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As the severity of the coronavirus outbreak was coming into focus mid-March with a plunging stock market and a national emergency declaration from the White House, Hyundai Motor America CEO Jose Muñoz and his top executives were trying to get in front of the wave about to crash down on the U.S. auto industry.

Muñoz, who was closely watching the disruption in Hyundai Motor Group's home market of South Korea and in China, wanted to move quickly and aggressively to support dealers and customers in the U.S. with the relaunch of the automaker's job-loss protection program for new buyers — first seen during the Great Recession. But not everyone was on board.

Muñoz stuck with the plan. That and other moves by Hyundai and its corporate siblings Genesis and Kia mark a line in the sand for the surging Hyundai Motor Group. After gaining market share and industry awards in recent years, the group is willing to spend to defend its gains and position itse…

Even as automakers aim to resume assembling vehicles in as little as two weeks, some now have a new problem: A critical supplier facility has been knocked out by a tornado.

BorgWarner is scrambling to figure out how to quickly put its South Carolina transfer case factory back together after it was demolished last week.

The plant is the source of transfer cases for the Ford F-150, Toyota's North America-made trucks, some Honda Motor Co. light trucks produced in Lincoln, Ala., and possibly other vehicle lines. BorgWarner declined to identify its customers or say how many models the Seneca, S.C., plant supplied.

The company also declined to comment on the condition of the plant or how long it might take to rebuild. But photos posted online by local employees and vendors show a large industrial center that appears to be significantly damaged and lacking a roof.

The plant's 970 employees make it the largest employer in rural Oconee County, in South Ca…

TOKYO — Mazda is tipping its hand about future plans for the brand's trademark rotary engine.

Mazda, in a press release celebrating the company's 100-year anniversary, says the rotary likely will return as a range extender in the new MX-30 electrified crossover.

That vehicle, slated for sale in Europe and Japan, debuted as an EV at last year's Tokyo Motor Show, featuring new design cues and front and rear doors that swing opposite each other.

Now, Mazda is hinting a hybrid version using a rotary engine may be down the road. In a media release highlighting Mazda's history of rotary-engine development, the carmaker noted a small Wankel engine was used as a range extender in a prototype Mazda 2 EV.

"A similar system could find its way onto the Mazda MX-30, a brand-new battery-electric crossover SUV arriving at dealerships this year," Mazda said.

The all-electric MX-30 for Europe and Japan uses a relatively small 35.5-kWh lithium ion battery an…

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…