyota in 2007 as Toyota Financial Savings Bank's chief technology officer. Prior, she held a number of senior roles involving the integration of technology and business operations, solution development and deployment and IT risk and compliance.

Mike Owens will become group vice president and chief risk officer at Toyota Financial Services. He will have the added responsibility of overseeing the unit's international affiliates in the Americas Oceania region. Owens wil…

As coronavirus cases surpass two million worldwide, the auto industry has experienced an upheaval radical enough to permanently alter the trajectory of modern transportation as we know it.  

Auto prices across the board have fallen 10 percent in recent weeks, according to Manheim, which is owned by Cox Automotive. Used-vehicle sales in March fell 64 percent. Manufacturers have postponed important debuts and switched factory production lines over to making medical equipment: General Motors is making ventilators instead of Escalades; in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Lamborghini is hand-stitching facial masks instead of Huracans.  

Meanwhile, McLaren and others have preemptively pulled out of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the site of the year’s most important luxury car debuts. (Event organizers have yet to officially cancel the annual concours.)  

Classic car collecting has seen its share of upheaval, too: Aside from Pebble Beach, every pre…

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co.  projected a first-quarter net loss of $2 billion and said it would tap debt markets to shore up cash reserves as the coronavirus outbreak halted production and curbed vehicles sales.

The automaker has already suspended its dividend and drawn down more than $15 billion to ride out the damage to its business from the pandemic.

In a regulatory filing Friday, Ford also said it had filed for a debt offering but did not disclose the amount. The company had about $30 billion in cash on its balance sheet as of April 9.

The disclosures provide a more-complete picture of what Ford will report on April 28, when first-quarter financials will be released. On Monday, the company said it expects to post a pretax loss of about $600 million for the first quarter.

"We believe we have sufficient cash today to get us through at least the end of the third quarter with no incremental vehicle production and wholesales or financing actions…

Asbury Automotive Group Inc. is once again filling the top finance job with a candidate from outside the auto industry.

Patrick Guido, 47, has been appointed senior vice president and CFO, Asbury said in a government filing Friday. He will start May 11.

Guido joins one of the nation's largest auto retailers from athletic apparel company Lululemon Athletica Inc., where he was CFO since April 2018. He also spent seven years at VF Corp., a lifestyle company that includes brands The North Face, Timberland and Icebreaker, serving as treasurer and vice president of corporate development.

Guido replaces Sean Goodman, who departed Asbury after two years to join AMC Entertainment. Before his time as Asbury's CFO, Goodman held positions with several companies in various fields, including Home Depot Inc., Morgan Stanley Inc. in London and Deloitte & Touche in New York.

Asbury CEO David Hult told Automotive News on Friday that Guido had interviewed for th…

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen Group's first quarter light-vehicle sales dropped 23 percent to 2 million worldwide but the company is hopeful that the Chinese market will recover soon as it moves out of the coronavirus crisis.

China is VW's single biggest market, accounting for a big chunk of all profits.

Slumping deliveries because of the virus's spread in China had slowed in April, the head of Volkswagen's China business Stephan Woellenstein told reporters on a call Friday.

Referring to the country's light-vehicle market overall, Woellenstein said the decline in sales in April was estimated to be between 15 percent and 20 percent from a year earlier, while the drop in March, at the height of the pandemic, was 40 percent.

"If things continue as they do now, we could have reached last year's level again in June," he said. "We see a normalization with view to the summer."

Volkswagen's sales were faring slightly better than the overall Chinese marke…

The COVID-19 crisis will cause automotive research budgets to plunge 17 percent this year and 12 percent in 2021, according to a new study.

IHS Markit, in survey results released Wednesday, said development budgets also are expected to suffer, dropping 13 percent on average in 2020 and 8 percent in 2021.

"With cash flow drying up due to sales activity grinding to a halt in core markets and little prospect for an imminent 'return to normal,' automakers and suppliers are looking to shore up their finances by preserving cash and other noncritical expenses," the research company said.

IHS Markit's automotive supply chain and technology team surveyed 140 suppliers and automakers in North America, Europe and Asia.

Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they expect revenue will be impacted beyond the next 12 months.

Respondents also said they expect some R&D activities now outsourced to be brought in-house, especially at medium and large aut…

A seven-state Midwest coalition will closely coordinate the reopening of the regional economy when the threat of the coronavirus subsidies.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is partnering on the effort with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky dominate the U.S. automotive industry with several assembly plants and thousands of parts suppliers, along with R&D and other logistical support operations. 

"Phasing in sectors of our economy will be most effective when we work together as a region," the governors said in a joint statement. "This doesn't mean our economy will reopen all at once, or that every state will take the same steps at the same time. But close coordination will ensure we get this right. Over time, people will go back to work, restaurants will reopen, and things will…