Omari Gardner

After a retiring from her automotive career, the Ford and American Axle veteran has a new mission: Bringing together industry professionals to discuss diversity, helping companies develop talent and promoting social justice.

"Voltswagen" will be placed as an exterior badge on all EV models, and gasoline vehicles will have the company’s iconic VW emblem only, as they now do.

The 2021 Mirai XLE trim starts at $50,495, which is $8,985 less than the outgoing 2020 model, when factoring in shipping. The new two-trim strategy lowers the barrier of entry for customers by adding a lower-priced version — the previous generation had only one trim.

The automaker reversed a decision to switch to quarterly U.S. sales reporting from a monthly cadence, at least for the remainder of this year.

Subaru of America reported a 12 percent decrease in its June deliveries as the industry works to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Holly Walters, who has been with Toyota since 2007, will oversee information systems, solutions and technology. Mike Owens will become group vice president and chief risk officer at Toyota Financial Services.

To qualify, unemployment must not occur within the first 90 days of ownership. The customer must have lost their job because of economic reasons and must be collecting unemployment benefits.

The plant was to begin production of 150,000 units each of a Toyota and a Mazda crossover yet to be named, beginning in 2021. A plant spokeswoman declined to comment on when production would start.

Sage Marie will become assistant vice president of Acura advertising. Moving into Marie's role at American Honda will be Matt Sloustcher.

As chief cost optimization officer for North America, he will work with the automaker's various business units across the region to improve efficiencies.

Yoichi Yokozawa, who led the unit in 2011-14, will assume the role once travel restrictions to the U.S. are lifted. Diaz departs after two years at the North American helm.

The downtime includes a previously planned April 6-10 shutdown for new-model equipment changes.

Steve Gehring, who has three decades of auto industry experience, has been named the automaker's executive director of North American safety regulations and policy.

In a letter to the White House, the coalition said initial counsel resulted in some states and other jurisdictions prohibiting vehicle sales by dealerships.

When the compact crossover hits dealer lots beginning March 1, it will be priced competitively — starting at $28,870, including shipping — against its biggest rival.