Trade News

Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric truck startup valued at more than $100 billion, is planning to announce that it will build a vehicle-assembly and battery plant in Georgia, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Irvine, California-based automaker, which had also considered competing sites in Texas and Arizona, is expected to reveal the plans at an event Thursday, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the information before it's public. While Georgia has been selected provisionally, no agreement has yet been signed, some of the people said.

A Rivian representative declined to comment.

The company launched its first model in September, the plug-in R1T pickup. Rivian will roll out an electric SUV, the R1S, from its factory in Normal, Illinois, by year-end. It also has an order to produce 100,000 battery-powered delivery vans for Amazon.com Inc., the EV maker's largest investor with a 20 percent stake.

Rivia…

WASHINGTON — Canada is threatening to impose tariffs on U.S. exports, including auto sector goods, if Congress advances a proposal on electric vehicle tax credits that the Canadian government says poses a "significant threat" to its automotive industry.

In a letter sent Friday to U.S. Senate leadership, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Trade Minister Mary Ng said they are "deeply concerned" about the proposed EV tax credits in the Democrats' Build Back Better Act.

"We want to be clear that if there is no satisfactory resolution to this matter, Canada will defend its national interests, as we did when we were faced with unjustified tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum," they wrote in the letter.

"In that regard," they continued, "Canada will have no choice but to forcefully respond by launching a dispute settlement process under the USMCA and applying tariffs on American exports in a manner that will impact American workers in the au…

North Carolina beat nine other states for a $1.29 billion battery plant that will soon rise in the central part of the Tar Heel State. But Toyota Motor North America's investment toward its electric vehicle future there won't be its last.

It may not even be the last in North Carolina.

Why? Because the company still has billions of dollars that it has committed to North American EV production, and the place where it will build its batteries is hundreds of miles from the nearest place in which to use them.

The plant, which Toyota says will eventually produce up to 1.2 million lithium ion battery packs annually for its lineup of North America-built hybrids, plug-in hybrids and eventually EVs, is expected to begin producing saleable battery packs in 2025. It will create about 1,750 jobs and be built on some portion of an 1,825-acre site — more than 2.85 square miles — near the town of Liberty, N.C., about 20 miles southeast of Greensboro.

For compar…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is delaying the start of production of battery-electric versions of the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator crossovers by roughly 18 months and no longer plans to build them in Cuautitlan, Mexico, paving the way to substantially hike Ford Mustang Mach-E output.

Ford informed suppliers in a memo this week that the new EVs, previously code-named CDX746 and CDX747, are now slated to go into production in December 2024 as programs U759 and U760.

A copy of the memo was obtained and reviewed by Automotive News.

The automaker originally planned to begin output in mid-2023, suppliers say.

Additionally, Ford informed suppliers that the vehicles are being moved from the Cuautitlan assembly plant to a yet-to-be-determined location, according to the memo.

Ford North America COO Lisa Drake, in an interview Friday, declined to comment on plans for the upcoming Explorer and Aviator EVs.

However, Drake said that Ford now plans to …

Terry Taylor, through his Automotive Management Services Inc. business, has purchased AutoFair Automotive Group, one of the largest dealership groups in the country based on new-vehicle sales.

AMSI on Monday bought AutoFair and its seven dealerships across New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Terms were not disclosed.

AutoFair Automotive, of Manchester, N.H., includes Ford, Honda and Hyundai-Genesis dealerships in Manchester; a Volkswagen dealership in Nashua, N.H.; a Nissan store in Stratham, N.H., and Ford and Subaru dealerships in Haverhill, Mass.

AutoFair was led by CEO Andy Crews, a member of the National Automobile Dealers Association board of directors and winner of the 2015 Time Dealer of the Year award. Crews began his automotive career as a technician in 1986, according to his biography on NADA's website.

AutoFair was founded in 1991, according to its LinkedIn page.

"I came to New Hampshire nearly 16 years ago to be part of the owne…

No employees were injured or killed when a plane crashed Sunday night in the lot of a Medford, Ore., dealership.

