Industry

LOS ANGELES — Fans of the beloved rotary engine, rejoice. While it won’t be slotted in a nifty sports car, Mazda plans to bring its first electric vehicle, the MX-30 crossover, to the U.S. with a rotary engine as a range-extending option. Prior to Mazda’s confirmation of the plans this month, the MX-30 was expected

Bigger ship, same anchor. While plenty of questions linger about how Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s PSA Group will intertwine as they merge into Stellantis this week, one thing is clear: Jeep will be a top priority, whatever its parent company is called. The adventure brand will remain a force in the U.S. and make

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From scooters to air taxis, a tectonic shift in how people and goods move around is underway. As mobility changes, so do work force needs. The Michigan Mobility Institute, founded in 2018, is attempting to prepare workers for the jobs of the not-too-distant future, bringing together educators, startups and global companies to ensure talent needs

In 2019 the High Court ruled Bentley Motors had infringed the trademark of Manchester-based Bentley Clothing.

For Mike Stanton, leading the nation’s largest franchised dealer association is a “dream opportunity.” As the Washington, D.C., native settles into the role of CEO of the National Automobile Dealers Association this month, the opportunity comes with an unprecedented challenge for a new leader: steering the organization and its 16,000-plus members through the coronavirus pandemic.

Cox Automotive started 2021 with two relatively big acquisitions cut from very different cloths. One of the purchases, imaging technology company Fyusion, has obvious and immediate implications for Cox’s Manheim auction unit. The other, Dickinson Fleet Services, which does mobile servicing for medium- and heavy-duty trucks, is part of Cox’s broader strategy to capitalize on

The firm, which opened its first assembly plant in Brazil in 1920, later expanding to full-blown manufacturing, will retain some presence in the country, including a regional headquarters in São Paulo.

Trade show organizers are swapping face-to-face interactions with computer screens as more high-profile events shift to the Internet because of restrictions on large gatherings intended to slow the spread of COVID-19. As planners of shows such as CES pivot away from handshakes and event swag during the pandemic, many are tasked with trying to re-create

Nielsen Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram is traversing largely uncharted digital terrain in an effort to boost website traffic and grow sales. The East Hanover, N.J., dealership has found some white space to build its brand and push new models on Pinterest, a platform on which users search for photos and videos and “pin” them on virtual boards displaying

Nissan’s strategy of pulling back from rental fleet sales is being put to the test as retail sales decline among its dealers, along with much of the rest of the U.S. industry. Faced with tumbling sales, a diminished brand image and frustrated dealers, Nissan is on a course to pursue profit margin over market share.

The coronavirus pandemic resulted in a brutal second quarter for U.S. dealerships as sales tanked and deliveries of new inventory came to a halt. Sales rebounded last summer and fall, but Texas dealer Fernando Varela isn’t sure stores are in the clear just yet. Varela, chairman of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, says

The preferred ride of James Bond’s superior appears poised to take on a new mission. Gerry McGovern wants to modernize the design of Jaguar cars and make the sports-car brand “wonderful again.” After leading Land Rover design since 2006, McGovern has been promoted to Jaguar Land Rover’s chief creative officer, overseeing Jaguar design boss Julian

Between the last Detroit auto show, nearly two years ago, and the next one, scheduled for September 2021, the city’s convention center will have changed names twice. Cobo Hall, as it was known for its first 60 years, became the TCF Center last year, after TCF Bank bought the naming rights. Many in Detroit were

It is the second time production has been affected in two months. Work was also halted in December because of congestion at ports caused by stockpiling.

“If we see this continued level of uptake in electric vehicles, then we anticipate that sales of new EVs and plug-in hybrids will overtake diesel cars in 2021,” said Ian Plummer, commercial director of motoring website Auto Trader. “Then, pure EVs will overtake those of their internal combustion engine counterparts in 2026.”

Before last spring, Sellers Buick-GMC performed pickup and drop-off services only when requested by a customer — and it didn’t happen often. Employees would drive together in a dealership vehicle, retrieve a car for service and drive back separately to the dealership in Farmington Hills, Mich. Vehicle sales finalized in customer driveways weren’t very common,

In the last few weeks, we’ve seen a steady stream of driverless vehicle deployments, electric vehicle announcements and new-mobility startups revealing plans to go public. This shows that even with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the push into new forms of mobility has continued, and in some respects it’s accelerating. So we’re accelerating

Vauxhall union seeks guarantees over car merger

Hindsight is 20/20, the old saying goes. At this point, I’m just glad to put 2020 in the past. It was an unusually grim trip around the sun. In recent years, it’s been frustrating to see persistently high numbers of traffic deaths in the U.S. — then a new virus comes along and kills about

LOS ANGELES — Kia Motors America has big plans for the coming new year, including five new or significantly redesigned vehicles as part of a yearslong product blitz. It also has a new COO and advertising lead to get those vehicles onto Americans’ driveways. In mid-December, the Korean automaker began preparations for the next phase

CarMax’s long-stated goal has been to give customers the chance to transact when, where and how they want to — whether in the physical or digital realms or in both — a concept known as omnichannel retailing. The nation’s largest used-vehicle retailer has now transformed every aspect of its business to fulfill this goal, and

A month into 2020, Ford Motor Co. teased the new Mustang Mach-E with a video of exuberant millennials devouring chicken wings and cocktail shrimp directly out of its front trunk, in the space where an engine otherwise would have been. At the time, who would have guessed that the most unrealistic part of the scenario

Los Angeles-based engineer Jason DeBolt’s first investment in Tesla was 2,500 shares which cost him $19,000. “I first started investing in Tesla in 2013 after purchasing a Tesla Model S and going on a factory tour,” he said. Since then, he has been buying more shares, and the 15,000 he now owns are worth around

When the history of the COVID-19 pandemic is written, there should be a prominent place for the auto industry heroes who — even as their own companies weathered shutdowns and slowdowns — stepped up, pitched in, mobilized, fed, educated and comforted. Beginning in the earliest days of the crisis, the industry united to battle this

In a bet that digital retailing will continue to accelerate in a post-pandemic world, Nissan will roll out a nationwide online shopping platform by spring. The service, [email protected], will enable consumers to shop for a vehicle, schedule test drives, complete the paperwork for a purchase — including credit approval and finance and insurance options —

The final amicable settlement announced last week between the U.S. Department of Justice and the UAW over a yearslong corruption probe is what justice is supposed to look like. Thanks to that settlement, UAW members will soon have the power to ensure that their union remains clean and accountable. Both the union and U.S. Attorney

Zoox zagged where competitors zigged. From the start, the self-driving startup pursued the creation of its own purpose-built autonomous vehicle for use in ride-hailing fleets rather than a cheaper and more direct path of retrofitting a conventional vehicle. If the six-year journey required to develop its own vehicle initially puzzled some, the merits of such

Gestamp is expanding its operations in Chattanooga to increase its capacity for upcoming electric vehicle production. The Spanish metal parts supplier pledged $94.7 million last month to boost capacity for EV components at two plants in Hamilton County, Tenn., largely to support production in Chattanooga of the Volkswagen ID4 electric SUV and its modular electric

In June, Bob Brockman emailed employees at Reynolds and Reynolds Co. about management changes at the Dayton, Ohio, dealership management system giant. Brockman, then its chairman and CEO, wrote that he had recently turned 79 and that it was time to plan for the company’s future, according to the memo, which was included in a