Trade News

Dongfeng Motor Group, a major state-owned Chinese automaker, plans to sell its 25 percent interest in an unprofitable partnership with Kia Motors via the Shanghai United Asset and Equity Exchange. 

Dongfeng has priced the 25 percent stake in the partnership, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, at 297 million ($46.5 million), according to information disclosed last week by the exchange, which helps corporate customers in China sell assets or equity stakes.

The move is widely believed to pave the way for Kia to increase its stake in the joint venture, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, to 75 percent from 50 percent. 

Dongfeng Yueda Kia is a 25-50-25 partnership between Dongfeng, Kia and Yueda Investment Co. -- an investment company in the east China city of Yancheng.

Kia, Dongfeng and Yueda Investment signed a memorandum of understanding in August to allow Dongfeng to transfer its 25 percent interest in the joint venture to Kia, Shanghai-based newspaper China Business N…

Xpeng introduced its fourth model, a large crossover, at the Guangzhou auto show last week, and the Chinese electric-vehicle startup expects to sell it globally as well as domestically.

The G9, a large crossover, is its first product “conceived and designed from the outset for both domestic Chinese and international markets,” Xpeng said. 

The vehicle complies with 5-star safety design standards under new car assessment programs in China and the European Union, as well as the EU’s vehicle certification standards known as European Whole Vehicle Type Approval.

It also meets the EU’s environmental protection requirements, with a reusability rate exceeding 85 percent and a recyclable rate of more than 95 percent, according to the EV startup.

The vehicle is fitted with Xpeng’s in-house proprietary advanced driver assistance system to enable comprehensive assisted smart driving from vehicle start-up to parking. 

It can drive for 200 kilo…

Lincoln has started preselling the locally produced Zephyr in China with a starting price of 255,000 yuan ($39,906). 

The sedan, built at Ford Motor Co.’s joint venture with Changan Automobile Co., debuted at the Guangzhou auto show last week. 

The vehicle, targeting young Chinese households, is 4,982 mm long, 1,865 mm wide and 1,485 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,930 mm. 

It is powered by a 2.0-liter turbo-charged direct-injection gasoline engine and can accelerate to 100 kilometers within 6.8 seconds, according to Lincoln’s China unit. 

Lincoln said it also plans a hybrid variant of the Zephyr, without specifying the timeframe.

The Zephyr is Lincoln’s fourth model produced at Changan Ford, following the Nautilus, Aviator and Corsair crossovers.

The Nautilus and Aviator are only available with gasoline engines, while the Corsair is available in both gasoline and plug-in hybrid versions. 

In the first …

China’s used light-vehicle sales rose less than one percent to below 1.16 million in October after double-digit growth in the first nine months, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.

The sudden market slowdown was mainly caused by lockdowns in multiple cities in northwest and northeast China, triggered by resurging coronavirus infections, the trade group said last week. 

In October, deliveries of used crossovers and SUVs surged 25 percent to some 173,500 while sales of second-hand minibuses rose 4.6 percent to around 34,400.

But second-hand sedan deliveries dropped 3.3 percent to about 866,600 while sales of used multi-purpose vehicles slid 1.3 percent to roughly 81,200.

Through October, China’s used light-vehicle market expanded 34 percent from a year earlier to approach 11.5 million on the back of a nearly 100 percent rebound in the first quarter.

BERLIN -- Daimler's China sales will stay strong next year, Hubertus Troska, the automaker's China chief, said, adding he was confident that Mercedes-Benz could grow its share of the country's electric-vehicle market given little competition in the premium car segment.

The brand's car sales in China jumped 12 percent last year to a record 774,000 despite the pandemic, and over 8 percent growth has been registered this year so far, Troska told journalists.

"Everything speaks for the fact that China will be a super market next year as well," Troska said.

Daimler's market share of electric-vehicle sales is still small in China, Troska said, where it competes with numerous Chinese EV makers from Xpeng to Li Auto and Nio as well as U.S. EV giant Tesla.

However, most Chinese companies sell in the price range of 35,000 euros ($39,270) or less, Troska said, below Daimler's range.

