Trade News

Customers' increasing preference for crossovers and SUVs means they're making higher monthly payments and borrowing a few thousand dollars more to buy their vehicles, Experian said this month.

Melinda Zabritski, Experian's senior director of automotive financial solutions, compared consumer behavior between the second quarters of 2016 and 2021 in research released this month.

In the second quarter of 2016, 41.44 percent of new vehicles financed were cars, she said.

"They did make up the majority of financing," Zabritski said in a webinar accompanying the analytics firm's second-quarter automotive lending report released Aug. 19.

The crossover, SUV and "wagon" segment of the fleet ranked second in 2016 at 40.83 percent, according to Experian. Experian defines wagons as vehicles such as the Subaru Outback, Volvo V60 Cross Country and Audi A4 Allroad.

Today, 57.54 percent of light vehicles financed fall into th…

Our August 2020 discussion with Alexa Auto's Arianne Walker focused on Amazon's efforts to expand the capabilities of its in-vehicle voice assistant.

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U.S. officials have approved license applications worth hundreds of millions of dollars for China's blacklisted telecom company Huawei to buy chips for its growing auto component business, two people familiar with the matter said.

Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker, has been hobbled by trade restrictions  imposed by the Trump administration on the sale of chips and other components used in its network gear and smartphones businesses. The Biden administration has been reinforcing the hard line on exports to Huawei, denying licenses to sell chips to Huawei for use in or with 5g devices.

But in recent weeks and months, people familiar with the application process told Reuters the U.S. has granted licenses authorizing suppliers to sell chips to Huawei for such vehicle components as video screens and sensors. The approvals come as Huawei pivots its business toward items that are less susceptible to U.S. trade bans.

Not everyo…

WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to advance key parts of President Joe Biden's agenda, after moderates and progressives reached a compromise allowing them to move forward on the multitrillion-dollar plans.

In a party-line 220-212 vote, it approved a $3.5 trillion budget framework to advance progressives' ambitious plans to expand child care and other social programs, and agreed to vote by Sept. 27 on a$1 trillion Senate-passed infrastructure bill that is a top priority for moderate Democrats.

Portions of the Senate’s infrastructure bill have direct ramifications for the automotive industry. It sets deadlines for the U.S. Department of Transportation to issue rules on automatic shutoff for keyless ignition systems, updated headlamp standards and a requirement for new vehicles to be equipped with drunken and impaired driving prevention technology.

The Senate bill also calls for a rule that sets minimum…

Mazda's first battery-electric production vehicle for North America, the MX-30 crossover, will arrive at California dealerships this fall starting at $34,645, including shipping.

The MX-30's 100-mile range between charges could be a tough sell against vehicles that are priced similarly and can go at least twice as far on a charge, such as the Chevrolet Bolt EUV, which starts at $33,995 and has a 250-mile range.

To help offset the limited driving range, Mazda will put MX-30 owners in a loaner vehicle whenever they need to drive long distances. Mazda says the offer is good for up to 10 days per year.

Mazda plans to eventually offer the vehicle outside of California, but it's unclear when that will happen.

The MX-30 is equipped with Mazda's e-Skyactiv EV technology that features a 35.5-kilowatt-hour lithium ion battery pack mounted under the floor and a front-wheel-drive electric motor rated at 143 hp.

BMW's Mini brand has found success with t…

Google affiliate Waymo will offer rides in its autonomous vehicles to select passengers in San Francisco, marking its second launch of a taxi service and a hint of the company’s commercial ambitions.

Waymo began ferrying passengers last fall in suburban Phoenix in fully driverless cars -- a landmark achievement for a technology that’s long been hyped in Silicon Valley and Detroit. The company said it has provided “tens of thousands” of rides there.

Unlike in Arizona, however, Waymo riders in San Francisco will have a safety driver behind the wheel, according to a company spokeswoman. San Francisco’s hilly, dense streets are notoriously difficult for autonomous cars. Waymo has been running its vehicles around the city since 2019, without passengers, to map and learn routes and traffic situations.

Long considered the technical leader in making self-driving cars, Waymo recently lost a number of executives. Some former staff complained about overly cautious …

Jeep, with an eye on the upper echelons of the luxury SUV market, has revived a storied nameplate for two all-new, full-size utes: the Wagoneer and the more opulent Grand Wagoneer.

They are the same vehicle, differentiated by powertrain, equipment and trim details, and drawn from the newest body-on-frame platform from Stellantis that underpins the latest Ram 1500. The two SUVs are equipped with an independent rear suspension. They each measure slightly longer than a Chevrolet Tahoe. Rear-wheel drive is standard and three different four-wheel-drive systems with varying degrees of capability are available.

The powertrain lineup is simple: The Wagoneer features a 392-hp, 5.7-liter V-8 engine and eight-speed automatic transmission with rear-wheel drive. The Grand Wagoneer packs a 471-hp, 6.4-liter V-8 engine bolted to an eight-speed automatic transmission with four-wheel drive. We've scoured the Web for the earliest reviews from the automotive pres…

Majority shareholder Santander Holdings will take the prominent subprime auto lender Santander Consumer USA private in a $2.5 billion deal, both companies announced Tuesday.

Santander Holdings will pay $41.50 per share in cash under a deal unanimously approved by its board of directors. Shareholders will receive about 14 percent premium on the stock price July 1. Santander Holdings announced its initial nonbinding proposal to buy up the rest of Santander Consumer's stock on July 2.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Santander Holdings had originally offered $39 per share on July 2. At that time, it already owned about 80 percent of Santander Consumer's stock. Based on the more than 306 million shares outstanding at the end of July, acquiring the remaining 20 percent of shares would cost Santander Holdings about $2.54 billion.

"We believe that our proposal reflects an attractive value to SC's public shareholders," Santander Holdin…