Trade News

Small and midsize dealerships are struggling to implement the regulatory items needed to comply with the Federal Trade Commission's revised Safeguards Rule. The good news is the FTC has extended the original December 2022 deadline to June 9, 2023.

An important element of these rule updates is information security — protecting your data, systems and infrastructure with the correct cybersecurity tool sets and having the right people, processes and reporting mechanisms in place.

While this sounds like a heavy lift for small and midsize dealerships, it doesn't need to be complicated, cumbersome or expensive.

What do you really need to meet security safeguards? A letter from representatives of the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy requesting a deadline extension lists supply chain delays and a talent shortage as top concerns for meeting requirements. While these problems are real, there are solutions that are not com…

European auto plants took a fresh hit from the global semiconductor shortage and will cut nearly 91,000 vehicles out their production schedules for this week as a result.

The worldwide impact of the chip shortage continues to inconvenience the auto industry, according to the newest forecast from AutoForecast Solutions, which has tracked the crisis since it materialized in early 2021. 

Recent weeks of regional flare-ups of the problem have taken a toll on the global total so far this year. One week ago, AFS tallied another 147,000 chip-related factory cutbacks, much of them in North America. 

But with chip supplies and workarounds improving, AFS’ year-end global forecast for lost production has not materially changed. It still estimates that worldwide production cuts due to missing microchips will reach 2.8 million cars and trucks by the end of 2023, more than 900,000 of them occurring at North American factories.

Source: AutoForecast S…

Customers financed $41,445 on the average new-vehicle loan and $27,768 on the average used vehicle loan during the 4th quarter. Those loans on average had higher interest rates and higher monthly payments than a year earlier. Meanwhile, a larger proportion of customers were behind on their loans. Here are more highlights from Experian. Market share of total financing Hover over chart for more detail. Total risk distribution Loan and lease, new and used Q4 2018 Q4 2019 Q4 2020 Q4 2021 Q4 2022 Near Subprime Deep Subprime Super Prime 30-day delinquency Percentage of loans delinquent Q4 2018 2.43% Q4 2019 2.42% Q4 2020 1.81% Q4 2021 1.86% Q4 2022 2.31% 60-day delinquency Percentage of loans delinquent Q4 2018 0.83% Q4 2019 0.83% Q4 2020 0.64% Q4 2021 0.66% Q4 2022 0.87% New-vehicle loans Average amount financed Q4 2020 $35,420 Q4 2021 $39,834 Q4 2022 $41,445 Average loan rate Q4 2020 4.3% Q4 2021 3.88% Q4 2022 6.0…

Sometimes it feels like the state of the autonomous-vehicle industry can only be viewed through the reflection of a fun-house mirror. The setbacks appear as seismic shudders. The progress seen as inch-by-inch developments.

Certainly, the shuttering of Argo last October counts as one of the former. The demise of the Ford-and-Volkswagen-backed company has cast a pall across the industry, one that pervades nearly every corner of the AV realm, from funding to talent acquisition.

Hype was, of course, a problem in the early days of Pollyanna predictions of an imminent self-driving future. But the pendulum has now swung to the other extreme, and it's served to overshadow the incremental progress others have made in Argo's aftermath.

Case in point: Three companies reached noteworthy milestones in the past month.

On Feb. 3, Waymo said its vehicles had surpassed 1 million miles driven without a human driver behind the wheel, even…

As long as it sometimes feels like I've been covering this fascinating auto industry, there are some things that have always been true, like the Ford F-Series being the top-selling nameplate in the U.S.

There have been some seismic shifts over the years — some stuck and some didn't.

General Motors had seemed destined to always be the world's largest automaker and the market-share leader in the U.S. But the Detroit automaker gave up the global crown as it headed into bankruptcy. With a more focused and disciplined approach to markets, it may never be No. 1 again — and is probably a better company for it.

Toyota Motor North America topped GM in U.S. sales in 2021, but GM came back in 2022. Toyota officially brushed off its win as a fluke, but CEO Akio Toyoda admitted to doing a "happy dance" over the news, and it isn't impossible for Toyota to win the U.S. again — though I wouldn't predict it.

You don't always see those big changes coming. But some…

A true action-packed movie is hardly complete without depicting a vehicle exploding or becoming damaged beyond repair, right?

At least, that's probably how director Michael Bay feels. A study by Scrap Car Comparison found the Transformers director is the most dangerous in Hollywood, having wrecked 354 vehicles across his filmography.

In his 15 films, he wrecks an average 24 vehicles per movie.

Fast & Furious director Justin Lin ranks in second place, having smashed 135 vehicles — less than half of Bay's accomplishment.

