Trade News

WASHINGTON — A large majority of dealers surveyed by Automotive News said they are taking steps to sell electric vehicles, but they have mixed opinions on the federal government's role in supporting the transition and accelerating consumer adoption.

Roughly 82 percent of the dealers are selling or preparing to sell EVs at their stores, according to responses in the 2023 Dealer Outlook Survey of 264 dealers and dealership managers. That's slightly higher than last year's results of about 80 percent in a survey of 196.

To get ready, most respondents surveyed in January said they have installed charging infrastructure, followed by purchasing and installing service department equipment and training or hiring technicians specifically for EV maintenance and repair.

While dealers said they're feeling pressure from automakers to invest in EVs and the necessary infrastructure and store upgrades to sell and service them, they also cited the Biden administration …

ZEELAND, Mich. — Automotive mirror supplier Gentex Corp. has agreed to pay $4 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges involving the company's alleged accounting failures with executive and employee bonuses.

Additionally, CFO Kevin Nash has agreed to pay $75,000 to settle similar charges of violating the Securities Exchange Act.

The SEC announced the charges and settlement payments on Tuesday. The charges involved "financial reporting, books-and-records, and internal accounting controls violations arising out of the company's accounting for its executive and employee bonus compensation programs," according to the SEC.

Under the settlement, Gentex (Nasdaq: GNTX) and Nash agree to cease-and-desist orders in addition to the civil fines. The settlement neither admits to or denies the SEC's findings.

"We're pleased to have settled this SEC inquiry and to arrive at a resolution to put the matter behind us and to continue the j…

TOKYO – Honda Motor Co. said the global semiconductor shortage is bottoming out but still cut its global sales forecast as it warned that tight supplies will likely drag into the latter half of 2023.

Japan’s No. 2 automaker trimmed 250,000 units off its sales outlook for the current fiscal year ending March 31, citing lingering chip woes and uncertainty about the pandemic in China.

Honda now expects worldwide volume to dip under the 4-million-level to 3.85 million units.

The new sales target would register as a 5.4 percent sales decline from the previous fiscal year – as opposed to Honda’s previous forecast for a slight overall sales increase.

The volume languishes far below Honda’s global production capacity of 5.14 million.

Speaking at Honda’s quarterly earnings announcement on Friday, Operating Executive Eiji Fujimura said the supply of semiconductors is expected to pick up, but only in the second half of the coming fiscal year. That co…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ J.D. Power: EV charger reliability worsens

The reliability of the electric vehicle charging network is getting worse with at least 1 in 5 charging attempts by drivers failing last year, according to a new J.D. Power study.

Widespread problems are occurring as EV adoption grows at twice the rate of charger installation and the industry and government plan to invest billions of dollars into charging infrastructure.

Many charging stations are aging, lack routine maintenance and face software hiccups.

The number of failed charging attempts climbed steadily from 15 percent in the first quarter of 2021 to 20 percent in the first quarter of 2022 and rose to more than 21 percent by the third quarter, according to J.D. Power's Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study released Wednesday.

Satisfaction with Level 2 chargers and Level 3 chargers hit its lowest point in the third quarter since J.D. Power began its EV p…

CHICAGO — Volkswagen's reengineered 2024 Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport crossovers will lose their V-6 engine options in favor of a standard turbocharged inline-four engine — one that will maintain the previous generation's 5,000-pound tow rating — while gaining a more upscale interior.

The three-row Atlas and two-row Atlas Cross Sport are getting a rework in part to line up an eventual changeover to a battery-electric powertrain for the brand's largest crossovers. The two vehicles are due for one last full redesign in 2026 before the introduction of what the brand refers to as a B-segment electric vehicle later in the decade. The reengineered vehicles were shown Thursday at the Chicago Auto Show.

For 2024, the Atlas family will come equipped with a single powertrain variant: a 269-hp turbocharged inline-four mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission, capable of generating 273 pound-feet of torque. VW says the new powertrain is expected to provide improved f…

Toyota pulls the sheet off the 2024 Grand Highlander in Chicago. Nissan expects cratering sales of its small cars to recover soon. Plus, a conversation with Hyundai Motor North America's Olabisi Boyle, who says Hyundai may pass on its Inflation Reduction Act tax credits to customers who lease an EV.

How do I subscribe?

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. 

iPhone / iPad

Android

Spotify

Ram's first electric pickup officially has a name.

The truck, slated to enter production in 2024, will be known as the 1500 REV.

