Trade News

WASHINGTON -- Ford Motor Co. said Friday the U.S. Justice Department and California Air Resources Board have closed a lengthy investigation into the No. 2 U.S. automaker's emissions certification process without taking any action.

Ford said in a securities filing that reviews opened by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Environment and Climate Change Canada remain open.

Ford first disclosed the criminal probe in April 2019. It earlier hired outside law firm Sidley Austin and experts to investigate its vehicle fuel economy and testing procedures after employees raised concerns about analytical modeling that is part of its fuel economy and emissions compliance process.

Ford said Friday the investigations' closure was "consistent with the company’s own investigation and conclusion that we appropriately completed our certification processes."

Ford declined to release findings from its own investigation and said it has not changed any fuel ec…

Daimler and BMW are in talks to sell their jointly owned parking-app business Park Now to European rival EasyPark Group, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

The companies could announce an agreement as soon as the next few weeks, said the people, who asked not to be identified because discussions are private. There’s no certainty the talks will lead to a transaction with Stockholm-based EasyPark, and the carmakers could still opt to revive negotiations with other suitors, the people said.

Representatives for BMW, Daimler and EasyPark declined to comment.

A sale of Park Now would be one more step from the German luxury-carmakers to focus on their core automotive operations. Daimler earlier this week announced plans to split up into the world’s largest makers of luxury cars and commercial vehicles, renaming itself Mercedes-Benz and separately listing its truck unit by year-end.

Park Now allows drivers to use a mobile app to pay for parki…

The Volkswagen ID6 X, an electric vehicle with seating for up to seven passengers and planned for China, has broken cover.

Photos of the ID6 X, based on the ID Roomzz concept from 2019, were posted on the website of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology this week.

Volkswagen Group's joint venture with SAIC received approval from the regulator to produce and sell the large EV in China.

It will be built at a new SAIC-Volkswagen plant in Shanghai with annual capacity of 300,000. When the Roomzz concept was introduced, VW CEO Herbert Diess said the flagship crossover would eventually be introduced in other markets but did not comment on timing.

Juergen Stackmann, VW brand's sales and marketing director, told AutoExpress magazine in 2019 that the production ID Roomz would be sold in the U.S. but was unlikely to be marketed in Europe where buyers prefer a compact car shape and not "extra large."

VW is already producing two sm…

Germany's ZF Friedrichshafen said it will invest $200 million to build another production line at its commercial vehicle transmission plant in Gray Court, S.C.

The new line is expected to begin production in 2023. More than 500 jobs will be created, the company said.

The supplier on Thursday said it plans to expand production of the PowerLine, an eight-speed automatic transmission for medium-duty commercial trucks, heavy pickups and buses.

The plant opened in 2012 and became a hub for ZF's work in large-scale transmission production, including eight- and nine-speed automatic transmissions.

"As a result, we've been expanding our manufacturing footprint since our grand opening," said Ashley Van Horn, a ZF spokeswoman.

Multiple North American customers have signed contracts with ZF for transmissions built at Gray Court. Van Horn said she could not disclose which automakers signed contracts.

Beyond use in trucks and buses, PowerLine is "…

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DETROIT -- Adient, the automotive seating supplier in the midst of a multiyear turnaround plan, swung to a net profit during its first fiscal quarter as higher margins overcame a drop in revenue.

The company on Friday said it posted net income of $150 million during the quarter ending Dec. 31, compared with a net loss of $167 million during the same quarter a year ago. The previous year's results included a one-time $216 million charge for impaired assets. Revenue during the quarter fell 2.2 percent to $3.8 billion.

Margins improved substantially in the Americas from 5.1 percent last year to 7.6 percent in the recent quarter. European margins rose from 3.1 percent to 7.1 percent.

The company said adjusted earnings in the Americas surged 40 percent to $132 million while revenue fell 6.5 percent to $1.7 billion. European earnings more than doubled to $114 million while revenue gained 2.5 percent to $1.6 billion.

The latest report shows the first bla…

TAIPEI -- The United States thanked Taiwan on Friday for help on resolving an auto chip shortage that has snarled production, but there was no discussion on prioritizing the making of these chips, Taiwan Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua said after a high-level meeting.

Car factories around the U.S. and the world are idling assembly lines because of the chip shortages, which in some cases have been exacerbated by the former Trump administration's actions against Chinese chip companies.

Taiwan, home to tech firms such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chip maker, has become front and center of efforts to resolve the shortage.

"The U.S. side thanked us for our help on this," Wang told reporters of the meeting, which she said was attended by senior executives from companies including TSMC and Qualcomm Inc .

But she said the focus of the talks was not on auto chips and the issue of whether to prioritize their producti…

General Motors plans to invest $75 million to ramp up capacity at its Toledo transmission plant to build 10-speed automatic transmissions, the automaker said Thursday.

The 10-speed transmissions are used in GM's full-size trucks, including the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

"Sales of the Silverado and Sierra have been very strong, and we have a need to build inventory," said Dan Flores, a GM spokesman.

Work at the plant will start immediately, GM said. The automaker also invested in the Toledo plant in September, spending $39 million to upgrade production of eight-speed rear-wheel-drive transmissions. The automaker says it has invested more than $3.3 billion in Ohio since 2009.

"Through this investment, we continue to take steps to strengthen our current core business and build on our significant manufacturing presence in Ohio," Phil Kienle, vice president of North America manufacturing and labor relations, …

The National Independent Automobile Dealers Association has named a former senior-level staff member from the U.S. Department of Transportation and a former director of J.D. Power to its leadership team.

The association on Thursday said it hired Brett Scott — who most recently was senior government affairs officer at the Transportation Department under former Secretary Elaine Chao — as vice president of government affairs. NIADA also hired Laurence Dixon, who was senior director of valuation services at J.D. Power, as vice president of industry insights and analysis.

Additionally, the association, which represents the nation's roughly 40,000 licensed used-vehicle dealers, promoted Director of Business Development James Gibson to vice president of member services.

"Jim Gibson's experience in developing member benefits, his ingenuity and his dedication to service will greatly benefit our members," NIADA CEO Robert Voltmann said in a st…

New-vehicle sales surged 32 percent in January from a year earlier, when the coronavirus outbreak emerged and the lunar Chinese New Year holiday resulted in fewer working days, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers estimates.

Some 2.5 million new vehicles were delivered across China last month, according to a preliminary tally by the trade group.

Demand for new light vehicles -- sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses -- jumped 28 percent to nearly 2.1 million.

Deliveries of new commercial vehicles, such as trucks and buses, soared 50 percent to approach 480,000. 

In late January 2020, the virus began spreading from the central city of Wuhan to the rest of the country, eventually shutting down assembly plants and dealership showrooms as the government restricted travel. 

Last year, the weeklong Chinese New Year holiday began Jan. 24. This year, the holiday starts Feb. 11.