Trade News

Richard Parry-Jones, the Welsh product development boss who helped transform Ford Motor Co.'s European lineup in the 1990s and early 2000s, died Friday. He was 69.

Parry-Jones was involved in an accident on his farm in Wales, according to British media reports.

In his 38-year career with Ford, he was instrumental in the engineering of the Ford Mondeo sedan, the Puma subcompact and the first-generation Focus.

He would rack up countless miles on the rural roads around his home in England, focusing on the tiny details of ride, handling, steering, noise, vibration and feel. Some referred to him as the CEO of driving dynamics.

In 1999, he delivered a lecture -- "Engineering for Corporate Success in the New Millennium" -- at London's Royal Academy of Engineering.

Parry-Jones retired from Ford in 2007 as the company's chief technical officer but continued to serve on corporate boards and consult. He joined the board of Aston Martin last year.…

Key Auto Group has acquired a General Motors store in New Hampshire, its latest in a string of dealership purchases.

The Portsmouth, N.H., group bought Newport Chevrolet-Buick-GMC on Tuesday from Autosaver Group, according to Nancy Phillips Associates, a dealership buy-sell firm in Exeter, N.H., that handled the transaction.

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but the store has been renamed Key Chevrolet-Buick-GMC of Newport.

Key Auto has been on a buying spree. Last year, it bought Port City Chrysler-Dodge-Ram in Portsmouth, N.H., and another Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram store in Rochester, N.H.

It has about 20 locations in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and Florida including new-car dealerships, used-car superstores and a heavy-truck dealership.

Detroit lender Ally Financial Inc. said Friday it swung to a first-quarter net profit driven by strong consumer auto demand and a favorable comparison to the year-earlier period that was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ally, one of the largest U.S. auto lenders, reported net income of $796 million compared with a loss of $319 million in last year's first quarter. Net income more than doubled compared with $374 million in the first quarter of 2019.

Ally originated $10.2 billion in auto loans and leases in the first quarter, its highest volume in five years.

Ongoing inventory constraints are driving up transaction prices as dealership partners mitigate ravenous consumer demand amid limited supply, Ally Financial CEO Jeffrey Brown said on an investor call.

"Overall demand for new and used vehicles was robust during the quarter, while competition remained balanced but intense," he said. "Industry inventory levels reached multidecade lows as sale…

Taking a page from Ford Motor Co. — one of its key investors — Rivian will offer usage-based insurance that can be purchased at the same time as a Rivian R1T pickup or R1S utility vehicle.

Like Ford, Rivian's underwriter is Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.

Rivian also is offering customers the ability to bundle their homeowner's insurance and policies for other non-Rivian vehicles, as well as coverage for its off-road accessories.

The company promises a quote within minutes to customers who order their vehicle online.

The insurance offering is the latest enticement dangled by Rivian to customers to differentiate itself in an increasingly competitive EV landscape, as it develops a network of collision and service facilities and trains in-house product experts to provide personalized assistance on demand.

Initially, the insurance policies are available in 40 states, but they are expected to be available in 48 whe…

Editors note: A previous version of this story included an incorrrect location for CarSaver.

Technical innovations from 27 suppliers around the world have been named finalists in the 2021 Automotive News PACE Awards.

The 31 individual technologies range from new sensors that can distinguish between vehicle passengers to an advancement in how an auto retailer transacts a remote sale.

At the same time, 23 finalists from 20 companies have been named for the Automotive News PACEpilot award.

The Automotive News PACEpilot award, now in its second year, recognizes pre-commercial, post-pilot innovations in the automotive or future mobility space, including products, processes, software and IT systems.

The Automotive News PACE Award, now in its 27th year, is given to suppliers in recognition of a technological innovation in product or processes that has reached commercial application.

PACE judges will review the innovations for the award, to…

Stellantis will idle its minivan plant in Windsor, Ontario, until the end of April, due to the global microchip shortage.

