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BERLIN -- Tesla received approval from a German court to continue to cut down forest near the capital Berlin to build its first European car and battery factory, in a defeat for local environmental activists.

The court said in a statement on Thursday it had rejected urgent applications to stop the land being cleared of trees from several environmental groups, adding its ruling was final. It had temporarily halted the tree felling earlier this month.

The U.S. electric car maker announced plans last November to build a factory in Gruenheide in the eastern state of Brandenburg that surrounds Berlin, a decision that was initially lauded as a vote of confidence in Germany.

However, local and national lawmakers were caught out by the strength of opposition to the factory, with hundreds of demonstrators protesting over what they say is the threat it poses to local wildlife and water supplies.

Lawmakers from Germany's pro-business Christian Democrat and F…

TrueCar Inc., in a move it described as "unexpected," said Thursday that its partnership with USAA Federal Savings Bank will end at the close of the third quarter.

TrueCar's online car-buying service has been driven by a revenue-sharing partnership with USAA for 13 years and TrueCar expected to sign another long-term agreement with the lender, a company spokeswoman said in an email. USAA represents about 29 percent of the vehicles sold by dealers to buyers who connect through the TrueCar marketplace, TrueCar's spokeswoman said.

In an earnings call Thursday, TrueCar interim CEO Mike Darrow said the company was given "very little notice" of USAA's decision.

"To be clear, this announcement does not reflect on the service TrueCar has provided to USAA members over the course of a long and successful 13-year partnership," Darrow said. He added that USAA has decided to stop providing the car-buying service on Oct. 1 in an effort to simplify its business mo…

Spy photographers have captured the best look yet at the redesigned Ford F-150.

The next-generation pickup, due out later this year as a 2021 model, was spotted this week in light camouflage near the automaker's Dearborn, Mich., headquarters.

The crew cab caught undergoing road testing features what appears to be more stacked headlights, more horizontal fog lamps and a grille that closely mimics the midsize Ranger pickup. The F-150 also appears to have a more raised hood than the current model.

The interior of the vehicle is expected to undergo a more radical overhaul with at least a 12-inch touch screen, following the success of a similar-sized screen in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' recently redesigned Ram pickup.

Ford is planning a hybrid model that's expected to debut this year, as well as a battery-electric version expected out in 2021.

A smooth launch is critical for Ford. The F-Series line of pickups, of which F-150 is a part, has been…

Porsche and Genesis took the top two spots of Consumer Reports' annual ranking of the most reliable automotive brands.

Subaru, which won the top spot in 2019, fell to third place.

Fiat came in last in the brand rankings for the fourth straight year. The lowest spots on Consumer Reports' rankings stayed relatively the same from last year, including Mitsubishi, Jeep, Land Rover, Cadillac, Jaguar and Alfa Romeo.

"CR only recommends one of the 36 total vehicles it has tested from that group — the Jeep Grand Cherokee," a press release Thursday said.

Acura fell eight spots to 24th place in 2020 due to its MDX and RDX crossovers, Consumer Reports said.

Tesla, which fell below the brand rankings last year, rose eight spots to 11th place due to improved reliability of the brand's Model 3 and Model S sedans. It ranked higher than any other U.S.-owned brand. Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln line was the second-best America…

Editor's note: A previous version of this story misstated the timing of Visteon's estimated sales impact from the coronavirus outbreak.

Auto supplier Visteon Corp. on Thursday reported a 19 percent drop in fourth-quarter net income and a 1.8 percent bump in sales as the company battled lower industry production, vehicle launch delays at Ford and a strike at GM while new business rolled in.

Net income for the supplier of cockpit and instrument systems fell to $35 million in the fourth quarter, compared with $43 million in the fourth quarter of 2018, on sales of $744 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 15 percent to $85 million. The company said product launches and updates helped offset lower overall industry volume.

For the full year, net income fell 57 percent to $70 million while sales slipped 1.3 percent to $2.95 billion due to lower vehicle production, negative currency exchange and customer…

French automotive supplier Valeo said on Thursday that even given auto sector uncertainty, it expects to outperform the market in 2020, which it sees down 2 percent, in terms of revenue generation.

Valeo, which specializes in the design, production and sale of components and services for the automotive sector, said its plants located outside Hubei province, which account for 90 percent of nominal sales in China, had resumed production with supply chains progressively getting back in order.

