Shunji Tanaka, a key designer of the iconic Mazda Miata, has died. He was 75. Tanaka led the exterior and interior design of the Mazda MX-5 Miata, a lightweight Japanese roadster inspired by postwar-era British sports cars. The car went on sale in the U.S. in May 1989 with a starting price of $13,800 and
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SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as he visits the construction site of Tesla’s gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2021. Michele Tantussi | Reuters Electric carmaker Tesla is clearing the final hurdles to get its massive German “Gigafactory” up and running in the new year. The Berlin-Brandenburg plant has
Electric carmaker Tesla Inc. will stop allowing video games to be played on its infotainment systems while its cars are moving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday. The safety agency on Wednesday opened a formal investigation into 580,000 Tesla vehicles sold since 2017 over the automaker’s decision to allow games to be played
9:40 AM ET It’s been one of the most remarkable F1 seasons ever. One of the best title battles of all time came down to the final lap of the final race — and not without enormous controversy. Over such a long season, which featured six different drivers and four different teams claiming a race
RgStudio | E+ | Getty Images Just in time for winter travel, gas prices are ticking up again. Nationwide, the average price for a gallon of gas is $3.34, up 2 cents from a week ago, according to GasBuddy.com. However, that’s down from about $3.43 a month ago. Average prices range from about $2.84 in
Two groups on Automotive News‘ top 150 dealership groups list bought stores this month to grow in Kentucky and Colorado, respectively. Here’s a look at the deals involving domestic and luxury brands. Jeff Wyler Automotive Family Inc. on Monday acquired its second Mercedes-Benz store when it bought Mercedes-Benz of Louisville from Peterson Automotive Collection, owned
Vehicle auction and remarketing company XLerate Group said Wednesday it has signed an agreement to acquire America’s Auto Auction, another major auction company. Once combined, Carmel, Ind.-based XLerate and Dallas-based America’s Auto Auction will have 39 auction sites spread across 19 states. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Financial
In this article LAD Dealer inventory levels across the country remain extremely low due to a semiconductor chip shortage that has led to sporadic plant shutdowns and depleted vehicle inventories in 2021. Michael Wayland / CNBC DETROIT – The Christmas wreaths and lights are hung at a General Motors dealership in metro Detroit, but there’s
WASHINGTON — U.S auto safety regulators said Wednesday they have opened a formal safety investigation into 580,000 Tesla Inc. vehicles sold since 2017 over the automaker’s decision to allow games to be played on the front center touchscreen. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said its preliminary evaluation covers various 2017-2022 model year Tesla Model
2:31 AM ET Mick Schumacher, the son of seven-time Formula One world champion Michael, will double up as a Ferrari reserve driver next season while also having a regular race seat at U.S.-owned Haas. Team boss Mattia Binotto told reporters that the 22-year-old German would be available to stand in at 11 of the record
An Ohio BMW dealership has agreed to pay $390,000 in damages and back pay and beef up anti-discrimination practices to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC alleged that Davis Automotive Group’s BMW Cleveland location had fired two employees because of their age. BMW Cleveland also allegedly retracted an
12:16 PM ET Canadian Nicholas Latifi spoke out on Tuesday after receiving death threats and online abuse over a crash at the Dec. 12 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that led to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen winning the Formula One title and Lewis Hamilton missing out. The Williams driver brought out the safety car late in
In this article NKLA Trevor Milton CEO of Nikola Massimo Pinca | Reuters Electric truck maker Nikola has agreed to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $125 million to settle charges that it defrauded investors by misleading them about its products, technical capacity and business prospects. SEC officials said they hoped the penalty would serve
KPMG warned that used-vehicle prices could fall abruptly and raise negative equity issues once new-vehicle supply rebounds. The used-car market has historically been closely correlated with the new car market, KPMG global head of automotive Gary Silbert told Automotive News on Monday. But used-vehicle prices are up 42.4 percent over January 2020 levels, while new-vehicle
In this article RIDE RIVN FFIE NKLA The Rivian R1T on stage as a 2022 Truck of the Year Finalist at the LA Auto Show in Los Angeles, California on November 17, 2021. Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images Shares of electric vehicle companies tumbled Monday following the apparent failure of President Joe
