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DETROIT — BrightDrop, General Motors’ commercial electric vehicle business, has secured Merchants Fleet as its second customer, promising to build 12,600 EV600 vans for the fleet management company starting in 2023. “Merchants Fleet’s move to add such a large number of BrightDrop EV600s to their portfolio signals their strong commitment to accelerate the electric fleet

DETROIT — Even without the high-performance Blackwing engine that powered the defunct Cadillac CT6, the 2022 CT5 V-Series Blackwing is the most powerful vehicle the luxury brand has ever built, Cadillac says. “Everything new and unique on these vehicles was only included if it served a functional purpose, while simultaneously creating a powerful signature look,”

The Levels of Automation were supposed to be for engineers. But the numeric scale that describes the capabilities of various driver-assistance and autonomous-driving systems — which runs from Level 0 to Level 5 automation — has spread beyond its initial audience. Created by SAE International, it’s now referenced far and wide by industry executives, government

Honda of Downtown Los Angeles was the dealership nobody seemed to want a decade ago. The dilapidated store was in bankruptcy, with its windows boarded up. But last summer, the dealership would deliver a big payday for three business partners who had the patience and vision to bring it back to life. The store had

DETROIT — The UAW is expected to receive an independent monitor within the next 90 days as part of a consent decree with the federal government approved by a judge late Friday. The sweeping deal, announced in December, includes a six-year period of oversight, $1.5 million fine and potential changes to its election process after

With gold chandeliers, stained-glass windows and a marble fireplace, Brown Bros. Cadillac looks nothing like a typical dealership. Gary and Bruce Brown’s mother designed the extravagant, 15,000-square-foot showroom in Louisville, Ky., that surrounds cars with 19th-century oil landscapes by Harvey Joiner and Carl Brenner on walls of floral paper and rustic brick. “I’ve been told

The semiconductor shortage roiling global auto production has hit Nissan Motor Co.’s Canton, Miss., assembly plant, where the company builds pickups, sedans and commercial vans. Frontier and Titan pickup output was idled for two days in late January, according to a factory memo obtained by Automotive News. The pickup line is also scheduled to be

Vehicles can interact with other vehicles, infrastructure and pedestrians through CV2X, or cellular vehicle-to-everything technology. One group of industry leaders is seeking to expand on the idea behind this technology by creating standards to make safer the interactions between cars and other kinds of wheels on the road: bicycles. Michigan-based Tome Software, bicycle company Trek,

General Motors CEO Mary Barra just stomped on the electric-vehicle accelerator pedal. Call it the Biden effect. Six months ago the automaker backed the Trump administration in a legal battle that could have neutered California’s longstanding right to set its own tougher carbon-emission rules. About two weeks after Trump lost, GM withdrew from that fight

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. will idle two shifts at its Chicago Assembly Plant next week due to the ongoing microchip shortage. A company spokeswoman late Thursday confirmed the move. Local UAW officials first warned workers there of the potential layoff on Wednesday. The temporary reduction in shifts will affect Ford’s production of the profitable

Daimler said Thursday that a strong fourth quarter helped it post better-than-expected 2020 group operating profit and that it was optimistic for 2021. Group earnings before interest and taxes for 2020 came to 6.6 billion euros ($8 billion), above consensus for 5.25 billion euros, the automaker said, citing preliminary figures. “Given the development of successful

Ford Motor Co.’s multimobility subsidiary, Spin, and software company Tortoise announced a partnership Wednesday to launch e-scooters with remote operation, improved safety and repositioning technologies. The e-scooter is called the Spin S-200. After a rider takes a trip, a remote operations team can reposition the scooter to move it out of the way of pedestrians

DETROIT — Cadillac dealers will begin preparing their facilities for electric vehicles as early as next month, about a year before the Lyriq hits the market, the brand said in a letter to dealers Wednesday. Cadillac is working with ABM, a provider of electrification solutions, to assess the upgrades and costs necessary for each dealer

LOS ANGELES — Kia is ending sales of two slow-selling sedans, the Cadenza and flagship K900, to make room for a growing stable of crossovers. The 2020 model year will be the last for both sedans in the U.S. Kia sold 1,265 units of the midsize Cadenza last year and just 305 of the K900,

DETROIT — A GMC Hummer-inspired SUV will race on off-road courses around the globe this year as part of GMC’s new multiyear sponsorship with Chip Ganassi Racing. Chip Ganassi Racing’s electric SUV features a grille, graphics and bodywork inspired by the Hummer EV pickup. It will compete in the first Extreme E season, starting with

