by Joseph Szczesny | Mar 17, 2020
ALG, a subsidiary of TrueCar, updated its 2020 new vehicle sales forecast, calling for a major downshift in car sales in what it described as the longer-term economic slowdown as the economic wreckage from the COVID-19 hits home. The forecast calls for a 14.2% decline...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Mar 17, 2020
(This story has been updated to reflect the announcement that Daimler also will close its European plants.) Daimler AG on Tuesday evening in Europe announced it will temporarily close most of its European plants to address both the coronavirus pandemic and the...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Mar 16, 2020
One of the nation’s largest and most well-regarded classic car shows, the 2020 Greenwich Concours d’Elegance, has been canceled, the latest in a growing list of automotive functions impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Originally scheduled to take place during the...
by Michael Strong | Mar 16, 2020
The wheels of justice turn slowly until you add in the coronavirus epidemic, then they grind to a halt as they did when the $2.2 billion court case involving Tesla CEO Elon Musk was put on hold due to the outbreak. A new trial date has not be set. Shareholder groups...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Mar 16, 2020
While the very name, Volkswagen, may bring to mind images of the Beetle, the Golf and the GTI, what’s drying buyers to VW showrooms these days is a very different sort of product. Sport-utes like the Tiguan and newer Atlas model dominate demand. It should be no...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Mar 16, 2020
Toyota’s big plant in Guangzhou reopened today, a significant development in China’s battle to overcome the coronavirus pandemic. By the end of January, as it became clear an epidemic was underway in the province of Hubei, automotive assembly and parts plants quickly...
by Joseph Szczesny | Mar 16, 2020
As auto plants in China closed by COVID-19 struggle to re-open, car plants in the U.S. and Western Europe are beginning to shut in face of the spreading virus, which in less than three months claimed thousands of victims around the world. Volkswagen of America said...
by Joseph Szczesny | Mar 16, 2020
Facing increasing volume of complaints from workers ordered to stay on their jobs in manufacturing plants, the United Auto Workers, General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced they are forming a COVID-19/Coronavirus Task Force to study...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Mar 13, 2020
With the coronavirus outbreak now declared pandemic, the impact on daily life is expected to become increasingly significant — and the auto industry is already feeling the brunt of the outbreak as plants close, workers get quarantined, sales tumble, events are...
by Joseph Szczesny | Mar 13, 2020
General Motors cleared the way for all of its salaried and contract employees to work from home starting March 16, in a bid to shut down the spread of COVID -19, which has disrupted life across the United States. However, the company plans to keep operating the...
by Paul A. Eisenstein | Mar 13, 2020
This could be a very big year for the electric vehicle market – at least if the coronavirus epidemic and Wall Street crash don’t short-circuit overall U.S. new car sales. There is an assortment of all-new battery-electric vehicles heading to showrooms before the end...
by Michael Strong | Mar 13, 2020
Sport-utility vehicles are more popular than ever and within that segment, performance utes are hot sellers. Audi’s jumped into the market in the U.S. with its first-ever performance large SUV, the new RS Q8. The German premium brand’s newest ute “combines the genes...
