Ally Financial's net income rose by more than 20 percent during the third quarter, supported in part by the tax credits it captured from a new emphasis on writing car leases. But Ally's Q3 2024 earnings were hindered by a more than 50 percent decline in its auto finance pretax income. Source: autonews.com … [Read more...]

Rivian is locked in a legal fight with the world’s largest automotive supplier over motors in the R1 pickup truck and SUV as the electric vehicle maker grapples with ongoing production issues.   Source: autonews.com … [Read more...]

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. reported quarterly net income well short of analyst estimates as the global slowdown in electric vehicle sales starts to bite. While net income for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 rose 26 percent to 13.1 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) versus the same period last year, that was a lot lower than the 14.7 billion yuan … [Read more...]

SAN FRANCISCO — With the long-anticipated ID Buzz electric minivan going on sale in the U.S. next month, Volkswagen Group of America CEO Pablo Di Si says there should be ample supply. The assembly plant in Hanover, Germany, that produces the emission-free reinvention of the iconic VW Bus has been expanded and can now make 120,000 to 150,000 of them, Di Si told reporters here. He didn't commit to a … [Read more...]

The safety equipment supplier's third-quarter sales decreased 0.8 percent in an overall market where global light vehicle production was down 4.8 percent. Source: autonews.com … [Read more...]

Lofty goals such as launching fully autonomous cars or an all-electric fleet motivate the auto industry to plan for the future. But while automakers and suppliers unveil pie-in-the-sky ambitions, today's success depends on prioritizing sure bets.Those bets include their most profitable (and increasingly efficient) gasoline vehicles, proven battery chemistries for electric vehicles and the … [Read more...]

When ChatGPT burst on the scene last spring, one of the editors at Automotive News asked it about himself. It described his career, listed several newspapers that had published his work and said he had died six years earlier. (To be clear, he hadn't.) So my first impression of the technology was that it was fast, powerful and dumb — dangerously dumb, for journalistic purposes. And potentially … [Read more...]

Stellantis' dealer council met with new North America COO Antonio Filosa this week after criticizing the company's leadership over stagnant sales and bloated inventory. Source: autonews.com … [Read more...]

The upcoming extended-range Ram 1500 Ramcharger pickup won't look much different from its gasoline-powered counterpart. But under its fenders, the vehicle will use a flexible chassis with many different parts and, of course, a completely different drivetrain, wiring harnesses, cooling packages and more. Now add in the myriad models, trim levels and options and the fact that both the Ramcharger … [Read more...]

The upcoming extended-range Ram 1500 Ramcharger pickup won't look much different from its gasoline-powered counterpart. But under its fenders, the vehicle will use a flexible chassis with many different parts and, of course, a completely different drivetrain, wiring harnesses, cooling packages and more. Now add in the myriad models, trim levels and options and the fact that both the Ramcharger and … [Read more...]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla Inc. vehicles after one of them with Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology fatally struck a pedestrian, the U.S. auto safety regulator said on Friday. The U.S. auto safety regulator's Office of Defects Investigation identified four reports in which a Tesla vehicle experienced a crash after … [Read more...]

Lincoln is celebrating its top-end Black Label trim's 10th anniversary — and the October supermoon — with a new lunar-themed offering. The brand said its "Moonbeam" Black Label theme, available on the 2025 Aviator crossover, was inspired by space travel and "evokes a sense of aspiration, enlightenment, and the transformative power of exploration." It features a new light green color, accented with … [Read more...]

Florida A&M University's School of Journalism & Graphic Communication, in collaboration with The Driving Force, Black Automotive Media Group, and Hyundai Motor America, is renewing its internship program to immerse students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities in automotive media. Founded in the wake of George Floyd's death and the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, this … [Read more...]

Ford Motor Co. for the next month is offering dealers up to $1,500 for each 2024 F-150 Lightning they order from one of the automaker's new regional electric vehicle distribution centers, according to a memo obtained by Automotive News. The incentive program, which runs Oct. 15 to Nov. 15 and is open to all retailers, is meant to "further test the logistics and efficiencies of [Rapid Replenishment … [Read more...]

General Motors yesterday clarified a manager's presentation to suppliers that stated the automaker "will move to 100 percent virtual design, development and validation by 2025." The about-face happened after we published a story from our affiliate Rubber News that reported these plans. The story relied on a recent presentation made in Ohio by Matthew Wieczorek, GM engineering group manager, whose … [Read more...]

New battery-electric models from General Motors along with an assist from Tesla's hit Cybertruck pickup helped boost electric vehicle registrations by 18 percent in August compared with the same month a year earlier, the latest U.S. data shows. Two fresh crossovers from Chevrolet, the Equinox EV and Blazer EV, were among the top-10 EVs for the month, along with the Honda Prologue and the … [Read more...]

I-CAR, which provides automotive collision repair industry education and credentialing among other services, is now a national Registered Apprenticeship hub and received a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to bolster the ranks of collision technicians.The designation and grant include more than $7 million in funding to support and expand the use of Registered Apprenticeship Programs in … [Read more...]

Artificial intelligence innovations are at the root of a widening schism that's dividing self-driving technology developers. AI advances have unlocked fresh technical strategies to determining the best path forward for autonomous vehicles. A number of companies — Tesla prominently among them — are relying on what is known as an end-to-end learning model. But others believe pure end-to-end-models — … [Read more...]

BAIC Group Co. appointed Anthony Lo, Ford Motor Co.’s former global design head, as its chief design officer and vice president of global design.  Lo left Ford Motor Co. in May after a three-year stint as chief design officer at the U.S. automaker.  He is expected to “greatly enhance BAIC's design capability and international influence, helping it make breakthroughs in off-road vehicles, … [Read more...]

Cash-strapped electric luxury sedan maker Lucid said on Oct. 17 a combined public offering and private placement of roughly 637 million shares would likely fetch it $1.67 billion. The stock sale as well as its latest warning of a bigger-than-expected loss for the third quarter sent Lucid shares down as much as 16.5 percent to $2.74, the lowest since July 2. The company expects to report a loss … [Read more...]