Production is scheduled to resume May 3, the automaker said.

The Chrysler Pacifica, Voyager, Grand Caravan and Pacifica Hybrid minivans are all built at the Windsor Assembly Plant.

“Stellantis continues to work closely with our suppliers to mitigate the manufacturing impacts caused by the various supply chain issues facing our industry,” the automaker said in a statement.

The Brampton, Ontario, Assembly Plant -- where the Chrysler 300, Dodge Challenger  and Dodge Charger are assembled -- resumes production April 19.

Both plants have been down for two weeks.

The automaker also said Friday that the chip shortage forced it to idle its assembly plants in Belvidere, Ill., and Toluca, Mexico, through the rest of April and its Warren, Mich., truck plant through the end of May.

The company said the upscal…

BEIJING -- Tesla has settled a lawsuit against a former employee who copied the source code of the electric-vehicle maker's Autopilot technology, according to a U.S. district court filing dated April 15.

Tesla filed the lawsuit in 2019, saying its employee Cao Guangzhi, who worked at Tesla for two years, copied the source code before in January 2019 joining XMotors, the U.S. unit of Chinese EV maker Xpeng.

Terms of the settlement, which included a monetary payment made by Cao to Tesla, were not disclosed. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tesla's Autopilot is a driver-assistance system that handles some driving tasks and allows drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel, though the company emphasizes it still requires driver supervision and does not make the vehicle autonomous.

Tesla has a factory in Shanghai, putting it in direct competition with Xpeng and other Chinese companies in the world's largest EV market.…

Daimler reported strong first-quarter earnings, driven by robust demand for Mercedes-Benz cars, particularly in China.

Group earnings before interest and tax were 5.75 billion euros ($6.9 billion) for the first three months, the company said in a preliminary earnings statement on Friday. That's up from 617 million euros ($664 million) in the year-earlier period as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Daimler cited sales momentum in all major regions as well as cost cuts as helping growth.

"We continue to execute on our ambitions in a very encouraging market environment," CEO Ola Kaellenius said in the statement. "Our systematic efforts to lower the break-even point of the company are becoming increasingly visible."

Mercedes' first-quarter global car sales climbed 22 percent to 581,270 units, with a 60 percent jump in China deliveries, the automaker said earlier this month.

A year after one of the bleakest period in decades for luxury German automake…

TOKYO – Indicted former Nissan director Greg Kelly, still on trial in Tokyo, got a shot of support from Washington ahead of this week’s summit between President Joe Biden and Japan’s prime minister, with a prominent U.S. senator calling Kelly’s treatment a stain on Japan.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi defended Kelly as “blameless,” and said Japan’s treatment of the American defendant is a red flag for international businesspeople dealing with the country.

Wicker also criticized Japan’s justice system for moving too slow and denying defendants access to evidence and said Kelly was a victim of collusion between Nissan and the Japanese government.

“It is a stain on Japan, and it is a cautionary event for Americans who might want to do business in Japan or with Japanese entities,” Wicker told Automotive News in an interview. “It is a shameful practice by a government that purports to be democratic and relies on our alliance.”

Wicker, who has protes…

Subaru has issued a pair of recalls affecting more than 800,000 late-model vehicles in the U.S. to repair problems relating to engine control modules and rear stabilizer brackets.

The first recall involves the 2017-19 Impreza and 2018-19 Crosstrek to check and potentially update the programming of the vehicles' engine control modules and replace their ignition coils, which could degrade over time, the automaker said. The recall involves an estimated 466,205 vehicles, Subaru of America said.

Subaru is also recalling approximately 405,000 2019 Forester and Crosstrek models to examine and re-torque the bolts on those vehicles' rear stabilizer bar, which can become loose over time, the automaker said.

In both instances, Subaru said it has received no reports of accidents or injuries.

The automaker will mail notifications to vehicle owners within 60 days, the company said.