Trade News

DETROIT — General Motors is partnering with two companies — Vacuumschmelze (VAC) and MP Materials — to source magnets for electric vehicle motors in North America.

Both agreements are pieces of GM's $35 billion investment in electric and autonomous vehicle development through 2025. The automaker plans to launch 30 EVs globally by then, with more than two-thirds available in the U.S., and aims for a fully electric light-vehicle portfolio by 2035.

As EV production begins to scale, GM and other U.S. automakers are developing a supply chain to source and process key battery materials locally.

Magnets are used to transform electricity into motion. Within the motor, an electric coil generates a magnetic field to push against strong magnets and create torque.

A GMC Hummer EV outfitted with three electric motors and up to 11,500 pound-feet of torque can accelerate the truck from 0 to 60 mph in three seconds.

GM …

MIAMI — The Toyota RAV4 was the bestselling vehicle among ethnic consumers for the 2021 model year.

IHS Markit and the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers recognized the RAV4 as the "top overall ethnic vehicle" Thursday during the Diversity Volume Leadership Awards here.

The Tesla Model Y was No. 1 in the luxury category.

The awards were based on an analysis of data from IHS Markit of more than 13 million personal new-vehicle registrations aggregated from October 2020 to September 2021.

After three quarters in 2021, the RAV4 ranked fourth in U.S. sales, at 313,447, sitting behind only the Detroit 3 full-size pickups.

Toyota and Lexus combined to pick up 10 segment awards. Other Toyota winners included the Camry in the midsize sedan category and Tacoma for midsize pickups. The Lexus NX was among the segment winners for the luxury brand, claiming the lead position for compact luxury utility veh…

Stellantis, created from the January merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group, is making good progress on revamping its troubled China operations, CEO Carlos Tavares said this week.

“We are on our way to fix it, some of the work is already done,” Tavares said of Stellantis’ China business. He spoke during an online Q&A session Tuesday after the company released a long-term software strategy.

“We are on a good track to get the job done,” he added. 

Fiat Chrysler builds and distributes Jeep models at a Chinese joint venture with GAC Motor Co., while PSA produces and markets Peugeot and Citroen cars at a partnership with Dongfeng Motor Group.

A merger of the two joint ventures is “clearly” needed, which “has been the focus of teams from our two former companies [Fiat Chrysler and PSA],” Tavares noted. 

Stellantis expects to disclose the full blueprint on how to fix the China operations in March 2020 as part of a plan tha…

Jürgen Unser, a senior executive at Volkswagen Group’s joint venture with China FAW Group Corp., will become Audi’s new China president, effective Jan. 1.

Unser takes over the role from Werner Eichhorn, who is retiring, Audi said this week.

Unser joined VW Group in 2004. He has served as board member and vice president for R&D, product management and production at FAW-VW since 2013.

In the first three quarters, Audi’s China deliveries rose 9.9 percent to 563,600, according to VW Group, which now discloses China sales on a quarterly basis.

VW Group started assembling Audi models at FAW-VW in 1996 and the brand has been among the top-selling luxury marques in the country for years. 

To expand Audi’s output and sales in China, the German group started building Audi models at a partnership with SAIC Motor Corp. in September. 

The first Audi model built at SAIC-VW is the elongated Audi A7 sedan, set to go on sale in early 2022.

SAIC Mobility, the mobility arm of SAIC Motor Corp., has begun trial operation of a robotaxi fleet in Jiading, a suburban district of Shanghai, with the goal of commercializing robotaxi services in China in 2025.

The fleet comprises 20 R-badged Marvel full-electric crossovers produced by SAIC and fitted with L4 self-driving technology developed by Momenta, a Chinese technology startup whose investors include SAIC, General Motors, Toyota Motor Corp., Mercedes-Benz and Robert Bosch.

Starting Wednesday, riders in Shanghai can summon robotaxis from the fleet using a smart phone application from SAIC Mobility. 

SAIC Mobility plans to significantly expand pilot operation of the robotaxis service in Jiading and other cities to validate potential commercial applications.

By the end of the year, it expects to double the size of the robotaxi fleet in Jiading and put 20 robotaxis in trial operation in Suzhou, a city 85 kilometers west of Jiading. <…

When Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed a prototype of his futuristic Cybertruck in 2019, he ended the event with a surprise: a matching all-terrain vehicle, which rolled onto the stage and into the bed of the stainless steel, wedge-shaped pickup.

In a tweet the following day, Musk said a two-person electric ATV "will come at first as an option for Cybertruck."

Supply chain constraints have delayed the launch of the Cybertruck, which was originally due this year, but a Tesla ATV has reached the market — just not the version of two years ago.

Instead, Tesla is selling a $1,900 electric quad bike for kids. Sales opened on Dec. 1 and, according to the order website, the vehicle is already out of stock.

The four-wheel ATV, designed by Radio Flyer in partnership with the Tesla Design Studio, is called the Cyberquad for Kids. Its styling is inspired by the Cybertruck, but unl…

Hudson Automotive Group on Tuesday entered the Cincinnati market with the acquisition of its first Mercedes-Benz dealerships following a July announcement on the pending transaction. But the group bought one fewer of the luxury brand stores than planned.

Hudson Automotive, of Charleston, S.C., bought Mercedes-Benz of Cincinnati and Mercedes-Benz of West Chester, both in Ohio, from Peterson Automotive Collection.

A third dealership, Mercedes-Benz of Louisville in Kentucky, was not part of the closing, Hudson Automotive CEO David Hudson told Automotive News. Hudson declined to comment on why the Louisville store wasn't included in Tuesday's acquisition, citing a confidentiality agreement.

Hudson Automotive in July said it planned to buy all three dealerships by mid-September.

The Louisville store is set to be sold to Jeff Wyler Automotive Family Inc. in a separate transaction expected to close this month, said Mike Sims, president of Pinnacle Merg…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday stopped taking reservations for the upcoming F-150 Lightning electric pickup as it prepares to open its order bank for the truck next month.

Ford CEO Jim Farley told Automotive News in November that reservations for the pickup were "approaching 200,000 units." A spokeswoman on Wednesday echoed that same figure without giving a more precise number.

The spokeswoman confirmed the end of the Lightning reservation system after a Ford customer who learned the news from a dealer shared it on an F-150 forum earlier Wednesday.

Ford has not said how many Lightnings it will build initially, although it plans to ramp up to an annual rate of 80,000 in 2024, the vehicle's second full year of production.

It's possible that not all reservation holders will receive a 2022 model year vehicle.

Ford plans to implement a "waved invitation approach" to convert reservations to orders at staggered dates beginning in January, t…

WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden on Wednesday will sign an executive order vowing to transition to the acquisition of only zero-emission vehicles by 2035 for the federal vehicle fleet, the White House said.

The U.S. government owns more than 600,000 vehicles. Biden's executive order also pledges 100 percent zero-emission light duty vehicle acquisitions by 2027, according to a fact sheet seen by Reuters.

"The federal government will work with American vehicle, battery, and charging equipment manufacturers and installers to transform its fleet into the largest zero-emission vehicle fleet in the nation, reaching 100 percent zero-emission vehicle acquisitions by 2035," the fact sheet said.

Biden's executive order also targets net-zero emissions from overall federal operations by 2050, including a 65 percent emissions reduction by 2030.

In January, Biden vowed to replace the U.S. government’s fleet with electric models.

"The federal governme…