Trade News

Some auto dealerships are installing solar panels to offset expensive and energy-intensive automaker requirements to build EV chargers on their lots.

Dealerships in sunny locations with large roofs and parking lots may be well-equipped to install solar panels and reduce their energy costs, said auto and energy experts at the New York International Auto Show this week.

"Franchised dealers — and I probably work with about a third of them so far now — are really realizing the electrification of the facility is where the king's gold resides," said Ryan Ferrero, the national director of auto industry electrification at Freedom Solar Inc., a company that works with dealers to install solar panels.

Auto brands including Ford, Cadillac, GMC and Chevrolet require dealers to have various numbers of different levels of EV chargers. Ford Model e Certified Elite dealers, for example, must have six Level 2 chargers and three Level 3 chargers by 2026.

Dealers …

Credit unions snapped up auto loan market share in 2022, but Credit Union Leasing of America, or CULA, encountered record levels of interest in leasing from the segment last year as well.

The company connects credit unions and dealers interested in leasing inventory using the residual values it calculates. It facilitated $2.7 billion in leases in 2022, a record that broke the previous high of $2 billion in 2021. Credit unions used it for 64,000 leases in 2022, up from 50,000 in 2021. The company said it grew its dealership count by 42 percent, added seven more credit unions and expanded to nine more states last year.

"Leasing has proved to be a powerful short-term, low-risk, strong-yield option that not only gives credit union members more payment flexibility but also, as vehicle prices skyrocket, provides dealers new opportunities to be more competitive by offering their customers a more affordable way to buy cars while increasing loyalty and …

Credit unions beat out rivals for auto financing market share during the fourth quarter of 2022, and dealership finance and insurance offices should expect them to remain strong competitors this year.

Dawit Kebede, senior economist at the Credit Union National Association, said credit unions achieved 21 percent growth in auto loans last year.

"Best. Year. Ever" is how Josh Amaton, vice president of CUDL dealer client experience, summed up 2022 for credit unions in auto lending.

The association expected more growth in 2023, though not to that degree, Kebede told Automotive News last week.

The organization has predicted credit union auto lending will grow 8 percent this year, Kebede said. However, that projection predates the recent U.S. banking industry upheaval, which could cut into credit union loan growth, he said.

"We still expect consistency from our credit union lenders," Amaton said in January. "We …

Work Truck Solutions targets an auto retailing niche: helping dealers better manage their commercial inventory and connect with buyers. That focus fills a market void, leaving industry insiders such as Dan Bryan eternally grateful.

Bryan, a customer and general manager of specialty auto retailer Ricart to Business, explained that dealer-centric software companies typically overlook the space in which his company operates.

"I sat through an AI demo earlier that was so focused on the retail side, the commercial side wasn't even brought up," Bryan said. "The commercial side is behind the retail [technology] business in some aspects."

Kathryn Schifferle is the founder of Work Truck Solutions, a software company launched in 2011 in Chico, Calif. It employs roughly 80 people and has raised a little over $12 million in venture capital funding to date from investors including Autotech Ventures, WomensVC Fund and Golden Seeds, among others…

A used Mini store in Scotland is battling BMW with emojis and a sense of humor.

The fight began after Bridgend Motor Group opened Mini World, a showroom specializing in the tiny British cars, in December. Someone tipped off BMW, Mini's German parent company, which forbade Bridgend from using the word "Mini" on its signage. The store first tried crossing off the brand's name and logo while airing the dispute in the court of social media.

"Apparently, we're not allowed to use the word MINI when we're trying to sell used Minis," Bridgend wrote on Facebook. "Not on our signs, our flags or our website. We're not even sure if we're allowed to think the word now! They were so stern about it.

"Anyway, we are sincerely sorry for our genuine mistake and for the avoidance of doubt, we sell used Minis, and are definitely not a MINI dealer. We're much cheaper!"

When that didn't appease BMW, the store covered the "M" with a variety of …

NEW YORK — The electric pickup with a 500-mile range that Ram showed here last week represents the future for Stellantis.