Ram CEO Mike Koval, who was scheduled make the announcement Thursday during the Chicago Auto Show, said the name will be easy to market and "helps with the showroom distinction between the historical ICE [models] and the new EV future."

Koval said the REV is a "direct descendant" of the 1500 Revolution concept that debuted last month at the CES expo in Las Vegas. The Revolution concept used the STLA Frame platform for full-size, body-on-frame electric vehicles that allowed designers to create the truck's unique proportions.

The REV name is simple and straightforward, Koval told Automotive News. "We believe it's easy to understand; it's easy to communicate. We think our customers, both our current customers as well as new customers who are considering our brand, will understand it."

Ram also is demonstrating an int…

In January of 2023, Car Wars conducted research to analyze the phone performance of nearly 3,000 automotive dealerships from 2019 to 2022. Through the study, Car Wars captured data that verifies the importance of the phone at your dealership. Download this FREE industry report to learn data-backed tactics and eye-catching industry phone trends to help you succeed in 2023.

Download to discover:

Top eye-catching industry phone trends from 2019 to 2022 Data-backed answers to dealers' hottest questions about phone handling effectiveness In-depth and actionable insights to help make informed decisions at your dealership The secret sauce to improve phone handling at your dealership in 2023

From smart manufacturing to Industry 4.0, to CASE and more, today's automotive industry faces unprecedented disruption. In this whitepaper, Infor’s automotive industry expert Peter Maithel along with others discuss the transformational changes in automotive manufacturing and how your business can adjust.

5 Key Takeaways

Redesigning the manufacturing footprint is imperative for the automotive industry, especially with its notoriously complex, fragile, & logistically challenging global operations & supply chain Companies that provide a differentiated customer experience will pull ahead of the competition Maximizing profitably through streamlining and integrating processes across demand management, shop floor operations, and supply chain Aligning critical new data management skills with modern information technology platforms to enable real-time, dynamic business processes and decision-making Learn why data is the foundation for next generation insights, machine …

The three-row 2023 Kia Telluride plays sidekick for a desperate dad who forgot his baby's binky in the automaker's latest Super Bowl commercial, but the story doesn't end when the spot is over.

That's when the fun starts.

Kia is presenting three alternate endings for the 60-second ad exclusively on its TikTok channel to keep the story alive and generate engagement.

After seeing each outcome, Kia wants viewers to share how they'd like the adventure to end, said Russell Wager, Kia America's vice president of marketing.

The ad is scheduled to debut Thursday on NBC's "Today" show. It will air in the third quarter of Sunday's game. The spot was created by David & Goliath, Kia's agency of record.

"TikTok is where the conversation is, more so than Twitter and Facebook and Instagram during the Super Bowl, so we wanted to have that dialogue started before, and carry on afterwards," Wager told Automotive News. …

TOKYO — Nissan said cratering sales of some of the brand's most popular compact vehicles should start to recover this quarter as the company ramps up microchip-constrained production.

Slumping sales of the Sentra and Versa small cars and Kicks compact crossover helped fuel an overall 6.9 percent decline in global sales at Nissan Motor Co. for the October to December quarter.

COO Ashwani Gupta said sales of those models, all made in Mexico, have been torpedoed by severe production constraints caused by the ongoing global semiconductor shortage.

"Where we faced the challenge was Sentra, Kicks and Versa, which dropped 40 percent with respect to last year because of the very particular semiconductor shortage for these cars," Gupta said Thursday in announcing the Japanese carmaker's fiscal third-quarter financial results.

Traditionally, these popular nameplates combine to comprise about 18 percent of U.S. dealer inventory. But recently, they have acco…

The new-vehicle market is on the mend in California, the nation's top volume state, thanks to pent-up demand and booming sales for electric and hybrid vehicles. Toyota remained the market leader last year, while Tesla displaced Honda for the No. 2 spot.

The California New Car Dealers Association forecast a 5.5 percent increase in new-vehicle registrations this year to about 1.8 million. That's still short of the 2 million vehicles the state registered in each of the five years before the pandemic hit in 2020.

"Due to pent-up demand and low vehicle inventory availability since the pandemic, an estimated 43 percent of sales have been delayed," the association said Tuesday. Better supply should push down prices and drive deliveries, the association added.

But the group warned that higher interest rates and lingering supply chain issues remain a drag on the market.

As a trendsetter for the nation, California is bolstering its leadership role in sales …