Trade News

U.S. light-vehicle sales got off to a strong start in the first quarter, but the new-vehicle market showed signs of losing momentum by March as rising interest rates and transaction prices are putting pressure on what consumers can afford.

Supply constraints that have suppressed car and light truck availability for the last two years remain but are easing. Analysts say March sales should reflect an improvement from a year ago, but the pace has slowed since the start of this year, suggesting that economic headwinds and affordability concerns are forcing some buyers to the sidelines.

Most automakers are scheduled to report March or first-quarter U.S. sales results on Monday.

The seasonally adjusted annualized selling rate for March is forecast to come in between 13.8 million and 14.4 million vehicles. That would be an improvement from the 13.7 million rate in March 2022, according to Motor Intelligence, but well below the 15.2 million pace in February and…

In this week's edition of Automotive News, you'll find a data-centric story I wrote laying out how U.S. sales of certified pre-owned vehicles fell last year.

And fell they did — to 2.49 million vehicles, down 9.4 percent from 2.75 million in 2021, according to figures compiled by the Automotive News Research & Data Center. It was the lowest annual volume since 2014, when sales of 2.34 million certified vehicles were recorded.

Not surprisingly then, the majority of automakers saw their certified used-vehicle sales fall year over year. Dealers and brand executives overseeing automakers' certified sales operations detailed how changing industry conditions between 2021 and 2022 led to such a downturn.

They grappled last year with tighter supply of certification-eligible inventory, a direct result of stunted new-vehicle production in 2020 and 2021. The supply challenge worsened as more consumers took to buying out their vehicle lease when they realized th…

Honda Motor Co. is recalling more than 330,300 vehicles for side-view mirrors that may detach.

The recall includes:

• 2020-22 Honda Odyssey

• 2020-22 Honda Passport

• 2020-21 Honda Pilot

• 2020-21 Honda Ridgeline

Heating pads behind the side-view mirrors can lose adhesion, causing the glass to potentially detach, according to a Honda recall document.

Detached mirror glass can reduce driver visibility and increase the risk of a crash, according to NHTSA.

Affected models were produced at Honda's plant in Lincoln, Ala., Honda spokesman Chris Martin told Automotive News. Martin said he is not aware of vehicles affected outside of the U.S. and Canada.

Honda first received a market quality report that showed a potential trend of mirror vibration in December 2018 and began investigating. The trend increased in October 2020. The side-view mirror supplier changed the heater pad and mirror back-plate adhesive tape in July …

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday confirmed it will end sales of the Transit Connect small van in North America after the 2023 model year, plans that Automotive News first reported last year.

The automaker, which hasn't publicly commented on the plans until now, said in a statement the decision stemmed from the company's "efforts to reduce global manufacturing cost and complexity, alongside decreased demand for the compact van segment."

Ford currently imports the vehicle to North America from a plant in Valencia, Spain. Automotive News reported last year that Ford had planned to build a next-generation model for North America in Mexico, code-named V758, but scrapped those plans.

The next-gen model would have been built on the same platform as the Maverick compact pickup and Bronco Sport crossover, which are also assembled in Mexico.

Ford on Tuesday confirmed the Transit Connect will continue to be built in Spain and sold in European markets.

DETROIT — UAW President Shawn Fain struck a defiant tone in his inaugural address to members on the first day of the union's special bargaining convention, laying the groundwork for potentially contentious contract talks with the Detroit 3 automakers this year.

"We're here to come together to ready ourselves for the war against the one and only true enemy: multibillion dollar corporations and employers who refuse to give our members their fair share," Fain said to members. "It's a new day in the UAW."

Fain was sworn in as the UAW's fifth president in five years a day before the convention opened following a prolonged, contentious election.

He defeated incumbent President Ray Curry by fewer than 500 votes. As the count neared an end, Curry filed a protest alleging widespread disenfranchisement.

Fain has promised a more aggressive approach to bargaining with the Detroit 3 this fall. The union is expected to fight for better wages and benefits as wel…

The rethink of auto shows continues.

Organizers of IAA Mobility 2023 said Wednesday they've reached an agreement with venture capital firm Assembly Ventures to oversee a portion of the show's conference programming this fall in Munich.

The development underscores an evolving shift for IAA, which in recent years has changed locations and expanded to include e-bikes and scooters. Now, the conference's work with Assembly Ventures helps address topics at the center of an uncertain transportation industry.

