Trade News

Jaguar to become all-electric brand as part of new turnaround plan

Future Jaguar models will be built exclusively on a full-electric architecture, Jaguar Land Rover said.

The historic marque, known for its performance sports cars, will become all-electric starting in 2025 to "realize its unique potential," Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore said during an online presentation on Monday.

Jaguar currently sells a single full-electric car, the I-Pace crossover.

Sister brand Land Rover will get six new full-electric models in the next five years with the aim of making 60 percent of its sales zero emissions vehicles by 2030. The first battery-powered Land Rover will be launched in 2024.

In addition, JLR will phase out diesel engines, Bollore said.

The strategy forms Jaguar Land Rover's new business plan called "Reimagine."

The aim is to give the Jaguar and Land Rover brands two distinct personalities, said Bollore, former CEO at Renault, who took the top job at JLR in September.

Jaguar models w…

Chrysler’s legacy should continue

TO THE EDITOR:

Recent articles on the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA merger to form Stellantis were very informative and, at the same time, created an obituary for the name and brand Chrysler.

I grew up in my father's Chrysler-Plymouth store (founded in 1942) and worked in the Dodge field organization from 1962 to late 1971, ending up as assistant regional manager in Denver.

In late '71, I rejoined Dad, John Sr., and prior to his death in 1981 began buying him out. I owned and managed Fenzel Motor Sales until 2018.

During the 75 years we were in business, we won many distinguished dealer awards for both sales and service plus trips around the USA and the world.

The inspiration for our accomplishments was the legacy of W.P. Chrysler and then the leadership of Lee Iacocca. We stressed engineering, innovation and wartime can-do. We, and Iacocca, were guided by the spirit of the Kansas country boy who began his automotive quest in a small ga…

Nissan bonus program still on drawing board

Nissan continues to reexamine its controversial sales bonus program, the automaker told retailers in its NADA make meeting last week. But changes are not necessarily coming.

The automaker has been back and forth over what to do with its dealer sales incentives over the past two years — whether to tone it down or press ahead.

"We continue to explore different options," Judy Wheeler, Nissan division vice president of sales and regional operations in the U.S., told Automotive News after the meeting. "At this time, we're staying the course. It doesn't mean that we won't change it in two, three months from now."

The sales-objective program financially rewards retailers for hitting specific sales volume targets. The program has long been a source of friction with dealers, who say unrealistic targets in the past fostered a culture of discounting, dented resale values, damaged brand reputation and hurt dealer profitability.

The practice caused some franc…

New forecast: 1.3 million vehicle loss from microchip shortage

One year ago, millions of Americans were confident they had little to fear from a faraway viral epidemic called COVID-19.

In February 2021, many around the auto industry are confident that their livelihoods will not be affected by the spread of the global shortage in microchips.

But complications continue to mount, due to the wide array of semiconductor applications in modern cars and trucks.

Last week, Stellantis halted production of nine-speed transmissions at its Tipton Transmission Plant north of Indianapolis, furloughing 1,800 workers.

Vehicle assembly cutbacks at Stellantis followed similar recent moves by Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Subaru, Volkswagen and Daimler.

AutoForecast Solutions has increased its estimate of how many vehicles will be lost as a result of the supply line problem.

Globally, the forecasting firm said last week, the industry has already announced volume cuts totaling 680,350 vehicles — up…

Digital demands squeeze smaller auto retailers

Vroom's Super Bowl ad this month opened with a grim, tortured picture of traditional auto retail — a hyperbolic stereotype that likely left most dealers cringing or angry.

But the second half of its ad, with a couple sitting on their lawn as a vehicle is delivered, is hardly exclusive to online startups. It is, however, a service that can require resources more suited to a large retailer than a standalone mom and pop store.

Backed by a frothy stock market, publicly owned companies are in a mood to buy dealerships. Lithia Motors, already the third-largest public dealership group in the U.S., plans to add more than $7 billion in annualized revenue through dealership acquisitions this year. The Oregon-based group aims to roughly quadruple in size by 2025 at $50 billion in annual revenue, more than double those of its largest peers today. LMP Automotive went public with plans to pursue a strategy of rolling up dealerships, though early efforts have been scaled bac…

Toyota takes modest approach to EV rollout

While some global automakers such as Volkswagen Group and General Motors plan to go big on battery-electric vehicles, the world's largest — Toyota — is hedging its bets on a broad array of powertrains, at least in the U.S.