But getting there by late 2024, when the Ram 1500 REV is slated to reach dealerships, is a costly proposition. That's why company executives at the New York International Auto Show emphasized the need to boost profitability, cut costs and confront sliding sales of today's gasoline-powered lineup to fund the shift to electric vehicles.

The REV is "what we're here to celebrate and talk about, but it's expensive," Ram CEO Mike Koval Jr. told Automotive News. "That's the elephant in the room for everybody. The cost of electrification is expensive, so for sure we need to make sure that we protect the profitability of our current in-market [internal combustion engine] business to help fund the transition to electrification."

Protecting those profits amid the pandemic, inflation, regulatory changes, the microchip shorta…

Wholesale used-vehicle prices rose again in March, according to two major indicators.

One of those, the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, recorded a fourth-straight month of increases because of continued tight used-vehicle supply.

Cox Automotive said Friday 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 to those figures — rose 1.5 percent in March from February. Cox adjusts that figure for mix, mileage and seasonality.

Black Book's Used Vehicle Retention Index — another indicator of wholesale prices, weighted based on registration volume and adjusted for seasonality, vehicle age, mileage and condition — rose 2.9 percent in March from February.

Still, wholesale prices were down compared with a year earlier. The Manheim index was 2.4 percent lower last month compared with the same month in 2022, according to Cox. The company also r…

Toyota CEO Koji Sato announces plans to turbocharge the company’s EV sales to 1.5 million vehicles in 2026.  Tesla cuts prices again. Plus, Steve Kramer of the electronic payment and billing platform PayNearMe says auto lenders should embrace QR codes and other quick payment methods.

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Maybe fleet sales aren't so bad after all.

U.S. light-vehicle deliveries rose 8.5 percent in the first quarter of 2023, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center, as an easing of the global microchip shortage improved inventories for most brands.

General Motors and Hyundai Motor Group each posted double-digit gains, even as transaction prices remained at record levels. Cox Automotive said the industry's annualized selling rate jumped to 15.3 million, from 14.1 million a year ago.

"Anyone looking for signs of a recession won't find it in the new-vehicle market," Cox Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough said.

Much of the increase was driven by fleet sales, as higher production levels allowed automakers to fill orders more easily instead of diverting their limited supplies to retail buyers.

Ford said fleet sales across the industry rose 37 percent from a year ago. The automaker did not break out its own fleet sales but repor…

An iconic downtown Los Angeles dealership has new owners, a group bolstered its Kia portfolio, an acquisitive auto retailer expanded again and a Stellantis dealership changed hands, all in three fourth-quarter transactions and one deal that closed this week.

Here's a look at the deals involving domestic and import stores and dealerships in California, Florida, Tennessee and Indiana.

Two transactions involved an auto retailer ranked on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups.

Auto retail investment company Open Road Capital and Rinaldi Halim on Dec. 19 bought an iconic Chevrolet dealership in California — known for its sign featuring Felix the Cat.

Open Road and Halim bought Felix Chevrolet in Los Angeles, a dealership dating back to 1921, from owners Darryl Holter and his wife, Carole Shammas, Tim Batchelor, an Open Road Capital partner, confirmed to Automotive News.

Open Road and Halim ret…

WASHINGTON — General Motors' self-driving unit Cruise LLC recalled 300 robotaxis and updated their software after a March 23 crash with a San Francisco bus.

In a document submitted Monday to NHTSA, Cruise said the collision was caused by "an issue related to prediction of the unique movements of articulated vehicles," such as buses and tractor trailers.

In the San Francisco incident, Cruise said its robotaxi initially perceived both sections of the bus as it was pulling out of a bus stop. As the bus proceeded forward into the Cruise robotaxi's lane, the rear section of the bus blocked the front section, and the bus began decelerating.

Cruise told federal regulators that its vehicle "inaccurately determined that the bus was continuing to move forward in traffic based on the anticipated behavior of the front section of the bus, which was by then obstructed, and the [automated driving system] commanded the [autonomous vehicle] to begin decelerating too lat…