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Jeremiah Farrell, the retired president of Chrysler Financial Corp. who played a key role in the survival of Chrysler dealers during Lee Iacocca's late 1970s and early 1980s turnaround plan for the troubled automaker, died on Feb. 7 following an illness. He was 82.

Chrysler, bleeding cash and facing a weak U.S. auto market, secured an historic government-backed rescue signed by President Jimmy Carter as part of a sweeping package of concessions from unions, lenders and other creditors to stay afloat. The Small Business Administration provided hundreds of millions of dollars in guaranteed loans to car dealers to weather the downturn.

“If it wasn’t for Chrysler Financial, I think most of the dealers would have gone out of business during that critical period,” Ken Meade, founder of The Meade Group of auto dealerships in the Detroit area, said in Farrell's obituary. “Jerry Farrell’s leadership was the life force that we needed at that time on the dealer level.” Read more

NEW YORK -- New Wells Fargo & Co. CEO Charlie Scharf’s first overhaul included bringing in yet another former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive and breaking the firm’s main businesses into smaller fiefdoms.

The reorganization divides the bank’s business lines into five units from three previously, Wells Fargo said in a statement Tuesday. Scharf split the investment bank into its own unit and separated consumer lending under a new leader.

Scharf’s biggest moves after almost four months atop the bank come as Wells Fargo works to regain customer trust and mend ties with regulators and elected officials following years of scandals that claimed the last two CEOs.

“These organizational changes enable us to more effectively pursue our goals and take advantage of the opportunities in front of us,” Scharf said in the statement. “I am confident that this organizational model and our strengthened risk and control foundation will bring greater focus and ac…

New Wells Fargo & Co. CEO Charlie Scharf’s first overhaul included bringing in yet another former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive and breaking the firm’s main businesses into smaller fiefdoms.

The reorganization divides the bank’s business lines into five units from three previously, Wells Fargo said in a statement Tuesday. Scharf split the investment bank into its own unit and separated consumer lending under a new leader.

The bank, a major auto lender, has acknowledged employees opened millions of fake bank and credit card accounts to meet wildly unrealistic sales goals. Wells Fargo admitted that it forced borrowers to pay for auto insurance they didn’t need. Some of those auto borrowers ultimately had their vehicles repossessed. Wells Fargo has admitted to illegally repossessing the vehicles of hundreds of service members.

Scharf’s biggest moves after almost four months atop the bank come as Wells Fargo works to regain customer trust and mend t…

Officials from trade groups representing automakers and tech companies, as well as consumer and vehicle safety, called on Congress to carve out legislation for autonomous vehicles that sharpens safeguards and closes loopholes without hindering innovation and global competitiveness.

During the hearing, held Tuesday in Washington by a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee, witnesses and legislators spoke of the growing benefits of autonomous vehicle technology — and, eventually, self-driving vehicles on their own — and their role in preventing or mitigating accidents and collisions.

But obstacles remain, including the need for federal legislation that allows the United States to remain globally competitive as other countries, including China and Japan, roll out their own regulations and developments for self-driving vehicles.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said the U.S. has fallen behind other countries since the Self Drive Act was approved unanim…

WASHINGTON -- An emboldened President Donald Trump has set his sights on restructuring the more than $1 trillion U.S. trade relationship with the European Union, raising the specter of another major trade war as the global economy slows and he seeks re-election.

Trump, who has long complained that the EU's position on trade is "worse than China," on Monday told U.S. governors that he was training his sights on Europe after signing a Phase 1 deal that cooled a bitter trade war with China.

"Europe has been treating us very badly," he said. "Over the last 10, 12 years, there's been a tremendous deficit with Europe. They have barriers that are incredible ... So we're going to be starting that. They know that."

European officials say they are willing to work with Trump to address some irritants in the relationship. But they warn that they will retaliate against any U.S. move to impose tariffs on cars and other products, as Trump has threatened.

"In the…

WASHINGTON -- A Tesla driver killed in a March 2018 crash in California while using the Autopilot driver-assistance system had reported that on prior trips, the car had steered away from the highway, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) disclosed in documents made public Tuesday.

Walter Huang, a 38-year-old Apple software engineer, was driving his Tesla Model X in Mountain View, Calif., in Autopilot mode at about 70 mph when it crashed into a safety barrier. The NTSB said Huang had reported issues on prior trips with Autopilot steering the wheel toward an area between a highway ramp and the lane. It is a moving violation to cross into that section of the road, known as the "gore area."

