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Fears surrounding the fast-spreading coronavirus prompted automakers and suppliers last week to restrict business travel in and out of China, where the key auto-industry city of Wuhan was identified as the illness' epicenter.

In an effort to contain the outbreak, which had been blamed for 41 deaths as of late Friday, Jan. 24, Chinese officials have restricted travel for 35 million people — including a complete quarantine of Wuhan, a city of 11 million, 400 miles west of Shanghai.

Separately, auto companies began limiting employee movement in and out of China.

SAIC GM, General Motors' joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp. that builds and markets Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet cars and light trucks, has a large manufacturing plant in Wuhan that employs just less than 6,000 people.

Jim Cain, spokesman for GM, told Automotive News that the automaker has restricted all business travel to China and has asked employees in the country to follow all nec…

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles filed a motion Friday to dismiss General Motors' racketeering lawsuit against the company.

In a sweeping suit filed in November, GM claims that its smaller rival secured an unfair advantage in labor costs by bribing UAW officials during key contract negotiations covering wages and benefits. The suit alleges that Sergio Marchionne, the late FCA CEO, wanted to hurt GM in an effort to force a merger between the two companies.

Marchionne, the suit says, "formally solicited GM for a merger" in the spring of 2015, an offer that was rejected. From there, the suit alleges that Marchionne orchestrated and negotiated a collective bargaining agreement that was "designed, through the power of pattern bargaining, to cost GM billions."

GM's suit also names three former FCA executives who have pleaded guilty in an ongoing federal corruption probe of top UAW officials. Federal officials say UAW leaders received payoffs from FCA officials start…

Porsche emphasizes speed — and its German heritage — in its first Super Bowl ad appearance since 1997. The sports car brand released on Friday an extended cut of the spot, which will run in the game as a 60-second ad in the first quarter.The ad, called “The Heist” by Cramer-Krasselt, features a racing scene in which nearly a dozen Porsche models zip through Germany beginning at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. That is where a masked man is shown stealing the brand’s new electric Taycan from an exhibit floor.

Museum workers hop in various Porsche models from the museum’s collection — including a tractor — and chase after the Taycan. It turns out they are all just having fun, with a woman shown taking her turn as the “bad guy” in the final scene.

It was filmed in the river town of Heidelberg, Black Forest and the Zuffenhausen district of Stuttgart where Porsche is headquartered. Models shown in the ad include the 917 K race car, the 918 Spyder hybrid and the Pors…

DETROIT — General Motors will build the Cruise Origin at its Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant starting in late 2022, AutoForecast Solutions told Automotive News.

The self-driving, ride-hailing shuttle revealed in San Francisco this week joins a roster of electric vehicles slated for production at the plant.

GM declined to comment, but the automaker released a media advisory for a major announcement by President Mark Reuss at the plant Monday morning.

Origin production will be in addition to the four EVs already slated for the plant, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions, a well-known provider of automotive forecasting databases and business planning programs.

In October, GM made the plant once destined for closure the center of its EV plan, pledging a $3 billion investment to build EVs and battery modules there. Production of an electric pickup and SUV is scheduled to begin in 2021. According to various …

Hyundai Motor America's vice president for product planning, Michael O'Brien, is leaving the automaker following two stints there over nearly two decades, the company said Friday. O'Brien will depart on Feb. 3 to pursue other interests.

O'Brien was deeply involved in Hyundai's launch of a new crossover lineup over the last two years that allowed the brand post positive sales numbers a down market and position it for long-term growth after struggling for years with a car-heavy mix as U.S. consumers overwhelmingly turned toward crossovers and SUVs.

O'Brien first joined Hyundai in 1987 on the product planning team before leaving for Toyota in 1996, and then returning to the Korean automaker in 2010. He was named an Automotive News All-Star last year for being a driving force behind the brand's dramatic move to crossovers, such as the subcompact Kona and the plush three-row Palisade — completely new models that have been fast hits in their respective segments.

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. senator on Friday urged Tesla Inc. to rebrand its driver assistance system Autopilot, saying it has "an inherently misleading name" and is subject to potentially dangerous misuse.

But Tesla said in a letter said it had taken steps to ensure driver engagement with the system and enhance its safety features.

