Trade News

Longtime drivetrain supplier American Axle & Manufacturing and Israel's REE Automotive said Friday they plan to jointly develop an electric propulsion system to tap accelerating demand for battery-powered vehicles.

The propulsion system will incorporate American Axle's electric drive units into Ree's technology that integrates all the traditional vehicle chassis components into the arch of the wheel.

The electric drive units will be developed by American Axle in Detroit and prototypes will be delivered by the end of the year. Further terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"This agreement to provide electric drive technology ... is an important step in growing AAM's electric propulsion business," said American Axle CEO David Dauch.

Earlier this year, REE agreed to go public through a merger with blank-check company 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. in a deal that valued the EV technology startup at around $3.6 billion.

Investors in th…

Several suppliers reported first-quarter earnings this week as the semiconductor shortage continued to halt automaker production lines and send shock waves throughout the industry.

Aptiv said net income fell 82 percent to $279 million in the first quarter amid the ongoing chip crisis and other constraints that have suppliers struggling across the globe. The first-quarter 2020 results included a one-time gain of $1.4 billion from the creation of Aptiv's autonomous driving joint venture with Hyundai.

When backing out one-time 2020 gains, the autonomous driving technologies and driver-assist systems supplier said adjusted operating income in the first quarter skyrocketed 89 percent to $437 million.

The company said Thursday that revenue grew 25 percent to $4.02 billion in the quarter, a sign of better-than-anticipated results despite the many challenges the supply chain is navigating.

The supplier reported adjusted ear…

Oreste Donzella, executive vice president of semiconductor equipment company KLA, says screening technology has the potential to speed up automotive chip certification times, reduce latent defects and shorten the fabrication process.

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First-quarter net income at diversified supplier Magna International Inc. surged 136 percent as the company increased its 2021 financial outlook, even as the global microchip shortage roils the global auto industry.

Net income on the quarter surged to $615 million, compared with $261 million in the first quarter of 2020, which was impacted by global manufacturing shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Revenue rose 18 percent to $10.2 billion, up from $8.7 billion in 2020, Magna said in a statement Thursday.

Magna raised its 2021 net income outlook to between $2.2 billion and $2.4 billion, up slightly from a previous estimate of $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion. It raised its sales outlook to between $40.2 billion and $41.8 billion, up about $200 million from its previous outlook.

Shares in Magna rose 2.1 percent to $95.88 in morning trading on Wall Street.

Magna’s optimistic outlook comes even as the global semiconductor shortage continues to pose a …

Tesla Inc. will develop a database that vehicle owners in China can use to access information generated by their electric cars.

The Palo Alto, California-based company plans to have the database up and running by later this year, according to a statement Thursday that didn’t provide any other detail including whether the data will be available for free or what sort of driving details will be uploaded.

Tesla found itself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons last month in China after a highly public protest at the Shanghai Auto Show went viral. A customer who claimed the brakes failed in her Tesla, almost killing her father who was driving at the time, jumped on top of a display car, prompting a deeper investigation by a local market regulator and heated criticism of Tesla’s customer service.

Days after the embarrassing event, Tesla released the data logs of the car in question. It had held out for several months but acquiesced after the regulator in…

Shanghai electric vehicle startup Nio, taking a first major step to expand globally, will launch sales in Norway in September.

The first product to be marketed in the environmentally conscious market will be the ES8 SUV. It will be followed by the ET7 sedan sometime next year, Nio CEO William Li said at an event in Shanghai on Thursday. Preorders for the ES8 are expected to start soon.

“Launching in the European market will definitively help us grow,” Li said. It will set a “higher bar as we’re entering developed countries with more aggressive competition.”

Nio will establish a direct sales and service network in Norway, with the first local store to open in the Norwegian capital of Oslo in the third quarter. The company plans to build service centers in four local cities – Bergen, Stavanger, Trondheim and Kristiansand – in 2022.

It will also install battery-swapping stations in the five cities, with the first four to be operating before the…

Self-driving sensor startup Aeva Technologies Inc., founded by former Apple Inc. engineers, said on Thursday its sensor can detect other vehicles from beyond 500 meters (1,640 feet) and pedestrians from a distance of more than 350 meters.

Aeva makes a lidar sensor that helps cars gain a three-dimensional map of the road and can also detect the motion of distant objects, helping distinguish between non-moving objects like trees and pedestrians or cyclists. Aeva has deals with automotive suppliers Denso Corp. and ZF Friedrichshafen AG for mass production of its sensors.

The detection range of lidar sensors is a key metric for automakers because longer detection ranges mean a self-driving vehicle has more time to make a decision, especially at higher speeds.

Other companies such as Aeye Inc., which German automotive supplier Continental AG bought a stake in last year, have said they can detect other vehicles at 300 meters.

Lidars send out laser beams…

Growing HGreg.com has purchased two Nissan dealerships in the Los Angeles market as it expands its North American footprint of new- and used-vehicle stores to the West Coast.

HGreg.com, which has two Nissan dealerships in Florida, said it bought Buena Park Nissan and Puente Hills Nissan in the City of Industry, both in California.

The transaction closed Monday and the seller was Brown Auto Group, said Alan Haig, president of Haig Partners, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., buy-sell firm that represented Brown Auto Group. Brown Auto Group continues to operate a Ford store in Puente Hills, Haig said.

Including inventory and planned renovations to upgrade the Nissan dealerships, HGreg.com said its total investment in the two stores will be more than $100 million.

The stores have been renamed HGreg Nissan Buena Park and HGreg Nissan Puente Hills, and the company said it is looking to add as many as 30 employees.

In December, HGreg.com announced it had…

MILAN -- Ferrari is seeking to retain its appeal to traditional fans with two new V-12 sports cars, the 812 Competizione coupe and its sibling, the 812 Competizione Aperta roadster.

Ferrari's pivot to electrification has raised concerns that it could abandon high-performance internal-combustion -engine sports cars.

Asked whether the two new models will be Ferrari's last V-12-engine cars as the company adds more hybrids and its first full-electric car, marketing and commercial boss Enrico Galliera said: "aspirated V-12 engines are the heart of Ferrari and what we did with these models is to try and identify ways to keep them alive."

The 812 Competizione coupe and its sibling, the 812 Competizione Aperta roadster derive from the 812 Superfast coupe that is already on the market.

They are powered by 6.5-liter naturally aspirated engine with maximum output of 818 hp (830 metric hp or cv) at 9,500 rpm -- 29 hp higher than the 812 Superfast. The engine…