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Tesla is no longer No. 1: This is how a Chinese competitor surged past the EV pioneer

Automotive / Automotive News /

Tesla, the 23-year-old company that brought green cars into the mainstream, has been pushed off its perch as the world's top electric vehicle seller.

Chinese EV manufacturer BYD sold hundreds of thousands more cars last year, and it's not just in China.

In most of the countries where the Chinese titan went head-to-head with Tesla — including...Read more

Marc Grasso/Boston Herald/TNS

Auto review: BMW iX solves the EV comfort problem

Automotive / Automotive News /

BMW’s iX model is a a luxury EV market that solves a key problem of the market segment: comfort.

The iX model’s $100K+ base price tag is par for the course in the luxury SUV market. But for that amount of money, consumers demands often surpass the quality that manufacturers deliver.

Most EV drivers mainly use their vehicles for day-trips ...Read more

Henry Payne, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS

Auto review: Slinky Crown Signia is the cure for the common Toyota SUV

Automotive / Automotive News /

OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. — The station wagon is back. And from an unlikely source.

My Toyota Crown Signia is long, sleek and roomy. Remove the badge and you might mistake the profile for the Volvo V90 Cross Country or Audi A6 Allroad, European stalwarts in the midsize wagon business. While wagons are common across the Atlantic pond, we Yanks ...Read more

Robin Buckson/The Detroit News/TNS

Volkswagen deal could help southern unions and UAW's Fain, experts say

Automotive / Automotive News /

Success securing a tentative contract for the United Auto Workers' first unionized foreign-owned plant in the South this week could help labor gain traction in the region and aid embattled union leaders' reelection campaigns, analysts said.

The deal announced late Wednesday night between Volkswagen AG and the automaker's assembly plant in ...Read more

Drew Phillips/Hyundai/TNS

Auto review: A hybrid SUV so good, your neighbors will think you've received a promotion

Automotive / Automotive News /

The 2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid is what happens when a sensible accountant, a sleep-deprived suburban parent, and an environmentalist agree to stop arguing long enough to design a car. It is a large, polite, reassuring automobile that should easily woo buyers, except those who believe cars should be difficult, loud, or French.

From a distance,...Read more

Luke Ramseth/The Detroit News/TNS

'Excuses are over': Stellantis tells dealers sales must grow this year

Automotive / Automotive News /

LAS VEGAS — This is the year that Stellantis NV's U.S. vehicle sales must start growing again, after seven straight annual declines and prior promises that a recovery was just around the corner.

That was the blunt takeaway from a packed closed-door meeting on Wednesday between the automaker's senior executives and much of its 2,400-member ...Read more

Kayman Whaley, The Detroit News/The Detroit News/TNS

GM prepares for economic downturn: 'It's coming,' CFO says

Automotive / Automotive News /

DETROIT — General Motors Co. is strategizing for an inevitable economic downturn by paring down dealer inventory and maintaining a cash safety net, Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said Wednesday.

Jacobson's comments to a panel of auto insiders at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank's Detroit branch provide insight into industry leaders' ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Trapped Tesla driver's 911 call: 'It's on fire. Help please'

Automotive / Automotive News /

Samuel Tremblett pleaded with a 911 operator to be rescued from his burning Tesla Inc. Model Y SUV after a crash in October: “I can’t get out, please help me.”

The transcript of the 20-year-old’s emergency call was included in a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the latest to allege that a driver or passenger died after they were unable to open...Read more

Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News/TNS

How GM is preparing for an economic downturn

Automotive / Automotive News /

General Motors Co. is strategizing for an inevitable economic downturn by paring down dealer inventory and maintaining a cash safety net, Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson said Wednesday.

Jacobson's comments to a panel of auto insiders at the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank's Detroit branch provide insight into industry leaders' expectations ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Ford declares quarterly dividend ahead of annual earnings report

Automotive / Automotive News /

Ford Motor Co.'s board of directors on Monday declared a first-quarter regular dividend of 15 cents per share.

The dividend is payable on March 2 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 13. The Dearborn automaker is scheduled to report 2025 annual and fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 10, though Ford in December said a majority...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California's Teamsters call for Waymo ban, saying driverless cars threaten safety and jobs

Automotive / Automotive News /

The Teamsters of California is calling for the suspension of Waymo's operations in the state amid growing safety and job security concerns.