Data from the vehicle showed that in prior trips Huang had taken corrective action after Autopilot had steered toward the area. The NTSB said in the fatal crash Huang's hands were not detected on the steering wheel in the final six seconds before the crash. There was n…

F&I platform Dealertrack, a subsidiary of Cox Automotive, plans to phase out its digital F&I menu as it partners with competitor Darwin Automotive, executives from both companies said.

Dealers will have the option to migrate to Darwin's F&I menu product or find a new provider.

Darwin CEO Phil Battista said dealers currently using Dealertrack's eMenu won't automatically shift over to Darwin's menu — they will have to opt in.

"Dealers who want to have a menu application will be referred to us to be put on Darwin," Battista said.

The conversion would take no more than 18 months, though dealership clients that opt for Darwin's menu product could see a transition as early as next quarter, both companies said.

Through the partnership, consumer information and F&I product selections will populate directly from Darwin's menu into Dealertrack's online deal jacket. Most dealerships using a Dealertrack F&I platform use the menu opt…

Mazda introduces the MX-5 Miata at the Chicago Auto Show on Feb. 9, 1989, giving new life to the classic roadster.

The MX-5 Miata went on sale in May 1989 with a starting price of $13,800 and a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with 116 hp and 100 pound-feet of torque.

A five-speed manual transmission was standard but a four-speed automatic transmission was available as an option. It featured a four-wheel, independent double wishbone suspension and four wheel-disc brakes with the front ventilated.

Mazda engineers created a lightweight, threefold, easy-to-operate soft top with simple one-hand operation.

The MX-5 Miata weighed just 2,116 pounds and could reach 60 mph in less than nine seconds.

The Miata's development roots went all the way back to1979, when Mazda Managing Director Kenichi Yamamoto hosted Bob Hall, the West Coast editor of Automotive News.

According to the 1989 book Mazda MX-5 Miata — The Rebirth of the Sports Car in the…

Chinese automakers BYD Co. and GAC Motor Co. are preparing to produce face masks and disinfectants to help motorists and the public ward off the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in China.

BYD said it expects to launch production of face masks and disinfectants on Feb. 17. 

Two BYD plants in the south China province of Guangdong are expected to be churning out 5 million face masks and 50,000 bottles of disinfectants a day by the end of the month, the company added. 

The first batch of face masks and disinfectants will be donated to drivers of public buses, taxis and ride-hailing fleets as well as volunteers fighting the viral outbreak. 

Masks and disinfectant will also be sold to the public at factory prices.

The two plants will keep producing masks and disinfectant until the end of the epidemic, the company said. 

GAC, a state-owned automaker based in the south China city of Guangzhou, has dispatched a team of employe…

A co-founder of dealership software company DealerSocket has agreed to settle a lawsuit he brought against the company he helped start nearly 20 years ago and the private equity company brought in as an investor, according to a court filing signed Monday by a judge in the case.

The settlement may clear the way for DealerSocket, which sells customer relationship management software to car dealers, to proceed with its acquisition of dealership management system provider Auto/Mate. The acquisition, announced in January, had temporarily been held up in court.

Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster on Monday signed off on an order to lift a temporary restraining order blocking the deal, according to a DealerSocket lawyer and confirmed by the Delaware Court of Chancery.

DealerSocket Co-founder Brad Perry filed the lawsuit in January, accusing private equity company Vista Equity Partners, DealerSocket and several board members of deliberately …

Hyundai Motor America is recalling nearly 430,000 vehicles in the U.S. because moisture can get into the antilock braking module, resulting in an electrical short and possible engine-compartment fire.

The recall covers 2006-11 Hyundai Elantra and 2007-11 Hyundai Elantra Touring vehicles. The automaker did not release a global number of vehicles involved.

Hyundai issued a letter to NHTSA on Feb. 6, acknowledging the safety defect.

"An electrical short in the ABS unit may cause an electrical fire, even when the car is turned off, increasing risk of an injury," the automaker said in the letter.

Hyundai has not been able to identify a "discernible trend relating to a design or manufacturing defect" that is causing the moisture intrusion, according to a NHTSA document.

To fix the problem, dealers will install a relay in the affected vehicle's main junction box to prevent the risk of an ABS short circuit while …