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Ford Mobility subsidiaries aid transit agencies during COVID-19

As the nation hunkers down to help slow the spread of COVID-19, cities are experiencing a decrease in traffic congestion and in some cases a decline in public transit use.

But people – especially critical personnel for essential industries – still need to get around, leaving transit agencies in major metropolitan areas to manage an unprecedented and sudden shift in operations.

Ridership and demand for services have fallen on some routes but increased on others.

Major transit systems also have been facing challenges with cleaning, staffing and other issues.

To help transit agencies respond to today's evolving rider demand and other challenges, Ford Mobility subsidiaries TransLoc, Ride Systems and DoubleMap are offering free consulting and rider demand response software. Transloc is a software provider for transit agencies. Ride Systems and DoubleMap provide automatic veh…

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Car-sharing service Zipcar expanded its Dedicated Zipcar vehicle program in response to demands brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program grew this week in the 10 cities it already serves and launched in 14 cities.

"The coronavirus crisis has created new needs for our members, especially essential employees, who rely on our convenient on-demand vehicles in urban locations," Justin Holmes, Zipcar vice president of marketing and public policy, said in a statement to Automotive News.

Standard Zipcar services allow users to book a vehicle by the hour or day. Dedicated Zipcar provides Zipcar members exclusive access to keep the same vehicle Monday through Friday.

Dedicated Zipcar rates vary by city and include a monthly membership fee, based on market and class of vehicle, plus a $0.45-per-mile fee. The monthly membership fee ranges from $199 to $349, according to Zipcar. A parking spot, gas and insurance are included.

The expanded servic…

PARIS -- Renault's board has decided to cancel its dividend on 2019 earnings in light of the coronavirus crisis, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard and interim CEO Clotilde Delbos will cut their compensation by 25 percent in the first quarter and will do same in the second quarter if the coronavirus crisis continues, the source also said.

Several automotive companies such as Michelin and Ford have already decided to reduce or suspend dividends on 2019 earnings to preserve cash in the current crisis.

Renault, which is 15 percent state-owned, had earlier proposed to pay a 1.1 euro per share dividend that had already been cut by two-thirds from the 3.55 euro per share payout on 2018 earnings.

PARIS -- Working groups at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot's owner PSA are speeding up work on closing their merger deal despite the coronavirus crisis, PSA CEO Carlos Tavares said in an internal note seen by Reuters.

Tavares also said in the note the working groups were also speeding up work on synergies.

The crisis triggered by the new coronavirus has virtually wiped out demand for new vehicles in Europe and North America, pushing automakers to temporarily halt most production and leaving them needing cash.

Sales continued to slump in March at two major Chinese automakers, Geely Automobile Holdings and BYD Co., with vehicle demand subdued by the lingering coronavirus outbreak.  

Deliveries at Geely, the largest domestic Chinese carmaker, fell 41 percent to 73,021 last month, the company said. 

Crossovers, sedans and multipurpose vehicles accounted for 66 percent (48,414), 32 percent (23,593) and 1.4 percent (1,014) of Geely’s March sales, respectively, the company reported.

Geely’s first-quarter deliveries totaled 206,027, a decline of 44 percent from the same period last year.

Despite the huge impact from the viral outbreak, Geely is targeting sales to increase 3.5 percent to 1.41 million in 2020, CEO An Conghui said in late March when the company released 2019 financial results.

March sales at BYD, China’s largest electrified-vehicle maker, dropped 35 percent to 30,599 last month. The tally includes 12,256 electric vehicles and plu…

CarMax is furloughing about15,500 employees, effective April 18, while also slashing executive pay and other costs.

The cutbacks come as about half the company's 217 U.S. stores are ether closed or operating on a limited basis due to the coronavirus outbreak, and "consumer demand has progressively deteriorated in recent weeks," the retailer said in a statement Wednesday.

Affected employees are being given transition pay prior to the start of their furlough. They are not being paid by CarMax after their furlough date, a company spokesperson said in an email. CarMax said it will cover all affected employees' costs under the company's medical plan until further notice.