The plane's two occupants — pilot Donald Sefton, 69, and passenger Valerie Serpa, 67, died in the crash, Medford Police told local news outlets. Both were residents of Fallon, Nev.

Employees at the dealership, Airport Chevrolet-Buick-GMC, were shaken by the incident, General Manager Steve Miller told Automotive News during a Thursday phone call.

"It happened really fast and it's a major tragedy … our condolences are extended to the pilot and the passenger's friends and family, and they're in all our thoughts and prayers," Miller said. "I know it's gonna be tough going through a loss like that, but we just want to support them any way we can."

Airport Chevrolet-Buick-GMC sustained damage to its service department, which is closed Sundays. Its sales department was open at the time but was not affected.

Read more about Plane crashes into Medford, Ore., dealership lot

General Motors is eyeing Lansing, Mich., for a new $2.5 billion battery cell manufacturing plant for electric vehicles, a source familiar with the automaker's plans confirmed to Crain's Detroit Business. The automaker also intends to invest more than $2 billion in its Orion, Mich., EV assembly plant to build next-generation electric pickups, the Wall Street Journal reported.

GM and its battery partner LG Energy Solution, under their Ultium Cells joint venture, are planning the battery cell plant near the automaker's Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant, the source told Crain's, a sibling publication to Automotive News.

In total the automaker is considering more than $3 billion in new investment in electric vehicle and battery assembly in Michigan, the source said.

GM and LG have filed a tax exemption document with the City of Lansing through the Ultium Cells joint venture, records show. The document outlines a four-year construction timeline to be com…

Auto retail giant Lithia Motors Inc. this week expanded its portfolio of high-end brands, while two other dealers made single-store purchases in December and in earlier transactions.

Here's a look at the deals involving exotic, import and domestic brands. One transaction involved a group ranked on Automotive News' top 150 dealership groups list.

Lithia acquires first Ferrari dealershipLithia Motors Inc. acquired its first Ferrari dealership on Monday when it bought Algar Ferrari of Philadelphia in Bryn Mawr, Pa., according to Bill Scrivner of Pinnacle Mergers & Acquisitions, a Frisco, Texas, buy-sell firm representing Lithia in the transaction.

The dealership was renamed Ferrari of Philadelphia, Scrivner said.

Lithia bought the dealership from Aleks Vekselberg, who had owned it since 2012, according to the store's website. The store dates to 1964.

Vekselberg's father is Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselb…

STOCKHOLM -- Volvo said Friday it had launched an investigation into the theft of some R&D data which could impact the company's operation.

"Investigations so far confirm that a limited amount of the company's R&D property has been stolen during the intrusion," the Swedish carmaker said in a statement.

It added that "there may be an impact on the company's operation", but did not specify what that might be.

Volvo said it did not see an impact on the security of its customers' cars or their personal data.

"Volvo Cars is conducting its own investigation and working with third-party specialist to investigate the property theft," the company said. The automaker said it had implemented security countermeasures to prevent further access to its property, while notifying relevant authorities.

New York dealer Kitty Van Bortel has sued Ford Motor Co., claiming the automaker reneged on its plan to allow her to purchase a dealership in western New York state and alleging that gender discrimination is a factor.

Van Bortel and her brother, Howard Van Bortel, who is a minority partner in two of her four dealerships including Van Bortel Ford in East Rochester, N.Y., initially filed a lawsuit Nov. 15 in Monroe County, N.Y. The lawsuit alleges that a Ford representative committed to Kitty Van Bortel around Sept. 8 that it would exercise its right of first refusal on a dealership buy-sell involving the sale of Henderson Ford in nearby Webster, N.Y., and assign her the purchase and sales agreement under the same terms.

Automakers have the right to decline an original buyer on a proposed dealership transaction and instead assign the sale to a buyer it chooses.

The lawsuit claims that Ford, however, ended up rejecting that initial deal outright after Kitt…