Tag: automotive news articles

Audi, China’s SAIC agreed to EV tech tie-up

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Audi and SAIC Motor Corp. have agreed to partner on electric-vehicle projects as the German premium brand seeks to catch up with rivals in the key EV market. Audi said on Thursday that it reached an agreement with state-owned SAIC in which the two companies will accelerate the electrification of their portfolio as China’s auto market rapidly shifts to EVs. Audi is under pressure to improve sales, especially in China and is reported to be seeking to use a platform owned by IM Motors, SAIC’s premium EV brands. Zu Sijie, SAIC’s chief engineer, told reporters on Thursday the automaker is…
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France beats Germany, Netherlands to host the ProLogium battery plant

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Macron, who personally met with ProLogium CEO Vincent Yang at the start of the vetting process, was due on Friday to officially announce in Dunkirk the 5.2-billion-euro ($5.7 billion) investment. Gilles Normand, ProLogium executive vice-president, said that after Macron, a former investment banker, pitched Yang more than a year ago Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire followed up and helped make the company’s case with the European Commission for EU financial incentives. “There was then the realization that there might be some interesting possibilities, which was maybe a little bit different from the clichés about France,” Normand told a small group…
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What dealerships service managers are reading

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When I was first starting at Automotive News a few years back and trying to learn the service and parts business, Lee Harkins, CEO of dealership training company M5 Management Services, let me be a fly on the wall at one of his performance group meetings. I must not have made too big of a nuisance of myself because I’ve been invited back to every meeting since, including one a couple weeks ago in Orlando. The discussions there were the same: What are you struggling with? Where are you having success? What’s one best practice you want to share with…
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Why Arizona Heat Makes Windshield Cracks Expand

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Many of us have been there. You get a small chip or crack in your windshield and leave it alone, figuring it won’t get any bigger. Unfortunately, this isn’t often the case. In many situations, this crack or chip will gradually grow larger, causing you to need a full windshield replacement in the future, rather than requiring a small repair now. This can leave you wondering exactly why the heat of the Arizona summer causes this result. Read on to learn the answer. Why the Spread? It may seem unusual for a cracked windshield to spread. After all, most people…
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Reynolds and Reynolds acquires Canada’s DealerCorp Solutions

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Retail technology company Reynolds and Reynolds has acquired DealerCorp Solutions of Markham, Ont., after a successful test run as a software partner. The deal was announced April 3. Financial terms were not disclosed. DealerCorp Solutions is a software company with a focus on developing cloud applications for the auto industry in Canada. The new deal builds on a partnership that began in August 2021, when DealerCorp allowed Reynolds to become a licensed reseller of DealerCorp’s product, deskit The program is a digital retailing tool allowing dealers to present sales and F&I options on any screen, including wall-mounted screens, kiosks, tablets…
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Ford sales rise 10% in the first quarter as inventory improves

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Ford Motor Co.’s US light-vehicle sales rose 9.9 percent in the first quarter, driven by increasing supplies and strong demand for new products. Sales by the Ford brand jumped 10 percent, making it the bestselling US brand in January through March. Lincoln sales fell 1.1 percent on fewer deliveries of the Corsair compact crossover. In March alone, the company’s sales rose 7.5 percent, with an 8.2 percent gain for the Ford brand and a 6.9 percent decline for Lincoln, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center. Ford’s electric vehicle sales in the first quarter rose 41 percent from…
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