Trade News

The Treasury Department spells out how battery components and critical minerals will be measured for EV tax credits. General Motors is dropping Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from its future EVs. A prominent auto dealer advocate leaves his post. Plus, improve service customer satisfaction with more processes and better processes.

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Ford CEO Jim Farley's total compensation fell slightly in 2022 to $20,996,146, according to the company's annual proxy statement.

Compensation for four of Ford's top five named executives dipped from the prior year, largely because they received fewer incentives. Doug Field, Ford's chief advanced product development and technology officer, was the lone named executive whose compensation rose.

Farley's base salary remained unchanged at $1.7 million, while his stock awards and non-equity incentives dipped slightly. The company said his 2022 compensation amounted to 281 times the median total compensation of all Ford employees.

Farley earned $22.8 million in 2021.

The results follow a year of "frustrating" financial and operating results at the automaker. Ford posted adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of $10.4 billion dollars last year and a $2 billion net loss.

The day after reporting the results, Farley told employees that he woul…

Wholesale auctions provider KAR Global on Friday said that Jim Hallett, who was the company's CEO from 2009 to 2021, is retiring from his role as its executive chairman.

Hallett, 69, was appointed executive chairman of KAR Global in 2021. He is also stepping down as chairman of the company's board of directors, a role he held since 2014. Michael Kestner, KAR Global's lead independent director since 2019, will assume that role April 1, while Hallett will remain a member of the board, the company said in a news release. Peter Kelly, 54, succeeded Hallett as CEO of KAR Global in 2021.

Hallett joined the company in 1993 as president of the auction unit ADESA Canada. In 1996, he became CEO of ADESA. He led its initial public offering in 2004 and oversaw its buyout and merger with Insurance Auto Auctions Inc. in 2007.

The combined company went public in 2009 as KAR Auction Services Inc. In 2019, IAA was spun off into a separate entity. In May 2022, KAR Global …

Longtime Colorado Auto Dealers Association CEO Tim Jackson, a high-profile voice for dealers in the state and nationally, parted ways with the organization on Friday.

In a release, the board said it has appointed Matthew Groves, its vice president of legal, regulatory and compliance, as interim CEO, effective immediately.

Jackson, 66, has been CEO of CADA since 2004. Among his most recent dealer advocacy efforts, this year he championed a legislative effort to force automakers to reimburse dealers for warranty work at the higher rates dealers charge retail customers.

"The ultimate decision to depart was a joint one with Tim and the [CADA] board," Groves told Automotive News on Friday. He said he "has a great relationship with Tim, who gave me a job when I first got to Colorado. I'll continue to keep the train running" as interim CEO. "I understand he's got big plans for the future, and we'll be happy to support him with his new venture."

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Tesla Inc. shares are set to mark their best-ever start to a year, buoyed by price cuts across the electric-vehicle maker’s lineup in a bid to boost sales. Investors will soon discover if all the enthusiasm was justified.

The Elon Musk-led carmaker is expected to announce quarterly delivery and production figures in early April, providing an initial glimpse into how well the company’s strategy of chasing volume over profit margins worked. 

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect the Austin, Texas-based company to deliver a record 421,164 cars globally in the first quarter of 2023, up from the 405,278 it delivered last quarter.

“In recent months Tesla has pivoted from being supply constrained to being demand constrained,” Barclays analyst Dan Levy wrote in a note to clients, adding that while concerns about demand “temporarily halted when Tesla cut prices in early January, questions have resumed of late.”

The company missed delivery estimates i…

TOKYO -- Nissan and Renault are working well together to sign a final agreement about the reshaping of their alliance and are confident that a deal will be reached soon, Nissan said in a statement on Friday.

The automaker was responding to an earlier report by Japanese news agency Jiji which said that the final contract on the reboot of the alliance may be delayed until after April due to extended discussion on electric vehicles and intellectual property.

