Toyota will invest approximately $3.4 billion in automotive batteries in the United States through 2030. Specifically, the investment is for developing and localizing automotive battery production, including those for battery electric vehicles (BEVs). Toyota Motor North America also announced it will establish a new company and build an automotive battery plant together with Toyota Tsusho in the U.S. Aiming to start production in 2025, the project includes an investment of approximately $1.29 billion until 2031, resulting in the creation of 1,750 new American jobs.

Nucor Corp. launched Econiq, a line of net-zero carbon-steel products. Building the green economy and the necessary infrastructure requires clean, advanced steel products. According to Nucor, Econiq is a first of its kind at scale for the U.S. steel industry. General Motors will receive the Econiq net-zero steel beginning in the first quarter of 2022, and it is projected that all steel purchased by GM from Nucor will be net carbon neutral by the end of 2022. The Econiq brand will be available across the complete line of Nucor steelmaking products, and initial quantities will be limited.

Ford Motor Company announced plans to bring electric vehicles (EVs) at scale to American customers with two new environmentally and technologically advanced campuses in Tennessee and Kentucky that will produce the next generation of electric F-Series trucks and the batteries to power future electric Ford and Lincoln vehicles. The company, together with its partner SK Innovation, plans to invest $11.4 billion and create nearly 11,000 new jobs at the Tennessee and Kentucky mega-sites.

General Motors announced plans to invest $40 million at its Pontiac Stamping Plant in Pontiac, Mich. The investment will be used to renovate the existing facility and install new, highly flexible fabrication machinery and presses to support future electric-vehicle production. GM anticipates the investment will create 20 new positions. The “Flex Fab” sheet-metal fabricating technology will enable repeatable, custom and precise stamping, reducing costs for low-volume applications.

In January 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is working on new rules to decrease NOx and other pollutants present in vehicle emissions.

In a business known for quality management, automotive component suppliers have few clear guidelines when it comes to nondestructive testing (NDT).

Fortune magazine creates several lists each year, including (of course) the Fortune 500. In their list of the world’s largest companies ranked by revenue, at least 10 automakers show up in the first 84 slots. Volkswagen and Toyota are in the top-10. In their list of the top-50 most-admired companies, Toyota and BMW are in the top-50.

Toyota will invest $803 million and add 1,400 new jobs at its Princeton, Ind., automotive manufacturing plant. The investment will allow the company to produce two all-new, three-row SUVs, one of which will be the first Lexus made at the plant.

Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture of General Motors and LG Energy Solution, will invest more than $2.3 billion to build its second battery-cell manufacturing plant in the United States. The approximately 2.8 million-square-foot facility will be located in Spring Hill, Tenn. It is expected to create 1,300 new jobs. Construction will begin immediately, and the plant is scheduled to open in late 2023. Once operational, the facility will supply battery cells to GM’s Spring Hill assembly plant.

Volvo Group and SSAB signed a collaboration agreement on research, development, serial production and commercialization of the world's first vehicles to be made of fossil-free steel. Volvo will start manufacturing the first concept vehicles and machines with steel from SSAB using hydrogen in 2021.