Trade News

US Auto Trust, a budding private dealership group owned by Edward Glazer of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has acquired Jaguar-Land Rover Stevens Creek.

US Auto Trust acquired the San Jose, Calif., store from Qvale Auto Group. The deal closed Tuesday, and terms were not disclosed, though US Auto will keep the dealership's name.

"This strategic acquisition expanded our dealership footprint into the highly desirable San Jose market," Matt Kaiser, US Auto Trust president, said in a statement.

The group was founded in 2018 and is based in Los Angeles, Kaiser said. Glazer, an owner and co-chairman of the Buccaneers, is the founder and CEO of US Auto Trust, according to his biography on the team's website. The Glazer family also owns English soccer giant Manchester United of the Premier League.

This marks the second JLR dealership for US Auto Trust and is its fourth store overall. It acquired Jaguar Land Rover Newport Beach fr…

Renesas Electronics Corp., one of the biggest makers of automotive chips, said a fire halted production at one of its Japanese plants. The incident may exacerbate a shortage of semiconductors that has already curbed vehicle output across the industry.

The company said it’s still trying to ascertain the amount of damage in the clean room of its N3 building in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki Prefecture. There were no casualties. Clean rooms are designed to keep impurities from contaminating semiconductors, so fire damage has the potential to severely disable production.

“While there was no damage to the building, we confirmed damages to some of the utility equipment,” the company said in a statement. “We have been unable to confirm the safety of the clean room, which is the site of the fire. We have been unable to enter the clean room and determine the cause of the fire.”

The accident is another blow to automakers that have already had to slow production and are miss…

Amazon has added another California city, San Francisco, to its testing program for electric delivery vans made by Rivian.

Last month, Amazon began testing Rivian's van in Los Angeles, the first of 16 cities nationwide where the giant online retailer will be piling on miles and learning how the Rivian vans perform in real-world conditions.

San Francisco, with its many steep hills, will be a particularly brutal test. The vans, early hand-built preproduction vehicles, are estimated to be able to travel 150 miles on a charge. Amazon has ordered 100,000 Rivian vans and plans to begin operating fleets full time as early as 2022.

The electric vans potentially could save Amazon billions of dollars per year in maintenance and fuel costs as well as dramatically reduce the company's carbon footprint. Amazon is redesigning it delivery stations to accommodate electric vehicles.

If all goes according to schedule, Amazon could have as…

Tata Motors Ltd. said former Daimler AG manager Marc Llistosella will not be joining as its next CEO as previously announced.

Guenter Butschek will continue as the company’s CEO and managing director until June 30, the company said in a filing Friday. It did not give any reason for the change of decision.

Llistosella, who headed Daimler Trucks in Asia, was to take charge effective in July, as previously announced on Feb. 12. A former Airbus SE executive, Butschek has been CEO since 2016.

Tata Motors topped expectations during the most recent quarter after struggling with falling sales and rising debt. The turnaround followed deep cost cuts and improved vehicle demand, while the manufacturer remains largely dependent on its luxury Jaguar Land Rover unit.

Nissan Motor Co. is curtailing production at North American assembly plants as a result of the microchip shortage roiling the auto industry.

In Smyrna, Tenn., production of the Murano crossover will be suspended through Monday. Meanwhile, weekend overtime to build the Rogue crossover, Maxima sedan and Leaf electric hatchback has been canceled.

Nissan will idle the Altima sedan line at the Canton, Miss., factory through Monday and cancel weekend overtime on the NV commercial van line. A Nissan spokesman said output of 2 pickups -- the Titan and Frontier -- will not be affected.

In Aguascalientes, Mexico, output of the Versa subcompact and Kicks compact crossovers will be halted through Tuesday.

"We continue to work closely with our supplier partners to assess the impact of supply chain issues and minimize disruption for vehicle deliveries to our dealers and customers," Nissan spokesman Brian Brockman said late Thursday.

The chip shortage br…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. has begun building some F-150 pickups and Edge crossovers without certain electronic modules due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage and parts disruptions following last month's severe winter weather.

The automaker said it would build and hold affected vehicles for a number of weeks, then ship them to dealers once modules are available and it can finish comprehensive quality checks.

The F-150 pickup, redesigned for the 2021 model year, is the nation's top-selling vehicle and a key profit driver for the automaker. It is built at plants in Michigan and Missouri.

Ford spokeswoman Kelli Felker said Thursday the modules needed for the affected vehicles are "tied to basic vehicle functions, such as windshield wiper motors and infotainment features."

Felker said the updates can be performed at an offsite location at a later date, which would protect future production at the affected plants.

The news comes the same week G…

Cox Automotive Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Janet Barnard will retire at the end of June, company President Steve Rowley said Thursday in a statement.

Barnard's career at Cox has spanned more than 15 years. She was general manager of several regions at Cox Communications before being named president of the auction giant Manheim in 2014.

Barnard, 62, led Manheim through a $400 million investment in technology and infrastructure, which has been credited as setting the foundation for its move to digital operations.

As chief people officer, which she was named in 2017, Barnard has helped Cox Automotive build a modern workplace while attracting top talent, Rowley said. Her heart has always been in the field, where her career began, he added.

"Hardly a moment passed without Janet reminding all of us of the importance of the people on the front lines," Rowley said. "And that goes double for her persisten…

Progressives in the House and Senate plan to set down a marker Thursday for President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plans, introducing a $500 billion proposal to shift U.S. transportation away from fossil fuels.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, two proponents of the Green New Deal, are behind the bill, joined by Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Andy Levin of Michigan. Their plan aims to accelerate the process of making the U.S. carbon neutral by 2050 -- a goal Biden campaigned on -- by putting the money in the hands of state, local and tribal governments or transit authorities to make sweeping investments in public transit systems.

“The climate crisis is an existential threat to our planet,” Warren said. “But it’s also a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, create a million good new jobs, and unleash the best of American innovation.”

The bill stands little chance of making it through C…

Nissan North America Inc. is recalling 126,809 vehicles because of a potential for tire failure.

The recall includes certain 2019-20 Altima and 2018-21 Titan models equipped with Continental tires. One or more tires on the vehicles in question may have been cured too long during production.

Sidewalls in the overcured tires could break, leading to rapid air loss. Belt edge separation may also occur, which could lead to tread and belt loss. Either condition can cause a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash, according to the recall notice.

About 1 percent of recalled vehicles are believed to have the defect, the company said in a document filed with NHTSA.

A Nissan spokeswoman said the automaker is not aware of any injuries, crashes or fatalities associated with the recalled vehicles.

Nissan says it will notify all owners of potentially affected vehicles on April 28. Dealers were set to be notified on March 12.

Accordi…

The U.S. government is working to help American miners and battery makers expand into Canada, part of a strategy to boost regional production of minerals used to make electric vehicles and counter Chinese dominance.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Commerce is hosting a closed-door virtual meeting with miners and battery manufacturers to discuss ways to boost Canadian production of EV materials, according to documents seen by Reuters.

The move comes as demand for electrified transportation is set to surge over the next decade.

Conservationists have strongly opposed several large U.S. mining projects, leading officials to look north of the border to Canada and its supply of 13 of the 35 minerals deemed critical for national defense by Washington.

Tesla Inc., Albemarle Corp., Talon Metals Corp. and Livent Corp. are among the more-than 30 attendees at Thursday's meeting who will discuss ways Washington can assist U.S. companies expand in Canada an…