Trade News

TOKYO – Kia, in teasing its first next-generation electric vehicle, is adopting a new nomenclature for the upcoming series that leaves little doubt about its lineage.

The names of the new battery-powered vehicles will start with the prefix EV, followed by a number. And the first entry riding on Kia’s new dedicated all-electric platform will be the EV6.

“All of Kia’s new dedicated BEVs will start with the prefix ‘EV’ which makes it easy for consumers to understand which of Kia’s products are fully electric,” Kia Corp. announced Tuesday in South Korea.

The EV6 electric crossover will make its world premiere in the first quarter, Kia added.

Ahead of that unveiling, Kia teased silhouette shots of the EV6, showing a low-riding crossover with a short hood, elongated cabin and steeply raked rear window. Sporty rear fender flares provide a robust, planted look, while funky wrap-around taillights project a high-tech, digital feel.

The pincher-like a…

NEW YORK -- The U.S. government on Monday sued the automobile device manufacturer EZ Lynk, accusing it of selling "defeat devices" to enable car and truck owners to disable their vehicles' emission controls at the push of a button.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, the U.S. Department of Justice said the company's EZ Lynk System has enabled thousands of drivers to "delete" emissions controls from Ford, GMC and Chrysler trucks, among other vehicles.

The lawsuit seeks civil penalties for violations of the federal Clean Air Act, and a halt to further sales and installations of the EZ Lynk System.

EZ Lynk is based in the Cayman Islands. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lawyers for the company and the other defendants could not immediately be identified.

Tech company Waymo has provided a glimpse of how self-driving systems could one day dramatically reduce road carnage.

In a first-of-its-kind analysis, the company reconstructed real-life fatal crashes that occurred over a decadelong period in and around its Chandler, Ariz., operating area.

When Waymo replaced human drivers with autonomous systems and simulated the crashes, it found its system avoided collisions in 84 of 91 scenarios studied. Further, Waymo's system mitigated the severity of crashes in four of the remaining incidents.

Of the three incidents in which no change occurred, all were instances in which the Waymo vehicle was struck from behind.

"This is an important step forward, because they've been able to do a very careful comparison on specific fatal crashes that occurred within the same area where they're doing vehicle operations," said Steve Shladover, research engineer at the California Partners for Advanced Transportation Technol…

HGGC, the private equity firm that controls fixed operations software provider Dealer-FX, said Monday it has sold the company to Snap-on Inc., of Wisconsin.

The giant manufacturer of hand tools, shop equipment, diagnostic software and other service department products paid HGGC $200 million in cash for Dealer-FX, of Markham, Ontario. Dealer-FX's service lane software platform is used by dealerships selling brands from at least nine major manufacturers, including Stellantis, General Motors, Toyota and Hyundai.

Dealer-FX, which booked $37 million in revenue last year, is being absorbed by a company roughly 100 times bigger in terms of revenue. For 2020, Snap-on reported revenue of nearly $3.6 billion.

"This acquisition complements and expands on Snap-on's existing OEM and dealership business in its Repair Systems & Information Group that provides electronics parts catalogs, essential tool and diagnostics programs and custom analyt…

WASHINGTON -- A group of 17 U.S. House Democrats on Monday are introducing legislation that would award $6 billion to the U.S. Postal Service to buy tens of thousands of additional electric delivery vehicles.

The bill sponsored by Rep. Jared Huffman and seen by Reuters would require at least 75% of the new fleet be electric or zero-emission vehicles.

Last month, the USPS said it was committed to having electric vehicles make up 10% of its next-generation fleet as part of its multibillion-dollar plan to retire its 30-year-old delivery vehicles, but could boost that if it received billions of dollars in government assistance.

The legislation is backed by some key Democrats, including Rep. Peter DeFazio, who chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the Oversight and Reform committee that oversees USPS.

The bill would also require no less than 50% of medium/heavy-duty vehicle purc…

DETROIT — GMC plans to unveil and begin taking reservations next month for the electric Hummer SUV, a sibling of the 2022 Hummer pickup.

GMC will show the SUV on April 3 at 5 p.m. Eastern time during the NCAA Final Four men's basketball tournament, the brand said in a statement Monday.

General Motors is expected to begin building the SUV at Factory Zero in Detroit in early 2023, with an annual volume target of 50,000 vehicles, according to AutoForecast Solutions. GM has not confirmed production details.

AutoForecast Solutions expects the SUV to be the same size as the pickup with a unique roofline and a possible third row of seating. It will be powered by GM's proprietary Ultium batteries, which have a maximum range of 450 miles.

GM has committed to spend $27 billion on electric and autonomous vehicle development and to launch 30 EVs globally through 2025. The automaker said it plans to have a zero-emissions, light-duty portfolio by 2035.

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TOKYO -- Toyota Motor Corp.'s first venture capital fund is investing in startups that help the Japanese automaker refine everyday processes by bringing sharper supply-chain management and robotics to the factory floor, a fund executive said.

The Silicon Valley-based Toyota AI Ventures fund, with $200 million under management, has so far invested in 36 early-stage startups, including self-driving car software firm Nauto, factory video analytics company Drishti and air mobility firm Joby Aviation.

Toyota, the world's largest automaker by vehicle sales, and many car companies such as Volkswagen Group are funnelling money into startups to help gain an edge in artificial intelligence as investor interest shifts to self-driving cars.

For instance Toyota, which has dozens of factories around the world, wants to be able to quickly share the lessons learned at one plant across other plants so that efficiencies are maximized, Jim Adler, the founding managing dir…

Elon Musk is getting into the Texas power market, with previously unrevealed construction of a gigantic battery connected to an ailing electric grid that nearly collapsed last month. The move marks Tesla Inc.’s first major foray into the epicenter of the U.S. energy economy.

A Tesla subsidiary registered as Gambit Energy Storage LLC is quietly building a more than 100 megawatt energy storage project in Angleton, Texas, a town roughly 40 miles south of Houston. A battery that size could power about 20,000 homes on a hot summer day. Workers at the site kept equipment under cover and discouraged onlookers, but a Tesla logo could be seen on a worker’s hard hat and public documents helped confirm the company’s role.

Property records on file with Brazoria County show Gambit shares the same address as a Tesla facility near the company’s auto plant in Fremont, California. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lists Gambit as a Tesla subsidiary. Exec…

The date is seared in the minds of the Japanese, much like Nov. 22 and Sept. 11 are for Americans. March 11, this Thursday, marks the 10-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated much of Japan.

And, in a bizarre coincidence, that same date in 2020 was for Americans an unforgettable marker in the life of the coronavirus pandemic.

That evening alone, President Donald Trump banned travel from Europe, the NBA canceled its season and actor Tom Hanks revealed he had COVID-19.

The day was "the pivot point on which weeks of winter unease about the looming novel coronavirus turned in a matter of hours into a sudden, wrenching, nation-altering halt to daily life and routine," Wired magazine wrote.

Both events, nine years apart, had dramatic impacts on the auto industry.

And we explore them in Monday's issue. Namely:

■ The lessons that the Japanese …