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Monday vowed to replace the U.S. government’s fleet of roughly 650,000 vehicles with electric models as the new administration shifts its focus toward clean energy. “The federal government also owns an enormous fleet of vehicles, which we’re going to replace with clean electric vehicles made right here in America

DETROIT — Moray Callum, the man in charge of crafting some of Ford Motor Co.’s most memorable vehicles the past two decades, will retire as its vice president of design effective May 1, the company said Monday. Callum, 62, will be replaced by Anthony Lo, who most recently served as vice president, exterior design, for

Billy Walters, megadealer and professional gambler, is a free man thanks to former President Donald Trump. In his final hours in office, Trump commuted the five-year prison sentence Walters was serving for an insider-trading scheme involving Dean Foods Co.. Walters, 74, was among 143 people who received clemency from Trump last week. Walters was serving

TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn was afraid of being fired as CEO of Renault if the world knew how much salary he was really making, according to testimony in the Japanese trial against one of his former deputies, American human resources executive Greg Kelly. A key witness this month turned up the heat on Kelly, who

Executives from PSA Group make up a slight majority of the Stellantis leadership team announced last week, though Fiat Chrysler Automobiles executives are in charge of the company’s finances, marketing and North American business. Mark Stewart remains North American COO under Mike Manley, the former FCA CEO who is now head of the Americas. There

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s government said Friday it has approved a request by 12 automotive companies for additional time to meet new regional content requirements under the North American trade agreement that came into force in July. The economy ministry said in a statement that under the United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement, companies could request a so-called alternative

TOKYO — Toyota is putting a small electric vehicle on the roads of Japan with an innovative design for handling the country’s narrow, winding streets and urban commuting needs. The C+Pod, launched Dec. 25, measures just 8 feet, 2 inches long and 4 feet, 3 inches wide, delivering an ultratight turning radius of 12 feet,

DETROIT — Production at Ford Motor Co.’s Louisville Assembly Plant will be stopped for the second time this month, beginning next week, as a microchip shortage continues to upend the auto industry. The Kentucky plant, which employs roughly 3,900 workers building the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair crossovers, will be down the next two weeks,

Vehicle listings company CarGurus promoted CFO Jason Trevisan to CEO as founder and former CEO Langley Steinert steps back from the top role to focus on product and strategy. Steinert, 57, will stay on at the company as CarGurus’ executive chairman, the Cambridge, Mass., company said Thursday, but will no longer lead its day-to-day operations.

DETROIT — Cadillac will take 500 reservations for the 2022 CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwing editions next month before the performance sedans hit dealerships this summer. Following a virtual reveal Feb. 1, customers can make a $1,000 refundable deposit to reserve one of the 250 CT4-V Blackwings or 250 CT5-V Blackwings, Cadillac said in a statement

Leon Edwards, a former president of the National Automobile Dealers Association who led the group when it agreed to a decade of antitrust oversight by the U.S. Justice Department, died Saturday. He was 89. Edwards, a Chevrolet dealer from Birmingham, Ala., was NADA president in 1995. During his tenure, NADA agreed to the antitrust settlement

Former Volkswagen Group executive Oliver Schmidt, whose 2017 arrest at the Miami airport made global headlines, was released from prison after serving about half his sentence on charges related to the diesel-emissions scandal. A ruling, issued by a court in the German city of Lueneburg, allowed Schmidt to be released on parole, his lawyer Alexander

Aurora has made no secret its first foray into autonomous driving will come aboard big rigs. The self-driving tech company underpinned that strategy in a big way Tuesday, unveiling a partnership with truck manufacturer PACCAR. The two companies plan to collaborate on integrating Aurora’s virtual driver onto Kenworth and Peterbilt trucks. While there’s not yet

Electric vehicle startup Rivian has raised $2.65 billion in a new round of financing. The cash injection comes at a time when the company’s expenditures are increasing in the run-up to the start of production. Not only is Rivian working to deliver its first vehicle, the R1T electric pickup, to customers by early June, but

WILMINGTON, Del. — President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Federal Trade Commission member Rohit Chopra to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Chopra, whose consumer advocacy views align with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, had been considered a top candidate for the job running the agency created after the 2008-09 financial crisis. Separately, former Commodity Futures Trading