Trade News

Electric vehicle startup Lordstown Motors is "evaluating strategic partners" as part of its search for funding needed to stay in operation, the company's executive chair, Angela Strand, said Monday.

Lordstown Motors has warned it may not be able to continue as a "going concern" if it cannot raise more money to retool its factory in Lordstown, Ohio, for high-volume production.

Strand is acting as the company's CEO while a search is underway to replace Steve Burns, who left the company earlier this month.

Since the "going concern" warning, the company has tried to allay worries by saying it was in talks with multiple parties to raise funds. Before his exit, Burns said on a conference call that Lordstown needed more capital and that production of the Endurance truck this year would be half of prior expectations of 2,200 vehicles.

Lordstown Motors executives opened their assembly plant -- a former General Motors facility that made smaller sedans -- to…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. on Monday said it has hired Franck Louis-Victor from French automaker Renault to lead its New Business unit as CEO Jim Farley reshapes his leadership team to carry out his Ford+ growth plan unveiled last month.

Louis-Victor, 48, will oversee the company's autonomous vehicle and mobility services teams as well as its Ford X incubator. The move is effective July 1.

"We're accelerating development of disruptive technologies and focusing on being a leader in areas that enhance always-on relationships with customers and give them increasing freedom of movement," Farley said in a statement. "Franck's got great experience that will help his team and Ford nurture new ideas through the start-up phase, with the best opportunities launched on their own or integrated into our business units."

Farley was Ford's president of New Business, Technology and Strategy for about a year before being named COO in 2020 and, later that year, CEO. Scott G…

The shift to electric vehicles. Capital gains tax concerns. And digital retailing challenges. Buy-sell consultant Mark Johnson weighs whether now is the right time for dealers to buy or sell.

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TOKYO -- Subaru Corp. said on Friday it will cut production at Japan’s Gunma plants in July due to a global shortage of semiconductors.

"It is part of the production adjustment due to shortage of semiconductors," a Subaru spokesperson said.

The plants, located in Gunma prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, will be idled on July 16.

The operations produce several key Subaru vehicles exported to the U.S., including the Forester, Crosstrek, BRZ and WRX.

At the end of May, Subaru's U.S. inventory was down to a mere nine days of supply.

Classic rock fans know that every picture tells a story. Many numbers do, too. Here's some evidence, from Monday's issue:

The number: 160,000. Vehicles taken out of North American production schedules last week because of the microchip shortage, according to AutoForecast Solutions

The story: After weeks of a slimmed-down toll, the number rose again. General Motors took the biggest hit, followed by Ford and Hyundai.

The number: 24. Phone calls (approximate) Bruce Patchett fielded over the past two years from people who wanted to buy his Chevrolet dealership in Hillsboro, Ore. He sold it in April.

The story: For a long list of reasons, dealers are looking to sell their stores. And they're finding willing buyers.

The number: 13. Electrified models to be introduced by Mazda by 2025.

The story: The automaker is accelerating its electrification effor…

Jeff Miller, assistant chief engineer on Super Cruise, discusses the latest on the driver-assist system’s planned deployment on more than 20 models by 2023, advances that now allow lane changing, and progress on other enhancements.

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DETROIT — The long-simmering rivalry between Detroit's two largest automakers has sparked an electric vehicle arms race that's intensifying by the week and converting many Wall Street skeptics into believers.

General Motors and Ford Motor Co. have spent much of the past year making one big-ticket EV reveal after another, from the GMC Hummer and Cadillac Lyriq to the F-150 Lightning and E-Transit van.

The two automakers also keep trying to one-up each other's plans to invest billions of dollars in EVs and eventually shift away from internal-combustion engines. Ford's Lincoln luxury brand last week committed to four battery-electric vehicles by 2030, while GM promised two additional U.S. battery plants as it raised its EV and autonomous vehicle investment to $35 billion through 2025. That followed Ford's pledge of $30 billion toward EVs several weeks earlier, though the companies use different time frames that prevent straightforward dollar-to-…

TOKYO — When the American father-son fix-it team Michael and Peter Taylor landed in Japan in 2019, they thought they were on a rescue mission to save former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn from the clutches of a harsh judicial system and years of almost-certain prison lockup.

Nearly two years later, Ghosn is indeed free. But in a reversal of fortune, the Taylors are the ones on trial in Japan and staring down the prospect of hard time in a Japanese jail.

After pleading guilty in Tokyo District Court last week to aiding Ghosn's escape, father Michael, 60, and son Peter, 28, face up to three years in prison. Their trial resumes June 29 and will turn to arguments about extenuating circumstances in a bid for lenient sentencing.

Their prosecution is one of several legal battles still raging in Japan surrounding the arrest, jailing and made-for-Hollywood escape of Ghosn. Also on trial in Tokyo is Greg Kelly, who prosecutors allege conspired to help Ghosn concea…

The road for startup companies has always been fraught with unpredictable bumps, but Lordstown Motors Corp. just had a week in it which it careened from one pothole to another.

The Ohio company aiming to build electric work trucks in an old General Motors plant this summer is reeling in the aftermath of executive churn, retracted statements, financial ambiguity and other issues, such as shareholder lawsuits.

Industry analysts, many of whom have long been skeptical of the company's prospects of profitably selling the Endurance, a Chevrolet Silverado-sized battery-powered four-motor pickup, are now even more doubtful. That's despite Executive Chairman Angela Strand's declaration that "it's a new day" for Lordstown.

"If they actually do have $400 million to $500 million in cash on hand, it seems like they should be able to build an initial batch of trucks and actually deliver them to customers," said Sam Abuelsamid, principal analyst for e…