Trade News

When Whitney Yates-Woods took over her family's dealership last year, she noted a disconnect: Many of her customers were women, but most staffers were men.

Yates wanted to be sure all her customers felt comfortable and represented in her store.

"I want quality people, but I think we need to have a more equal playing field," said Yates-Woods, dealer principal at Yates Buick-GMC in Goodyear, Ariz. "It's good for customers to be able to talk to both male and female, not walk into the store and see just a bunch of male salesmen and feel intimidated."

Yates-Woods began recruiting women through social media last year and has hired at least 15 female employees in the past 18 months. Of the 14 managers at Yates Buick-GMC, five are women. Two were recently promoted to leadership roles.

The idea to rely more on social media for hiring came from a woman who already worked for Yates-Woods and wouldn't have become a service adviser if she hadn't responded to…

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — These are challenging times for companies all over the auto industry. But for economists and analysts employed in the dark science of forecasting, the times are just nuts.

"It's gotten much harder to forecast what's going to happen," sighed Jeff Schuster, president of global forecasting for the international firm LMC Automotive. "There's just too much uncertainty out there."

Schuster's sentiment echoed through an industry gathering here this week for the Center for Automotive Research's annual Management Briefing Seminars. Despite the exhilarating outlook for the decade to come, with a tidal wave of electric vehicles and brilliant new technologies in safety and manufacturing, many in the industry are struggling with a lack of clarity in the here and now.

The reasons?

Consumer curiosity and interest in electric vehicles is clearly growing. But automakers simply don't know how many EVs they will be able to sell in the next seve…

After losing nearly $1 billion in the first half of 2022, Carvana Co. will do more to cut expenses in the coming months, including possibly further reducing employee counts at the online used-vehicle retailer.

That direction from company leaders comes after Carvana already worked on cost-cutting in its second quarter, notably announcing in May that it would eliminate 2,500 jobs. Cost reductions are a move financial analysts have been urging for the challenged retailer, especially after its cash burn-heavy first quarter.

Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia said the retailer in the most recent quarter "shifted our priorities for the first time in company history to favor efficiency and cash flow in recognition of the changes to the market and the economic landscape, as well as to enable us to quickly adjust to changes in our industry that had caused our expenses to be out of balance with sales volumes."

Carvana's back-to-back quarterly net losses in the first half o…

Auto supplier Dana Inc. said net income dropped by nearly 85 percent in the second quarter, reflecting lower operating earnings caused by the unfavorable impact of foreign currency values, a spike in costs and supply chain challenges.

Dana reported net income of $8 million — a drop of $45 million from a year earlier. The company blamed the plunge primarily on inflation, resulting in higher operating costs including labor, energy, transportation and raw materials.

There were some bright spots for the Maumee, Ohio-based axle and transmission producer. Sales increased by about 17 percent to $2.59 billion, and free cash flow rose to $167 million compared with negative cash flow of $13 million in the same period a year earlier.

Electric vehicle product sales, which CEO James Kamsickas said in April will become a top priority, grew by an incremental $59 million.

Light-vehicle product sales climbed 16 percent from 2021 to about $1.03 billion. Commercial …

Wholesale used-vehicle prices exhibited only a tiny decline in July amid a stagnating summer sales season.

Cox Automotive said Friday that wholesale prices fell just 0.1 percent in July compared with June. The Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index — an indicator of used-vehicle market pricing trends — declined to 219.6, down from 219.9 in June but up from 195.2 in July 2021.

Ultimately, wholesale prices remain elevated in 2022 compared with 2021. They were 12.5 percent higher in July than in the year-earlier period. Those numbers are adjusted for mix, mileage and seasonality. On a nonadjusted basis, the index fell 3.2 percent in July from its June level, with prices up 10.2 percent year over year.

Used-retail sales fell 13 percent in July from June, and sales were down 16 percent year-over-year, according to Cox Automotive. Sales in July were down 29 percent compared with 2019 — the "worst comparison" against 2019 since January, according…

Carvana books another big quarterly loss. Toyota tries to make things right for buyers of its new EV. Tesla plans for another assembly plant to keep growing rapidly. EV incentives appear set to pass the Senate, but which will get the benefit? Also: A study finds more dealers speeding up financing with e-commerce tools.

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DETROIT — Cadillac's electric compact crossover will take styling cues from the Lyriq midsize crossover, but it appears to have a shorter wheelbase and smaller, more upright interior than its larger sibling.

The side profiles and layouts are similar, but there are some scale and design differences, according to spy photos of the compact crossover prototype. It has smaller door openings and windows than the Lyriq, with side mirrors mounted lower on the door, for example.

The compact crossover is one of several Cadillac electric vehicles in the pipeline as the luxury brand converts to an all-electric lineup by 2030. Cadillac, the brand set to lead General Motors' EV transition, will likely have at least eight electric vehicles on sale in the U.S. by the end of 2026.

Cadillac has not confirmed any EVs beyond the Lyriq, on sale now, and the Celestiq, slated to go on sale next year.

The electric compact crossover will replace the XT4, which is expected…

WASHINGTON — After months of pressing Congress for an extension of the electric vehicle tax credit, automakers in July unexpectedly got their wish — and the support of make-or-break vote Sen. Joe Manchin.

But what appeared to be a path forward on EV tax credits at first glance evolved into a last-minute scramble, as automakers and some Senate Democrats sought changes to the provision's strict battery content and assembly rules, which they said could delay vehicle eligibility.

The EV tax credit provision — part of the larger Inflation Reduction Act — was unveiled last month by Manchin and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats, in a breakthrough deal after several failed attempts to move forward on an economic package that would include an extension of the current $7,500 federal EV tax credit.

The Democrats' revamped credit for consumers buying new battery-electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell vehicles would eliminate the 200,000-vehicle-…

Toyota has offered a series of make-goods to hundreds of owners of the new 2023 bZ4X — including an offer to buy back the electric compact crossover — as recompense for asking them to stop driving the recalled vehicle because of concerns that the wheels could fall off.

The Japan-built bZ4X went on sale in the U.S. in late spring as Toyota's first EV since the RAV4 EV it built in cooperation with Tesla in 2014. However, just weeks after the launch, Toyota issued a stop-sale and recall notice. Japan's safety regulator said sharp turns and sudden braking could cause a hub bolt to loosen, raising the risk of a wheel coming off the vehicle.

An estimated 260 of the vehicles were in the United States, and a remedy has not yet been determined to allow the vehicles to again be safely driven, Toyota said. Consumers were asked to immediately contact their dealership, which would pick up the vehicle and drop off a loaner at no charge.

In a letter late last month to …

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. took another supply chain-related hit to its bottom line in the second quarter but offered a better-than-expected financial outlook through the end of the year.

Gross profit fell 9 percent to $173.5 million in the quarter, with sales up 12 percent to $1.4 billion, according to the Detroit-based supplier's earnings, released Friday.

Commodity price increases and other cost pressures including labor and freight hampered the company's financial performance, as it has done to the broader automotive supply base.

"Financial results were impacted by rising input costs and the continuing supply chain volatility," CEO David Dauch said on a Friday call with investors. "We cannot control the macro environment, but we can manage our business."

The microchip shortage and production stoppages hurt operations in the second quarter, but not as badly as the prior period, CFO Chris May said on the call.

Materia…

Toyota’s fiscal first-quarter results take a hit. Lucid cut its production plans for a second time this year. Uber looks to develop robo-trucking. Side-impact tests get tougher on midsize sedans. U.S. auto sales in July were a little better than in June, but not much – when might the sales pace return to something close to normal?

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. 

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