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John O’Leary, Daimler Truck North America’s CEO, and Michael Lohscheller, Nikola’s CEO, both spoke to Automotive News at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Anaheim. They discussed charging and fueling infrastructure challenges, the role of hydrogen in long-haul trucking and competition in the industry.

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Automakers cut 48,421 cars from their global production schedules because of microchip shortages last week, according to an estimate by AutoForecast Solutions. Europe led in factory schedule changes, with about 18,200 vehicles axed. North America lost about 17,000 vehicles, while China cut about 11,700. 

Although automakers continue to point to the chip shortage as a cause, output is steadily improving, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions.

Source: AutoForecast Solutions Inc. autoforecastsolutions.com

Most experts agree the economy is not in a recession. Some, however, believe we could be entering one soon.

The good news is dealers might not feel the impact until the middle of 2023.

But in this period of economic uncertainty, it's important to prepare your F&I department for a potential downturn.

Which steps are worth taking and which ones should be avoided?

Here are tips to recession-proof your dealership.

When finances get tight, potential customers tend to think twice before buying a new or used vehicle. And the customers you have might start exploring cheaper options for auto servicing and upgrades.

To keep the customers you have, it's important to build long-term connections. This way, your customers will remember why they chose your dealership over the competition. Here are three strategies to help retention.

1. Follow up multiple times after each sale. Many dealersh…

New York City is handing out 500 free Apple AirTags to help police fight an epidemic of stolen Hyundais and Kias.

Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference last week that the city, like others around the country, has seen a rise in car thefts linked to viral TikTok videos that show how to easily steal many Hyundais and Kias using a USB cable and other common tools. The AirTags wouldn't make stealing vehicles more difficult but could lead police to them afterward.

"You will see the spike that we are experiencing now is a large part of what's happening on social media," Adams said.

New York Police Department officials said it knew of 966 stolen Hyundais and Kias so far in 2023, which is already more than the 819 reported last year. Hyundais and Kias account for more than 20 percent of all stolen vehicles in the city.

Adams said police wouldn't automatically be able to track the AirTags being given away. A vehicle owner wo…

The top two dealership management systems this year seek to grow e-contracting between dealerships and lenders, initiatives the vendors say will benefit retailers.

Reynolds and Reynolds announced in January more than 100 lenders already participate in its e-contracting option, with more than 150 expected to join "in the coming months." The technology would result in deals "funded in a matter of hours, not days" and allow borrowers both inside and outside the store to sign contracts, the company said.

And CDK Global product marketer Jason Swiech in March told Automotive News the company's finance-and-insurance priority likely was bringing lenders into the DMS workflow. Dealers would no longer have to switch between systems and conduct "multiple signing ceremonies" to digitally contract a deal, he said.

Swiech estimated the system already worked with more than 70 lenders in 11 states, and CDK had turned its attention to incorporatin…

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen Group is set to dismiss all but one of the executive board members at its software division Cariad next week to try to resolve development problems, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The unit, which was set up under former VW Group CEO Herbert Diess. has exceeded its budget and failed to meet goals, contributing to Diess' departure and replacement by Oliver Blume last September.

Cariad's supervisory board is expected to sign off on the dismissals in a meeting next week, the source said on Saturday, adding that only the unit's head of personnel, Rainer Zugehör, might stay on.

A VW spokesperson said the company is analyzing Cariad and its projects.

A number of decisions have been made, but no decisions on personnel, the spokesperson said, adding that Cariad and vehicle software development remained integral to VW Group's strategy.

The problems at Cariad have delayed work on important new models including …

Bosch is reorganizing its Mobility Solutions business sector, giving it more autonomy within the huge supplier’s corporate structure, and forecasting a surge in revenue to 80 billion euros ($88 billion) by 2029. 

The unit will be called Bosch Mobility, and will be led by Markus Heyn, who has been chairman of Mobility Services since January 2022, the supplier said Thursday in announcing 2022 results and forecast for 2023.

The change will be effective Jan. 1, 2024. 

For 2023, Bosch expects 6 percent to 9 percent revenue growth from 88.2 billion euros in 2022 and an EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) margin of 5 percent, up from 4.3 percent in 2022. The main growth drivers will be the cars and heating systems businesses, Bosch said.

CEO Stefan Hartung said new business in both areas is a result of the transformation of energy systems to protect the climate creates.

The 2022 figures represented an across-the-board impro…

Continental North America is letting its employees take the lead as the supplier looks to become more diverse and inclusive.

At the heart of Continental's diversity, equity and inclusion strategy are a variety of employee resource groups, each led and organized by employees, said Mary Arraf, the head of DE&I for Continental North America's automotive business. The groups are designed to foster a sense of belonging and inclusion among its members while raising awareness of different cultures represented throughout the supplier's work force.

"Our ERGs are not dictated by the business and what we might need. What we have is employee-led," she said in an interview. "The passion of the employees is huge."

Germany-based Continental has given each of its regions autonomy in figuring out how to best promote DE&I.

To be sure, the company has set overarching global goals for itself — including boosting the percentage of …

Finance-and-insurance product sales penetration would increase, and F&I time would be saved if dealerships offered accurate payment calculations online — something that often isn't happening right now, according to a survey of auto dealers polled online in December 2022 by eLEND Solutions.

Sixty-nine percent of dealerships agreed online payment estimator tools give the customer an inaccurate or unrealistic perspective more than half the time. Eighty-three percent of them agreed 60 percent of their online quotes don't match the final monthly payment found in the ultimate sales contract.

If payments displayed to the consumers online matched what lenders would fund — including the dealership's own margin — F&I penetration would grow by 10 percent or more, according to 88 percent of dealerships. More than one-third of dealers, 37 percent, anticipated penetration gains of 15 percent or more.

Payments quoted with that degree of …

Until about two years ago, Gates Automotive Group focused its marketing efforts on monthly sales promotions that were aimed at consumers close to making a purchase decision.

That strategy has evolved. Now, the dealership group in South Bend, Ind., has emphasized brand awareness marketing that combines social media engagement, collaboration with local athletes and business leaders, giveaways and in-person meet-and-greets.

Gates, which sells new Chevrolets and Toyotas, started to think about other ways to tell its story after a social media post spotlighting a well-known salesman generated roughly 12,000 organic impressions, said Jordan Cox, Gates' digital marketing manager. In December 2021, a music video the group created in collaboration with local artists produced similar results on Facebook and YouTube.

A sales promotion, by contrast, might get 160 impressions, Cox said.

"Since we've made that shift, we've definitel…

Drivetrain components and systems manufacturer American Axle & Manufacturing on Friday reported a first-quarter net loss of $5.1 million.

That's compared with net income of $1 million in the first quarter of 2022.

In a Friday morning call, executives attributed losses to new program launch costs, material and labor inflation and market inefficiencies caused by supply chain and semiconductor issues. The company was dinged by significant customer production downtime, especially in full-size truck programs.

"The operating environment remains dynamic, but we are hopeful to see some stabilization in the second half of the year," CEO David Dauch said on a call Friday.

CFO Christopher May said he expects launch costs to continue into the second quarter but reduce in the second half of the year. He expects labor inflation to remain throughout the year but is "cautiously optimistic" that current market volatility will gradually stabilize.

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