The companies plan to reshape their troubled alliance to ease longstanding tensions. Nissan wants to reduce the influence of Renault in its business.

The companies said in January that Renault will reduce its stake in Nissan to 15 percent from about 43 percent now. Renault will transfer 28.4 percent of Nissan shares into a French trust, making the two more equal partn…

Canoo Inc. agreed to pay $1.5 million as part of a settlement of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the electric-vehicle startup’s blank-check merger.

The resolution was disclosed Thursday in a statement that also detailed the company’s fourth-quarter earnings. Canoo lost $80.2 million in the final three months of 2022 and finished the year with $36.6 million in cash and equivalents.

The SEC opened the probe into Canoo in early 2021 in part to look into the startup’s merger with a special purpose acquisition company.

The agency told Canoo it was also investigating its “operations, business model, revenues, revenue strategy, customer agreements, earnings and other related topics, along with the recent departures of certain of the company’s officers.”

Canoo’s shares were up 5 percent as of midday trading on Friday.

Electric vehicle maker Rivian Automotive is trying to scale up its Illinois factory to turn out 50,000 vehicles this year, but Cox Automotive estimates first-quarter deliveries of just 8,145 units, for a 1.1 percent gain over the previous quarter.

Luxury EV maker Lucid Motors is growing at a faster clip, but Cox projects deliveries of 1,344 vehicles in the January to March period. That represents a 27 percent increase vs. fourth-quarter 2022, but it's a slow start for Lucid to meet its 2023 guidance of 14,000 Air sedans.

The two startups are cutting costs and laying off workers a year and a half after their first deliveries in fall 2021. Both have seen their stock prices drop by about 70 percent in the last 12 months.

Rivian says it has enough demand, but has been unable to solve manufacturing issues at its Illinois plant, which has a 150,000-unit annual capacity. Lucid says it needs to raise brand awareness to grow its order backlog.

Meanwhile, …

Ford signs a deal with partners for a $4.5 billion EV battery material plant in Asia. Kia stores have become a hot ticket for retail M&A. Polestar sees its leasing business growing, thanks to U.S. tax credits. Jeep rolls out its Easter Safari concepts. Plus, a conversation about the UAW’s new president and its bargaining convention.

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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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Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. announced that it’s started producing electric vehicles following years of turmoil and more than $3 billion spent.

The company celebrated the milestone with a live-streamed event where it showed off a vehicle body built by a supplier outside its Hanford, California, plant. Faraday started assembling the rest of the vehicle after the stream ended and is still planning to make its first deliveries late next month, according to a spokesman.

Faraday still has hurdles to clear before shipping its first FF 91 electric crossovers, including certifying some key safety components such as the seat belts and airbags. It’s been a long time coming for the vehicle — founder Jia Yueting first showed a prototype of it in January 2017.

The company, which went public in July 2021 through a reverse merger, is coming off a power struggle for control over the board of directors. A shareholder group associated with the founder, who go…

You’ve been hearing it for years — the electric vehicle (EV) revolution is coming, get ready. Today, we’re well past that point, and suppliers are coming face to face with the enormity of the changes. The question is no longer “How will you get ready?” but rather “How are you incorporating this new EV reality into your strategic plans and business operations?”

A more competitive business environment is the new normal for automotive dealers in 2023. Inventory levels are stabilizing while direct sales and online-only competitors are encroaching on dealership turf.

Dealerships always win at the retail level as they alone can blend the ease of online shopping with the knowledgeable, caring human touch of an in-store presence. Leverage this advantage with four tactics:

Develop meaningful local lender partnerships to help customers find the financing they need. Win the retail touchpoint with an outstanding physical experience that 75 percent of customers still want and demand. Use digital lending platforms to speed funding and free-up cash flow to buy more inventory and sell more cars. Prepare for “high-touch” electronic vehicle (EV) sales by establishing relationships with EV-knowledgeable lenders. A great “in-person” experience wins in a competitive market.