Light Trucks Drive Toyota, Honda, Hyundai to Gains
Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Hyundai, Subaru, and Kia posted higher U.S. sales in November, a sign that the industry is winding up the year with renewed momentum after an October lull, reports Automotive News. Sales rose 9.2 percent at Toyota Motor, for its second-biggest gain but only fourth increase of the year. Honda Motor deliveries spiked 11 percent, its second double-digit gain in a healthy year. Hyundai tallied its 15th gain in 16 months, advancing 6.2 percent. Sales also increased at Subaru, Mazda, Volkswagen, and Mitsubishi. But at Nissan Motor Co., demand skidded 16 percent as the company continued to scale back on fleet shipments and incentives to shore up retail volume and profits. The industry heads into December with a chance at topping the 17 million mark for a fifth straight year. Through 10 months, industry sales had slipped 1.6 percent from their year-earlier mark, according to Automotive News Data Center estimates. Higher fleet deliveries have offset a decline in retail volume all year. Read more here.
U.S. Has Not Ruled Out Imposing Tariffs on Imported Autos: Commerce Chief
Reuters reports that U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Tuesday the Trump administration has not ruled out imposing tariffs on imported autos, after letting a review period end in November with no action. “We’ve been having negotiations with the individual companies. We’ve had some very good benefits from that,” Ross told Reuters in New York. “It may or may not turn out that there is any need for the tariff.” U.S. President Donald Trump did not announce any new tariffs after a six-month, self-imposed review period expired in mid-November following a Commerce Department “Section 232” investigation into whether imported autos pose a national security threat. He has threatened to tax them by as much as 25%. Asked if there was a new deadline, Ross referred to a White House statement last month that did not include a new deadline. Read more here.
UAW Corruption Scandal Involving Trips, Alcohol is 'Unconscionable,' U.S. Attorney Says
For U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider, the corruption allegations against United Auto Workers brass at a time when rank-and-file union members were living off strike pay on the picket lines was hard to stomach. USA Today reports that it's a theme of greed he mentioned more than once during a sit-down earlier this week with reporters at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit. "It was really disturbing during the strike to see that the workers were getting paid $275 a week and it’s been publicly explained that the union leadership has been drinking out of thousand-dollar bottles of booze. I mean, who does that? What does that say to your membership? It’s unconscionable that that would happen," Schneider said, referencing the UAW's 40-day strike against General Motors. "That has to be frustrating to the hardworking men and women of the union. I know it’s hard for people who are just trying to enforce the law. It’s difficult to swallow that." Read more here.
Shareholders Sue Fiat Chrysler, Marchionne Estate Over Racketeering Case
Shareholders are suing Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, the estate of its late CEO Sergio Marchionne and top executives over unspecified losses following a racketeering case filed by General Motors Co., reports The Detroit News. The class-action lawsuit from the Rosen Law Firm of New York takes aim at defendants, including CEO Mike Manley, executors of Marchionne's estate and Chief Financial Officer Richard Palmer, who were not included in GM's case. They knowingly misled investors, resulting in artificially inflated stock prices, according to the class-action lawsuit. The estate of former Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, along with other top executives and the automaker itself, are being sued by shareholders over unspecified losses following a racketeering case filed by General Motors Co. "The theory is that the company issued misleading information, such as in its annual report," said Phillip Kim, a partner at Rosen. "Those are the folks who were responsible for the documents and certifying the accuracy of those documents. They signed the documents that are alleged to be falsely misleading." Read more here.
White House Asks Court to Toss Calif. Emissions Suit
President Donald Trump’s administration asked a federal judge to throw out California’s lawsuit seeking to preserve its power to regulate tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions, saying Washington has the last word in setting fuel economy standards. According to Automotive News, in court papers dated Oct. 15 but made public Tuesday, Justice Department lawyers told U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in Washington that California’s regulation contravened NHTSA’s power to set uniform fuel economy standard for the nation. “A standard that regulates tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions is not just ‘related to’ fuel economy standards. It is a fuel economy standard,” the department lawyers said. California set its own, stricter emissions standards for decades before the Republican administration challenged the state’s authority to do so in September. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, both Democrats, sued in response and were joined by 22 others states, as well as the District of Columbia and the cities of New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Read more here.
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