Trade News

A package of new- and used-vehicle warranties with new certified pre-owned programs is helping Spitzer Automotive Group of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida get customers in the door during a period of low inventory.

Last year, the group introduced its "Spitzer Shield," a suite of benefits that includes a nationwide lifetime powertrain warranty on new vehicles and a 7-year, 100,000-mile nationwide powertrain warranty on vehicles bought through its CPO program.

The group introduced the Shield after it began to reevaluate its stores' value proposition to customers in their markets, COO Andrew Spitzer said. He said the group found it wasn't competitive enough with other dealerships that were offering 20-year, 200,000-mile warranties on new vehicles.

"I saw that and said, 'All right, I respect that. Now let's beat it,'" said Spitzer, a 2022 Automotive News 40 Under 40 honoree.

"We've been in business since 1904, but is that going to be the thing that ma…

Kia presented a Lifetime Dealer Achievement Award to Rita Case, CEO of Rick Case Automotive Group, after the group's top-five performance over the past five years. The award was announced at Kia's annual dealer meeting last month in Las Vegas, an event that also marked the brand's 30th anniversary.

"Thirty years represents a lifetime to us, and the milestone presented a good opportunity to recognize one of our dealers," Russell Wager, Kia's chief marketing officer, told Automotive News.

Case said in a statement that she is honored and "excited about our partnership with the Kia brand as it continues to grow."

In addition to being a high-volume dealer, Case has been active investing in facilities, Wager said.

The group spent $20 million to build a store in Sunrise, Fla., where the group is headquartered. The five-story dealership, which opened in 2015, has 268,000 square feet. The group also has a Kia store in Duluth, Ga…

Owners of Hyundai vehicles that have been targeted by thieves who've demonstrated on social media how to hot wire the company's late-model cars and crossovers will be able to purchase a Compustar anti-theft security kit for $170 starting Oct. 1.

All 820 dealers in Hyundai's U.S. network are authorized to install the kit, the company said Friday. "The dealers have been notified and are currently receiving training bulletins and instructions on how to perform the installation, which will take about 2.5 hours to complete," Ira Gabriel, a spokesperson for Hyundai, told Automotive News.

"The kits are at our distribution centers, which are located around the country, so they'll have it in inventory this week," Gabriel said.

The full cost of the security kit is still unknown. Gabriel says installation cost will vary depending on the dealer location and he did not provide a cost estimate.

The thefts, widely demonstrated on You…

CarMax Inc.'s soft fiscal second-quarter financial results paint a grim picture: Persisting inflation, high retail prices and climbing interest rates are prompting consumers to put off buying used cars and trucks. The challenges have the used-car giant cutting costs to better match sales levels.

The retailer's volume and profit drop stoked fears of a more prolonged demand deterioration in the used-car market. CarMax's share price dropped 25 percent on Thursday, Sept. 29, the day it reported earnings, and stock prices for competitor Carvana Co. and other public retailers also tumbled. It marks a significant reversal from just one year ago, when retailers were reporting sustained high demand and robust profits for used vehicles and enjoying high share prices.

CarMax retailed 457,889 used vehicles in the six months ended Aug. 31, down 8.9 percent from the year-earlier period. Company leaders said vehicle affordability pressure that bubbled up at th…

Florida dealership associations described retailers as relatively unscathed after Hurricane Ian soaked and whipped the state last week, while auto plants and dealerships in the Carolinas closed in anticipation of being the storm's next target.

Volvo's S60 sedan plant near Charleston, S.C., shut down Thursday and Friday, Volvo Cars USA said in a statement. Mercedes idled its Sprinter and Metris van plant about 15 miles closer to the Atlantic coast on Friday. The plants employ about 3,100 people combined.

The storm weakened to a tropical storm as it churned across Florida but regained hurricane strength after reaching the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday. A hurricane warning was issued for nearly 300 miles of coastline from the South Carolina-Georgia border to Cape Fear, N.C. Ian made landfall again at 2:05 p.m. Friday near Georgetown, S.C., as a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph sustained winds.

