Automobile

Bloomberg The most stylish SUV you can buy today is, yes, a Volvo. Others may be more exciting (Lamborghini Urus), more athletic (Porsche Cayenne), more luxurious (Mercedes-Benz GLE), or more conscientious (Tesla Model X). But only the 2020 Volvo XC90 possesses that rare combination of restraint, comfort, attention to detail, and heritage that translates into true style. Yes, even in ...

Bloomberg Volkswagen AG struck deals with two Chinese companies and deepened cooperation with Ford Motor Co., broadening its strategic footprint as the coronavirus sparks the worst economic contraction in decades and internal tensions rise. The German manufacturer will become the biggest shareholder of battery company Guoxuan High-Tech Co. and closed in on a 50% stake in a Chinese electric-vehicle partner. ...

Bloomberg On the outskirts of a small town less than 50 miles southeast of Phoenix, a 720,000 square foot electric vehicle factory is arising in the desert. If all goes as planned, a luxurious new battery-electric sedan will roll off its production line by year’s end. Lucid Motors, a US startup, is building the factory and slated to start manufacturing ...

Bloomberg Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is in talks to obtain a state-backed credit line of about 6.3 billion euros ($6.8 billion) to buttress the carmaker’s finances against the steep downturn caused by the coronavirus, according to people familiar with the matter. Fiat’s local unit is discussing the facility with lead lender Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, the people said, asking not to ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. users asked a judge to approve a $550 million settlement in their class-action lawsuit that claimed the social-media giant illegally gathered biometric data through a photo-tagging tool. The class members will get from $150 to $300, or between 15% and 30% of the possible recovery on an individual claim, according to their lawyers. The settlement provides “excellent ...

Bloomberg Automakers won’t have to recall roughly 56 million more air bag inflators made by the now-defunct Takata Corp., the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said, citing industry test data the agency said showed the parts won’t pose danger. The agency and an industry group will monitor safety of those Takata air bag inflators, which contain a moisture-absorbing ...

Bloomberg Honda Motor Co. will resume operations at its vehicle and auto-parts factories in the US and Canada starting on May 11, joining a caravan of other carmakers restarting North American production this month for the first time since mid-March. The Japanese automaker said it will gradually ramp up output and stagger its reopening to allow workers to get used ...

Bloomberg Gorden Wagener has spent a good amount of his coronavirus quarantine thinking about waffles. Daimler’s head of design, who created such iconic cars as the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren and Vision Mercedes concepts, wanted to bake bread during his pandemic free time, but soon found the bread maker he wanted was out of stock. So he ordered a waffle iron ...

Bloomberg Ford Motor Co. is warning of significant damage wreaked by a tornado in South Carolina this week that knocked out a BorgWarner Inc. auto-parts plant supplying a key component for the automaker’s most profitable models. The Seneca, South Carolina, parts factory makes transfer cases, an important component of four-wheel-drive systems that Ford uses in its F-150 pickup, its biggest ...

Bloomberg Tesla Inc’s new Model Y has what people have come to expect from Elon Musk’s cars: It’s lightning quick, handles nicely and has better electronic gadgetry than its competitors. Unlike past Tesla offerings, early versions are rolling off the assembly line looking more like you’d expect from a company with a handle on the finer points of car building, ...