A look at 5 common car parts set for makeovers in the EV era

Much is made of vehicle parts that will be lost in the transition to EVs. But even many of the components that remain could be in for big changes.

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Mitsubishi to U.S. employees: Work from home forever

Mitsubishi Motors North America will allow most of its 300 U.S. employees to work from home indefinitely.

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Face-to-face roadside help available to BMW drivers

BMW partners with software company Blitzz to provide video chat-enabled roadside assistance.

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German auto industry braces for Russian gas disruption as Ukraine war continues

The possibility that Russia could halt the flow of gas into Germany as a tactic in its war with Ukraine has made automakers and suppliers hyper-aware of their operating vulnerability.

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Colorado car dealer group opens EV, hybrid outlet and sees sales boost

Phil Long Dealerships in May 2021 opened the Phil Long EV Outlet in Colorado Springs, Colo., a used-vehicle store that sells only hybrid and electric vehicles.

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Germans brace for a Russian gas disruption

The possibility that Russia could halt the flow of gas into Germany as a tactic in its war with Ukraine has made automakers and suppliers hyper-aware of their operating vulnerability.

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Tesla faces NHTSA recall of 48,000 U.S. vehicles because speed display disappears in 'track mode'

NHTSA said the vehicles do not comply with a federal motor vehicle safety standard and if drivers do not know how fast they are traveling it could increase the risk of a crash.

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2023 Acura Integra priced just below $32,000

The return of Acura's iconic Integra comes with a price to compete with German rivals — with two years of pre-paid scheduled maintenance thrown in to boot.

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Acura prices new Integra just below $32,000

The return of Acura's iconic Integra comes with a price to compete with German rivals — with two years of pre-paid scheduled maintenance thrown in to boot.

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Carvana stock plunge signals concerns over inflation, higher interest costs

The online used-car retailer struggled this week to raise $3.3 billion in the corporate debt market, having to revamp a junk-bond offering.

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Musk unloads $4 billion worth of Tesla stock

Elon Musk sold about $4 billion worth of Tesla just days after reaching a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter Inc. He has now disposed of more than $20 billion worth of the stock.

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Plastic Omnium agrees to acquire units of lighting supplier Varroc for $634 million

The supplier will buy Varroc's European and North American lighting units, and create a separate lighting business unit to complement its exterior parts business.

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Acura prices new Integra just below $32k

The return of Acura's iconic Integra comes with a price to compete with German rivals — with two years of pre-paid scheduled maintenance thrown in to boot.

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EV adoption faces many speed bumps

EV consumer interest might not translate into as many sales as automakers and regulators would hope. Supply chain snags are likely to prevent the industry from meeting growing demand.

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U.S. car dealers seeking LIFO tax relief gain more support with Senate bill

The Senate bill, being introduced by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, would give dealers up to three years to restore their inventories to more normal levels.

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Ford cuts 580 salaried, agency jobs in the U.S.

The automaker is eliminating about 350 salaried and 230 agency positions on U.S. engineering teams. Ford alerted affected employees earlier Wednesday.

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VW considers expanding U.S. plant

Adding production of an electric pickup and the ID Buzz microbus could help VW to increase its U.S. market share.

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Volvo profit falls on chip shortages, Ukraine war

Volvo sees positive signs that indicate the chips shortage will improve in the second half, including a more consistent supply.

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Toyota GR Supra will offer manual transmission for enthusiasts

Optional six-speed gearbox was developed specifically for the GR Supra, and will be paired with an inline-six, 3.0-liter, 382 hp engine.

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Elon Musk loses court bid to end 'Twitter sitter' deal with SEC

A federal judge on Wednesday also denied Musk’s effort to block an SEC subpoena seeking information about Tesla’s public-disclosure controls.

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Penske Automotive delivers most profitable quarter in company history

Penske Automotive's first-quarter net income more than doubled as used-vehicle revenue surged and profitability in all dealership business lines improved. Shares rose 5 percent in premarket trading.

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Ford-backed Cavnue seeks to rewire I-94 in Detroit area for self-driving cars

While autonomous vehicles do already operate in limited capacity in Michigan, Cavnue's development plan revolves around creating a dedicated lane with the necessary infrastructure in place.

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McLaren names Leiters, Ferrari's former tech chief, CEO

Michael Leiters takes on the role amid reports of a potential acquisition of McLaren by Audi.

 

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Nissan delays Z car launch as Japan output plunges 44% in March

The Nissan Z car, a 400-hp, twin-turbo symbol of the struggling Japanese automaker's revival, is the latest product launch to be derailed by global supply chain woes.

