Trade News – Page 223

Legoland crafts a life-size F-150 Lightning replica

Even Legoland is joining the electric vehicle revolution.

Legoland Florida Resort used Lego bricks to create a life-size replica of the Ford F-150 Lightning as part of its ongoing partnership with area dealers.

The Lego Lightning took more than 1,600 hours to build and is made of about 320,740 pieces. It's the same size as the real thing — more than 19 feet long and 6 feet high — and weighs 3,730 pounds, a little more than half as much as a driveable one.

It has working headlights, taillights and turn signals. Legoland made a time-lapse video showing its builders constructing the truck, which has a basic steel frame inside to keep the bricks from collapsing because of their weight.

The theme park outside Orlando has had a relationship with Ford Motor Co. through Southern Ford Dealers since its 2011 opening. The regional group sponsors an attraction that lets kids drive cars through a miniature town, and Legoland has bu…

Bentley unveils high-tech, airline-style seat option

Let's acknowledge right upfront: It might be a tell that a luxury brand's designers and marketers live in a different world than the masses when they decide that an airline seat should represent the pinnacle of technology and comfort. But that is what Bentley is calling its most technologically advanced and comfortable seat yet, which debuted this year as an option in the extended wheelbase version of its 2023 Bentayga crossover.

Each climate-controlled and fully adjustable "airline seat" constantly measures its occupant's temperature and humidity and adjusts automatically to one of seven preselected comfort levels. The seats in the rear of the Bentayga EWB also feature what Bentley dubs a "postural adjustment system," which employs 12 electric motors and multiple pneumatic valves to constantly change the way the seat interacts with its occupant, improving comfort and reducing fatigue.

The multiple servos and pumps are well-hidden beneath a luxurious and plus…

Inventories continue slow climb, hit 1.47M

Rising interest rates appear to be impacting U.S. dealer lots as inventory levels continue to slowly recover from their historic lows.

The supply of vehicles rose by 150,000 last month to 1.47 million, according to data from Cox Automotive and the Automotive News Research & Data Center.

The figure is up 67 percent from the previous year, though still less than half of where the industry stood at this point in 2019. It represents a 47-day supply, according to Cox, which uses the selling rate from the previous 30-day period to calculate days' supply. Since June, the total number of vehicles has increased by almost 400,000.

Cox analyst Michelle Krebs said inventory growth is not uniform, however, with stronger selections available in higher-priced segments, especially full-size pickups.

"This year, high gas prices have caused some truck buyers to downsize to smaller trucks," Krebs said. "Full-size pickup truck sales correlate exactly with housi…

Giveaways lead to connection with buyers

Visit Henson Brand Dealerships' website, and a pop-up will appear within a few seconds on the home page.

"Click here to see our current giveaway," it reads, with a button inviting visitors to "register to win."

That button leads to a form asking for your name, email address, cellphone number and ZIP code. The giveaways — a used car is the prize — are a regular part of Henson Brand's promotional strategy, designed to increase engagement and leads at the group's three domestic brand stores, said Eric Barbosa, its operating partner. The stores are in Madisonville, Texas, located between Houston and Dallas.

Henson Brand Dealerships — part of Foundation Automotive, which has offices in Houston and Calgary, Alberta — started the contests in 2019, and they have helped spark about 200 daily social media leads to the group's website.

About 35 percent of Henson Brand's business comes from social media, Barbosa said.

Barbosa, 41, spoke to Staff Repo…

Safford purchase of 16 Brown dealerships biggest in 2022

After spotting a dealership's help wanted sign during a small-town refueling stop led James Gramm into car sales in 1983, he became a dealer nearly 20 years later on April Fools' Day in 2002.

"The letters on the front of the building were made of Styrofoam," Gramm told Automotive News this week, laughing as he recalled how the Dodge dealership in Fredericksburg, Va., looked on the day he bought it. "One letter fell off as I pulled up. It literally fell off the building."

That dive of a dealership launched Safford Automotive Group, now one of the country's largest auto retailers after completing the industry's largest new-vehicle store acquisition deal so far in 2022, as tracked by Automotive News.

On Nov. 7, Gramm's Safford Automotive bought 16 stores in Maryland and Virginia from Brown Automotive Group, more than doubling its store count. The deal adds 14 franchised dealerships, one used-vehicle store and a muscle and classic car store to Safford, of S…

DAILY DRIVE PODCAST: November 11, 2022

Policymakers on both sides of the pond work toward EV tax credit changes. Volvo’s CEO makes a bold prediction about ICE-EV price parity. Carvana’s troubles deepen with more license suspensions. Plus, Automotive News F&I reporter John Huetter talks about the FTC's proposal targeting “junk fee shock.”