Likewise, it puts an emphasis on the changing nature of traditional auto shows.

"Mobility is not just a bolt-on that automotive folks need to be aware of," Jessica Robinson, co-founder and partner at Assembly Ventures, told Automotive News. "This is integral to the future, and we're seeing this in how they're organizing this show."

Collaborating with a venture capital firm on programming made sense, IAA organizers said, because they have first…

Shawn Fain was sworn in as president of the UAW over the weekend before the quadrennial special bargaining convention started on Monday. U.S. dealership count rose last year even as sales skidded. Plus, independent auto dealer Amanda Gordon shares insights on the still-tight used-vehicle market.

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Two employees at Nissan of Newnan in Georgia have been arrested amid a police investigation into customer reports of fraud on vehicle purchase paperwork.

Two customers reported forged signatures on their documentation, with one alleging the forgery in connection with a vehicle service contract and other add-on items included in the deal without her knowledge. A third police report found a couple alleging the dealership lied to a financial institution about the trim level of the pickup they purchased, a practice known in the finance-and-insurance industry as "power-booking."

A spokeswoman for the city of Newnan would not confirm whether any arrests had been made in the case, citing the ongoing investigation into the dealership.

But attorney John Lovell of the Law Offices of John Lovell said his clients Joshua Cherman and Mohammed Karim Hassan had each been arrested on suspicion of single counts of theft by deception in connection with the case.

On …

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general are urging Congress to pass "expansive" right-to-repair legislation that, in part, targets the auto industry.

In a letter sent last week to Democratic and Republican lawmakers, 28 attorneys general called on Congress to consider previously introduced legislation that focuses on repairing vehicles, agricultural equipment and consumer electronics.

"Manufacturing of automobiles, digital devices and agricultural equipment is increasingly becoming more technologically advanced and built with more embedded electronics," the attorneys general, which represent states including California, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Tennessee as well as the District of Columbia and Guam, wrote in the letter.

"OEMs often control access to these electronics parts, creating unfair restraint of trade and a monopoly on repair. This can harm consumers directly by driving up prices and is antithetical to a fr…

WASHINGTON — Automakers represented by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation have joined nearly 350 business, labor and trade groups urging Congress to pass a permitting reform bill before summer's end.

In a letter sent Monday to congressional leaders, the diverse coalition — led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — called on lawmakers to pass "meaningful and durable" legislation that would modernize the permitting process for a variety of domestic energy projects, including critical mineral mining to support the production of electric vehicle batteries.

The groups, which include state and local chambers as well as the American Clean Power Association, American Gas Association, Business Roundtable and National Mining Association, argue the U.S. permitting process is outdated, with federal permits taking up to seven and a half years on average to be approved depending on the project.

"Our permitting system is fundamentally broken, and it is delaying the inv…

Lucid Group, Inc. is recalling several hundred electric vehicles due to a glitch that may cause its flagship model to lose power while being driven.

The startup said flawed electrically activated switches could affect the 2022-2023 model years of the Lucid Air, triggering the recall of 637 vehicles, according to a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"This may lead to a loss of propulsion without pre-warning and may increase the risk of a crash," the company said in the filing, which was submitted to the regulatory agency on March 23.

The Newark, Calif.-based company delivered 4,494 Lucid Air vehicles as of the end of last year. Lucid said in the filing that its service centers will update the vehicle software and replace the problematic switches for free. It didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Chinese new-vehicle dealers are struggling to stay afloat after efforts to clear gasoline-fueled cars before tougher emissions standards taking effect later this year are upended by a bruising price war.

Auto sales — especially of internal combustion engine light vehicles — haven’t bounced back from pandemic restrictions even with hefty discounts doled out by major carmakers including BYD Co., Chery Auto, Toyota Motor Corp. and Ford Motor Co. New-vehicle sales fell 20 percent in the first two months of the year, with deliveries of gasoline-fueled cars dropping 30 percent.

With the next phase of China’s emissions standards to be implemented in July, dealers could be left with hundreds of thousands of cars that would become non-compliant, according to a March 23 article by the country’s Auto Dealers Chamber of Commerce, which has since been deleted from its WeChat account. The price war may have brought higher foot traffic, but showrooms that didn’t offer discou…