Smart-car tech startup Ecarx Holdings Inc. erased big losses to finish in the green on its first day of trading, the latest sign that the reverse-merger path for automotive technology firms remains rocky. The five-year-old company, which was co-founded by Chinese billionaire Li Shufu and backed by his Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., raised $410 million in its listing. Ecarx shares reversed a drop of about 40% midday Wednesday to finish up 1.9% in New York. The company trades on the Nasdaq...

Tesla’s earliest Model S electric sedans shipped with a flawed battery pack design that was prone to coolant leaks which could lead to fires, according to Business Insider. The report describes how the company appears to have cut corners on this particular part of the Model S, which Tesla was scrambling to ship in mid-2012 as it started to establish itself as a mass-market electric automaker. The new report comes as Tesla was ranked last in JD Power’s annual study of new vehicle quality, and...

NASCAR driver Kyle Larson has been fired by his team and dropped by his sponsors after he said the n-word during a sim racing stream over the weekend. It’s the latest example of how the pandemic-inspired shift to online racing is still resulting in real-world consequences for some drivers. Just last week, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace lost a sponsor after he quit a sim race following a virtual crash. Larson was driving in a special event held Sunday in iRacing, a leading sim racing platform...

For many, the cancellation of major sporting events was the moment that made the coronavirus pandemic feel real for the first time. But while fans of baseball, basketball, soccer are left wondering when they’ll see players back in action, racing fans don’t have to wait — because many of their favorite drivers are already competing in online sim racing competitions that were spun up in the days since the first real world races were canceled. The first few of these substitute sim races, held...

Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler are joining Honda in closing down all of their US factories, sending about 150,000 workers home in an effort to help fight the spread of the novel coronavirus. Most other automakers are temporarily shutting down US operations as well. Ford and General Motors said in press releases that they will close all of their North American manufacturing facilities starting either today or March 19th until at least March 30th. Ford had already closed one plant in...