Bay likely wouldn't be surprised by the news, having previously told ScreenRant that he "definitely probably destroyed more vehicles than any other director in history." It turns out he's definitely probably right.

The ranking was completed by compiling a list of the world's most popular action movie directors and tallying up the number of vehicles that were either damaged or entirely…

Dealerships will face more of a challenge in 2023 than 2022, and it will take work for dealerships to achieve the kind of revenue seen in recent years, EFG Cos. predicted last month.

"It's gonna be a grind," Scott Kaskocsak, executive vice president of dealer services for the finance-and-insurance product provider, told Automotive News in January.

Kaskocsak cited factors such as ongoing supply chain issues, a softening economy and inflation in predicting vehicle affordability was likely to be dealers' top concern outside of inventory.

Nevertheless, Kaskocsak and other EFG executives predicted auto retailers would still have opportunities.

"Success in 2023 will require dealers and lenders to scrutinize performance across all areas of revenue generation if they expect to come close to the historic revenues banked over the last couple years," EFG Chief Revenue Officer Eric Fifield said in January.

EFG said dealers who focused on vehicle pric…

Toyota has taken a more multipronged approach to carbon reduction than some of its peers, blending EVs with hybrids and other green technologies.

Gill Pratt, chief scientist at Toyota Motor Corp. and CEO of the Toyota Research Institute will join Automotive News for a LinkedIn Live chat at noon Eastern on Feb. 28 to discuss the reasons behind that thinking. Pratt will talk about the science behind Toyota's strategy with Executive Editor Jamie Butters and Asia Editor Hans Greimel.

They'll take your questions and talk about the future of reducing carbon emissions. The discussion also will be simulcast on Facebook and YouTube.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares' 2022 pay fell 14 percent to 14.9 million euros ($15.71 million), the maker of Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Fiat vehicles said in a filing on Friday.

Tavares did not receive a retention bonus in 2022, compared with a bonus of about 2 million euros in 2021, the filing showed.

Stellantis reported profit that beat forecasts on Wednesday due to strong car prices and greater-than-expected merger benefits, but warned of pricing pressure as industry-wide supply chain problems ease.

Over 90 percent of Tavares' pay came from variable components after the company posted industrial free cash flows of 10.8 billion euros last year, well above the maximum target of 8.1 billion euros.

Stellantis also achieved cash synergies of 7.1 billion euros during the period, far exceeding the 5 billion euros by 2024 target.

The automaker announced a proposed share buyback program worth up to 1.5 billion euros for 2023 and said it will pay a divi…

For the 12th year, Automotive News is selecting a class of 40 Under 40 in auto retailing. We'll profile the honorees in the July 10 issue.

If you know someone under age 40 who is making a big impact at a new-car dealership in the U.S., we want to know. Self-nominations are welcome.

Go to autonews.com/ 40Under40 and complete the nomination form. We'll contact the nominees and ask them to tell us more about their automotive careers.

The deadline for nominations is April 7. Nominees must be born after July 10, 1983.

Ally is the exclusive sponsor of the program.

Twice a year, roughly 50 luxury vehicle clients get a chance to drive their vehicles on Sebring International Raceway, North America's oldest permanent road racetrack.

Select vehicle owners who attend Dimmitt Automotive Group's track days can drive at high speeds at novice, intermediate or advanced levels.

"Sure, highway speeds can make an engine purr, but if you want to hear an engine sing, you need a racetrack," a post on the group's website reads.

Based in Florida, Dimmitt Automotive Group sells vehicles from nine brands. It sold approximately 7,000 new and used vehicles in 2022. The group will celebrate 100 years in 2024.

The event is discussed on the sales floor before a purchase is even made. Clients express interest months in advance. Track days allow them to see the capabilities of their vehicles in a controlled manner, said Dimmitt Automotive Group General Manager Andrew Dunton.

The event's rarity helps the novelty factor, and Di…

Trouble continues to simmer for Hyundai Motor America and Kia America despite developing a free fix for owners to protect certain older-model-year Hyundai and Kia vehicles from being hotwired.

On Feb. 14, the Korean automakers, both owned by Hyundai Motor Group, launched a service campaign in the form of a software update for 8.4 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles that lack a crucial anti-theft device called an engine immobilizer.

An engine immobilizer electronically tethers a vehicle to its key fob and prevents it from starting without the device present.

The software update extends the length of the vehicle's existing alarm from 30 seconds to one minute and requires the key in the ignition for the vehicle to be turned on. The announcement of the campaign also came from NHTSA.

But one day after the service campaign was issued, the city of Columbus, Ohio — which calculated a near 500 percent increase in thefts of Kia and H…