Last week, Toyota Motor North America said two new Japan-built battery-electric vehicles and another plug-in hybrid will be unveiled this year and go on sale in the U.S. next year. The two EVs will be the first in the automaker's U.S. lineup in nearly a decade, but Toyota executives are saying upfront that they won't be for everybody.

Unlike its big competitors, Toyota is not convinced that EVs are the best way to quickly reduce global automotive carbon emissions. Instead, the Japanese automaker believes hybrids and especially plug-in hybrids — in concert with EVs — show the best promise for curbing greenhouse gases because such a portfolio will appeal to a broader range of U.S. consumers.

"The big idea here is …

Chevy updates, expands Bolt EV family as price drops

DETROIT — Chevrolet is cutting the base price of the Bolt EV by $5,500 and covering the cost to install chargers at buyers' homes as it gives the electric car its first major updates and adds a more spacious crossover version.

The 2022 Bolt will start at $31,995 including shipping, while the crossover, the Bolt EUV, will start at $33,995.

General Motors hopes the price cut will encourage broader acceptance of electric vehicles as the automaker plans a wave of EVs that use more advanced battery technology and, at least initially, will be much more expensive.

"We want to put everyone in an EV and the new Bolt EUV and redesigned Bolt EV are crucial to doing so," GM President Mark Reuss said in a statement. "Together, they enable mainstream customers to be part of our vision of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion."

Chevy unveiled the 2022 Bolt EV and Bolt EUV on Sunday in collaboration with Disney. It also began taking reservations for a…

The auto industry, right now, by the numbers

*/ The auto industry, right now, by the numbers

Here's a snapshot of the industry, drawn from numbers in Monday's issue:

680,350 Units of lost vehicle production globally because of the microchip shortage

1,321,701 Projected number of units that will be lost because of the microchip shortage

$1.5 billion - $2 billion General Motors' projected 2021 earnings hit because of the chip shortage

$50.9 billion Market cap of online used-car retailer Carvana

$20.4 billion Market cap of CarMax, the largest U.S. used-car retailer

200,561 Number of Teslas registered in the U.S. last year

4 Tesla's rank in luxury-brand registrations

265,600 Number of Mercedes-Benzes registered in the U.S. last year

3 Mercedes' rank in luxury-brand registrations

95,135 Number of Tesla Model 3's registered in the U.S. last year

1 Model 3's rank in U.S. EV registrations by model

19,664 Number…

Japan chipmaker Renesas halts Ibaraki plant operations on quake checks

Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corp. said it halted operations at its Ibaraki factory to inspect the building’s clean rooms after a magnitude-7.3 earthquake late Saturday.

The chipmaker has power and all utility equipment is functioning, but it decided to cancel Sunday’s production for detailed inspections of the clean rooms as a precaution, the company’s spokeswoman said. It remains unclear when operations would resume.

The Ibaraki factory was forced to shut down for three months after the 2011 earthquake, which destroyed the building. The Renesas spokeswoman said the building looked fine, but she declined to comment on the resumption as employees have only just started inspecting the clean rooms.

There is a worldwide shortage of semiconductors amid booming demand for electronics, and some auto manufacturing lines have been brought to a standstill as a result. Virus-related supply bottlenecks have compounded the problem, leaving chipmakers pouring billions…

Tesla will bring EV plant to southern India, reports say

BANGALORE -- Billionaire Elon Musk's Tesla Inc. will set up an electric-car manufacturing unit in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, according to a government document seen by Reuters on Saturday.

"The U.S. firm Tesla will be opening an electric car manufacturing unit in Karnataka," the state government said in a brief statement.

The statement was part of a broader document outlining the highlights of India's budget to its people in the local language of Kannada.

The Press Trust of India also reported that the southern state’s chief minister B S Yediyurappa announced the plan.

Last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, tweeted “as promised” in response to a report on a Tesla-focused blog that the automaker was in talks with several Indian states to open an office, showrooms, an R&D center and possibly a factory in India.

Last month, the EV maker incorporated Tesla Motors India and Energy Private Limited with its regi…