Tag: us automotive industry news

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

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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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EV startups are burning through cash. Can they attract more investment?

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In September 2020, Hindenburg Research released its report on Nikola, saying it was “an intricate fraud.” The company acknowledged a truck appearing to cruise down a desert road under its own power in a video was not. The SEC launched an inquiry. Ultimately, Trevor Milton, Nikola’s founder, was convicted of fraud. Nikola settled with the SEC for $125 million. In 2021, J Capital Research published a report calling Faraday Future “nothing but a bucket to collect money from US investors and pour it into the black hole of debt created by its founder.” A company spokesperson said “the substantive allegations…
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Ford job cuts in Europe: Where the ax will fall

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A spokesperson at the automaker’s headquarters in Michigan said on Monday that discussions with the German works councils were continuing and that the company needs to be “more competitive” as it transitions to EVs. He would not comment on specific job plans. Workers were told to expect concrete numbers of job losses from the automaker in mid-February, according to Cologne’s daily paper, the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. Industrial action threats Ford’s plans triggered a union threat of Europewide disruption. “If negotiations between the works council and management in coming weeks do not ensure the future of workers, we will join the process.…
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McLaren’s electric SUV must wait for better battery tech

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SUVs have given ultraluxury companies a solid revenue boost. For example, in the first quarter, the Bentayga SUV accounted for 42 percent of Bentley sales, while the Lamborghini Urus accounted for over half the brand’s sales in the same period. McLaren Automotive Group’s loss increased to 335 million pounds ($433 million) in 2022, up from a 136 million pound loss a year earlier as the company struggled to roll out its core Artura V-6 plug-in hybrid model amid supply chain constraints. The Artura is still facing delays in the US, McLaren’s largest global market. McLaren sold 2,188 cars in 2022,…
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Investing in Quality Auto Glass Restores Your Vehicle’s Value

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Just like dents and dings happen on the doors, hood, and body of your vehicle, mishaps also affect the auto glass. Damaged auto glass detracts from the vehicle’s aesthetic appeal, and it also impacts safety while driving. If you plan to sell your vehicle, investing in quality auto glass restores its value in several key ways. What Dealers Consider When Valuing Your Vehicle No matter whether you engage in a private sale or you plan to sell your vehicle to a used car dealer, several factors go into its value. According to Consumer Reports, fixing auto glass defects helps restore…
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EV, battery plants flock to the South without consumer incentives

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South Carolina, which has received $10 billion in EV investment from Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and others, and Kentucky, which has received $10 billion in EV investments from Ford, SK On and AESC, fell below the level required to be included in the ranking. South Carolina earned 14 of the 100 points available. Kentucky earned 5.5. California, at the top of the list, earned 88. “I definitely think that the southern states, or the states that are receiving a lot of this new investment, are missing out,” Huether said. “It would be great if the drivers in those states could actually…
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Nio joins Tesla in cutting prices and ends free battery swapping

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Nio has been offering the battery swapping service for free at least four times per month to existing owners. It is among only a handful of EV makers betting on battery swapping as a way to power electric cars. Rival Tesla dismissed battery swapping as “riddled with problems and not suitable for widescale use.” Nio said in February it would accelerate the expansion of its battery swapping network with a plan to build 1,000 swapping stations in China this year to bring the total number of such sites to 2,300 by year-end. The money-losing company’s investments in battery swapping stations,…
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2024 Ford Ranger Raptor to boost ICE profits at little extra cost

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“When you can get scale and engineering efficiencies through a lot of re-use of parts, you can really do a lot of things both from a business perspective and also from a customer perspective, making sure we’re bringing them new and exciting products ,” John Emmert, Ford’s general manager of North America trucks, told Automotive News. “A lot of our enthusiast products create a halo for the rest of the brand.” The Raptor line started as a skunkworks project on the 2010 F-150 that was well received by customers looking for off-road performance. Such buyers also exist in the midsize…
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