News

TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp. on Wednesday said that operations at its plants in Japan may be affected by supply chain issues linked to the new coronavirus outbreak in the coming weeks, as the global outbreak gathers pace.

The automaker, which operates 16 vehicle and components sites in Japan, said that it would decide on how to continue operations at its domestic plants from the week of March 9, after keeping output normal through the week of March 2.

Plants may be affected by potential supply disruptions in China as some plants in the epicenter of the virus outbreak remain are unable to produce and transport goods, while some plants remain closed under orders by regional authorities.

"We are receiving parts from China as normal for the moment, but we will assess the situation after the week of March 2," a Toyota spokeswoman told Reuters.

Japan is a major site of production for the company, accounting for nearly half of the 10.7 million cars i…

DETROIT -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Mike Manley received compensation of 13.28 million euros ($14.45 million) for 2019, in line with a target set by the company, the automaker said in a filing on Tuesday.

Compensation for Manley, who took over as head of FCA in July 2018 after the death of his predecessor Sergio Marchionne, included a base salary of 1.43 million euros ($1.56 million) for 2019, a bonus of 1.2 million euros and long-term incentives totaling 8.8 million euros, according to the regulatory filing.

FCA had set a compensation target for Manley of $14 million.

FCA and PSA Group agreed in December to combine forces in a $50 billion deal to create the world's No. 4 automaker, in response to slower global demand and mounting costs of making cleaner cars amid tighter emissions rules.

The companies have not said what position Manley might hold in the newly combined automaker.

Manley said in January that talks with PSA were progress…

The National Transportation Safety Board urged government regulators and manufacturers to implement safeguards for automated vehicle technology, delivering strong words to both Tesla and NHTSA to act.

The board held a public hearing Tuesday to determine the probable cause of the March 23, 2018, fatal crash of a Tesla Model X in Mountain View, Calif.

The crash on U.S. 101 killed its driver, Walter Huang, who was using Tesla Inc.'s advanced driver-assistance system known as Autopilot. According to performance data downloaded from the crash vehicle, Huang was using traffic-aware cruise control and autosteer lane-keeping assist, both ADAS features that are part of Tesla's system.

Huang, a 38-year-old Apple Inc. software engineer, had Autopilot engaged continuously in the last 18 minutes and 55 seconds before his car struck a highway barrier at approximately 71 mph. The vehicle provided two visual and one auditory alerts for the driver to place his hands on …

A passenger falling aboard a self-driving shuttle as part of a pilot program in Columbus has put the project on hold less than three weeks after it began.

The daily shuttle service in the Linden neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, was halted after one of the pilot's vehicles from French manufacturer EasyMile made a sudden stop around noon Thursday, Feb. 20. One passenger fell from her seat to the floor of the shuttle as a result.

NHTSA on Tuesday ordered a suspension of passenger operations for 16 autonomous shuttles operated by EasyMile in 10 U.S. states including Utah, Texas, Colorado, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, California and Virginia pending an examination of "safety issues related to both vehicle technology and operations."

The safety agency said it "will continue to work with all affected parties, including EasyMile and local authorities, to evaluate potential future vehicle operations, consistent with applicable legal requirements and public…

DETROIT -- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order Tuesday creating a new Michigan Office of Future Mobility led by a chief mobility officer for the state focused on strategies to build up the automotive mobility tech sector.

Whitmer signed the directive on the hood of a Ford Motor Co. autonomous vehicle at a MICHAuto Summit in Detroit with auto industry leaders.

The Democratic governor also signed a second executive order establishing a Michigan Council on Future Mobility and Electrification.

The Office of Future Mobility will be housed within the state's Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.

The chief mobility officer, their office and the new council will be focused on developing a talented workforce for developing artificial intelligence technologies for self-driving vehicles and "placing a greater emphasis on the importance of electrification and electric vehicle infrastructure and overall state strategy around mobility," Whit…

The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday will convene its second hearing on a fatal crash involving Tesla Inc.’s automated driver-assist technology even though the automaker hasn’t filed formal responses to recommendations stemming from the first one more than two years ago.