The union, which has 250,000 members across dozens of industries, called on the California Public Utilities Commission on Monday to indefinitely suspend the driverless car company's license to operate. The ...Read more

John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Waymo-backed bill could make self-driving cars legal in Illinois in three years

Automotive / Automotive News /

Self-driving cars such as Waymos could soon roam the streets of Chicago under new legislation proposed in Springfield.

A bill filed last week would authorize autonomous vehicle pilot programs in a handful of Illinois counties, including Cook, before opening the door to statewide legalization of self-driving cars in three years.

The proposal ...Read more

Clarence Tabb Jr./The Detroit News/TNS

Auto dealers follow Carvana online to make buying a car less stressful

Automotive / Automotive News /

As the National Automobile Dealers Association prepares to meet this week in Las Vegas for its annual convention, dealers say moving online is critical for the industry to compete with digital-only vehicle marketplaces and combat the "sleazy" car salesperson trope.

The popularity of e-commerce has changed even purchases of vehicles worth tens ...Read more

Pivotal/Pivotal/TNS

Dream of owning a flying car? This California company is already selling them

Automotive / Automotive News /

A future with flying cars is no longer science fiction — all you need to order your own is about $200,000 and some hope and patience.

The Palo Alto-based company Pivotal has been developing the technology since 2009 and is nearly ready to bring it to market. The company's founder Marcus Leng was the first to fly in its real-life version of a ...Read more

ANDREW TRAHAN PHOTOGRAPHY LLC/HONDA/TNS

Auto review: 2026 Honda Prelude is a reminder of what once was

Automotive / Automotive News /

For 2026, the Honda Prelude returns for the first time in nearly 25 years, exhumed from the late 20th century, when coupes were coupes, buttons clicked, and the most advanced software in your car was the radio, which mercifully never needed an update.

Naturally, I approached the new 2026 Honda Prelude with suspicion. Because nostalgia is a warm...Read more

Henry Payne/The Detroit News/TNS

Henry Payne: How Cadillac and Acura are using motorsports to sell V-8s and EVs

Automotive / Automotive News /

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — At the Cadillac display here at Daytona International Speedway, racing fans mobbed the collection of battery and gas-powered cars. Rolex 24 attendees told The Detroit News they disagreed with government electric vehicle mandates and said the market should offer a choice of gas, electric, hybrid, etc.

With an assist ...Read more

Marc Grasso/Boston Herald/TNS

Auto review: 2026 Chrysler Pacifica Pinnacle keeps brand afloat

Automotive / Automotive News /

The Chrysler Pacifica Pinnacle PHEV brings all of the minivan magic to Grasso’s Garage this week.

Chrysler has put all of its energy into the Pacifica, a seven-passenger minivan, after the idea of going all electric seems to have been stopped in its tracks by policy changes from the White House.

Powered by a 3.6-liter V-6 plug-in hybrid ...Read more

Henry Payne/The Detroit News/TNS

Auto review: Get the Griswolds a Honda Pilot road-warrior

Automotive / Automotive News /

SAN DIEGO — Honda makes sensational hot hatches for gearheads with the ferocious, corner-carving Civic Type R at the front of the parade

The Honda Pilot is not that car.

The three-row SUV is Honda's band leader for a different hatchback parade: ergonomically brilliant hatchback for families. If the driver-centric Civic Type R is built for ...Read more

Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Stellantis set to delay Illinois plant reopening, UAW official says

Automotive / Automotive News /

A local United Auto Workers union leader said it appears Stellantis NV will delay reopening its Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois, but the automaker isn't confirming any change in plans for the 5 million-square-foot facility that closed in 2023.

Matt Frantzen, president of UAW Local 1268, which represents members in Belvidere, said the ...Read more

Robin Buckson/The Detroit News/TNS

GM hourly workers to get lower profit-sharing payouts than in 2024

Automotive / Automotive News /

More than 47,000 hourly workers at General Motors Co. will get profit-sharing payments of $10,500 for 2025 as the automaker posted full-year earnings of $2.7 billion despite sliding to a $3.3 billion fourth-quarter loss, according to financial data released Tuesday.

For every $1 billion GM makes in North America, the automaker's hourly U.S. ...Read more