"This has been a very difficult decision," CEO Bill Nash said in a statement. "Each and every one of our associates are incredibly important to us. We will not rest until we can start pulling our team back together. I believe that these steps will help our company with…

Here For America, a coalition representing the U.S. operations of international automakers and original equipment suppliers, has named policy veteran Jennifer Safavian its first CEO, effectively immediately.

Safavian previously was executive vice president for government affairs at the Retail Industry Leaders Association. Before that, she spent nearly 20 years on Capitol Hill, where she held senior positions such as staff director and general counsel to the House Ways and Means Committee.

"Jennifer's strong bipartisan relationships and proven track record navigating complex trade and tax policy issues makes her an outstanding choice to lead this new organization," Here For America Chairman Brian Krinock said in a statement Wednesday.

"During these unprecedented times for our industry, we are confident she will advance our members' goals to foster an open and competitive automotive marketplace."

Here For America was created by the Association of Gl…

Japan’s three biggest automakers are poised to add almost 32,000 people to the unprecedented ranks of North American workers seeking unemployment benefits.

While Toyota Motor Corp. isn’t furloughing any of its direct employees in the U.S., Canada or Mexico, the carmaker said Wednesday that it will no longer pay the roughly 5,000 people that temp agencies employ to help staff its idled plants in the region. The company will continue to provide benefits for the time being.

Toyota’s North American unit announced the cost-cutting move a day after Japanese peers Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. said they would temporarily stop paying all staff at their idled U.S. plants and ask them to file for states’ unemployment benefits. Honda’s decision affects 16,900 employees, while Nissan said it will furlough roughly 10,000 workers.

Companies across the auto industry are taking measures to conserve cash as they face uncertainty both with regard to how soon they…

During the coronavirus, remote vehicle deliveries are essential. But as dealerships become accustomed to remote e-signing tools and customers stay away for fear of endangering themselves or their families, will contact-free car sales become more normalized?

Among the software companies offering free or reduced-price services during the COVID-19 closures, finance-and-insurance software provider RouteOne is offering remote e-sign at no cost through May.

The product has been available since 2017, but the jump in interest over the past few weeks has been significant.

Dealer enrollment for RouteOne's remote e-sign service rose more than 400 percent from February through March, the company said, up to about 1,900 dealerships. Also, contract volume rose 59 percent in that same time frame. Though large increases, the software company notes remote e-sign deals remain a small portion of the transactions it supports.

Lenders, to…

ATLANTA — Mercedes-Benz got off to an early lead over rival BMW in the 2020 U.S. luxury sales race.

Mercedes delivered 67,746 vehicles, excluding commercial vans, in the first quarter, down 4.8 percent from a year ago.

BMW sold 59,455 vehicles in the U.S. in the first quarter, down 15 percent from the same period a year ago.

While the overall auto industry took it on the chin in the first quarter as sales cratered since mid-March, premium brands were especially hard hit.

U.S. luxury sales, excluding Jaguar Land Rover, tumbled 13 percent in the first quarter as the segment's biggest markets are among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, major U.S. luxury sales hubs, have been in lockdown for weeks.

With showrooms shuttered, premium nameplates have ceded 2.7 percentage points of market share in recent weeks, according to J.D. Power.

But amid the gloom lurks hope.

Leasing a…

DETROIT -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is recalling more than 365,000 vehicles because the rearview camera image is staying on the display screen longer than the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards allow.

The recalled vehicles are mostly in North America.

The vehicles are certain 2020 Jeep Gladiator and Jeep Cherokee models, 2019-20 Ram 1500 and 3500 pickups, Chrysler Pacifica, Dodge Durango, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Renegade vehicles and Dodge Challenger sedans, according to a NHTSA document.

The recalled vehicles have 8.4- or 12-inch displays.

For the Ram pickup, the 12-inch screens have been a significant selling point. Sales of the pickup improved 7 percent to 128,805 vehicles during the first quarter, even amid the plunge in March sales caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Associated Press reported that the software error causes the rearview image to stay on the screen more than 10 seconds after the vehicle has b…