Trade News

The industry disruption that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, which left dealership lots bare and shoppers struggling to find cars, has turned the buying process on its head.

"Customer service everywhere has gotten significantly worse since the pandemic," said Matthew Phillips, CEO of Car Pros, a dealership group operating seven stores in California and Washington.

"Organizations that can get customer service right have a unique opportunity to especially 'wow' customers, because people in general and in the dealerships — their expectations have been lowered," he said.

That's why Phillips — a second-generation car dealer who spent the bulk of his career on the operations side as CFO and in human resources, IT and risk management — is now focused on elevating customer service across the retail group. And he's doing it by training staff to simply listen with empathy to understand what each customer's needs and wants are.

Phillips graduate…

Automotive News on May 22 is introducing a new list of large used-only vehicle retailers. This list will include major players such as CarMax Inc. and Carvana Co. If you operate a large used-only vehicle retailer, please submit your contact information to receive a survey collecting your information.

Trash can-size metal boxes popping up in dealerships filled with old cellphones and laptop computers won't solve automakers' overwhelming mineral requirements to convert their production to battery-electric propulsion — but they could certainly help.

This month Volkswagen became the second brand, following sibling Audi, to ask its dealers to install metal collection boxes for old consumer electronics — such as laptops, cellphones, electric toothbrushes — from Redwood Materials in their stores.

The reason is simple: While there is likely some gold in all of those old devices taking up space in America's junk drawers, there are also a lot of other extremely valuable minerals lurking in those devices that can be recycled and remanufactured into battery packs for electric cars.

Nickel, copper, lithium, cobalt and other precious minerals all were common in the batteries powering yesterday's electronics and can be extremely useful in b…

Electric Fords are headed to Norway.

Ford Motor Co. last week said it would begin exporting its F-150 Lightning pickup to Norway, which it called "the world's most advanced electric vehicle market."

Ford said the plan was spurred by voracious consumer demand in Norway, where EVs accounted for 80 percent of new-vehicle sales last year.

Norway, which aims to have only zero-emission vehicles on sale by 2025, will be the first country outside North America to get the Lightning.

Deliveries will begin next year, Ford said.

"I've had customers literally banging on my door and pleading for us to bring the electric pickup to Norway," Per Gunnar Berg, the managing director of Ford Norway, said in a statement. "F-150 Lightning is the perfect match for many customers in Norway — uniquely capable of quenching our thirst for adventure while embracing our passion for protecting the environment."

Ford's embrace o…

Many in the auto finance industry are optimistic a recent appeals court ruling about the Military Lending Act will put the case to rest.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on April 12 affirmed a lower court's decision that bundling guaranteed asset protection coverage does not make an auto loan subject to the Military Lending Act. Two of the three judges ruled that based on the law's language, a retail installment contract that finances the vehicle purchase and guaranteed asset protection coverage "is for the express purpose of financing the car purchase" and therefore does not fall within the definition of consumer credit covered by the Military Lending Act.

"This ensures that thousands of vehicles owned by service members and their families will not be in jeopardy or subject to repossession," the American Financial Services Association said in a statement. "This case again highlights flaws of the [Military Lending Act], which we h…

New tailpipe emission regulations proposed by the EPA could serve to speed up electric vehicle adoption in the U.S., with the agency expecting EVs to make up 67 percent of all new light-duty vehicle sales by 2032 under the rules.

But to meet those targets, automakers will need their suppliers to quickly ramp up their own EV parts programs. Considering the financial stress many suppliers find themselves under after years of materials shortages and inflationary pressure, that could prove to be easier said than done, said Dan Rustmann, co-chair of Detroit law firm Butzel Long's global automotive group.

"The OEMs try to pass down costs and pressure as much as they can through the supply chain," Rustmann said. "But the supply chain is already heavily burdened because of inflation and the lingering effects of the pandemic and shortages."

Last week, the EPA released the strictest limits on tailpipe emissions in its history, a move that …

DETROIT — Lloyd Reuss, a mechanical engineer who rose to become General Motors president in the early 1990s, died on Friday. He was 86.

Reuss, a classic company man with sharp political instincts and a passion for performance, was the father of Mark Reuss, GM's current president and head of the automaker's regional and international operations, global product development programs, quality and design.

Mark Reuss posted the news of his father's death on Facebook.

Lloyd Reuss became GM president on Aug. 1, 1990, as part of incoming Chairman Robert Stempel's executive team.

As president, he was an early supporter of the GM Impact, a concept car that debuted at the 1990 Los Angeles Auto Show, and became the GM EV1, a forerunner to today’s EVs.

Mary Barra, GM chair and CEO, in a statement, called Lloyd Reuss "a talented executive and leader of GM and .. a strong force for good in the community with his service, dedication and tireless efforts on…

A 50-year-old woman has been charged with felony embezzlement for allegedly stealing about $71,000 from a Toyota dealership in Philadelphia, Miss., local station WTOK reported. Philadelphia is in central Mississippi, northeast of Jackson.

Latisha Jones Smith was formerly the comptroller for Doc's Toyota, according to WTOK. Smith had been let go by Doc's Toyota on Jan. 5 for undisclosed reasons unrelated to the embezzlement charges, WTOK reported. The store had been auditing its books in the intervening months, according to WTOK.

Doc's Toyota and Smith declined to comment. .

Smith might be facing additional charges in Louisville, Miss., from when the dealership was located there. Sean Holdiness, chief of the Louisville Police Department, told Automotive News that charges are likely to be filed against Smith upon completion of their investigation.

Smith has since posted bail, WTOK reported.

The northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang is considering buying a stake in Hong Kong-listed Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, giving it exposure to a local joint venture with BMW Group, according to people familiar with the situation.

The municipal government is discussing a potential acquisition of a 30 percent stake in Brilliance China held by state-backed Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings Co., which is in a court-led restructuring process, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is confidential.

A 30 percent stake in Brilliance China is worth about $588 million based on the company’s current market value of around HK$15.4 billion ($2 billion). Shares of Brilliance China closed 2.7 percent higher after climbing as much as 5.1 percent following the Bloomberg News report.

Shenyang is considering eventually acquiring control of all of Brilliance China, the people said. Buying a stake of 30 percent or more in a Hong Kong-lis…

New UAW President Shawn Fain is singling out Stellantis, saying the union’s relationship with the automaker is “fractured.” Jaguar Land Rover is now just JLR as it reorganizes for a new era. Plus, Informed.IQ’s Jessica Gonzalez talks about leveraging AI in the auto lending industry for credit decisions and loan servicing.

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UAW President Shawn Fain on Friday said the union's relationship with Stellantis has been "fractured" by the company's decision to indefinitely idle its Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois, with the future of the facility a likely flashpoint in upcoming contract negotiations.

"When the CEO of the company can fly over here and go to our plants and threaten our members about future product and absenteeism but can't take the time to reach out to us and have discussions with us, that's a problem," Fain said in an virtual interview with the Automotive Press Association in Detroit. "Meanwhile, we have plant closing moratoriums in our contracts; it's a flat-out black and white violation, what they're doing right now. When they take actions like that that hurt our members, things aren't going to be good."

Fain said he has not met with Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares but has delivered stern warnings to other company executives. He stopped short, however, of saying the u…