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Marketing chief David Fortin previews the debuts of Vietnam’s VinFast and Fisker’s Ocean, the inaugural zero-emission vehicle awards, and outdoor activities from Jeep, Ford and VW.

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The Montreal International Auto Show will be back in 2022 after the 2021 edition was canceled because of COVID-19, organizers said Thursday.

They also indicated that, based on a survey of previous attendees, consumer interest for the return is strong. Electric vehicles, in particular, have piqued the public’s interest.

The 2022 show is set for Jan. 21-30 at the Palais des congress de Montreal.

Similar to the survey done by the Canadian International AutoShow, the MIAS asked previous attendees about the likelihood of returning for the 2022 event if visitors, exhibitors and employees are required to present a vaccination passport, wear a mask and practice social distancing. Of 6,758 responses, the results indicated that 32 percent would attend while 36 percent said they were very likely to attend and additional 17 percent were likely to visit.

The survey also asked the reasons for not attending the show and of 1,281 responses 46 percent indicated co…

U.S. commercial electric vehicle maker Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc. on Wednesday said a surge in shipping costs will hinder its output in the remainder of the year. It also reported a $17.8 million third-quarter net loss.

The Troy, Mich., company said it was now revenue-generating because it shipped the first units of its Class 1 Urban Delivery van, or UD-1, to customers. The company reported revenue of $136,000 in the quarter ending Sept. 30.

While ELMS ordered enough materials for its initial 2021 production target, a global shipping container shortage has bumped up the cost of transporting components to its manufacturing facility. That forced the company to revise its target from 1,000 to between 300 and 500 vehicles.

"Our spot-rate shipping costs are running as high as $25,000 per container, which is over five times higher than traditional pre-COVID rates," ELMS CEO James Taylor said during a Wednesday earnings call. "These elevated shipping and…

Rivian's initial public offering on Wednesday infused its ledger with nearly $12 billion, boosting the electric truck startup's cash cushion to roughly $16 billion.

After rising 29 percent in its first day of trading on the Nasdaq exchange, its shares closed at $100.73, giving it a market cap $88.2 billion. By comparison, General Motors' was $85.1 billion, Toyota Motor Corp.'s was $289.36 billion and Tesla Inc.'s was $1.07 trillion.

So, founder and CEO RJ Scaringe, can quit worrying about money, right?

Wrong.

Despite the windfall from Wall Street, Rivian is a long, long way from easy street.

Half of that $16 billion has already been allocated. In the first half of this year alone, Rivian recorded a net loss of nearly $1 billion. And profits from vehicle sales will not come quick, the company says.

The cash demands on the company in the next three years as it ramps up production, invests in new models, opens service centers, adds head…

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk unloaded $5 billion of stock in the electric-car maker, shortly after holding a poll on Twitter over whether he should sell 10 percent of his massive stake in the company. The world's richest person so far has disposed of more than 4.5 million shares this week, according to regulatory filings. Those were his first sales in more than five years.

Musk, who frequently stokes controversy on Twitter, created a firestorm over the weekend with a survey asking whether he should sell part of his Tesla stake. While he portrayed his proposal as having to do with debate over billionaires avoiding taxes, the filings released Wednesday show some of the transactions were pre-arranged in mid-September -- weeks before the poll. He also didn't mention in the tweets that he has millions of stock options that must be exercised before next August, when they expire.

The poll resulted in a decisive vote for Musk to sell and sent Tesla shar…

About 17 percent of consumer credit disputes over auto loans result in the loans being closed immediately, with another 4 percent addressed three months after the customer alleged an error, according to new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau research. More than 40 percent of auto loans with a dispute flag were closed within four years, the agency said.

Auto loans were far more likely than other forms of debt to be closed when a customer raises an objection, though the dispute flag will remain, the CFPB found. The other loan types studied were more likely to be resolved with different methods, such as the dispute code's removal, the account's deletion or a lack of further account updates, according to the CFPB.

"Some of the high rate of closed auto loan accounts is due to the relatively shorter term of auto loans, as many of these accounts were paid off according to the normal payment schedule," the agency wrote. "Other closed auto loans go di…

DETROIT — Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged Tim Edmunds, a former UAW official at local 412 in Warren, Mich., with embezzling millions of dollars and spending it on "gambling, guns and cars," nearly two months after an internal union audit discovered the improper spending

Edmunds is the 16th person charged in the ongoing scandal and first since a court-appointed monitor was installed earlier this year to oversee the union as part of a corruption case settlement.

The UAW in September announced that auditors appointed by then-Secretary-Treasurer Ray Curry had discovered $2 million in improper expenditures at Local 412, and had suspended the financial secretary. Prosecutors on Wednesday alleged that Edmunds, who served as financial secretary, "systemically drained" the local's accounts of $2 million by using business credit cards for personal purchases, transferring cash to his personal accounts and cashing Local 412 checks into his personal accounts.

BMO Harris indirect auto lending head Craig Harter has been named Fifth Third Bank's new head of auto lending.

Harter will succeed Peter Kidd, who will retire in the spring after 17 years with Fifth Third.

Harter worked at Fifth Third from 2004 to 2010 in areas including business banking and dealer services.

"I am pleased that Craig is returning to Fifth Third to lead our automotive division," Fifth Third Bank consumer banking head Howard Hammond said in a statement Monday. "His extensive background in banking and auto will be a huge asset for us and I look forward to seeing him continue to grow that area of the business."

Though Fifth Third's retail banking operations span just 11 states, the company is among the nation's largest indirect auto lenders and works with dealerships in more than 40 states.

Harter has a bachelor of science degree in business management and more than 30 years of experience in banking and automotive lending, accor…

Cars.com is entering the auto finance market with the acquisition of CreditIQ, whose technology and digital retailing platform allow customers to receive online loan approvals and buy finance and insurance products from dealerships.

The $30 million deal, which closed Nov. 5 and includes the possibility of another $50 million tied to performance, broadens Chicago-based Cars.com's product lineup beyond vehicle listings and dealership software tools. CEO Alex Vetter told analysts on an earnings call this month that merging CreditIQ's technology with Cars.com's tools will create a faster, more seamless car-buying experience for consumers and deploy dealerships' resources more efficiently.

CFO Sonia Jain told analysts on the call that Cars.com is working to roll out the CreditIQ platform in the first quarter of 2022.

CreditIQ CEO and co-founder Bill Liatsis told Automotive News that the company was considering raising additional funding to grow the business b…

The consumer research firm's Chris Sutton analyzes the 2021 study and pinpoints the shifts in consumer sentiment amid inventory shortages. Plus, where the expectation of white gloves and red carpets fall short.

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Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

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