Trade News

Two Americans accused of smuggling former Nissan Motor Co. executive Carlos Ghosn out of Tokyo have been transferred by the American authorities to Japanese custody after losing a months-long extradition fight to remain in the U.S.

Michael Taylor and his son Peter were handed over to Japanese custody on Monday morning, according to another son, Rudy Taylor.

The Taylors face a possible prison sentence of three years on charges they engineered the audacious December 2019 escape in which Ghosn hid inside a black box that was loaded onto a charter jet. The auto executive remains a fugitive.

For months, the Taylors battled extradition in court, arguing the allegations against them did not constitute a crime under Japan’s penal code and that conditions in the country’s prisons amounted to torture. They also hired lobbyists in Washington to press their case with the Trump administration.

But none of those efforts paid off. In recent weeks, the federal …

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler U.S. on Monday pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act as part of a criminal probe tied to the ongoing UAW corruption scandal.

As part of its plea agreement, the automaker, now part of Stellantis, will pay a $30 million fine and accept an independent compliance monitor for three years.

Speaking in front of U.S. District Judge Paul Borman, representatives for the automaker admitted that between 2009 and 2016, FCA made more than $3.5 million in illegal payments to UAW officials for lavish parties, home mortgage payments, fancy meals and expensive golf outings. Much of the money was funneled through the National Training Center operated jointly with the union, which both sides have agreed to shut down.

"Through its participation in this conspiracy, FCA violated federal labor law and undermined the collective bargaining process and the faith of the UAW's membership in their leaders…

CDK Global Inc. has completed the sale of its international business to private equity firm Francisco Partners.

The deal, valued at $1.45 billion, closed Monday, the Hoffman Estates, Ill., dealership management system giant said. The transaction was announced in November.

"We are very pleased that the transaction closed on schedule and appreciate all the efforts made by both companies to successfully complete the sale," CDK CEO Brian Krzanich said in a statement.

"I look forward to continuing our growth strategy and focus on our North America business," he added.

Francisco Partners has offices in San Francisco, New York and London and specializes in working with technology companies. CDK has said the private equity firm is acquiring 100 percent of CDK's international business, with operations in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South Africa.

CDK has said it will use the proceeds to focus on its North American operations, which include DM…

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Polestar USA chief Gregor Hembrough talks about the Swedish EV startup's retail expansion strategy, being a ''digital-forward'' brand and bringing Polestar 2 variants to the market.

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Travis Katz — after stints with MySpace, a venture capital firm and travel companies — aims to electrify and connect automotive fleets as CEO of BrightDrop, an electric vehicle-powered goods and delivery service launched by General Motors.

Today's vehicles are more high-tech than ever, Katz said, and "the growing importance of software is shaping how these vehicles operate."

BrightDrop, which will run out of offices in Detroit, San Francisco and Atlanta, will sell the GM-built EV600 electric van and EP1 electric pallet, which helps delivery workers move goods short distances, such as from the van to the customer's door. BrightDrop also has a suite of software to predict maintenance requirements and locate and manage vehicles remotely.

BrightDrop's launch is part of a broader zero-emissions goal by GM. The automaker has said its entire lineup will be electric by 2035.

Katz, 49, spoke with Staff Reporter Hannah Lutz about the benefits of an electr…

The auto industry has long been the top customer for industrial robots.

But an odd thing happened in 2020: For the first time in recent memory, orders for nonautomotive robots surpassed those for automotive robots in North America. That's according to the Robotic Industries Association. The group, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is part of the Association for Advancing Automation and has data going back to 1984.

In North America, auto companies and suppliers ordered 15,045 robots last year, worth nearly $830 million. Companies in other industries ordered a combined 15,999 robots, worth about $744 million. Automotive robot orders grew 39 percent, while orders grew 69 percent in the life sciences, 56 percent in food and consumer goods and 51 percent in plastics and rubber.

"In 2020, we saw two trends in particular that propelled growth in nonautomotive orders for robotics technology," said John Bubnikovich, chief regional officer, North Ame…

From shipyards to sidewalks, rising demand for consumer goods has compelled logistics operators to rethink the way products travel across the world and to customers' doorsteps.

Increasingly, they're automating those movements from point A to point B. Those automated systems are relying upon lidar, the laser sensors that can help robots determine their exact position in the world and detect obstacles in their paths.

Lidar is perhaps best known for its use in self-driving taxis, but the uses for lidar are branching beyond passenger vehicles into just about anything that moves. Lidar sensors are now used in warehouses, for shipping and last-mile delivery, and at ports and elsewhere.

"When you look at the huge volume drivers for the business in the next two to three years, we see the robotics segment as being one of the big volume drivers in the near term," said Anand Gopalan, CEO of Velodyne Lidar, a San Jose, Calif., technology comp…

Manufacturing's digital data, fed into a special 3D laser printer, literally can turn an engineering concept into a large, fully stressed metal part.

Porsche is taking advantage of 3D printing, or "additive manufacturing," to quickly plug electric vehicle components into its vehicle-development programs. The automaker is working to make not only its vehicles, but also its build processes, agile and fast. But as usual, quicker comes at a cost.

Engineers at Porsche's Weissach Development Center in Germany recently built a light-alloy, electric-drive housing using a laser-fusion 3D-printing process. This technology holds promise for Porsche's special and small-series production and motorsports efforts.

"This proves that additive manufacturing, with all of its advantages, is also suitable for larger and heavily stressed components in electric sports cars," Falk Heilfort, the project manager, said in a statement.

But importan…

The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Industry 4.0. No matter what you call it, digital technology has upended the way automakers and suppliers do business.

Mercedes-Benz has defined Industry 4.0 as "networking the entire automotive value chain — from design, through production, to sales and service."

Boston Consulting Group has identified nine technologies that are driving Industry 4.0:

Additive manufacturingAugmented realityAutonomous robotsBig data and analyticsThe cloudCybersecurityHorizontal and vertical system integration The Industrial Internet of ThingsSimulation

Here are some of the ways the industry has incorporated these innovations.

Survival, a self-driving robot, at a Ford body and stamping plant in Valencia, Spain, in 2019. It can carry spare parts and welding material.

Workers at BMW's Munich Pilot Plant can overlay real objects with holographic 3D models.

Czech automaker Skoda us…

Much like the industry is racing toward a future of electric vehicles, it is also racing to modernize the way in which EVs are built.

Different designs can improve manufacturing efficiency and provide a modular solution for a variety of transportation applications. They can also accelerate the industry's shift to electrified powertrains.

Some experts suggest seeing things from a smaller perspective when it comes to components — and from a flatter perspective when it comes to the overall architecture. One such possibility: the skateboard chassis.

The modular design of a skateboard allows for a vehicle manufacturer to place any passenger, commercial or fleet body type on top of an electric chassis.

It is easier to modify, reduces weight, increases vehicle efficiency and, ultimately, can help hasten the electrification of the fleet.

Skateboards are well into play already: Amazon and Rivian's electric deliv…