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Automakers will release their U.S. sales results next week. And the entire automotive world will be hungering for information on how the industry fared through the escalating COVID-19 outbreak.

But we won't know. That's because a big chunk of the industry has moved to quarterly sales reports. So when the numbers come out April 1, all we'll get from most of the big players is a combined figure for January, February and March.

Anyone outside the federal government and a few privileged data houses might as well read tea leaves to guess how things went in the most pivotal month this industry has seen since at least 2008.

This started two years ago, when General Motors ended a long-standing practice. Its last monthly report, oddly enough, was a winner: double-digit gains for each brand in March 2018, up 16 percent overall.

"Thirty days is not enough time to separate real sales trends from short-term fluctuations in a very …

Jeff Klei, outgoing president of Continental North America, has seen his fair share of transformations, downfalls and challenges in the auto industry.

After 30 years with the German automotive megasupplier and the American brake company it acquired, ITT Automotive, Klei announced last week that he is retiring.

Klei, 57, will relinquish his title effective April 1 to Robert Lee, CEO of Continental Automotive Korea since 2014.

The change in leadership comes amid a pandemic that is rapidly disrupting the North American industry and its global supply chain. The same day Klei announced his retirement, the Detroit 3 decided to halt production in response to COVID-19 worries, triggering a domino effect among major suppliers, including Continental.

Klei was appointed president of Continental North America in 2008, another moment of industry disruption. In an interview with Automotive News last week, Klei likened the COVID-19 …

General Motors has created a power-sliding center console that can glide back from its normal position by up to 10 inches to create more storage space for a purse or bag of groceries.

Beneath the main bin, a hidden drawer is concealed to serve as a secure storage area.

GMC models will get the console first, and then GM will launch it on Chevy models.

Debuting in the next Yukon Denali, the power-slide console also creates a modular convenience feature when it slides toward the rear, bringing cupholders and surface area 10 inches closer to backseat passengers.

Alex Archer, design release engineer for the console, said GM has gotten a lot of positive feedback for offering extra space near the driver.

Ford Motor Co. officials relied on extensive customer research to create the 2021 Mustang Mach-E electric crossover. As part of that, Ford brought dozens of would-be buyers into its Dearborn, Mich., design studios to test the vehicle's new 15.5-inch touch screen.

What Ford's product team learned was that most customers wanted a physical knob to control radio volume. Ford worked with an unnamed supplier to create a metal knob for the job. Shaped with a hole in the middle, like a ring, the controller is bonded directly to the screen. Touching and turning it has the same effect as touching the screen.

The knob will be used only to control volume. But because of how it's bonded on the screen, Ford plans to give it additional functions in the future through over-the-air software updates.

"It's a very versatile technology and will continue to change," said Darren Palmer, Ford's global product development director for battery electric ve…

Most electric vehicles have a one-speed fixed-gear transmission. The Taycan S is the first EV that uses a two-speed transmission to drive the rear wheels.

Unlike internal-combustion engines, electric motors deliver maximum torque right when acceleration begins, which is how EVs leap to 60 mph so quickly.

The Taycan S features a single speed for the front wheels, with a rear two-speed that provides all-wheel drive and the blistering performance that helps give the Taycan S its supercar credentials. That includes a 0 to 60 sprint in about 2.6 seconds, and a top speed of 162 mph.

In a Taycan S, both transmissions stay in first gear until 60 mph, then the rear transmission shifts into second gear, which allows the rear motor to spin slower, getting it closer to peak torque. The second gear enables longer driving range per charge.

But as with all cars, especially high-performance Porsches, your mileage may vary.

TOKYO — For Japan's biggest automaker, the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics has been a five-year, about $1 billion bet on showcasing the company and its technology to the world.

But speculation is mounting here that the games will be postponed, or even canceled, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. If so, Toyota Motor Corp. might be out a bundle.

For starters, Toyota spent a reported $835 million in 2015 to sign on as a top sponsor of the games through 2024.

Since then, it has put untold millions into developing a fleet of electrified, new-mobility vehicles to roll out for the event — from hydrogen fuel cell buses to automated athlete shuttles and a cast of robots to help at events. A self-driving Toyota pod car is supposed to escort the torch relay.

Toyota also created a sophisticated worldwide marketing campaign called "Start Your Impossible" that revolves around the Olympics and the idea of delivering new modes of mobility…

For some of BMW's U.S. dealers, the brand's luxurious 8 Series coupe has turned from halo sports car to financial headache.

Retailers complain the car has received inadequate marketing support, while an abundance of configurations have left some dealership lots with unsold inventory of the high-value model, putting pressure on floorplan expenses.

The 8 Series has the highest day supply of any BMW model, dealers report.

"It is the best car that no one knows about," said one U.S. retailer, who asked not to be identified.

BMW declined to discuss the dealer complaints and doesn't provide information about product marketing costs or inventories.

But dealers aren't too keen on sitting on that high-dollar inventory. The sticker on 2020 models tops $155,000. The interest expense on each 8 Series is $400 to $500 a month, another dealer said.

"It's heavy metal that nobody wants to carry," he said.

The world’s supply chains are facing a root-to-branch shutdown unlike any seen in modern peacetime as efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak hit everything from copper mines in Peru to ball bearing makers in Germany’s industrial heartland.

In the last few days, a supply chain crisis that began earlier this year with Chinese factories has spread into key industries elsewhere that had weathered the impact until now.

The shutdowns are contributing to the growing conviction that the world has slipped into its first recession since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

“This is kind of a rolling natural disaster,” said Ethan Harris, head of global economic research at Bank of America. “In terms of the impact on global production, the shutdown outside of China will likely become bigger than the impact from China.”

The shock to supply chains, Harris said, is deeper and more sprawling than the trade wars of the past two years and likely to be …

MEXICO CITY -- Volkswagen will temporarily close its factories in Mexico's Puebla and Guanajuato states amid growing worries over the spread of the coronavirus.

Nearly all light-vehicle production in North America is being idled for at least several days amid the crisis and its associated impact on vehicle sales. The shutdowns also will be cascading throughout the North American supply chain in the coming weeks. 

VW's Mexican unit said Friday the upcoming shutdowns will take effect on March 30 and extend through April 12.

The automaker also pointed to slowing demand and the risk of shortages of parts as factors in the decision to suspend production in the factories.

Audi said on March 15 that its Q5 crossover plant in Mexico would suspend production due to a lack of parts caused by the global coronavirus outbreak. The automaker plans to resume output on April 1.

BMW said on Friday that it would extend an already-…