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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has signed a bill that represents the state’s most ambitious strategy to promote electric vehicles.

New Jersey, where transportation accounts for about half of greenhouse gas emissions, joins about a dozen other states that have targets for electric-vehicle adoption. The bill calls for 2 million plug-in electric vehicles by 2035, and offer consumers rebates of as much as $5,000.

“We are expecting about 60 percent of total U.S. new car sales to be electric by 2040,” said Nick Albanese, BloombergNEF’s head of Intelligent Mobility analysis. “New Jersey’s target would be above average.”

CLEVELAND — The Serpentini Auto Group, already one of the highest-volume Chevrolet sellers in Ohio, just got a lot bigger.

Bob Serpentini, president and founder of the group bearing his name, and partner Ken Ganley on Thursday announced the acquisition of three Pat O'Brien Chevrolet dealerships in the suburbs of Cleveland. Terms of the deal, which is effective immediately, were not disclosed.

The addition of the three Pat O'Brien Chevrolet stores in Medina, Westlake and Willoughby, Ohio, gives Serpentini a total of six Chevy dealerships in northeast Ohio. Serpentini's existing Chevy stores are in Strongsville, Orrville and Tallmadge, Ohio.

Temporary signage with Serpentini branding is up at the acquired dealerships. Permanent signage should be in place in about a month.

In a phone interview with Crain's Cleveland Business, an affiliate of Automotive News, Serpentini, 62, said he and Pat O'Brien Chevrolet owner Pat O…

Electric vehicle startup Fisker will sell its Ocean crossover in Germany, Norway and Denmark in 2022 as its first European markets ahead of a wider rollout in the region, CEO Henrik Fisker said.

Fisker started taking $250 deposits in November for the Ocean and will initially target those European markets with the most deposits.

The bulk of deposits, about 80 percent, have come from the U.S. So far Germany, Norway and Denmark are leading Europe, said Fisker.

The Ocean compact EV was the only car destined for production unveiled at the CES show in Las Vegas this month, where Fisker revealed its starting price of $37,499.

Fisker, a former Aston Martin and BMW designer, said he aims to keep the price low by partnering with automotive groups to achieve the economies of scale that would not normally be available to a small company of its size.

"It's not really rocket science. It's clear that to make an affordable vehicle, you need volu…

Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll is emerging as the front-runner to buy a stake in luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings as interest from a rival Chinese investor wanes, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Chinese tycoon Li Shufu’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group is cooling on the idea of a deal with Aston Martin, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Aston Martin could decide on its plan of action as early as this month, according to the people.

Stroll has been discussing a potential investment of about 200 million pounds ($261 million) in the British automobile manufacturer, Bloomberg News reported earlier. Aston Martin spoke to several investors about a potential capital increase as it makes a final effort to bring in fresh funding, people with knowledge of the matter said at the time.

No final agreements have been reached, and the carmaker could fail to reach an agreement or d…

PRINCETON, Ind. -- Toyota will reallocate vehicles to different North American factories next year in a bid to make production lines and supply chains more efficient, the automaker said here Friday.

The initiative reflects Toyota's step-by-step move away from plans that were enacted in the dire days of the Great Recession when it needed to keep plants operating and avoid layoffs.

With the new plan, Toyota is taking the gloves off to produce vehicles in pockets of manufacturing efficiency.

The company will move the Sequoia large SUV from a Princeton, Ind., factory to a San Antonio plant, where production will start in 2022. That decision will put both of Toyota's full-size body-on-frame products -- the Sequoia and the Tundra pickup -- in the same plant with a shared supply base.

Toyota will simultaneously move Tacoma midsize pickup output from San Antonio and combine it with Tacoma production at a plant in Guanajuato, Mexico.

That shift wil…

BERLIN -- German rangers stand guard to visitors away from a nondescript stretch of forest near Berlin, where a sign nearby warns of "Lebensgefahr" (danger to life).

