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Qasar Younis and Peter Ludwig, the CEO and CTO, respectively, at Applied Intuition, discuss their efforts to create the next-generation tools needed to develop and test driver-assist systems and AVs. Plus, the two discuss their Detroit roots and how best to bridge the Motor City and Silicon Valley.

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The semiconductor shortage cost the auto industry at least 450,000 units of lost production just in January and February, analyst firm LMC said.

Pete Kelly, LMC managing director, said the issue would linger through the first half, but ultimately probably would not affect annual output.

He said, however, that the chip shortfall was different than other supply chain disruptions because the industry was competing with other bidders for semiconductor makers' product.

"What's different this time is that the lead times for additional capacity seem to be longer, and also there remains competition for that capacity from other industries," such as consumer electronics, Kelly said in an online seminar on Thursday.

"This is likely to take longer to resolve than other previous supply chain disruptions" such as explosions, strikes or natural disasters, which normally play out in a quarter or two, he said. Still, he said, "most of the effects" should play out…

Nearly 8 out of 10 electric vehicles registered in the U.S. last year were from one particular California automaker.

You guessed it: According to new data from Experian, Tesla accounted for 79 percent of U.S. EV registrations in 2020, with 200,561 of its battery-electric vehicles registered, a 16 percent jump from 2019, when owners registered 172,438 Teslas.

All four Tesla models ranked among the top five EVs last year. The Chevrolet Bolt small hatchback had the third most U.S. registrations among electric vehicles in 2020, at 19,664. That was up 20 percent from the year before.

But the Bolt still lagged far behind the first-place Tesla Model 3 sedan, which, despite a 32 percent drop in registrations, still topped 95,000, and the second-place Tesla Model Y crossover, which logged more than 71,000 registrations in less than a full year on the market. Tesla's Model X and Model S rounded out the top five.

Notably, Tesla and General Motors registrat…

Before Jeep fans buy a Wrangler 4xe to take off road, they can see how it fits in their garage next to their kayaks and camping gear while doing research.

The only thing they need is a smartphone.

Jeep is one of several automakers experimenting with a budding augmented reality tool for mobile Google searches that allows users to conduct virtual walkarounds of new models, check out color options, view the interiors in some cases and place the vehicles in a consumer's everyday environment. This augmented experience is available to Android and iOS users.

The highly searched Wrangler's popularity made it a good fit for this experience, said Tom Laymac, director of global digital marketing for Jeep parent Stellantis.

Laymac said Google approached the automaker about trying the technology. A cloud-based augmented-reality experience for the Wrangler plug-in hybrid initially was tested during the virtual CES in January.

Read more about Jeep using augmented reality to tantalize shoppers in new ways

TOKYO — Outside Nissan Motor Co., Hari Nada was a little-known executive with a big role prior to the arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn. He was a head-office heavyweight in the automaker's legal department and ran the CEO and chairman's office. Yet Nada's name rarely appears in company announcements, and photos of him are few and far between.

In recent weeks, however, the Malaysian-born, British-trained barrister has been center stage in the Tokyo trial of his other former boss, ex-Nissan director Greg Kelly, the American human resources executive whom prosecutors accuse of conspiring to hide Ghosn's big compensation packages from public view in violation of Japanese law.

On the witness stand, Nada has been a portrait of conflict. On one hand, he delivered details of how Ghosn, Kelly and other executives allegedly skirted disclosure rules. On the other, Nada acknowledged under government immunity that he helped support the scheming.

On the surface…

Mercedes-Benz USA has recalled over 1 million vehicles for a failure in the eCall system, which has resulted in emergency responders being dispatched to wrong locations, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a release.

The software design of the communication module may result in a failure to send the correct vehicle location for the emergency call system in the event of a crash and increase the risk of injury following a crash, says NHTSA.

Mercedes-Benz USA is recalling certain 2016-2021 CLA-Class, GLA-Class, GLE-Class, GLS-Class, SLC-Class, A-Class, GT-Class, C-Class, E-Class, S-Class, CLS-Class, SL-Class, B-Class, GLB-Class, GLC-Class, and G-Class vehicles.

Ford Motor Co. is suspending production of the F-150 pickup and Transit van at its Kansas City Assembly Plant in Missouri for one week starting Saturday to help conserve natural gas amid a cold spell in the Midwest.

Ford confirmed the news late Friday after UAW Local 249, which represents workers at the plant, informed employees earlier Friday.

"Due to unseasonably cold temperatures in the midsection of the United States, Ford was warned that the availability of natural gas could be restricted in the Kansas City area in the coming days," spokeswoman Kelli Felker said in a statement. "To ensure we minimize our use of natural gas that is critical to heat people's homes, we have decided to cancel operations for the next week. We expect to return to normal operations on Monday, Feb. 22."

The shutdown comes at an inopportune time as Ford launches a redesigned F-150, the nation's top-selling vehicle, and continues to feel the negative effects of a global semic…

Subaru of America is readying an off-road subbrand to expand the reach of its two most successful nameplates.

The Wilderness subbrand will launch with the 2022 Outback and Forester, dealers were told last week during the Subaru make meeting at the National Automobile Dealers Association's virtual show. The two crossovers accounted for 54 percent of the brand's 2020 U.S. sales.

Patrick Wergin, chairman of the Subaru National Retailer Advisory Board, told Automotive News the Wilderness models will feature a rugged appearance package and better tires for off-road pursuits.

Spy photographers have spotted a similarly equipped Forester and Outback, which also appeared to have increased ground clearance, undergoing road tests in Michigan. Subaru declined to comment.

While the midsize Outback and compact Forester are no off-road slouches already — both vehicles have 8.7 inches of ground clearance, all-wheel drive and available o…

SHANGHAI — At November's Guangzhou auto show, one of the most important shows in China, Ford Motor Co. put its freshened Focus sedan and hatchback at the center of its stage.

Chen Xiaobo, executive vice president of Ford China's National Sales and Service Division, told the media at the show that, with its newly restyled interior and the addition of a wagon version, the Focus would "greatly satisfy" the needs of young Chinese consumers.

But China's dealers and analysts aren't so sure about that.

"Time has changed," said an executive at a Shanghai-based dealer group who asked not to be identified because of his group's close ties with Ford's China unit. "For all these efforts, it would be hard for Ford to restore the past glory for the Focus."

In reality, the Ford Focus has been encountering the same consumer headwinds in China that it did in the U.S. market. In the U.S., Ford has largely abandoned sedans for it produ…

Once a gas station, the Chevrolet dealership in upstate New York was in terrible shape. Grass stuck out from the gravel parking lot, and body shop employees worked in an aluminum Quonset hut with dirt floors.

Jane Fox, who at 29 had just become one of the youngest female General Motors dealer principals in the Northeast, surveyed the scene with excitement. "It wasn't pretty," she recalled.

In 1976, when Fox purchased it for a pittance, the store sold just 100 Chevys a year. By 1981, when she and brother Bill Fox moved the dealership to Auburn, it was selling 2,000 new and used vehicles a year.

That Chevy store was the first of 13 dealerships owned by Jane and Bill, her longtime business partner who was chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association in 2015. On Feb. 1, the siblings' 45-year business partnership drew closer to an end when they sold three of their four remaining dealerships to dealer and investor Jonathan Sobel.

They plan …