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Nissan delays Z car launch

The Nissan Z car, a 400-hp, twin-turbo symbol of the struggling Japanese automaker's revival, is the latest product launch to be derailed by global supply chain woes.

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GM's new Mexican union seeks 19.2% wage hike

The new independent labor union at General Motors' largest Mexican plant is seeking a 19.2 percent wage increase, citing surging inflation.

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Tesla's leadership team could be tested by Musk's $44 billion Twitter deal

Elon Musk rekindled fears that a man who once acknowledged sleeping on the factory floor during the launch of the Model 3 sedan and last year talked of working "crazy hours" only has so much energy to spare.

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Henrik Fisker's Twitter account goes missing after Musk acquisition

Henrik Fisker's Twitter account vanished shortly after the social media company announced it was accepting a $44 billion buyout from his rival, Tesla's Elon Musk.

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VW releases first details of the new Amarok

The second-generation Amarok gets new engines and assistance systems from the latest Ford Ranger.

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BMW, Audi suspend shipping cars by train to China

BMW said it has switched to alternative routes or transportation modes due to the current geopolitical situation amid the Ukraine war.

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With Mercedes' help, Aston Martin chases Ferrari

Aston Martin will benefit from a deal made with Mercedes in 2020 where it gets access to the German automaker's latest engines and EV technology.

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Ford poised to launch Lightning F-150 EV production today

Ford aims to build 150,000 Lightning trucks a year at the new part of its historic Rouge manufacturing complex while it builds a much larger electric vehicle production complex in Tennessee.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk is ready to plunge into robotaxis

The EV maker is defying industry trends with record sales despite supply chain issues, and it is now turning to a longtime passion of CEO Elon Musk: automated driving.

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Carvana rivals rethink ADESA

Carvana-ADESA deal has automakers rethinking auction plans

Carvana's pending acquisition of ADESA U.S. has prompted some automakers and dealers to rethink or sever their relationship with the No. 2 U.S. auction house.

Carvana's pending acquisition of ADESA U.S. has prompted some automakers and dealers to rethink or sever their relationship with the No. 2 U.S. auction house.

Carvana's pending acquisition of ADESA U.S. has prompted some automakers and dealers to rethink or sever their relationship with the No. 2 U.S. auction house to avoid doing business with the used-vehicle retailer that's become a fast-rising competitor.

Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia last week acknowledged that a "small handful of both buyers and sellers" have opted — at least in the short term — to not do business with ADESA in light of the deal.

Lithia CEO Bryan DeBoer, during last week's first-quarter earnings call, said he believes seven manufacturers recently have pulled vehicles from ADESA. Automotive News confirmed that Toyota Fin- ancial Services chose to end its relationship with ADESA effective April 1, a spokesman said.

"The four ADESA auction sites we used were moved to Manheim," spokesman Vincent Bray, who said Toyota Financial routinely evaluates its auction footprint, wrote in an email. "Prior to the change, we informed our Toyota, Lexus and Mazda dealer partners of the transition."

Volkswagen had not reached a final decision on ADESA, a company spokesman told Automotive News. GM Financial was assessing its physical auction options to decide on its next steps, a spokeswoman said in an email, without saying whether the company had stopped or would stop using ADESA.

Garcia said Carvana has seen less movement away from ADESA than it was anticipating. It hasn't reached a level concerning to Carvana, he said, and the company remains excited about the acquisition, which it expects to close in May.

"We don't think that that's actually flowing through and impacting the results in a way that is noticeable as of yet," Garcia told analysts and investors during Carvana's first-quarter earnings call last week.

A spokeswoman for ADESA parent KAR Global declined to discuss any automakers' departures. A Manheim spokeswoman would not comment on whether that company had seen an influx of customers as a result, citing a policy of not discussing client relationships or speculating about competitors.

The majority of Hyundai's auction activity already goes through Manheim and a few of the bigger independent houses, a Hyundai spokesman said.

"Overall, it is too early to tell how dealer attendance and participation will change at ADESA locations due to the Carvana purchase," Michael Stewart, Hyundai Motor America's senior group manager of product public relations, said in an email.

Michael Baker, a senior retail analyst with D.A. Davidson Cos., said he expects that some dealers who prefer to use physical auctions will seek alternatives to Carvana-owned sites.

"In the past, ADESA was a service that they used," Baker said. "Now, ADESA is owned by their competitor."

The deal would give Carvana ownership of 56 ADESA sites across the U.S., totaling about 6.5 million square feet of buildings on more than 4,000 acres.

