Trade News

Chinese carmaker SAIC Motor Corp. and appliance giant Haier Group Corp. signed a preliminary agreement to jointly develop intelligent transportation systems and smart homes, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The duo will cooperate in areas including autonomous driving and lightweight-material development and establish a fund to invest in areas such as intelligent manufacturing, the people said, asking not to be named discussing information that isn’t public.

The agreement, signed Thursday, also involves Haier investing in a SAIC unit that will be set up to develop autonomous driving technology at Yangshan Port to the south of Shanghai, the people said, without disclosing any financial details.

A SAIC representative confirmed the two companies have signed a cooperation agreement and said more details will be announced in due course. A representative from Haier wasn’t immediately available for comment.

Chinese automakers and technolo…

Toyota Financial Services is closing a large field office in Iowa as part of ongoing efforts to consolidate its customer service operations into its dealer services hubs in the South. Two more centers will close to form three Experience Centers, according to a Toyota Financial Services spokesman.

The changes will impact one-third of the captive lender's 3,300 employees nationwide.

Headquartered in Plano, Texas, Toyota's captive arm plans to organize all of its dealership and customer service representatives in Plano; Chandler, Ariz.; and Alpharetta, Ga. The moves will streamline the lender's field offices and present opportunities to invest in new technologies, Toyota Financial Services said in an emailed statement.

"Every team member in good standing who wants a position will continue to have one at one of the new locations," the statement said.

The Cedar Rapids office will shutter at the end of 2022, and about 600 e…

China’s electric carmakers are paying top-dollar rents to open showrooms in luxury malls, as they seek to gain an edge in the hyper-competitive market.

More than half the malls in Shanghai have at least one electric-vehicle showroom and more are planned, according to real-estate service provider Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. They are now part of the “standard configuration” of shopping centers in medium-to-large cities, the firm said in a recent report.

With dozens of EV makers in various stages of development jockeying for a slice of what is the world’s largest EV market, upstart brands like Nio Inc. and Xpeng Inc., and the new-energy arms of SAIC Motor Corp. and Geely Automobile Holdings, are staking out ground in malls to burnish their image as premium goods for the middle class and differentiate themselves from more established automakers.

Rents for a 200-to-300 square meter (2,150-3,230 square feet) showroom in prime areas of China’s biggest cities run to…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. will begin delivering its highly anticipated 2021 Bronco SUV to customers in June, although some hardtop roof options are being further delayed to the 2022 model year because of issues with roof supplier Webasto.

The automaker on Thursday shared the latest production updates in separate letters to customers and dealers. It promised to compensate affected customers for the roof delays with FordPass Rewards points, off-road school vouchers and free accessories that could cost Ford tens of millions of dollars.

Ford said it has turned roughly 125,000 of the 190,000 Bronco deposits in the U.S. and Canada into firm orders, a 66 percent conversion rate. Of those orders, 73 percent are for the four-door model. More than 60 percent of customers have chosen the larger 2.7-liter V-6 engine, and the four most expensive trims account for 70 percent of orders, Ford says.

Roughly 18 percent of orders are for the manual transmission, which is av…

WASHINGTON -- Two groups of Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday urged President Joe Biden to reinstate tough Obama-era vehicle emissions standards through 2025 and do more to shift the U.S. toward electric vehicles.

A group of more than 70 House Democrats led by Representative Doris Matsui urged Biden to set tough emissions rules that ensure "60 percent of the new passenger cars and trucks sold are zero-emission by 2030," while 10 U.S. senators led by Democrat Edward Markey urged Biden "to set a date by which new sales of fossil fuel vehicles will end entirely."

Markey's letter, which was also signed by Senators Richard Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley and others says it is essential "to ensure that we are on a trajectory to achieve the near-zero emission fleet that scientists have called for by 2050."

The House letter, which is signed by Democrats, including Carolyn Maloney, Jerrold Nadler, Anna Eshoo, Adam Smith and Rashida Tlai…

WASHINGTON -- Tesla Inc. is pressing a U.S. appeals court to immediately reinstate a 2016 Obama regulation more than doubling penalties for automakers who fail to meet fuel efficiency requirements, according to court filings.

The Trump administration on Jan. 14 delayed the start of higher penalties until the 2022 model year. Tesla told the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals the Trump action was "unlawful" and "diminishes the value of performance-based incentives that electric vehicle manufacturers, such as Tesla, accrue under the standards."

Although Pres. Joe Biden supports tougher emissions standards, his administration opposes Tesla's request for immediate court action, saying NHTSA is scrutinizing the Trump action on Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) penalties and will complete its review in six months. A group representing major automakers also opposes immediate action.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. NHTSA declined commen…

LMP Automotive Holdings Inc. has acquired another General Motors store as part of its first wave of franchised dealership closings: Bachman-Bernard Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac in Greeneville, Tenn.

LMP, a publicly traded used-car and vehicle subscription company that wants to roll up dozens of dealerships, acquired the store on Tuesday from Phil Bachman and Myron Bernard.

In a regulatory filing last year, LMP said it would pay $7.9 million for the dealership and the land. LMP COO Richard Aldahan confirmed on Wednesday the sales price and that it will keep the dealership's name.

"Bachman-Bernard has been a staple in the Greeneville market and we intend to continue the legacy," Aldahan said in an email to Automotive News.

Earlier this month, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., company spent $93.1 million to buy five franchised dealerships and three used-vehicle stores. It bought two Florida Kia stores in Port Charlotte and Cape Coral from Fuccillo Automotiv…

Industry groups representing automakers and dealers of imported vehicles are supporting a newly relaunched coalition that is calling for the rollback of certain tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

The Tariff Reform Coalition — a group of 37 associations including Autos Drive America, the American Automotive Policy Council and the American International Automobile Dealers Association — urged policymakers on Wednesday to remove Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminum and reassess Section 301 tariffs on imports from China.

"At a time when so many businesses and workers in the United States are suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, we urge the Biden administration to reconsider the Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs that are causing serious damage to those already struggling," said Rufus Yerxa, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, one of the coalition's members.

"Eliminating unwarranted, ineffective and self-defeating import …

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Predatory Loan Prevention Act into law Tuesday. The law, which immediately took effect, places a 36 percent interest rate cap on all loans below $40,000 extended in the state. It includes guaranteed asset protection products sold on automobile purchases as part of the interest rate calculation.

The Illinois General Assembly passed the actin January as part of a broader initiative by the Legislative Black Caucus to curb racial inequities in the state. The law borrows heavily from the federal Military Lending Act, which contains the same interest rate cap for service members and covered relatives.

Some experts say the Predatory Loan Prevention Act limits credit access for consumers who fail to qualify for lower interest rate terms. Several groups, including the American Financial Services Association and the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association, urged Pritzker to veto it.

David Gemperle, par…

In this first installment of a two-part interview, Harry Cohen, psychologist and author of Be the Sun, Not the Salt, shares his strategies for cultivating a positive mindset to help build and maintain strong relationships with employees.

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