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Toyota Busts the Car Microchip Shortage by Steven Symes, Motorious
Unless you’ve been living in a cave or under a rock, you know for about a year automakers have been suffering from a shortage of microprocessor chips, necessary for a number of features. This has meant auto giants shuttering factories for weeks on end, trimming back on production and even storing unfinished cars in hopes they can install the chips at a later date. With predictions of this situation being alleviated in a matter or months or even a couple of years,
it might be shocking to hear Toyota has already found a solution. That’s right, the only big automaker to have skipped out on most of the chip shortage nonsense in North America but ultimately had to scale production back by 40%, to the glee of its critics, is once again alone in its cherry situation. Toyota has announced it will be back to full global production capacity in December. In fact, the company said it anticipates churning out 800,000 vehicles in December, up from the 760,000 it made in December 2020. See Microchip Shortage, Page 20
ASA Texas to Become Texas Auto Care Alliance AllianceThe Automotive Service Association (ASA) of Texas Board of Directors have voted for a move to become the Texas Auto Care Alliance. This change comes as the ASA dissolved affiliation agreements with their local affiliates across the country. ASA Texas will join forces with the Midwest Auto Care Alliance (MWACA) and other alliances, including ASA Northwest (soon to be Northwest Auto Care Alliance), ASA Illinois (soon to be MWACA Greater Chicagoland) and the recently announced ASA Pennsylvania (soon to be Mid-Atlantic Auto Care
Alliance). “I am very excited that the ASA Texas Board of Directors has chosen to join forces with the Midwest Auto Care Alliance and other Auto Care Alliance members,” said Robert Gruener, president of ASA Texas and owner of Autotechtronics in Katy, TX. “I feel like this will benefit our members in a very positive way, and the future looks very bright for the independent automotive service professionals in Texas.” The ASA-Midwest affiliate, ASA’s second-largest affiliate at the time, left the ASA to form an independent organization, the Midwest See ASA Texas, Page 18
Vol. 40 / Issue 1 / January 2022
Collision Repair Industry Thought Leaders Share Innovative Ideas During IDEAS Collide Showcase talk about creative ways to help the industry evolve. Thought leaders from across the col- “The ideas that we’re explorlision repair industry had the oppor- ing really traverse a lot of different business models and a lot of tunity to share innovative different topics,” said Aarideas at the IDEAS Collide Showcase held during the on Schulenburg, executive 2021 SEMA Show. director of SCRS. “Some of them will be about how we The event was first introduced at the 2018 show approach the industry and by the Society of Collision some of them will be very Repair Specialists (SCRS) Ben Kaminsky, gen- specific solutions to specific as part of its Repairer Driv- eral manager, SEMA challenges.” Garage Detroit en Education (RDE) series. “We’ve always champi This year, eight speakoned that the topics in this See IDEAS Collide Showcase, Page 22 ers were given 10 minutes each to by Stacey Phillips
Tesla Makes it Official—Texas Now Truly New HQ by Simon Alvarez, Teslarati
A recent Form 8-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Dec. 1 revealed Tesla has now made its headquarters’ move to Texas official. As per the filing, dated Dec. 1, the company’s headquarters is now located at Gigafactory Texas. “On Dec. 1, 2021, Tesla, Inc. relocated its corporate headquarters to Gigafactory Texas at 13101 Harold Green Road, Austin, Texas 78725,” Tesla officials noted in the filing. The statement clarifies speculations about the location of Tesla’s Texas headquarters. The company previously operated a separate HQ in California at 3500 Deer Creek Road in Palo Alto, about 23.5 miles away from the Fremont Factory. Looking at Tesla’s SEC filing, it appears Gigafactory Texas would be serving multiple roles for the company. Apart from being the location where key vehicles such as the Model Y and the Cybertruck will be produced, the facility will also host Tesla’s headquarters. Speculations suggest a 4680 production and recy-
cling plant may be built in the Giga Texas complex as well. Tesla’s move to Texas was previously announced by CEO Elon Musk. During the 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting, Musk said the company would be moving its headquarters to the Lone Star State. Musk did not provide specific details about the move then, though the company did unveil an image of Tesla’s logo in a Texas-inspired belt buckle. The exodus of Musk’s companies to Texas has been going on for some time, though the departure of Tesla’s headquarters from California involved some drama. This was because Tesla’s departure was announced by Musk following a spat with Alameda County about the Fremont Factory’s reopening last year. Despite the Tesla headquarters’ departure from California, however, Musk noted the company remains determined to expand its operations in the state. “Just to be clear, though, we will be continuing to expand our activities in California. This is not a See Tesla Makes it Official, Page 16
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