VW Chief ‘Personally’ Apologized to Obama Over Cheating
By JACK EWING
The automaker said it had set aside about $7.9 billion for legal costs worldwide over its test rigging, less than it faces in the United States alone.
Mark Fields, Ford’s chief executive, left, riding in a Ford F-150 Raptor pickup last week ahead of the Auto China car show in Beijing. The redesigned F-150 contributed to Ford’s record quarter.
Low gasoline prices are helping automakers sell more large, higher-profit vehicles, and Ford’s redesigned F-150 is a big hit.
The 2017 model addresses problems with steering, road noise and a lack of structure in its 2016 counterpart.
Production of a midsize car that once starred in a Chrysler commercial is winding down, and the plant where it was made will soon be making pickups.
The automaker said it had set aside about $7.9 billion for legal costs worldwide over its test rigging, less than it faces in the United States alone.
Policy makers and road safety experts are reaching back to tested strategies: They want to treat distracted driving like drunken driving.
The proposal, discovered as part of the investigations into Volkswagen, provides a direct link to the genesis of the diesel deception.
The automaker and the tech giant formed the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, a group aimed at urging federal approval of autonomous vehicles.
The Japanese carmaker’s disclosure that it had used improper methods since 1991 calls the fuel efficiency of many models and millions of vehicles into question.
The automaker had aimed to replicate a German model of labor relations at the Chattanooga factory, but the emissions scandal has poisoned the waters.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) beat first-quarter profit forecasts on Tuesday, helped by a strong performance in North America, but higher debt pushed its shares lower.
The automaker said it had lost $6.2 billion in 2015, and the German government on Friday ordered a recall of 630,000 diesel vehicles from VW and other automakers.
Much of the credit for G.M.’s earnings has gone to a strong car market in the United States, not the company’s improving balance sheet and new models.
Owners of hundreds of thousands of diesel vehicles in the United States will be eligible to have their vehicles bought back or fixed.
The latest automaker scandal has focused attention on the company’s struggles in the brutally competitive Japanese microcar market.
The overseeing of the class-action suits brought by American car owners is a career highlight for Charles R. Breyer, who is widely described as fair, pragmatic and creative.
Internal documents and emails reveal new details about how economic pressures helped guide the company’s handling of its airbag defect, which is tied to at least 11 deaths and will cost it millions.
This is a small, practical all-wheel-drive S.U.V. that not only performs like a sports car, but like a Porsche sports car.
Media previews began on Wednesday, with the unveiling of many new models. The show opens to the public on Friday and runs through April 3.
Vehicle sales are running at a record pace, which means the car industry is willing to invest in new products and technology.
Under pressure to maintain record sales, the industry is offering ever-increasing discounts, relying more on sales to rental fleets and bloating dealers’ inventories.
As the profits flow in from sport utility vehicles, automakers are aiming for the luxury market, with fancy new models in development or already in showrooms.
The system saves fuel by cutting the engine when the car comes to a stop, but many drivers find it disruptive and disable it.
Ed Welburn, the chief global vehicle designer for General Motors, will retire on July 1 and be replaced by Michael Simcoe, a 33-year company veteran.
Ford Motor tries to shed Rust Belt image as it makes over its headquarter buildings in Dearborn, Mich., into a high-tech campus.
Kia, BMW and Nissan have encouraged dealers to buy cars, raising sales, then offer the virtually new vehicles as used models, company memos show.
Many wealthy Chinese are moving their families and riches to Western cities like Vancouver, where their children show off cars and diamond-encrusted watches.
Automakers are expected to seek changes to mileage targets, which were set when gas prices were higher and fuel economy was more important to drivers.