Trade News

Ford Motor Co. is mobilizing its dealer network in Texas to help those affected by widespread power outages during unusually frigid weather.

The automaker on Thursday sent a letter to retailers in the state asking them to loan 2021 F-150 pickups from inventory to residents without electricity so they can use the trucks' onboard generators to power homes. Ford is offering the dealers $600 more than normal to put any F-150 with the Pro Power Onboard feature into loaner fleets.

Ford says there are currently about 415 generator-equipped pickups on Texas dealers' lots. The trucks still can be sold to retail customers during an upcoming "Truck Month" promotion in March, the letter said.

"For well over a century, Ford Motor Co. and our dealer partners have been there to support and serve our communities in time of need," the letter said. "Our Texas communities need all the support they can get right now. You can make a significant differe…

Auto supplier Dana Inc. said fourth-quarter profitability and cash flow fell as the company posted higher interest costs, taxes and one-time expenses while it accelerated investment in electrification.

For the year, COVID-19 production shutdowns caused sales and profit declines in 2020 and led to a net loss of $31 million, marking a dip from the company's $226 million net gain in 2019, the company said Thursday.

The Ohio-based axles and transmission producer joined several suppliers this month in reporting fourth-quarter and full-year earnings as the COVID-19 crisis lingers around the globe. More companies are set to report results over the next few weeks.

Dana said net income fell 53 percent to $40 million in the fourth quarter. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) dropped 15 percent to $192 million. Adjusted free cash flow fell 79 percent to $46 million.

"Lower cash generation was driven by lower earni…

Tesla Inc. trimmed prices for its cheapest Model 3 and Model Y while raising prices for the Performance versions, according to the electric carmaker’s website.

The Model 3 Standard Range Plus is now 2.6% cheaper at $36,990 in the U.S. The price of the Model Y Standard Range was cut by 4.8% to $39,990.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has regularly lamented that Tesla’s cars are too expensive, and the company has a long history of enacting price cuts and incentives to drive deliveries during critical quarters. At the “Battery Day” event last fall, Musk said the company was working on a $25,000 car.

The Performance variant of the Model 3 rose 1.8% to $55,990, while the price of the Performance variant of the Model Y increased 1.7% to $60,990, the website shows. Tesla also lowered prices in Japan.

“Adjustments may reflect mix strategy,” analyst Dan Levy of Credit Suisse said in a note to clients. “We believe Tesla strategy is to cut price (funded by cost cut…

The scene described in the arrest warrant is disturbing. In the early hours of Oct. 5, a 46-year-old man shoved and began strangling a woman in her early twenties, knocking a phone out of her hand when she tried to call for help.

What the warrant doesn’t mention is that the accused assailant, David Smith, is the son of a billionaire, scion of a powerful North Carolina family and the CEO of Sonic Automotive Inc., a public company that owns one of the largest car-dealership chains in the U.S.

After spending a day in a Charlotte jail, Smith was charged with three misdemeanor counts and one for felony assault by strangulation, a charge that can carry a sentence of as long as two years in prison. He intends to plead not guilty once North Carolina courts fully reopen from pandemic shutdowns, his lawyer says. No trial date has been set.

Barely 24 hours after his release, Sonic’s board — more than a quarter of which is made up of Smith family members, including …

Self-driving truck company Gatik thrives on consistency.

In the realm of autonomy, the company's goal has been to connect distribution centers with specific hubs and stores. Its trucks ply the same routes day after day, constraining the scenarios that self-driving systems face into manageable chunks.

Route certainty is also helping Gatik develop and deploy electric trucks. By knowing exactly how many miles trucks will drive and by installing chargers at hubs and destinations, electrification in short-haul logistics can work.

Gatik launched three EVs in its fleet Wednesday in conjunction with its partnership with Walmart. The trucks connect a Walmart Supercenter in New Orleans with a pickup location in Metairie, La., a suburb. It's about 20 miles between the two, well within the 120-mile range of the trucks, which can recharge while goods are loaded…

WM Motor, a Shanghai electric vehicle startup, secured an 11.5 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) credit line from a consortium of 11 domestic commercial banks. 

The consortium has signed off on the first loan of 3.5 billion yuan, which will be mainly used to fund product development and manufacturing, an expanded distribution network and digital marketing, WM Motor said.

The group of lenders, led by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, is comprised of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Merchant Bank, Bank of Shanghai, Huaxia Bank, Shanghai Rural Commercial Bank, Industrial Bank and Tai Fung Bank. 

WM Motor was founded by Freeman Shen, Volvo Car Corp.’s former China president, in 2015. The company has launched sales of two products – the EX5 and EX6 compact crossovers. A third product, the W6, is set to arrive in the second quarter.

In 2020, WM Motor deliveries surged …

Nio is seeking a business planner to help the EV maker target and enter the U.S., the Shanghai startup disclosed in an employment posting on LinkedIn this week.

Key responsibilities of the newly created job include developing business strategies, promoting innovation and formulating a broad plan to market and sell EVs to American consumers, according to the post. 

Nio operates an R&D center in San Jose, Calif. It was incorporated in Shanghai in 2014 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2018. 

The company has launched three products – the ES8 SUV, the ES6 crossover and the EC6 coupe-like crossover. 

Nio delivered 43,728 vehicles in China in 2020, an increase of 113 percent.

Inventories at new-vehicle stores dropped across multiple brands in January because of strong purchases prior to the lunar New Year holiday that began on February 11. 

The average backlog at new-car dealerships declined to 46 days in January, from 54 days in December, according to the China Automobiles Dealers Association. 

Inventories at stores stocking locally produced, foreign mass-market brands averaged 46 days, as compared to 57 days the previous month.

Dealerships marketing Chinese brands saw their average supply dip to 52 days, from 62 days in December. 

Average stockpiles at stores distributing luxury brands and imported foreign brands also slid to 40 days, from 42 days a month earlier. 

In January, the highest average backlog, at 78 days, was reported by Kia dealerships. It was followed by 71 days at Skoda stores, and 69 days at Infiniti stores, according to CADA. 

Chinese internet giant Baidu will roll out the first self-driving full electric vehicle with partner Zhejiang Geely Holding Group in about three years, Baidu’s founder and CEO Robin Li said. 

Li shared the timeline on a conference call with Baidu investors on Wednesday. 

Baidu and Geely Group announced last month the establishment of a joint venture to develop autonomous EVs with Baidu’s autonomous driving technology and Geely’s first open-source EV architecture. 

Li, when asked about the timeline for the rollout of the vehicle on the conference call, said: “It usually takes around three years from the beginning to the launch of a new EV model. We will try to do the same for this new venture.”

The partnership is progressing well, according to Li. “We have a CEO on board, and we have decided on the brand of the new vehicle,” he said.

Li wants the automated EV developed with Geely to become a benchmark product and convince othe…

Dealerships in Texas and other Southern states are grappling with closures and reduced operations amid rounds of hazardous winter weather that have crippled the region over the last three days.

Sonic Automotive Inc., the nation's sixth-largest new-vehicle dealership group, has been forced to close all of its franchised dealerships and used-only EchoPark stores in Texas. Sonic President Jeff Dyke said the dealerships have been "basically closed" all week amid the weather, lack of power and water issues.

Texas is Sonic's largest market by revenue, representing 28 percent. It's the largest EchoPark market with six locations and is one of its largest franchised markets, with dealerships in the Dallas and Houston areas.

Dyke told Automotive News on Wednesday that with more frigid temperatures and snow in the forecast, he doesn't anticipate much changing in Texas until the weekend.

"I'm assuming we're not going to start seeing some robust movement …