Trade News

LONDON -- Global electric vehicle sales picked up speed in the first quarter, but more government action is needed on charging stations and fossil-fuel vehicle bans to keep the momentum going, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.

"We still see no sign of a slowdown in global electric car markets," said Timur Guel, head of the IEA's energy technology policy division, in a presentation on the global outlook for EVs.

While the COVID-19 pandemic drove global car sales down 16 percent in 2020, EV sales jumped 41 percent to around 3 million vehicles.

First-quarter global EV sales soared 140 percent to 1.1 million vehicles, with strong growth in China, Europe and the United States, the IEA said.

A Munich Mobility Show study released last week showed huge disparities in global EV ownership, with very few electrified vehicles on the roads in large markets like Russia, South America and Africa.

EV sales growth in Europe and China has bee…

LOS ANGELES — Honda's latest, redesigned Civic is a careful evolution of the popular compact sedan with more mature exterior styling, a simplified interior with enhanced tech, more premium materials at key touchpoints and drivetrain refinements in line with the evolutionary theme.

The 2022 Civic sedan will go on sale this summer with styling that accentuates its sporting nature — an elongated hood, low beltline and door-mounted side mirrors to improve visibility and maintain clean styling, Honda said Wednesday.

The redesign is aimed at maintaining a cornerstone of Honda's U.S. lineup and a key entry point to the brand, even as younger buyers embrace crossovers and U.S. car sales continue to fall.

"Civic has been the go-to choice for compact-car buyers for almost 50 years, and the all-new 11th-generation Honda Civic builds on that leadership with simple and sporty styling inside and out," said Dave Gardner, executive vice president …

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday posted its highest first-quarter net income in a decade but said it could lose half of planned production in the second quarter because of the semiconductor shortage that has halted some high-profit assembly lines.

The automaker said it earned $3.3 billion from January through March as it recovered from the coronavirus pandemic that hammered the company with a $2 billion net loss a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes rose to $4.8 billion in the first quarter from a $600 million loss in the same period a year earlier. Its adjusted margin rose to 13.3 percent.

Revenue jumped to $36.2 billion from $34.3 billion in the first quarter of 2020.

The automaker made $1.15 billion in the first quarter of 2019 -- the last comparable time before the pandemic.

“The first quarter of the year really defies an easy explanation or a pithy sound bite, but if I had to sum it up one way, it would …

BMW AG is giving way to the global shortage of semiconductors after months of managing to maintain output in the latest indication the auto industry’s supply-chain woes are only getting worse.

The automaker will pause Mini car production at its Oxford, England, factory for three days starting April 30, according to a spokeswoman. It’s also reducing shifts this week at its plant in Regensburg, Germany.

BMW was one of the last remaining major automakers unscathed by a shortage of chips expected to cost the industry tens of billions of dollars in revenue this year. Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk this week called the issue a “huge problem.” NXP Semiconductors said it’s expecting supply to be tight all year and warned constraints for the auto industry could extend into 2022.

Carmakers from Volkswagen Group to Ford Motor Co. have been forced to idle factories as surging demand for phones, laptops and electronics during the pandemic overwhelmed suppliers. Although BM…

DETROIT/WASHINGTON -- UAW President Rory Gamble told Reuters the union is in talks with General Motors about representing workers at joint venture battery plants, and voiced opposition to proposals for Washington to impose a firm deadline to end use of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles.

Gamble said the UAW has raised concerns with GM and Ford Motor Co about joint venture and potential EV operations set up by the automakers and supplier partners that so far are not represented by the union. GM is building two U.S. battery production plants with South Korean battery partner LG Chem. Ford is considering investments in battery manufacturing.

"We've got to make sure that work stays at a livable wage and those workers can organize," Gamble said in an interview. "We're having some discussions developing with General Motors."

GM said in a statement that its Ultium EV battery facilities "are part of a joint venture and are a separate company – Ultium Cells LL…

STOCKHOLM -- Automotive technology group Veoneer said its first-quarter losses narrowed despite emerging cost pressures from a global microchip shortage, but the supplier stood by guidance for like-for-like sales growth of more than 25 percent this year.

Veoneer said in a statement that operating losses eased to $104 million from $122 million in the year-ago quarter.

The company's quarterly net loss narrowed to $104 million, more than half the net loss of $231 million posted a year ago. Revenue increased 16 percent to $419 million.

The maker of vision systems, radars and software for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) was hit hard by the initial outbreak of pandemic more than a year ago. But car production has since broadly recovered while facing a shortage of electronic components, above all semiconductors.

The company, which competes with suppliers including Aptiv, Bosch, Continental and Mobileye, said the chip shortage had resulted in ex…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accused Tesla Inc. this month of failing to prove it’s complying with hazardous air-pollutant rules related to the surface coatings of its electric cars.

Tesla disclosed the allegations Wednesday in a quarterly filing. The company said it refutes the allegations, is responding to the EPA’s information requests and doesn’t expect the matter to have a material adverse impact on its business.

The EPA’s rules aim to limit emissions from hazardous pollutant materials used in carmakers’ coating operations. The regulator also restricts emissions from volatile organic compounds used in coating activities.

The stock rally for America’s traditional automakers may face a reality check with companies starting to report results amid an industrywide semiconductor shortage and an uncertain outlook heading out of the pandemic.

Ford Motor Co. and General Motors have drawn renewed interest from investors as they join the race to capture more of the electric-vehicle market dominated by Tesla Inc., the world’s most valuable car company.

But quarterly earnings -- beginning with Ford on Wednesday and followed by General Motors next week -- will leave investors and analysts balancing the companies’ gas-car-fueled performance at the start of the year against their outlook for the future, all against the backdrop of a global shortfall of computer chips.

Pandemic-related supply-chain disruptions and a sudden jump in the demand for products that use those chips -- from laptops and phones, to home appliances and cars -- has led carmakers including Ford, Volkswagen AG and Toy…

DETROIT — Penske Automotive Group Inc. set record first-quarter revenue on surging new-vehicle gross profits, higher new-vehicle sales and lower costs — even though its United Kingdom showrooms were shuttered the entire three months amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Net income for Penske more than tripled to $183.1 million, and revenue jumped 15 percent to $5.77 billion. The gains come more than a year into the pandemic, which began taking a toll on auto retailers in last year's first quarter.

CEO Roger Penske, in a Wednesday statement, credited the year-over-year improvements in part to expense discipline and the use of online retailing tools in the U.K. market.

"We had outstanding performance across our business during the first quarter," Penske said.

The retailer said it delivered 40,000 new and used vehicles in the U.K. during the quarter and that same-store new-vehicle sales there rose 7.8 percent. The industry average for new-vehicle sales…

TOKYO -- Honda Motor Co. will suspend three plants in Japan as many as six days in May due to a chip shortage, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

Honda will suspend two plants in Saitama Prefecture for six days and its Suzuka plant in Mie Prefecture for five days, he said.

The suspension is due to a chip shortage caused by various factors, he added. He declined to outline the volume or models of vehicles affected but said that the company will carefully examine the situation for production following June.

Automakers worldwide are struggling due to a shortage of chips, exacerbated by a fire at Renesas Electronic Corp.'s chip plant in Japan and a storm in Texas.

Renasas struggling

Meanwhile, Renesas said Wednesday it now expects its fire-hit chip production capacity to recover about 40 percent of pre-fire level by end-April.

"We are recovering slightly behind what we had previously aimed for," chief executive Hidetoshi Shibata said in an o…