Trade News

A searing five-day rally in the shares of Rivian Automotive Inc. has led the electric-vehicle startup to more than double in value since last-week’s trading debut, with its market capitalization now surpassing Volkswagen Group.

The stock jumped as much as 14 percent to $169.70 in New York on Tuesday, up 118 percent from the initial public offering price of $78. That brought the company’s market valuation to about $150 billion, making Rivian the largest U.S. company with zero revenue.

Rivian, which is backed by Amazon and Ford, overtook Volkswagen’s market capitalization of $138.9 billion, as investors eager to get into the EV sector now have another stock to invest in, apart from industry trailblazer Tesla Inc.

VW is Europe’s largest automaker with about 10 million vehicle deliveries per year, making it the global number two behind Toyota Motor Corp. Volkswagen generates about 250 billion euros ($300 billion) in revenue annually and targets around 15 bi…

J.D. Power insurance chief Tom Super assesses this year's auto claims study: What it means for consumers, and what advanced vehicle technology will mean for vehicle repairs.

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Lucid Motors won't be the first luxury automaker with a sleek electric sedan. But the company debuts this fall with a lot of promise and hype — and in the large shadow of Tesla Inc.

Lucid CEO and Chief Technology Officer Peter Rawlinson — an engineer with major stints at Tesla, Corus, Lotus and Jaguar — was the brains behind the Tesla Model S.

Under Rawlinson, the Silicon Valley startup has already claimed the honor of marketing and selling the first EV with an EPA-estimated range of more than 500 miles.

The $169,000 Lucid Air Dream Edition R, a 933-hp version of the Air sedan, when fitted with 19-inch wheels, is rated at 520 miles. And it is already a sellout.

But Lucid is readying several other, less expensive versions of the Air. The Dream Edition Performance and Grand Touring models have a range of 469 to 516 miles, depending on specific wheels.

The Air will be followed by an SUV, the Gravity.

Read more about Lucid Air: A green rocket ship

After failing to achieve what it felt was sufficient scale for its auto retail operations in Brazil, Group 1 Automotive Inc. has decided to divest its business there.

The Houston-based dealership group's subsidiary GPI SA LLC has entered into a share purchase agreement with Original Holdings S.A. of Brazil, with UAB Motors Participacoes Ltda., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Group 1, as an intervening party.

Original will buy equity interests of UAB from Group 1 for 510 million Brazilian reals in cash, or about $93 million. UAB operated 17 stores that generated about $230 million in annual revenue as of year-end 2020.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2022.

With the divestiture of its Brazil operations, Group 1's global dealership count will fall to 174, subject to the addition of about 30 Prime dealerships that Group 1 anticipates buying in a separate transaction expected to close in the current quarter.

General Motors plans to reestablish its presence in Europe with a mobility startup business, and it has tapped Mahmoud Samara, Cadillac's North America chief who has led much of the transition to electric vehicles this year, to run it.

Samara, 44, becomes president and managing director of GM Europe on Dec. 1. He will report to Steve Kiefer, senior vice president and president of GM International, and will be based in Zurich.

"His mission is to transform our current operations into a non-traditional mobility start-up in the region, identifying entrepreneurial opportunities to commercialize our global growth strategy investments in Europe," Kiefer said in a statement. "We will make very deliberate decisions about where and how we compete in Europe."

Eric Cunningham, vice president of excellence for GM's electric vehicle growth organization, will replace Samara as vice president of Cadillac North America sales, services and marketing, also effective Dec. …

Rivian's second plant could be located in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Monday.

The electric-truck maker is in late-stage negotiations for a parcel of land east of Atlanta that would be home to a factory that would manufacture vehicles and batteries, according to the report.

Rivian, in a statement, did not address a specific plant location, but confirmed discussions with "multiple locations."

"Rivian is in discussions with multiple locations as part of a competitive process for siting a second manufacturing facility," the statement said. "This may include Rivian being involved in certain public facing processes at potential locations. Involvement in these processes does not indicate a final decision."

Fresh off last week's initial public offering, Rivian is flush with cash, with about $16 billion on hand.

The company has already committed around $5 billion of its hoard for a new plant. In a stock prospectus, Rivian say…

Ford of Europe’s head of passenger vehicles, Roelant de Waard, will retire on Dec. 31 after more than 30 years with the automaker, the company said.

His replacement will be announced at later date, Ford said in a statement on Monday.

De Waard, 59, joined Ford in 1990 in his native Netherlands and worked in Ford's global headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan, from 1996 to 1998 as global marketing strategy manager.

He was appointed head of European sales in 2008 after serving as as chairman of Ford of Britain. He added responsibility for Ford of Europe’s marketing function in 2011.

In 2019 de Waard was given his present title as part of a restructuring that separated commercial vehicles and cars, with Hans Schep assuming the responsibility for commercial vehicles under Ford of Europe President Stuart Rowley.

Ford has substantially scaled back in the Europe region. The company has taken more than $1 billion of structural costs out of its loc…