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Audi E-tron reinvented as Q8 E-tron with more range

Audi's original dedicated electric vehicle, the E-tron, launched in 2019, is getting a reboot for 2023 that includes updated styling, more range and a new name: the Q8 E-tron 55 and Q8 E-tron Sportback.

A more energy-dense 114-kilowatt-hour battery pack replaces the 95-kWh unit in the same space. Power outputs are unchanged. The 55, with all-wheel drive via a dual-motor setup, maxes out at 402 hp and 490 pound-feet of torque in Sport mode. The high-performance SQ8 E-tron features three electric motors — a 166-hp unit up front and two 131-hp motors bolted on the rear axle — to produce a combined 496 hp and 718 pound-feet of torque in Sport mode.

Audi expects a 30 percent increase in range, given the more efficient rear electric motor and improved aerodynamics. It estimates 361 miles for the Q8 E-tron and 372 miles for the Q8 E-tron Sportback, both based on the Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure. The Q8 E-tron can charge at a rate of 170 kilowatts…

Lidar’s big pivot kicks into high gear

Self-driving vehicles may take a long time to hit the road in large numbers. The sensors driving much of their progress, however, are starting to go mainstream.

Lidar technology is trickling into human-driven vehicles in some cases. In others, it's finding scale in different industries.

The latest example of lidar for human-driven vehicles came earlier this week when Volvo unveiled its EX90, which contains the first fruits of its five-year collaboration with lidar provider Luminar. A standard front-facing lidar unit will underpin driver-assist features in the crossover.

With distinctive shapes resembling spinning chicken buckets or hockey pucks, lidar units once symbolized self-driving ambitions. Volvo's designers fashioned a far more subtle integration of Luminar's Iris lidar unit into the EX90's roofline.

It signals a shift into a new era — just not the one initially expected. But waiting for self-driving vehicles to materialize wasn't just the…

Acura, Toyota, Nissan time to shine at SEMA

The Las Vegas Convention Center once again came alive with the world's biggest auto accessory party, the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show, back for a second year after a brief pandemic hiatus. Several automakers and aftermarket companies showed concept versions of their latest cars and light trucks. Here are some highlights from SEMA's once-again-annual show.

Acura has resurrected the Integra sport sedan in the U.S. after 21 years. To celebrate, Honda's luxury division partnered with three of the nation's top tuners, allowing them to showcase the new Integra's potential for personalized performance.

Ford unveiled 10 vehicles at the show, including F-150 Lightnings, Broncos and a Bronco Sport. The Bronco modifications were meant to emphasize the SUV's off-road prowess. One Lightning was modified to serve as a race-support vehicle, while another was called the Lightning Swiss Army Knife to highlight its versatility and functionalit…

Has autonomous vehicle technology stalled out? Not so fast.

Driverless cars have been just around the corner for nearly a decade.

Yet after ambitious promises by CEOs of automakers and startups and buy-in from investors to the tune of more than $200 billion, there is not yet one fully autonomous vehicle on public roads in the U.S. today. And it isn't even all that close.

Ford Motor Co. CEO Jim Farley said as much recently when the automaker pulled the plug on Argo AI, a once-promising startup on which it bet $1 billion five years ago, when then-Ford CEO Mark Fields predicted driverless cars would be widespread by now.

"Profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are a long way off," Farley told investors.

While not necessarily surprising, Argo's unwinding has had a chilling effect on the AV tech sector and thrust the future of fully autonomous driving further into uncertainty. But that does not mean AV work has stalled, said Reuben Sarkar, president and CEO of the American Center for Mobility near Ypsi…

Long awaited, hydrogen’s moment may be here for transportation

*/ Long awaited, hydrogen’s moment may be here for transportation and beyond

Hailed as a "magical" solution. Derided as a perennial fantasy. Embraced as an "earthshot."

Many have eyed hydrogen's tantalizing potential as an abundant and pollution-free energy source for transportation and beyond. Jules Verne described a method in which "water will one day be employed as fuel," and wrote hydrogen and oxygen will "furnish an exhaustible source of heat and light" in his 1874 novel The Mysterious Island.

Nearly 150 years later, hydrogen's applications are no longer confined to science fiction. But despite the straightforward chemistry involved in its production, the ascendance of hydrogen to the realm of a society-altering energy source remains elusive.

Now, after decades of pilot projects and sporadic deployments, hydrogen appears on the cusp of economic viability and widespread use. Spurred by the simultaneous global challenges…

DAILY DRIVE PODCAST: November 10, 2022

Nissan warns dealers of production cuts at a key U.S. plant. Rivian takes a big net loss in Q3. Elon Musk encourages Tesla’s competitors to keep advertising on Twitter. Plus, Sono Motors co-founder and CEO Laurin Hahn talks about his company’s plan to sell its solar electric car for around $25,000.