The precautions are part of the frantic activity underway to set up Tesla's latest assembly plant, Elon Musk's most daring attack yet on the German auto establishment.

Workers wielding metal detectors have started combing through an area covering some 200 soccer pitches to search for old wartime ammunition beneath the sandy surface of tiny Gruenheide.

It's the first stage to prepare a site that could build as many as 500,000 cars a year, employ 12,000 people and pose a serious challenge to Volkswagen Group, Daimler and BMW as they all push toward an electric future.

Once deemed free of World War II explosives, trucks will roll in to clear thousands of trees in the first stage of development. All this work needs to be done by the end of February to meet Tesla's aggressive timetable. Read more

HONG KONG -- Volkswagen Group will take a 20 percent stake in Chinese electric-vehicle battery maker Guoxuan High-tech, two sources told Reuters, as the automaker accelerates its electric push into the world's largest auto market.

The deal would mark Volkswagen's first direct ownership in a Chinese battery maker and comes as the automaker strives to meet a goal of selling 1.5 million new energy vehicles a year in China by 2025, including plug-in hybrid cars.

VW, the top-selling foreign automaker in China, plans to acquire the stake in Shenzhen-listed Guoxuan via a discounted private share placement in the coming weeks, the two sources with knowledge of the matter said.

Based on Guoxuan's market capitalization of $2.8 billion, a 20 percent stake in the company at present is worth about $560 million.

The deal's details have been mostly finalized and the two companies are waiting for new Chinese regulatory rules on private share placements that …

NEW DELHI -- Great Wall Motor has agreed to buy General Motors' car plant in India, the companies said on Friday, as the Chinese automaker expands overseas amid slowing domestic demand.

The deal, which is expected to be completed by the second half of 2020, will jumpstart Great Wall's plans to build and sell cars in India and bring to an end GM's manufacturing operations in the country.

People aware of the deal told Reuters earlier on Friday that the two companies had agreed on the sale, with one of the sources adding that Great Wall is likely to pay around $250 million to $300 million to acquire the plant.

"The Indian market has great potential, rapid economic growth and a good investment environment. Entering the Indian market is an important step for Great Wall Motors' global strategy," Liu Xiangshang, vice president of global strategy at the Chinese automaker said.

Great Wall, one of the biggest sellers of SUVs in China, plans to enter India w…

General Motors on Thursday said it will invest $40 million in its Spring Hill Global Propulsion Systems operation to increase engine capacity for full-size trucks and SUVs.

The investment will expand capacity of the 5.3-liter V-8 engine with Dynamic Fuel Management, which is paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission. The engine is available on the Chevrolet Silverado, Tahoe and Suburban and the GMC Sierra.

The propulsion plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., builds three engines for a total of 13 GM vehicles.

GM announced a separate investment of $22 million in the facility early last year. GM's labor contract with the UAW also calls for it to invest a combined $1 billion in Spring Hill Assembly and the Lansing-Delta Township plant in Michigan to build next-generation midsize crossovers.

In addition, GM said it would invest $6.7 million to upgrade production systems at its Tonawanda Engine plant in New York. GM will spend $2.3 million to improve effici…

TOKYO -- Lebanon asked Carlos Ghosn not to identify Japanese government officials in his internationally televised news conference last week, where the fallen auto executive lashed out against Nissan Motor Co. and those he says were behind a plot to have him arrested for financial crimes, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The Lebanese government, pushed by Japanese diplomats, exerted pressure on Ghosn before he spoke to reporters on Jan. 8 in Beirut so that he wouldn’t divulge names or the details of how he escaped Japan, said the people, asking not to be identified given the sensitivity of the issue. Lebanon agreed to talk to Ghosn as a way of maintaining good diplomatic relations with Japan, they said. Ghosn intended to name names in the government but understood and agreed to stay quiet, according to the people.

Ghosn’s shock escape from Japan while out on bail has embarrassed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe‘s government and opened up a new wound wit…