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Mazda is officially back to making vehicles in the U.S. Jeff Guyton, CEO of Mazda North American Operations, piloted the first production CX-50 off the line Wednesday at the automaker’s joint-venture plant with Toyota in Huntsville, Ala. “The production of the CX-50 here signifies the importance of the North American market to Mazda and our

Toyota’s largest SUV, the Sequoia, will grow larger and far more refined with greatly improved fuel economy and increased driver-assistance and technology features as part of a sweeping redesign onto the automaker’s new F1 global light-truck platform. The makeover, its first in more than a decade, should allow the Sequoia to better compete against large

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commerce Department said Tuesday a survey of semiconductor chips producers and users shows a shortage will persist, sparked primarily by wafer production capacity. The department said it will “engage industry on node-specific problem solving in the coming weeks. We will also look into claims about unusually high prices in these nodes.”

Ally Financial, one of the nation’s largest auto lenders, said it anticipates at least a 15 percent reduction in used-vehicle prices by the end of 2023. Prices have been increasing, and the path to Ally’s estimated cumulative decline of 15 to 20 percent in the next two years might not follow a straight line, CFO

Former Reynolds and Reynolds Co. CEO Bob Brockman, who is charged with the largest criminal tax evasion case by an individual in the U.S., asked a judge to lift an IRS demand that he pay $1.4 billion in taxes and penalties. The IRS has improperly imposed a so-called jeopardy assessment, which is normally used when

TOKYO — When Honda Motor Co. started leasing the world’s first Level 3 autonomous vehicle in Japan last year, the move heralded a new era of self-driving convenience for car owners. But a recent test drive of Honda’s car on the expressways of Tokyo shows just how far away real self-driving remains. In some ways,

Lamborghini is in its last year of selling only pure combustion engines in models such as Aventador as the sports-car maker switches its lineup to plug-in hybrids. The Volkswagen Group brand will unveil its first production car with a plug next year before electrifying its full offering by 2024. For 2022, Lamborghini has almost sold

Autonomous robots were a major focus this year at CES, from roaming device demonstrations on the exhibit floor to virtual presentations discussing emerging trends in the space. Autonomous-delivery startup Ottonomy used the Las Vegas event to spotlight its Ottobot, the company’s newly named delivery robot capable of navigating “crowded and unpredictable environments” and working indoors

Jim Butler Auto Group, Faulkner Automotive Group, Horne Auto Group and Coughlin Automotive Group each expanded their dealership portfolios with acquisitions in either late in the fourth quarter of 2021 or early in January 2022. Here’s a look at the deals involving domestic-, import- and luxury-brand dealerships. Missouri growth Jim Butler Auto Group expanded its

At a time when the auto industry is hungrier than ever for technological innovations, new patent awards are on the decline. The number of new U.S. patent grants fell 7 percent in 2021. While there was little change in which automotive companies ranked as the top five for receiving patents last year, all but one

DETROIT — Cadillac is launching a performance variant of the Escalade, its top-selling nameplate, for the 2023 model year. The luxury brand teased the Escalade V-Series in a video Thursday and confirmed the new variant on Friday. Cadillac will share vehicle and performance specs when the SUV is formally revealed this spring. The Escalade, redesigned

Start-up Factorial Energy has raised $200 million to help fund further development and commercialization of its advanced solid-state battery for EVs. Automakers Stellantis NV and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz led the round for three-year-old Factorial, based outside Boston in Woburn, Massachusetts. Factorial is one of several U.S. battery start-ups attempting to commercialize solid-state technology, which promises

The hood scoop, a key piece of automotive design for the last 70 or so years, does more than just look cool. It helps performance cars, from Subaru WRXs to Ram TRXs, go faster and run cooler. But in the age of electric vehicles, the popular appendage is headed for the automotive design history book.

