Trade News

Ford Motor Co. dealers in India face potential legal action from customers after the U.S. auto giant decided to shut its factories in the country. Dealers will likely face “legal complications” given that Indian consumer law makes them liable after a manufacturer exits, Vinkesh Gulati, president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. 

“We expect Ford to give some compensation to dealers and plan something in future so that dealers aren’t in a legal strangle against customers in consumer court cases for their service responsibility,” Gulati said. 

Dealers invested about 20 billion rupees ($272 million) building Ford dealerships in India, which employ about 40,000 people, he said.  

Separately, Gulati said the auto industry is losing 20 percent to 30 percent of potential sales each month because the global semiconductor shortage has led to long waiting periods for cars. …

BERLIN -- Shares in German auto parts manufacturer Vitesco Technologies rose 12 percent in their market debut on Thursday, which marked the company's long-awaited spinoff from former parent Continental.

Vitesco shares started trading at 59.80 euros per share and rose to as much as at 66.88 euros, giving the group a market valuation of 2.68 billion euros ($3.2 billion). Shares in Continental were down 12.6 percent.

Vitesco, which produces powertrain components for internal combustion engines, hybrids and electric cars, issued 40 million shares on Thursday morning, with Continental's shareholders receiving one Vitesco share for every five Continental shares they owned.

Continental, among the world's largest auto suppliers, delayed the spinoff of Vitesco by two years due to unfavorable market conditions worsened by the coronavirus pandemic, the company said at the time.

"We were confronted by developments that no-one had foreseen," Vitesco CEO Andr…

DETROIT — General Motors' defense arm said it has won a $36.4 million contract to build 10 heavy-duty armored Suburban SUVs for the U.S. Department of State.

GM Defense said Wednesday it plans to deliver the purpose-built Suburbans over the next two years as part of a development contract for the department's Diplomatic Security Service.

In 2023, the GM subsidiary expects to commit to another contract that includes annual production of 200 heavy-duty Suburbans for nine years. GM Defense did not disclose the funding amount for the production contract.

The heavy-duty Suburban is being developed for a unique protection mission, GM Defense said, which requires armoring and other performance enhancements. The 10 initial SUVs, plus two test vehicles, will be built at GM's proving ground in Milford, Mich.

The Suburban also will feature a new body-on-frame chassis and suspension designed to support government vehicle performance requirements with a highe…

General Motors urged some owners of Chevrolet Bolt electric cars to park and store the vehicles at least 50 feet away from other cars to reduce the risk that a spontaneous fire could spread.

The Detroit automaker has recalled all of the roughly 142,000 Bolts sold since 2016 because the battery can catch on fire. GM has taken a $1.8 billion charge so far for the cost of the recall and has been buying cars back from some disgruntled owners. The company expects to recoup much of the cost from battery supplier LG Corp.

The new advice is likely to rankle owners who are already limiting their use of the Bolt to avoid overheating the battery and risking a fire. The parking guidance -- recommending a distance of 50 feet from other parked cars -- is especially difficult for owners in urban areas. GM has confirmed 10 fires.

The Bolt normally can go 259 miles on a charge, but that has been limited by GM’s guidance to avoid a fire. The automaker told Bolt owners t…

The IRS filed tax liens of more than $1.4 billion against former Reynolds and Reynolds Co. CEO Bob Brockman in two Colorado counties, both individually and involving properties the government says are affiliated with him, according to a newspaper report.

The Aspen Times reported the liens this week. They cover 12 years — 2004 through 2007, 2010 and 2012 through 2018 — and include unpaid balances as high as $302.2 million in 2004, according to the report. Additional tax liens list separate entities as taxpayers, each of which the IRS wrote in the liens is considered an "alter-ego" of Brockman, according to the newspaper.

Brockman, 80, has been charged with 39 federal counts, including tax evasion, wire fraud, money laundering and evidence-tampering in what federal prosecutors say was a scheme lasting two decades to evade taxes on $2 billion in income. Brockman has pleaded not guilty. A federal judge this week agreed to delay a competency hearing until November t…

BEIJING -- Xpeng Heitech, a flying car startup backed by electric vehicle maker Xpeng Inc., said on Wednesday that it would deliver electric flying cars to customers in 2024.