Florida is threatening to suspend Carvana’s dealer license over issues related to title transfers on vehicles it sold. A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles told Automotive News that Carvana has until Jan. 31 to submit title applications for all vehicles sold in 2021 before Dec. 1. If it does
10:57 AM ET Paralympic champion and former racing driver Alex Zanardi has left hospital following injuries sustained in a handbike accident 18 months ago. Former F1 driver and Champ Car champion Zanardi suffered a severe head injury in a collision with a truck during the Obiettivo Tricolore handbike race in June 2020. Since then he
In this article TSLA Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, stands on the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory. In Grünheide near Berlin, September 3, 2020. Patrick Pleul | picture alliance | Getty Images Elon Musk faces a hefty tax bill this year — possibly the biggest in U.S. history. “For those wondering, I will pay
The chaos of changing market trends, new technologies, inventory crises and plain old heated competition had at least one positive outcome this year: It sparked new ideas. Manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, vendors and engineers brought some clever solutions to the marketplace in 2021. Across the auto industry, businesses found better ways to win customers, produce parts
DETROIT — Cruise LLC CEO Dan Ammann had a slate of meetings on Dec. 16 when he got an early afternoon call from General Motors CEO Mary Barra. She told Ammann he was being dismissed from the robotaxi startup that GM controls through a majority stake, people familiar with the events told Bloomberg. What seemed
In this article FDX GM FedEx on Friday received the first of 500 electric delivery trucks from BrightDrop, the newly formed EV unit of General Motors. It’s a moment both companies call a “tipping point” for EVs for package delivery and logistics. “What we’re talking about here is transforming transportation,” FedEx Chief Sustainability Officer Mitch
Open Road Capital, just more than a year after making its first auto dealership investments with Bain Capital Credit as a funding partner, has grown its store platform through three new partnerships. Open Road, an auto-retail investment company which in September 2020 bought a majority stake in four Mississippi dealerships with Bain Capital Credit funding,
In this article RIVN A Rivian R1T electric pickup truck during the company’s IPO outside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021. Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images Shares of Rivian Automotive, an electric vehicle start-up that went public through a blockbuster IPO last month, hit a new low Friday
If auto factory investments were hobbled in 2020 by COVID-19-related fears and global business uncertainties, 2021 could be called the year when automakers made up for lost time. The auto industry came out of its pandemic doldrums, spending money with a vengeance to create new manufacturing capacity and jockeying for position in electric products. The
5:58 AM ET ESPN News Services Al Unser Sr., a four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 and three-time champion in what is now the IndyCar Series, Thursday following a long illness. He was 82. Indianapolis Motor Speedway said early Friday that Unser died at his home in Chama, New Mexico, with his wife, Susan, by
Nio’s et5 electric sedan is set to begin deliveries in Sept. 2022. Nio BEIJING — Chinese electric car company Nio revealed Saturday a new sedan and custom augmented reality (AR) glasses that reduce the need for in-car screens. Augmented reality is a technology for imposing digital images over the real, physical world. For cars, the
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, Riverside Dodge -Chrysler -Jeep-Ram in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, began offering unlimited sick days to its employees. The message to employees was simple: If you’re feeling sick, stay home. Don’t feel like you have to come into work because you’ll miss out on pay, and risk spreading COVID-19 in the
5:59 AM ET Red Bull’s Max Verstappen collected his Formula One world champion’s trophy at a gala awards ceremony on Thursday and looked forward to fighting seven times title-holder Lewis Hamilton again next season. His Mercedes rival, beaten this year on the last lap of the last race, did not attend the event at the
Cruise Automation COO Dan Kan (l to r), Cruise Automation CEO Kyle Vogt and General Motors President Dan Ammann Tuesday, November, 20, 2018 at Cruise Automation offices in San Francisco, California. Source: Noah Berger | General Motors DETROIT – General Motors has been mum about the abrupt departure Thursday of Dan Ammann, the CEO of
Lexus may be behind other luxury brands when it comes to getting full-electric vehicles into its U.S. showrooms, but when the first of at least four new EVs arrives late next year, the brand will rely heavily on its dealer network to catch up with — and perhaps overtake — its competitors. Lexus has been