DETROIT– General Motors plans to launch power generators for multiple uses, including EV charging, powered by its Hydrotec hydrogen fuel cell technology, the automaker said Wednesday. The power generators are designed to enable fast-charging capability for electric vehicles without permanent charge points, the addition of affordable DC fast charging at gas stations without expanding the

WASHINGTON — Electric vehicles are an “essential tool” in the Biden administration’s plan to clean up the U.S. transportation sector, White House Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy said Wednesday. Transportation is the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. McCarthy, a former EPA chief during the Obama administration, said “there’s no doubt” the future of transportation

Orion Township’s board of trustees on Tuesday approved a 12-year tax break for General Motors to launch a $1.3 billion expansion of its Orion Assembly plant for production of EVs and batteries. If GM decides to move forward with a new capital investment at the 39-year-old assembly plant, the automaker would get a 50 percent

EV charging network and equipment company Blink Charging said on Tuesday it would supply EV chargers at General Motors dealerships in the U.S. and Canada. Blink said it would collaborate with facility services provider ABM Industries to supply its IQ 200 Level 2 chargers to dealerships across North America. The press release didn’t quantify how

A new partnership with Stripe will help Ford expand its capability for e-commerce and dealership transactions such as vehicle reservations, Ford Motor Credit said Monday. The companies signed a five-year arrangement for Stripe to act as a “premier payment service provider” to Ford dealerships in North America and Europe, Ford Credit said. The captive finance

Nikola Corp. former CEO Trevor Milton claims federal prosecutors refused access to company’s vehicles and equipment he says are crucial to his defense against fraud charges. Milton, scheduled to go on trial in April, asked a judge on Friday to allow him to inspect and photograph certain prototypes and other Nikola property and places. He

A partnership between publicly traded conglomerate Graham Holdings Co. and Chris Ourisman of Ourisman Automotive Group has expanded to four dealerships since early 2019, and the executives behind the pairing aim to continue the growth. Last month, Graham and Chris Ourisman bought a Ford dealership in Manassas, Va., marking Graham Ourisman Automotive’s fourth dealership in

DETROIT — General Motors plans to add hundreds of employees to its software-defined vehicle team by the end of this year. CEO Mary Barra called for applications during her CES keynote this month, when she outlined the automakers’ electric vehicle plans, software ambitions and future vehicle concepts. The majority of the new hires would join

Polestar’s plan to go public this year via a merger with the special-purpose acquisition company Gores Guggenheim forced the Volvo Cars subsidiary to do something it had declined to do since it was born in 2017: provide detailed sales and financial targets. Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath said that revealing the electric car maker’s midterm plan

Car sales reps and finance managers often operate in silos, with little motivation to work together to sell finance and insurance products. But at the nine Sacramento, Calif., area dealerships owned by Niello Co., a compensation plan rewards salespeople for products sold by finance managers and also motivates those managers to sell more products, said

A coronavirus outbreak at an Ohio plastics and metal auto supplier, including what authorities said was a work-related COVID-19 death, is prompting fines and citations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA announced Jan. 14 that it was proposing fines of $26,527 against Sanoh America Inc., saying the company did not follow proper health

A year ago, Jannell Ford in Hanover, Mass., promised to charge no more than sticker price for the highly anticipated Bronco SUV. But that was before the industry’s microchip shortage led new-vehicle inventory to dry up. For Ford’s next hot product, the F-150 Lightning electric pickup due out this spring, the dealership is charging a

A divided U.S. Supreme Court blocked the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s push to get more people vaccinated amid a Covid-19 surge, rejecting an Occupational Safety and Health Administration rule that would have required 80 million workers to get shots or periodic tests. The court let a separate rule take effect requiring shots for workers

OTTAWA — Canada intends to sign onto Mexico’s complaint against the U.S. over its interpretation of rules of origin in the automotive industry, Trade Minister Mary Ng said on Thursday. Mexico asked last week for a dispute settlement panel under the terms of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact. It wants to clear up disagreements over how

The Guinness World Records has awarded a team of drivers in a Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo with the greatest altitude change ever achieved by an EV, Porsche said. The 3.1-mile vertical trip started on Sept 28 in an underground mine in Michigan and ended on Sept. 29 at the top of a mountain in Colorado,

Tesla new-vehicle registrations in the U.S. surged in November, bringing the electric automaker closer to potentially dethroning BMW as the luxury sales champ, according to data from Experian. The November numbers bring Tesla’s 11-month registrations to 303,246, Experian said Tuesday. BMW registrations for the same period were 318,182 and the German automaker reported total 2021

DETROIT — General Motors this spring will launch CarBravo, a shopping platform designed to boost used-vehicle sales through GM dealerships, the automaker said Tuesday. “CarBravo will give customers more choice and access to shop significantly expanded inventories of both the dealer and a national central stock of GM used vehicles. Importantly, the program features will