Trade News

Stellantis is idling its minivan plant in Windsor, Ontario, for another week due to the ongoing global microchip shortage.

The company confirmed a union Twitter post saying the factory that builds the Chrysler Pacifica, Grand Caravan and Voyager will not operate during the week of May 17.

Roughly 4,500 people, the majority of them Unifor members, build the vans on two shifts.

The plant has been down since March 29.

The automaker had planned to resume production May 10, but instead idles the factory this week, and now next.

MIT Media Lab's Kent Larson says the research institute is exploring the use of a three-wheeled, bikelike autonomous vehicle to help solve mobility challenges in urban cities.

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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday it was opening a formal safety probe into more than 1.1 million Honda Accord vehicles over sudden loss of steering control reports.

The agency said the engineering analysis covers 2013 through 2015 models and said "under normal driving conditions, with no warning or input from the driver, the vehicle may veer or jerk out of its intended path of travel." Honda did not immediately comment. NHTSA said it has 107 complaints and two injury incidents related to the issue.

NHTSA received a petition asking for an investigation in October regarding an alleged defect in the steering system of 2013 Honda Accords.

The agency said the petition alleged Honda vehicles "are experiencing a sudden loss of steering control as the vehicle veers from its intended path of travel."

The petition said the "deviation from the intended path of travel occurs without warning or driver input wh…

Growing West Herr Automotive Group Inc., based in western New York, has expanded with the acquisition of its fourth Toyota dealership.

West Herr bought Vanderstyne Toyota in Rochester, N.Y., from Jay Vanderstyne on April 29. Terms were not disclosed, but the store was renamed West Herr Toyota of Rochester. Jay Vanderstyne is staying on as general manager.

"We are especially excited about the acquisition of Vanderstyne Toyota because of the manner in which this store was operated," West Herr CEO Scott Bieler said in a statement. "The Vanderstyne family is known throughout the Rochester area as people of integrity."

West Herr has six dealerships in the Rochester area and said the Toyota store is across the street from its West Herr Ford and West Herr Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram-Fiat dealerships.

The Toyota dealership is the group's 29th location. Last year, West Herr bought LeBrun Toyota in Canandaigua, N.Y.; Ray Laks Acura of Buffalo in Williams…

Self-driving tech company Pony.ai, backed by Toyota Motor Corp., said on Monday its next-generation technology for robotaxis will be using lidars made by Luminar Technologies Inc.

Lidars are laser-based sensors that are a key component to many autonomous vehicle technologies and help them perceive the environment around the cars.

Pony.ai CEO James Peng said the startup chose Luminar's Iris lidar for its performance but also because it can be integrated into the car better than traditional lidars.

"It's actually starting to blur the line between what you see as a very well designed passenger vehicle and the monstrosities that have been on top of some of the AV test vehicles," said Austin Russell, founder and CEO of Luminar.

Luminar's Iris lidar is about 10 centimeters high and Peng said four of them will be mounted on top of the car for 360 degree views. He said Pony.ai is aiming for automotive-grade production of autonomous fleets in 2023 globally…

Mercedes-Benz is giving a sneak peek of an electric van concept that the automaker says is "near series production" ready and is among the models it is adding to broaden its battery-powered range over the next year.

The electric iteration of the Mercedes T-Class, dubbed EQT, will accommodate up to seven passengers and launch in 2022, Mercedes said in a statement released Monday.

It will flank the Citan commercial van due to be introduced later this year, a version of which will be full electric.

The EQT "will appeal to families and all those private customers, whatever their age, who enjoy leisure activities and need a lot of space and maximum variability without forgoing comfort and style," Marcus Breitschwerdt, Mercedes' van chief, said in the statement.

The brand plans to build eight full EVs on three continents next year to take on Tesla and keep rivals including BMW at bay.

The EQT will compete with vehicles such as the full-electric…

TOKYO -- Panasonic Corp. said it expects operating profit to jump by almost a third this business year as economic recovery from coronavirus lockdowns spurs demand for equipment and components, including automotive batteries used by Tesla.

The Japanese industrial giant is looking to tap growing demand for EV batteries in key markets such as the U.S. and China through a decade-old partnership with Tesla Inc. that is finally making money.

Panasonic this business year expects its automotive unit to post 50 billion yen ($460 million) in operating profit, the company's CFO Hirokazu Umeda told a press briefing on Monday.

"The automotive batteries, which are nearly all Tesla account for around 40 percent," Umeda said.

Panasonic forecast overall operating profit to rise 27.6 percent to 330 billion yen ($3 billion). The figure is slightly higher than an average forecast of 327.56 billion based on estimates from 16 analysts, Refinitiv data shows.

Pan…

Plus said on Monday it would go public through a merger with blank-check company Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. V in a deal that values the self-driving truck technology startup at $3.3 billion.

The combined company will get proceeds of $500 million from the deal, including a private investment of $150 million. Investors in the deal include BlackRock and D.E. Shaw group, among others.

In February, Plus raised $200 million in a funding round, co-led by brokerage Guotai Junan International and private equity firm CPE, according to data from Pitchbook.

Founded in 2016, California-based Plus manufactures an automated driving system for heavy trucks, called PlusDrive, that can be installed on trucks or attached as a feature to trucks in production, according to its website.

Hennessy Capital Investment raised $345 million when it went public in January this year.

A SPAC is a company with no regular business operations but with a pool of capita…

WASHINGTON -- Ford Motor Co. is recalling nearly 617,00 Explorers in the United States at the request of regulators because retention pins could loosen and allow roof rail covers to detach from the vehicle.

The recall covers 2016 through 2019 model year vehicles. Dealers will install push-pins and replace any damaged rail clips and roof rail covers, as necessary.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in April had requested Ford conduct a safety recall after first inquiring about the issue in early 2020 following 11 reports of roof rail cover detachment.

Ford in November approved a onetime repair and extended coverage action for 10 years or 150,000 miles to address the issue.