The startup, founded in 2013 and funded by Xpeng and Xpeng's CEO He Xiaopeng, now employs 400 people and will expand its work force to 700 by the end of this year, company founder Zhao Deli told the World New Energy Vehicle Congress.

Xpeng Heitech's model will be able to drive on roads, Zhao said. The electric flying car will be able to travel over 600 kilometers (370 miles) on the ground on a single charge, but Zhao did not say how far it can fly on one charge.

Other automakers that are developing flying cars in China include Geely's Terrafugia, which is building a factory in the central city of Wuhan. Volkswagen AG is also studying the industry in China.

Regulators in China, however, have yet to roll out detailed rules on flying vehicles.

Rivian, the Amazon.com Inc.-backed electric vehicle maker that registered last month for a stock market debut, is aiming to raise between $5 billion and $8 billion with the listing, making it one of the largest U.S. initial public offerings of recent years, according to people familiar with the matter.

Rivian, which counts Ford Motor Co. and T. Rowe Price among its investors, registered the IPO confidentially with U.S. regulators last month. It is seeking a valuation of about $80 billion in the listing, which is expected to land in late October or November, the sources said.

Rivian declined to comment.

If Rivian raises $8 billion in the IPO, that would rank as the fourth biggest of the past decade in the United States. Only three other companies have raised more than $8 billion in IPOs since 2011, according to Dealogic: Alibaba, which raised a world-record $25 billion in 2014; Facebook, which raised $16 billion in 2012; and Uber, which raised $8.1 billi…

Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric vehicle maker backed by Amazon.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co., says it has received full regulatory certifications and can start delivering its debut electric vehicle to U.S. customers.

“Rivian vehicles are fully certified by NHTSA, EPA and CARB, and are ready for sale in all 50 states,” a Rivian spokesperson wrote in an email.

Rivian, based in Irvine, Calif., is seen as a front-runner in the larger pool of startups seeking to catch up with Tesla Inc., the market incumbent.

Rivian has raised more than $10 billion from investors including Amazon, Ford, T Rowe Price and Fidelity. Last month, Bloomberg reported Rivian had filed confidentially for an initial public offering and was seeking a valuation of around $80 billion.

CEO RJ Scaringe tweeted on Tuesday that the company had built its first production unit destined for a customer, a battery-electric pickup called the R1T. The company is aiming to deliver 100 uni…

Apple supplier Foxconn's electric vehicle project with Byton has been put on hold due to the Chinese startup's worsening financial situation, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources with knowledge of the matter.

"The project is not officially terminated yet, but it is very challenging to proceed at this moment," one of the sources told Nikkei Asia.

Foxconn said in January that the Apple assembler and the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone had agreed to start building electric SUVs in 2022 for Byton.

A few Foxconn employees are still stationed at Byton's factory, another source said, but "they are wrapping things up and preparing for the end when it becomes necessary."

Some higher-level talent involved in the project has even left Foxconn, the report added.

Foxconn's plans to build factories in the U.S. and Thailand to assemble entire vehicles in 2023 are intact, according to Nikkei.

Fo…

Daimler's Mercedes-Benz division expects sales to stabilize in the fourth quarter and still aims to generate double-digit returns this year despite disruptions from the global semiconductor shortage.

While chip supply bottlenecks have been exacerbated by recent factory shutdowns in Malaysia, underlying demand for Mercedes luxury cars remains very strong in China, Europe and North America, Daimler CFO Harald Wilhelm said in an interview.

"We currently anticipate a more normal sales volume in the fourth quarter, probably on the level of the first or second quarter, but still far below what we've previously planned for," Wilhelm said.

The unit is still targeting an operating profit margin of between 10 percent and 12 percent for 2021.

CEO Ola Kallenius cautioned this month that the shortage is bound to trigger a significant sales decline in the current quarter and warned supply issues won't entirely disappear next year.

While the crunch has …