Separately, Mercedes-Benz is planning to build a new electric vehicl…

TOKYO -- Subaru Corp. expects slumping U.S. sales to finally rebound in 2022, but only after two-straight years of declines, the brand's first back-to-back sales retreat since the mid-1990s.

CEO Tomomi Nakamura, in a Thursday interview, told Automotive News that sales in the Japanese automaker's most important market aren't expected to reach 600,000 units in 2021.

Such a total would fall short of the 611,942 vehicles Subaru sold in the U.S. in calendar year 2020, when its volume slumped 12.6 percent in the throes of the pandemic from an all-time high set in 2019.

Demand in 2021 has been further reduced by the global semiconductor shortage.

Through October, Subaru's U.S. sales were static, with the brand notching a 0.3 percent increase to 499,619 vehicles.

"We'll have to consider orders after the Thanksgiving holiday, but we're looking at a little more difficult situation than in previous months," Nakamura said of the U.S. sales outlook. "F…

Rivian Aujtomotive Inc., the EV producer backed by Amazon Inc., Ford Motor Co. and others, has started notifying customers who have reserved the R1S SUV of delivery delays, media outlets reported on Wednesday.

Shares in Rivian fell 3.3 percent to $115.89 in afternoon trading.

The company had earlier said R1S would begin production at the Normal, Ill., plant in December, with the first deliveries expected in January.

Rivian has now started sending emails to customers to inform them that the delivery window has been changed to between May and July at the earliest, according to media outlets InsideEVs and Electrek.

Reuters could not independently verify the information, and Rivian was not immediately available for a comment.

The startup, flush with cash from a successful $100 billion-valued IPO, has announced plans for a second U.S. factory and it eventually wants to open plants in Europe and China as well. It has not provided a location or ti…

The Hellcat era at Dodge is coming to a screeching end.

Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis told Motor Authority that the supercharged models are in their last days.

Redesigned versions of the Charger and Challenger muscle cars are expected to move to Stellantis' electrified STLA Large platform, which is capable of up to 500 miles of range.

"I will have this car, this platform, this powertrain as we know it, through the end of '23," Kuniskis told Motor Authority at the Los Angeles Auto Show this month. "There's two more years to buy a Hellcat, then it's history."

The Hellcat models are the centerpiece of Dodge's rebirth as a performance brand.

Dodge has jettisoned minivans, pickups and front-wheel-drive cars in recent years in favor of two rear-wheel-drive cars — the Challenger and Charger — and one SUV, the Durango.

The visceral whine of the supercharger has become a staple in the brand's advertising for years.

Dodge turned the Hellcat …

An eLend Solutions dealership survey found the industry largely fails to make the finance and insurance process available online to customers.

Fifty-three percent of dealerships polled allowed a customer to desk a deal online. But only 36 percent of retailers let the customer get through the F&I process or further digitally. The third-quarter questionnaire targeted eLend's contacts list and a media partner's database and received answers from 150 dealership "decision-makers," such as finance directors and general sales managers, the company said.

"Dealers remain hesitant to move F&I online, a major speed bump in the realization of 'transactional' digital retailing," eLend Solutions CEO Pete MacInnis said in a statement this month. "Many of the survey results are positive for the advance of digital retailing, with clear indications that, as the pandemic recedes, the [digital retailing] genie is not going back in the bottle. But, pushing …

Nikola Corp.’s founder sold his biggest batch of shares since the U.S. charged him with securities fraud, bringing the total he’s unloaded since August to $284 million.

Trevor Milton offloaded 11.7 million shares worth about $131 million in a series of transactions that ended Tuesday, according to a regulatory filing. Nikola’s former executive chairman sold about $153 million of stock in two rounds of disposals in August, weeks after pleading not guilty to charges he misled investors.

Milton made false and misleading statements regarding almost all aspects of Nikola’s business, according to a criminal indictment unsealed in July.

Federal prosecutors took issue with his claims about the startup’s first semi-truck prototype, which was inoperable; a battery-electric and hydrogen-powered pickup that amounted to little more than design sketches; and Nikola’s hydrogen production capabilities, battery-development work and customer orders.

Nikola announce…