CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT

Former Martinrea executive Natale Rea will replace industry veteran Robert "Steve" Miller as the president of IAC Group. It is unclear whether Miller was forced out of the position or made the decision to retire.

Lotus CEO Jean-Marc Gales is stepping down from his CEO role for "personal reasons." Geely's VP and CTO Quingfeng Feng will replace him immediately.

Frederic Lissalde will become BorgWarner's president and CEO, effective Aug. 1, 2018. Lissalde is a 19-year veteran and currently serves as executive vice president and COO. The current president and CEO, James Verrier, will aid the transition in a non-executive advisory role.

INDUSTRY DIRECTIONS

Japan is aiming to have a self-driving car service in operation on public roads in time for the 2020 Olympics. 

FCA is planning to roll out a Jeep subscription service in 2019. The Jeep Wave membership program will allow subscribers access to a variety of FCA vehicles in "good, better, best" tiered packages.

Global Times: Asian EV battery makers may overpower Europe

MERGERS, VENTURES, ACQUISITIONS

FCA is in discussions with Waymo to jointly develop Level 4 fully self-driving cars. 

Magna and Beijing Hainachuan Automotive Parts Co., Ltd. (BHAP) have created a joint venture to produce door modules for Chinese automakers. A facility near Beijing is slated for production in 2021.

Israel's Innoviz announced a partnership with China's HiRain to take its LiDAR-based vehicle control system and computer vision software to automakers in China.

At a conference in Italy this week, Waymo CEO John Krafcik announced the company's intention to "experiment" in Europe. While the company will face some regulatory and brand recognition challenges, close ties to automakers Jaguar and Fiat Chrysler could certainly help them gain footing in the European market.

PLANT DISASTER

A fire broke out at Kirchoff Automotive plant in Manchester, TN on Wednesday evening. The fire started behind the building in a storage area and as a result the building itself sustained mostly heat and smoke damage as opposed to fire damage.

PLANT EXPANSION

Flex-N-Gate is spending $175m to expand its 430,186sf plant in Grand Prairie,Texas by more than 50,000sf. Upon completion, the company will relocate its headquarters to the facility. 

PLANT OPENING

Chinese-owned electric vehicle developer SF Motors Inc. plans to open a $160 million plant in northern Indiana by the end of 2020

ADAC Automotive has broken ground on a new $23.5m, 56,000sf headquarters in Cascade Township, Michigan. The move will consolidate the company's Grand Rapids operations from four buildings into two.

Continental opened its third research and development facility in Singapore. 

REGULATION

French automaker PSA Groupe has started to suspend its joint ventures in Iran in order to avoid US sanctions.

A new position paper from Germany's Environment Ministry suggests that CO2 emissions from cars and light commercial vehicles should be halved by 2030 compared with 2021 levels. Comparatively, European Commission proposals only call for a 30% reduction in that time frame.

Following talks at the White House yesterday with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, President Trump says that the two leaders are working together to improve trading relations between the US and Japan. Trump says he is seeking a bilateral deal with Japan and that that Abe has promised new investment in the US.

RISK ANALYTICS

Continental is banning Whatsapp and Snapchat from use on its networks and company owned devices. The company cites General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compliance as the main driver of the ban.

SUPPLY CHAIN

The state of Virginia is planning to invest $350m into a dredging project for the Hampton Roads port in Norfolk. The project would deepen the waters from 50 feet to 55 feet in some places and also widen the shipping channels up to 1,400 feet.