However, it added it was too early to evaluate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China on the company's 2020 results and the wider auto industry. "We respect all the rules implemented by the Chinese authorities", Jacques Aschenbroich, Valeo’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said on a call organised for journalists.

He pointed out that the coronavirus situation seemed to be improving both in and outside Hubei, with increasing number of people recovering fr…

The number of U.S. new-vehicle dealerships fell from 18,294 in 2018 to 18,195 at the start of 2020, marking the first decline since 2013, according to the annual Automotive Franchise Activity Report.

U.S. dealership throughput, the average number of new-vehicles sales per dealership, also fell, to 940 in 2019, a decrease of eight units from 2018, according to the report produced by research firm Urban Science.

That 0.5 percent decrease "is small and still indicates continued stability overall," the report said.

California posted the biggest decrease in dealerships in 2019, down 28 to 1,478, followed by Illinois with nine fewer, and Ohio and Missouri with seven fewer each.

Texas saw the most growth, with 11 new dealerships in 2019, followed by North Carolina with four, and Pennsylvania and Tennessee with three new dealerships each.

The report found that 96 percent of the U.S. dealership networks showed virtually no net change.

"Califo…

Clutch Technologies is working with HyreCar Inc., a car-sharing marketplace for ride-hail drivers, in a partnership that allows dealerships using Clutch's subscription services technology to seamlessly integrate vehicle inventory onto HyreCar's platform.

HyreCar's dealership clients also will have access to Clutch's vehicle subscription software, the companies announced ahead of the NADA Show in Las Vegas, which ended Monday.

"We're constantly innovating in order to provide the automotive industry with a variety of diverse mobility solutions," Vince Zappa, president of Clutch Technologies, a Cox Automotive company, said in a statement.

Clutch also announced AmeriDrive, a subscription fleet operator with more than 500 vehicles on its platform, as a client. AmeriDrive is using Clutch's single-vehicle subscription technology to serve consumers and gig drivers in southern Florida; Austin, Texas; and northern Atlanta.

Clutch and Cox Automotive…

Henio Arcangeli Jr., senior vice president of the automobile division at American Honda Motor Co., is stepping down at the end of the month after spending fewer than three years at the automaker. 

Honda on Wednesday said that Shinji Aoyama, president and CEO of American Honda Motor Co. and Honda North America Inc., will concurrently serve as head of the auto sales business unit.

A company spokesman said Arcangeli resigned and planned to spend more time with family.

Arcangeli took over the role at American Honda in 2017 from Jeff Conrad, who retired from the Japanese automaker after 35 years. Conrad served in the position as a transitional figure for only a few months following the April 1 retirement of John Mendel, who ran the company's automobile division for a decade.

Arcangeli was a rare outside hire for the top ranks at American Honda and its global parent Honda Motor Co., both of which are known for their insular culture and strong …

PARIS -- French prosecutors have stepped up their investigation into alleged misappropriation of funds at Renault by former boss Carlos Ghosn, saying a judge had now been assigned to the case to launch a formal investigation.

The prosecutor's office in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, had since last year been looking into a party Ghosn had thrown for his wife at the sumptuous Versailles palace among other financial dealings.

It said in a statement on Wednesday a judge would now examine several charges linked to Renault and levelled at an unnamed person or people. A judicial source confirmed that Ghosn was among them.

A lawyer for Ghosn said he welcomed the opportunity to give his version of the events.

"We will provide our explanations to the designated magistrate after we can finally have access to the case file," lawyer Jean-Yves Le Borgne told Reuters.

Ghosn -- now in Lebanon after he fled prosecution in Japan on financial misco…

DETROIT — Michael Grimes, who worked as an assistant in the UAW's General Motors department, was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court here to 28 months in prison for wire fraud and money laundering.

Government prosecutors filed a motion moving away from the initial recommended sentencing guideline range of 46 to 57 months. They asked the court for a 24-month sentence based on Grimes' cooperation, but U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman went with 28 months to send a stronger message.

Grimes is among 12 people who have pleaded guilty in an ongoing federal investigation.

U.S. prosecutors say Grimes conspired with two unidentified senior UAW officials on multiple schemes going back to at least 2006. Grimes, according to prosecutors, pressured a vendor of custom UAW logo products into giving him a $60,000 mortgage and periodic bribes totaling nearly $900,000.

The prosecution's criminal information against Grimes says the trio also arranged f…