North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association President Robert Glas…

Nissan's Nismo racing division has retuned the Z sports car's twin-turbo V-6 engine and optimized the chassis and suspension for track duty, creating the Z GT4 race car.

Nismo engineers added a modest aerodynamics package, including a front splitter with canards and a GT-style strut-supported wing. Specifications will be released during the SEMA Show that runs Nov. 1-4, with deliveries slated to begin in the first half of 2023. No word on pricing, but Nissan says the race car will be "accessible to enthusiast drivers and hard-core professionals."

A large piece of General Motors' history is moving closer to where it all started for the company in Flint, Mich.

GM Heritage Center will move from Sterling Heights, Mich., in Macomb County, to Genesee County — home to Factory One and the birthplace of General Motors, the company announced Thursday in a press release.

The Heritage Center, which opened in 2004 to preserve GM's history, houses an archives and historic vehicle collection in a leased facility, according to the company. The archives consists of around 600 cars and trucks, 8 million photos, 250,000 video masters and films, 1.5 million digital files and more than 1 million pieces of microfilm available by public request.

Searching for a permanent alternative, GM moved the Heritage Center to its former Customer Care and Aftersales headquarters, which was set to relocate in 2021. The new location sits on 34 acres of land, providing more space for vehicle displays and progr…

Toyota's CEO says California and U.S. EV targets will be hard to achieve. South Carolina plants are closed with the arrival of Hurricane Ian. CarMax used-car sales fall and shares take a tumble. Plus, a conversation about what it would mean for banks if auto lending is made part of the Community Reinvestment Act.

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Tesla Inc. plans to push global production of its top-selling Model Y and Model 3 electric vehicles sharply higher in the fourth quarter and build on that growth in 2023 as newer factories in Austin and Berlin ramp production, internal plans reviewed by Reuters show.

Tesla's production forecast, if achieved, would put the EV maker on track to meet Elon Musk's goal for production in the coming quarter and put the automaker close to the scale of BMW by the end of 2023.

Musk and Tesla have a record of pointing to stretch targets the company has not always met.

In April, for instance, Musk had said Tesla could hit 60 percent growth in deliveries. By July, the company had walked that target back to 50 percent for this year.

The ambitious goal came despite lingering supply chain risks, a slowing economy and rising competition and falling Tesla order backlogs. But its forecast, which covers the next four consecutive quarters, sets an ambitious target to…

Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, heeding Hurricane Ian's potential impact, are idling their South Carolina plants ahead of the deadly storm's predicted return to landfall.

The Mercedes plant, near Charleston, S.C., has about 1,600 employees who build the Mercedes Sprinter and Metris vans. It will idle operations on Friday, Reuters reported.

Volvo's plant near Charleston in Ridgeville, S.C., was idled at 11 a.m. EDT Thursday and will remain closed through Friday, Volvo Cars USA said in a statement. The 2.3 million-square-foot plant employs about 1,500 people and produces the Volvo S60 midsize sedan. Next year, the factory will begin building two electric crossovers.

"Hurricane Ian has the potential to impact our U.S. operations," the statement said. "The safety of our employees and their families is our highest priority. Therefore, our Ridgeville plant halted operations at 11 a.m. and will remain closed through Friday."

Hurricane Ian on Thursday was down…

LAS VEGAS – Ambitious targets for electric vehicle sales – in California or nationwide – will be hard to achieve by 2030 or 2035, Akio Toyoda told reporters Thursday. 

Regarding California’s rule calling for a ban on the sale of gasoline-burning vehicles by 2035, the Toyota Motor Corp. CEO said: “Realistically speaking, it seems rather difficult to really achieve that.” 

He added that a potential national goal of 50 percent zero-emission vehicles by 2030 would be “very difficult.” 

As a global automaker serving 200 countries, Toyota must take into account the wide variety of conditions in those various markets, including the needs of the 1 billion or so people who don’t have reliable access to electricity.

Through a translator, he cautioned that regulations “tend to narrow the options available for solutions toward carbon neutrality.”

Longer term, he sees hydrogen combustion as a compelling offering. In the short term, hybrid…

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