The electric automaker introduced new warnings for red lights and stop signs last year "to minimize the potential risk of red light- or stop sign-running as a result of temporary driver inattention," Tesla said in the letter.

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said he believed the potential dangers of Autopilot can be overcome. But he called for "rebranding and remarketing the system to reduce misuse, as well as building backup driver monitoring tools that will make sure no one falls asleep at the wheel."

Markey's comments came in a press release, with a copy of a Dec. 20 letter from Tesla addressing some of the Dem…

DETROIT -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is taking a second round of applications from Detroit residents for jobs at plants it is expanding in the city for $2.5 billion.

FCA must give Detroiters first priority to apply for most jobs at the plants as part of its community benefits agreement with the city.

Residents must attend work readiness events to qualify to apply for the positions. Mayor Mike Duggan's Detroit at Work employment and training program is running 400 more of those events through March.

FCA must fill 4,950 jobs for its converted Mack Avenue engine plants and a retooled Jefferson North Assembly Plant.

Detroit at Work's first round of more than 300 FCA-centered events ran from June to September. About 39,000 Detroiters initially showed interest by signing up through Detroit at Work's website, according to Nicole Sherard-Freeman, Detroit's executive director of work force development.

Of those, 12,500 completed Detroit at Work even…

AMSTERDAM --  Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Jeep Grand Cherokee and Suzuki's Vitara diesel models both break emissions rules and must be fixed or face a ban on sales across Europe, the Dutch road authority ruled on Thursday.

The Grand Cherokee and Vitara had used "prohibited emissions strategies" that led them to emit higher levels of harmful nitrogen oxide on the road than under testing conditions, the RDW regulator said.

Jeep had developed a software fix and had been ordered to recall the model across Europe, the authority said.

Suzuki had yet to find a credible solution for the Vitara, the regulator said.

"Suzuki must come with adequate improvement measures or the RDW will begin the process of revoking its European type approval," the RDW said in a statement, adding it had also started the process of revoking approval for the Jeep Grand Cherokee as a "precautionary measure."

Regulators across the world have been testing diesel mod…

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said Luca de Meo, the former head of  VW's Seat brand, was probably in talks with Renault about moving to the French automaker.

"We are very, very sad that Luca is leaving us because he played a very important role in the group," Diess told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"He did a great job with us, but we accepted that he's going to leave and he's probably in talks with Renault, that's what he told us," Diess said.

De Meo has been in talks with Renault to become CEO but faces a potential hurdle over a stringent non-compete clause in his VW Group contract, sources told Reuters previously.

De Meo stepped down as head of Seat earlier this month but remained a VW Group employee. The Italian executive was in charge of Spain-based Seat for four years, overseeing a resurgence in the brand's sales and boosting its prominence within the VW Group.

Renault ousted Thierr…

Toyota Motor Corp. had its credit outlook lowered by Moody’s Investors Service, showing even the world’s most valuable carmaker isn’t safe from turmoil in the industry.

The outlook was changed to negative from stable, Moody’s said Thursday in a statement as it affirmed its Aa3 rating for the company -- the fourth-highest level. The Japanese giant has held that rating since 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Global car demand is sputtering as consumers move toward ride-sharing services, reducing the need for individual ownership. An industry shift to electric and self-driving vehicles is also forcing manufacturers to increase investment, putting pressure on profit margins.

“The change in the outlook to negative reflects the material challenges related to megatrends in the global automotive sector,” Motoki Yanase, a Moody’s senior credit officer, said in the statement.

On Wednesday, Japan’s Rating and Investment Information Inc. upgraded…

PARIS -- Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard has dismissed talk of changes in the shareholding structure of the alliance with Nissan, saying any modifications could come after the automakers have turned their struggling operations around.

"It's not a priority," he said Wednesday in an interview with Bloomberg from Davos, Switzerland, adding that strengthening industrial cooperation between the partners and coming up with a coordinated response to the shift to electric cars are more urgent.

The future of the partnership was thrown into turmoil over the past year after the arrest of Carlos Ghosn, who led both automakers and headed the alliance that also includes Mitsubishi Motors.

Following a change in top management last year at Nissan and the naming of a new CEO at Renault "in the coming days," Senard said prospects for the venture are improving, without the need for tinkering with the difficult cross-shareholding structure.

Ghosn held the part…