A conversation with Nikola CEO Michael Lohscheller about the company’s trajectory and steep challenges. Lucid Motors trims its outlook for the year. And GM hires a key software executive away from Apple.
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TrueCar expects that a new subsidiary focused on providing market-based valuations for used cars will entice dealers and help grow business in an ongoing, tight used-vehicle market.
The vehicle listings company rolled out TrueCar Wholesale Solutions (TCWS) nationally at the end of April, after a first quarter in which it posted a 15 percent drop in revenue and rising net losses.
TrueCar is countering this with efforts to rebuild its core business, an ongoing expansion of its TrueCar+ digital sales platform, a focus on converting more traffic into dealer sales and efforts to "lean into" the used-vehicle market, CEO Mike Darrow said May 9 during the company's earnings call.
TrueCar Wholesale Solutions is designed to help generate precise valuation data for consumer-to-dealer sales and remote trade-ins, the company said. It will rely in part on "proprietary algorithms" to produce market-based vehicle valuations and better meet dealer demand, Darrow said. Read more
Lucid Motors cut its production forecast to "over 10,000" this year from its previous estimate of 10,000 to 14,000 and posted a first-quarter net loss of $780 million as it burns through cash amid waning demand.
Despite the disappointing numbers, which sent its stock price down nearly 9 percent in extended trading, CEO Peter Rawlinson said the automaker is seeing success in raising brand awareness in an effort to find more buyers for its Air sedan, currently its only vehicle.
"We're seeing some early wins," Rawlinson said of the automaker's increased focus on marketing. "The number of test drives has nearly doubled in the first quarter from the fourth quarter of last year."
Rawlinson announced on the company's first-quarter earnings call Monday that Andrea Soriani is the new head of marketing for Lucid.
Soriani previously held marketing roles at TAG Heuer and Maserati of North America.
Rawlinson also explained why Lucid's production and deliver…
First-quarter net income at Magna International fell 43 percent from a year earlier. Bosche reorganizes its mobility unit. Volkswagen announces some big executive moves. Plus, Automotive Ventures founder and CEO Steve Greenfield joins the show to talk about the ever-evolving state of automotive venture capital.
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Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options.
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Qualcomm Inc. said on Monday that it would acquire Israel's Autotalks Ltd., a maker of chips used in crash-prevention technology in vehicles, as the U.S. firm looks to expand its automotive-related business.
The company did not disclose the terms of the deal but said Autotalk's technology would be incorporated into its assisted and autonomous driving product, called Snapdragon Digital Chassis.
Qualcomm said in September last year that its automotive business "pipeline," or potential future orders,rose by more than $10 billion to $30 billion since its third-quarter results were announced in late July, as automakers increasingly equip their cars with driver-assistance systems.
The company, which has credited the jump to its Snapdragon Digital Chassis product, competes with Intel's Mobileye Global and Nvidia Corp. for that slice of the market.
Revenue from Qualcomm's automotive business rose 20 percent to $447 million in the second quarter ended Marc…
It’s a familiar story: A business mogul parlaying much of his fortune into a massive bet on electric vehicles, only to fall on hard times.
Pham Nhat Vuong is among the latest to take after Elon Musk, the PayPal mafia member who made it through what he famously described as Tesla Inc.’s “production hell.” Other examples include James Dyson, the household-appliance billionaire; Jia Yueting, founder of the Netflix of China; and Hui Ka Yan, the embattled property tycoon behind China Evergrande Group.
The odds that any of these players ride out the inferno as Tesla did are looking increasingly long. Dyson pulled the plug on his EV venture in 2019. Jia’s Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. is staring down a potential Nasdaq delisting. And Hui’s China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd. is struggling to survive.
Vuong’s difficulties are proving costly. VinFast, his automaker that filed for a initial public offering a year ago, has delayed plans to li…
Toyota said Friday it planned to reveal the redesigned 2024 Tacoma on May 19. A day later, the midsize pickup's enthusiast base apparently decided that was too long to wait, found a back door into the automaker's website and posted an image of the upcoming vehicle for all to see.
The leaked image was first posted on tacoma4g.com and shows a white 2024 Tacoma 4x4 with black trim traversing through sand.
Doug Liu, a co-owner of tacoma4g.com, said he verified the image "by sleuthing on the Toyota website and matching up the hosting domain."
One of tacoma4g.com's users "found the image by taking the URL from previous Toyota images and changing the path and file names before landing on this image of the next-gen Taco in all its glory," Liu said.
The image shows the pickup will adopt many styling cues from the larger Tundra, including the styling lines on its hood, lighting elements and the front fascia.
In a brief statement emailed to Automotiv…
Never mind the auto industry’s relentless push toward electrification, Chery Automobile Co. is the latest Chinese carmaker trying to win over Australians with gasoline-powered SUVs pitched at the lower end of the market.
Chery’s midsize Omoda 5 is selling across Australia for as little as A$32,000 ($22,000) for the base model. A colleague and I drove a high-end version around Sydney for four days. It’s stuffed with extras you’d normally find in luxury cars — think heated steering wheel and exterior puddle lights — and costs not much more than A$35,000.
Australia’s best-selling car, Ford Motor Co.’s Ranger pickup, can go for more than double that price.
Wuhu-based Chery joins Chinese rivals Great Wall Motor Co. and SAIC Motor Corp. — owner of the MG brand — in pouring relatively affordable cars into an Australian market that’s been slow to turn to electric vehicles. Chery was China’s second-biggest car exporter worldwide last year.
With inflation i…
Lordstown Motors said its first-quarter net loss widened to $171 million from $89 million during the same quarter last year.
Technology is rapidly changing the F&I office to speed up processes and improve accuracy. New features include electronic contracting, more precise online payment quotes, video conferencing with F&I staff to discuss products, and tools to discover loan paperwork errors early.
Read below to find out more.
The auto finance office might be the last place that comes to mind when considering which areas of the dealership could benefit from new technology or new practices reflecting innovations in the auto retail or auto lending industries.
After all, the finance managers are spinning deals and hitting their gross profit targets having face-to-face conversations with customers. No need to fix what isn't broken, right?
But you might be surprised at how much better things could be with a little more technology.
Automotive News' second-quarter finance-and-insurance special section focuses on technology that could enhance the F&I process.
Read how lenders are growing more receptive to the notion of electronic contracting with auto dealers — and being encouraged by CDK Global and Reynolds and Reynolds to do so. Working with the captive finance companies and other lenders embracing this capability can mean faster deal funding, cleaner paperwork, juggling …
The auto finance office might be the last place that comes to mind when considering which areas of the dealership could benefit from new technology or new practices reflecting innovations in the auto retail or auto lending industries.
After all, the finance managers are spinning deals and hitting their gross profit targets having face-to-face conversations with customers. No need to fix what isn't broken, right?
But you might be surprised at how much better things could be with a little more technology.
Automotive News' second-quarter finance-and-insurance special section focuses on technology that could enhance the F&I process.
Read how lenders are growing more receptive to the notion of electronic contracting with auto dealers — and being encouraged by CDK Global and Reynolds and Reynolds to do so. Working with the captive finance companies and other lenders embracin…