car industry news

Stellantis first sales gain in two years, aims for momentumStellantis first sales gain in two years, aims for momentum

July 17, 2023| 2:20 pm

Chris Glenn, Stellantis’ vice president of US dealer relations and retail strategies, said the plan is to maintain an “aggressive nature at retail, stay close to our business center, stay close to our dealers, communicate out our plans. “We just launched this month a 60-day retail campaign, which will be carried and supported at Tier 1 and Tier 2,” Glenn told Automotive News. “We’re not taking our foot off the gas on the retail side.” After that 60-day promotion, Glenn said the company will transition to another sales event in the fall and is formulating a plan to close the… [...]

Automakers are getting factories ready to launch new EV modelsAutomakers are getting factories ready to launch new EV models

July 14, 2023| 7:56 am

The number of new electric nameplates that will launch by decade’s end continues to grow. Each encouraging monthly sales and registration report emboldens an automaker somewhere to revise its EV strategy upwards or push ahead with schedules. The industry knows EVs are coming. And manufacturers everywhere have big long-term production plans for them. About 40 EV models of all types are on the market in the United States, but that number could triple over the next two to three years, according to automaker announcements and production forecasters. General Motors alone has said it expects to have [...]

LMP Automotive sells Chevrolet and Buick-GMC car dealershipsLMP Automotive sells Chevrolet and Buick-GMC car dealerships

July 3, 2023| 4:29 am

LMP on June 13 also sold Beckley Buick-GMC Auto Mall in Beckley, W.Va., to Dutch Miller Auto Group, according to Chris Miller, that group’s president. The store was renamed Dutch Miller’s Beckley Auto Mall, Miller said. Beckley is southeast of Charleston. “That is a market that we really do want to be in,” Miller said. “We are a West Virginia-based company. We want to continue to invest inside of West Virginia. Any opportunity that we can find inside of the state, we are very, very interested.” It marks Dutch Miller’s first acquisition since it bought a Buick-GMC store in [...]

Ferrari adds powerful SF90 Stradale derivativesFerrari adds powerful SF90 Stradale derivatives

July 1, 2023| 3:44 am

The most recent addition to the XX program was the FXX-K EVO coupe unveiled in 2017 and produced in several dozen units. Ferrari’s marketing boss, Enrico Galliera, said the SF90XX Stradale coupe and SF90XX Spider are “true high performance racing cars” that are road legal. Ferrari gave the SF90 XX Stradale cars aerodynamic features, mostly from the FXXK-EVO coupe. A rear fixed wing was added – the first to appear on a road-going Ferrari since the F50. This delivers 1,168 pounds of downforce at 250 kph (155 mph). Ferrari said the focus of the SF90 XX Stradale’s development was to… [...]

Car quality is getting worse, JD Power findsCar quality is getting worse, JD Power finds

June 27, 2023| 3:11 am

New-vehicle quality improved at 12 of 33 brands ranked in the study: Dodge, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Porsche, Maserati, Jaguar, Subaru, Jeep, Mitsubishi, Audi, Chrysler and Volvo. “It’s not one thing that’s detrimental in the industry,” said Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking at JD Power. “There’s just a lot of little things going wrong, and it’s adding up to big problems for customers.” The number of problems tracked per 100 vehicles rose 6.5 percent from 2022 to 2023, following an 11 percent rise from 2021 to 2022, Hanley said. Before then, the largest increase in problems in a given… [...]

2024 Polestar 2 to start at $51,3002024 Polestar 2 to start at $51,300

June 19, 2023| 12:06 am

Polestar’s electric fastback, the Polestar 2, delivers more power, range and content for the new model year — along with a higher sticker price. The 2024 models arrive in August. The updated Polestar 2, like its XC40 and C40 siblings from major shareholder Volvo, receives a new-generation permanent magnet electric motor and new silicon carbide inverters to help boost efficiency and performance. It also gets larger, improved lithium ion batteries. For 2024, the single-motor Polestar 2 starts at $51,300, including shipping — a 3 percent premium over the current model. The single-motor variant shifts from front- to rear-wheel [...]

Ford, reversing course, to keep AM radio on all modelsFord, reversing course, to keep AM radio on all models

May 26, 2023| 8:09 pm

Ford Motor Co. will keep AM radio in all 2024 Ford and Lincoln models and restore it on two electric vehicles via a software update, according to CEO Jim Farley. In a tweetFarley said the decision was made “after speaking with [U.S.] policy leaders about the importance of AM broadcast radio as a part of the emergency alert system.” The company removed AM radio from the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning and planned to discontinue it on all products moving forward. Farley said the company would look for other ways to deliver emergency alerts in the future. “Customers can currently… [...]

A growing concern in the Canadian automotive industryA growing concern in the Canadian automotive industry

May 23, 2023| 7:26 pm

According to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, which tracks fraud trends across the country, there were 109 reported cases of vehicle identity fraud in Canada in 2020, resulting in losses of over $1.2 million. 2 This represents a 13% increase from the previous year .2 CARFAX Canada has also seen a similar trend, reporting a 30% increase in VIN cloning investigations since 2020.3 The impact of VIN cloning is significant and negatively affects consumers, insurance companies and the automotive industry. Consumers who unintentionally purchase a vehicle with a cloned VIN can face a variety of problems including vehicle safety concerns, reduced… [...]

Polestar will take over part of the old Saab plant to expand R&DPolestar will take over part of the old Saab plant to expand R&D

April 25, 2023| 2:15 pm

Polestar will take over part of Saab’s former car plant in Sweden to extend its R&D operations in Europe. The EV maker will conduct powertrain development for the Polestar 5, a Tesla Model S rival, and the Polestar 6 roadster at a 15,000-square-meter building in Trollhattan, Automotive News Europe sister publication Automobilwoche reported. Polestar will also test powertrains, electric motors and batteries for the upcoming models at the new R&D center. Polestar will rent the building from the city of Trollhattan, Automobilwoche said. The site was previously used for powertrain development by Saab and then by National Electric Vehicle Sweden… [...]

Ford Oakville plant’s switch to EVs will start in 2024Ford Oakville plant’s switch to EVs will start in 2024

April 16, 2023| 11:49 am

Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday said the previously announced $1.3 billion transformation of its Oakville Assembly Plant for electric vehicle manufacturing will begin in the second quarter of next year and take about six months to complete. During that time some of the 3,000 workers at the Ontario, Canada, the site will be furloughed, although the company expects to retain virtually all of the employees when the plant comes back online at the end of 2024. Ford said the site, which currently builds the gasoline-powered Edge and Lincoln Nautilus crossovers, will be renamed the Oakville Electric Vehicle Complex and include… [...]

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