The NTSB in 2017 recommended that automakers including Tesla make their driver-assist systems more resilient to misuse by inattentive drivers and limit the operation of those systems to only the driving for which they were designed.

Automakers -- including Volkswagen Group, Nissan Motor Co. and BMW  -- have told the NTSB how their systems ensured driver engagement, which the agency deemed acceptable responses. Tesla has had no formal correspondence with NTSB officials responsible for monitoring how safety recommendations are implemented, NTSB spokesman Chris O’Neil said.

“It’s not the norm,” O’Neil said. “Most recommendation recipients respond in the prescri…

Ford Motor Co. is suing participants in an alleged civil conspiracy to improperly acquire a custom-built 2018 Ford GT supercar in Canada, resell it for a profit and swiftly resell it again for yet another profit, all within a matter of weeks. 

Ford charges the defendants with flipping a new GT model worth C$690,800 ($520,000 USD) and selling it for more than double that price within a few weeks, in violation of the manufacturer’s 24-month prohibition against reselling the vehicle, according to a case in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

The defendants are Timothy Quocksister, president of Silver Arrow Cars in Victoria, B.C.; Bradley Nullmeyer, former CEO of Element Fleet Management Corp. of Toronto; Steven Hudson, former CEO of Element Financial Corp.; and Engineered Automotive, a vehicle servicing firm in Concord, Ont.

It’s a complex, high-stakes tale in which all defendants deny wrongdoing while sometimes pointing an accusing figure at o…

Nissan Motor Co. gave the starkest warning yet on the future of the Japanese group’s car factories in western Europe, with a plant in the U.K. threatened by Brexit and another in Spain suffering from a slump in demand.

The Sunderland site in England, which makes models that account for the bulk of European sales, remains under a cloud of uncertainty, Gianluca de Ficchy, chairman of Nissan Europe, said Monday in a press conference near Paris.

Should Britain fail to reach a free-trade agreement with the European Union, a resulting 10 percent tariff on cars and parts could not only spell the demise of the plant, which sends about three-quarters of its output to the continent, but also of Nissan’s entire European strategy, the executive said.

“We would not be viable,” he said. “We just wouldn’t be able to sell our cars.”

Nissan’s latest warning on Sunderland, the U.K.’s biggest auto plant, comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson began talks aime…

Traffic fatalities on U.S. roadways reached an estimated 38,800 in 2019, the second consecutive year the country saw a small decline in road deaths, according to new figures released last week by the National Safety Council.

The 2019 total represents a 2 percent decline from 2018, which saw slightly more than 39,400 road deaths, and a 4 percent decline from 2017, when about 40,230 people died in vehicle crashes, according to the Itasca, Ill.-based safety organization.

Preliminary estimates suggest the United States may be benefiting from "risk mitigation actions implemented in the last few years," the council said in the news release. One example the group cited is the Vision Zero initiative, a strategy gaining momentum in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago and New York that works to improve traffic safety by taking actions such as redesigning high-crash areas. Another proven safety measure is lowering the legal alcohol-concentration li…

MILAN -- Maserati will call its upcoming supercar the MC20.

The MC20 will have an advanced electric powertrain, Maserati said in a news release without giving further details.

The MC20 is expected to go on sale in 2021 as a rival to the Ferrari F8 Tributo and Lamborghini Huracan models.

The MC20 name underlines the sporting credentials of the new model, Maserati said.

With the MC20, Maserati will return to racing, the automaker said. MC is the acronym of Maserati Corse (Maserati Racing) and 20 refers to 2020.

Maserati's first racing car was the Tipo 26, where the number indicated the year of its manufacture.

The MC20 is a "natural evolution" of the MC12, the car that in 2004 marked Maserati’s return to racing after 37 years, the automaker said.

The MC12 won 22 races from 2004 to 2010 including 3 victories in the 24 Hours of Spa Francorchamps endurance event in Belgium and 14 championship titles in the FIA GT from 2004 to 201…