The Intersection 8-13-23

This week we give you the names of the finalists for the 2023 Automotive News PACE Award.

There are 34 of them, from 28 companies in 11 countries, including Australia, China, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland.

Automotive News started the PACE Award 29 years ago. It is a way to identify the technical innovations developed by suppliers — in components, materials, functionality, manufacturability, cost and efficiency in both product and process — that have made the journey from the brainstorm stage into the commercial market.

To be honest, we are as astonished as you are every year that companies keep coming up with brilliant innovations to wow their automaker customers and help advance the auto industry.

It’s not easy.

What hasn’t been thought of already? Drawing board ideas hit roadblocks that cause them to be pushed off into the R&D center trash bin. The mechanics won’t work. It adds unwanted weight. It costs too much. The automaker isn’t interested in moving in that direction. Or the supplier’s home office is cutting budgets.

And yet, here we are again. With 34 proven innovations from around the world.

It never stops.

And just when you might assume that all the breakthrough ideas of 2023 surely must be focused on next-generation electric vehicles or cutting-edge work in emerging technologies such as automated driving controls and night vision, that turns out to be not entirely the case. This year’s finalists include innovations in the industry’s basic meat n’ potato pursuits — a lighter wheel, better antifreeze management, new transmission controls and a new diesel fuel pump.

Our annual award program, overseen by independent judges, is an amazing glimpse into how the car business works. Nothing stands still. Competition drives it like a rocket.

And in the end, we can’t tell you who the PACE Award winners will be because they haven’t been selected yet. We’ll be waiting for that news right along with you.

— Lindsay Chappell, senior editor      

Automotive News Editors’ Picks:

Volvo works centuries-old tariff workaround: Originally enacted in 1789, the Duty Drawback Program allows businesses to claim a refund on duties and U.S. tariffs on imports from China when they can demonstrate comparable exports in the same tariff classification. That could pay off big for Volvo, which has plans next year to import its new, low-priced and China-built EX30 to the U.S. and may export its South Carolina-built EX90 and Polestar 3. While there may be some political fallout amid the Biden administration’s efforts to limit Chinese imports, one thing seems clear: The drawback program could give Volvo a big leg up in South Carolina, where Mercedes-Benz and BMW have long been the dominant players. Automotive News looks at how a somewhat byzantine tariff scheme could shuffle the deck in Volvo’s favor.

Could 2023 be a pivotal year for crash prevention tech? The U.S. Department of Transportation predicts that 12 percent of potential crash scenarios could be avoided using vehicle-to-infrastructure technology. The technology relies on devices such as roadside censors to capture vehicle information and traffic advisories and share the data with vehicles or pieces of smart infrastructure that can respond to adjust traffic flow or influence driver behavior. A stalemate over regulatory questions and bandwidth going back to the Trump administration has slowed efforts to move forward with the technology. But there is now serious momentum for a national deployment of vehicle-to-infrastructure tech. The U.S. Department of Transportation in 2022, for example, awarded a nearly $1.9 million grant to Utah’s transportation department — partnering with Ford, GM and Nissan — to develop vehicle-to-infrastructure test procedures and test tools to deploy nationally. Federal waivers granted in April have given automakers clarity on the way forward after decades of ambiguity. Automotive News reports on the developments that have vehicle connectivity groups calling 2023 a “pivotal year” for the safety technology.

Stellantis, GM lead industry to biggest minority dealer increase since 2012: Stellantis led the industry by adding 32 minority-owned stores to its U.S. dealership count in 2022, while GM gained 26, according to the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers. The organization’s data shows the number of minority dealerships jumped by 110 last year, bringing the total to 1,476. The industry had not gained more than 100 minority-owned stores in one year since 2012.

1 killed and 2 injured as dealership customer crashes vehicle: Police and fire officials say an elderly motorist lost control of a Toyota RAV4 Wednesday at Hamer Toyota in Mission Hills, Calif. A customer was killed as a result of the crash, which also injured two employees. An initial investigation suggests the driver may have accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake. The collision dragged a 56-year-old woman over 20 feet, the Los Angeles Fire Department said. An off-duty nurse tended to the woman before she was transported to a hospital, where she later died. A 23-year-old male employee sustained an arm laceration, while another male employee, 35, had head and foot injuries.

July wholesale used-car prices plunge: Wholesale used-vehicle prices fell again in July, according to two major indicators. One of them, the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, recorded a fourth-straight but smaller monthly decline. Cox Automotive said Monday its Manheim index — a measurement of wholesale used-vehicle prices calculated by tracking vehicles sold at Manheim’s U.S. auctions and applying statistical analysis — fell 1.6 percent in July from June.

Honda profits surge in latest quarter on booming U.S. sales: Honda Motor Co.’s operating profit jumped 78 percent in the latest quarter as improved semiconductor supply fed North American production and boosted the Japanese automaker’s sales. Operating profit climbed to 394.4 billion yen ($2.7 billion) in the company’s fiscal first quarter ended June 30, compared with 222.2 billion yen ($1.5 billion) a year earlier, Honda said in its financial results on Wednesday.

Aug. 14, 2021: Fritz Hitchcock, a high-profile California dealer who took an active role in the state’s politics and advocated free trade, died after a fall the previous day. He was 81.
A dealer since 1971, he was CEO of Hitchcock Automotive Resources, a holding company that he founded in 1979 in City of Industry, Calif., to oversee his growing automotive empire.
The former chairman of the Toyota and Mazda national dealer councils and former president of the California New Car Dealers Association led by example, whether it was in his stores, among fellow dealers or in the community, said his longtime business partner Howard Hakes. “He would always tell our employees that one deal doesn’t make a career,” Hakes said. “If a customer is complaining that something’s wrong, take care of the customer. Take care of them, and they’ll take care of you.” 
Politically active throughout his career, Hitchcock championed dealer interests. He was a prominent dealer advocate in Washington and he worked for the California Chamber of Commerce between 2007 and 2016, including a stint as chairman. Hitchcock believed that part of living a successful life was getting involved and contributing, Hakes said. “Fritz loved to give back. He always said that if you’re not involved in what’s going on around you, it’s your fault,” he said. 
For U.S. dealers of international auto brands, Hitchcock was a champion of the free market who believed that dealers could not sit on the political sidelines, said Cody Lusk, president of the American International Automobile Dealers Association.
Hitchcock, a former chairman of the association, “was a true icon of our industry,” Lusk said in a written statement. “His leadership and generosity were unrivaled. He fought tirelessly on behalf of his fellow dealers, leading the charge by engaging legislators and policymakers on the issues that mattered most to their livelihoods.” 
AIADA named one of its highest annual awards in Hitchcock’s honor in 2016, making him the first recipient.