Carvana, which has 17 reconditioning and inspection centers nationwide, has said it wants ADESA's real estate in order to boost its capacity and put the company within reach of more consumers.

Adding the ADESA sites would nearly double the volume of vehicles Carvana can process to as many as 2 million vehicles a year, the company said. It expects to have annualized capacity of about 1.4 million vehicles by the end of 2022.

Carvana, which last week reported a first-quarter net loss of $506 million, said it expects to mostly finance the ADESA purchase through about $2.2 billion in unsecured notes.

The company also revealed plans to raise $1 billion in preferred stock and $1 billion in common stock. Carvana CFO Mark Jenkins told analysts and investors the additional $2 billion would be used to fund improvements to the ADESA sites and for "general corporate purposes."

Automakers and dealers leaving ADESA likely would be a setback for Carvana, but some analysts said the reconditioning capabilities it's gaining might outweigh those losses.

Getting Carvana closer to more would-be customers could reduce delivery costs per vehicle, Stephens Inc. analyst Daniel Imbro said.

"Once they make their investments, that is the real benefit, I think, of why they looked at this asset," Imbro told Automotive News.

Acquiring ADESA ultimately could aid Carvana in the long run as it hopes — but there's a long way to get to that point, said Baker, the D.A. Davidson analyst. Converting the 56 ADESA sites into reconditioning centers will take time and effort, he said.

"There's a lot of reconditioning, if you will, that they need to do ... to get them ready, to get them to where they need them to be," Baker said.

Still, he said, purchasing and improving the ADESA sites may be faster than Carvana continuing to build all of its own reconditioning centers from the ground up.

Larry P. Vellequette and Carly Schaffner contributed to this report.

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Lexus is ready to sell a million EVs — but how to build them?

Entering the EV era will require Lexus to not only engineer all-electric cars but reengineer the production process that builds them.

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Lincoln resets with new design, experiences for the EV age

Ford's luxury arm is looking to differentiate itself as it enters the EV era later than many of its rivals.

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Alfa Romeo Tonale on awareness tour

The Italian brand wants consumers to have a hands-on experience with its first electrified entry ahead of the Tonale's U.S. release in early 2023.

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The latest numbers on the microchip shortage: Production loss tops 1.5 million

Another 87,500 vehicles were removed from automakers’ production schedules as the total number of vehicles cut because of the microchip crisis this year topped 1.5 million.

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Top 100 list shows shift in focus to used cars

The shifting reliance on used vehicle sales in 2021 was seen up and down the Automotive News annual list.

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Car dealers got creative and efficient in face of low stock, NADA says

As new-vehicle inventory levels plunged last year, car dealers diversified how they source used vehicles and worked to improve salesperson productivity.

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Honda: 800,000 EVs built in North America by 2030

EV production should account for about 40 to 50 percent of Honda's total output in North America in 2030, or around 800,000 battery-electric vehicles.

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BMW may look to Mexico for some X-relief

BMW is considering whether to take some of its high-demand crossover manufacturing to its roomy Mexico plant.

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Shift, job tweaks benefit staff, customers

Delray Buick-GMC in Florida reduced the length of sales shifts and changed how leads are handled, contributing to better employee retention, sales gains and increased customer satisfaction.

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DOE wants to know: How can EVs give back to 'the grid'

Ford, GM and Lucid have joined a collaboration led by the U.S. Department of Energy that wants to know how electric vehicles might boost the nation's future energy grid.

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Ford, Stellantis, Chevy and Nissan dealerships sell in 3 states

A growing dealership group, an operator buying his first store and one buying her second purchased dealerships in three states in fourth-quarter and first-quarter transactions involving four dealerships.

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Ferrari will recall cars globally on braking issues

Ferrari will recall cars imported between including 458 Italia, Speciale and Spider models, China's State Administration for Market Regulation said.

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Lexus TX will give dealers the 3-row they've been wanting

Lexus' U.S. lineup will expand in 2024 with the addition of the TX, a larger three-row crossover slotted above the Lexus RX L to appeal to American consumers.

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Startup develops a way to know the identity of every part

Alitheon's technology creates for products what fingerprints are for people— a one-of-a-kind identifier.

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Renault could explore Nissan stake sale to help fund EV shift

Selling part of its 43 percent stake in Nissan could raise billions and ease long-standing tensions between the alliance partners.

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Renault eyes possible IPO for separating its EV business

Renault has been pushing ahead with plans to split its EV and combustion engine businesses as it seeks to catch up with rivals such as Tesla and VW Group.

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