Short Torque

Lincoln boss to head US Ford operations

A veteran executive who has led Ford's Lincoln luxury brand will now head its North American operations, replacing an executive who was ousted this week over allegations of inappropriate behavior. Kumar Galhotra, 52, will replace Raj Nair starting on Mar 1, the company said Thursday. Ford Motor Co said in a printed release that Galhotra will lead all aspects of the North American business - the company's primary source of revenue and profits. Galhotra has been with Ford for 29 years in a number of senior engineering and product strategy positions. He has led the Lincoln brand since 2014.

German court defers city diesel ruling

A German court has deferred a decision on whether to allow a ban on diesel cars in cities to lower air pollution - a move that could have drastic consequences for the country's powerful auto industry. The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig began hearing the case Thursday and had been expected to issue a verdict within hours. But judges said the process had taken longer than expected and set the date of Feb 27 for a ruling. The court is hearing an appeal by two German states against lower court rulings that suggested banning particularly dirty diesel cars would be effective and should be seriously considered as a means of protecting public health.

Toyota to use less rare earth materials

Toyota Motor Corp is readying electric motors that include as much as 50 percent less rare earth material amid concern of a supply crunch as automakers race to expand their electric-vehicle lineups. Asia's biggest carmaker has developed a magnet for the motors that as much as halves the use of the rare earth material neodymium and eliminates the use of others such as terbium and dysprosium, the company said at a briefing in Tokyo on Tuesday. In their place, Toyota will use the rare earth materials lanthanum and cerium, which cost 20 times less than neodymium. The carmaker plans to ask suppliers to manufacture the magnets.

Startup crunching car data for cash

Otonomo, which announced $3 million in funding from NTT Docomo Ventures Inc on Tuesday, has spent the past three years figuring out how to collect, package and sell auto data to insurers, retailers, city planners and others willing to pay for it. The company takes a percentage of sales - similar to how Apple Inc and Google operate their app stores. More than 2 million cars are already using Otonomo's platform, a number that it says will reach 5 million by year-end. "There is one simple rule with marketplaces all across the board - one takes 80 percent and the rest are left with 20," said Ben Volkow, Otonomo's CEO and co-founder.

V60 returns Volvo to family roots

Volvo Car Group unveiled its all-new V60 station wagon, returning to a family-oriented model to bring back traditional customers after years of sports utility vehicles dominating the Swedish brand's growth. The V60, which will compete with BMW's 3-Series Touring, Audi's A4 Avant and the wagon variant of the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, takes the manufacturer back to familiar territory. Slated for deliveries to begin shortly after production starts this spring, the model will succeed Volvo's discontinued V70, long a popular vehicle for households in the carmaker's home country. The drivers of family station wagons "are an important customer for our business and has been for generations", said CEO Hakan Samuelsson in a statement.

Uber courts Toyota self-drive deal

The world's largest car maker and biggest ride-hailing company plan to team up on autonomous driving as technological changes sweep through the transportation industry. On Thursday, Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive officer of Uber Technologies, posted a photo on Twitter of him and Toyota Motor President Akio Toyoda and Executive Vice-President Shigeki Tomoyama at the automaker's headquarters. The Uber CEO is seen smiling and holding a black baseball bat from local hero Ichiro Suzuki, while Toyoda laughs at his side. He wrote, "Great discussions about growing our autonomous partnership and lessons 4 me in building a great culture. And yep, those are Ichiro's bats".

Motoring - Agencies

(China Daily 02/26/2018 page18)