Trade News

The glamour may be in selling vehicles, but fixed operations is the steady workhorse that creates customers for life. After all, the retention of customers' service business leads to increased fixed operations profits as well as higher probability of future vehicle purchases.

Retaining service business is not a new topic. However, loyalty programs, free oil changes and cold drinks in the waiting area aren't enough anymore. Strong dealers are promoting new strategies such as "unreasonable hospitality" and interactions that keep customers connected to their service centers.

The fact is that customer service matters just as much, if not more, than your product. Your service center can deliver exceptional customer service. If you aren't sure where to begin, start with the following ideas.

First, what is "unreasonable hospitality"?

The phrase was coined by Will Guidara, former owner and operator of Eleven Madison Park. Renowned for world-class food, t…

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems could prevent nearly 250,000 U.S. road deaths over the next 30 years, according to a study funded by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

Research performed by the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center found that the technology, which includes features such as automatic emergency braking and blind spot alerts, also would prevent approximately 37 million crashes and 14 million injuries from 2021 to 2050.

That would represent 16 percent of crashes and injuries and 22 percent of deaths that would occur on U.S. roads without the technologies. AAA said.

The research suggests "that ADAS have the potential to transform road safety," David Yang, the AAA Foundation executive director, said in a statement.

The AAA research tracks with insurance industry findings.

Automatic emergency braking reduces front-to-rear crashes with injuries by 56 percent compared wit…

A federal judge in Louisiana has dismissed an Americans with Disabilities Act claim by a service customer with a prosthetic leg who allegedly slipped on an oily patch at a dealership. However, the judge allowed her to pursue traditional premises liability and negligence claims in state court.

The suit named dealership owner Gregg Orr, who is described in court filings as a corporate officer and director, as the only defendant. His dealership, Orr Cadillac of Shreveport, was not named in the suit.

According to the decision, Whitney Brock brought her mother's car to the store for servicing in January 2022. She said she slipped and fell outside the service garage where it was parked, falling onto her back and hitting her head on the concrete. The suit sought $80,000 for mental anguish, emotional distress, medical expenses and other damages.

Brock wears a prosthesis because her leg was amputated below the knee, according to the decision…

The Chinese market for used light vehicles has maintained growth for six straight months, with July sales increasing 8.6 percent year on year to roughly 1.26 million according to the tally of the China Automobile Dealers Association. 

The trade group attributes the sustained market expansion to measures the central Chinese government has taken to remove restrictions on used-vehicle transactions.

While pushing provincial governments in recent years to allow local residents to purchase used vehicles from other provinces, the central government also enacted a policy in June to simplify registration of used vehicles bought for private use. 

Under the new policy, car shoppers can use identity cards instead of residence registry records as previously required to register their newly bought used vehicles. 

In July, sales of used crossovers and SUVs advanced 11 percent to some 205,600, while deliveries of secondhand sedans rose 8.8 percent …

BYD Co., China’s largest electrified-vehicle maker, has signed a deal with Stingray, a Canadian music, media and technology company, to bring Karaoke into its vehicles. 

Stingray’s Karaoke product will be embedded as an app in the infotainment system of its popular models to be sold in a dozen countries later this year, BYD said last week, without identifying the countries.

As the infotainment system will support dozens of languages and feature an intuitive user interface, vehicle owners can access and browse Stingray’s song library by title, artist, lyrics or genre. 

To ensure driving safety, the system will automatically deactivate the karaoke lyrics scrolling function on the center console when the vehicle is in driving mode, BYD said. 

The two companies have also developed a separate app allowing passengers to use mobile devices to view lyrics and control song selection when the audio plays through the vehicle sound system, it a…

The head of the UAW on Tuesday asked members to grant him the ability to call a strike, arguing contract talks with the Detroit 3 automakers are moving "too slow."

Obtaining rank-and-file authorization for a strike is a routine and expected part of a labor contract bargaining process.

The UAW has been negotiating with General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler parent Stellantis for 30 days and the parties have yet to discuss economic terms, said Shawn Fain, the UAW president, in a Facebook Live webcast.

To move forward, Fain argued it was “critically important” that union locals at the three carmakers vote to authorize the strike. Their backing wouldn’t necessarily lead to a work stoppage, but could give the union leverage as it negotiates for higher pay and better benefits.

“Progress is slow. It’s too slow,” Fain said. “The Big Three need to get serious and get down to business.”

Earlier this year, Fain gave each carmaker a list of dema…

The United Steelworkers is making it clear that the union exclusively supports Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.’s bid to buy United States Steel Corp., a longtime strategic supplier to the auto industry.

USW President Tom Conway said the union only endorses one bid for the iconic American steelmaker, saying that the Cleveland-based producer’s plan will preserve union jobs.

The comment comes after Conway said he received countless calls from potential bidders seeking the union’s approval — a necessary legal step for anyone seeking to buy U.S. Steel, because the labor group has the right to counter, Conway said.  

“I was adamant that the Cliffs bid is the only one the union will consider due to its synergies and the fact that it best preserves blast furnace and steelmaking capacity and the jobs of USW members,” Conway said Tuesday in an interview. “The union is committed to that proposal and the USS board should move quickly to conclude this transaction.”

VinFast soared in its debut as a public company, vaulting its market capitalization beyond that of General Motors and Ford Motor, as traders flipped shares of the electric-vehicle maker.

The Vietnamese company, which went public in a SPAC deal, is worth about $85 billion after shares soared Tuesday, rising to $37.06 in New York — up more than 270 percent from the SPAC’s IPO price and more than tripling the deal’s $23 billion implied equity value.

VinFast debuted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol VFS to a flurry of trading and volatility halts after completing a merger with special-purpose acquisition company Black Spade Acquisition.

The share surge from the closing price of the SPAC on Monday makes the company the top performing de-SPAC to debut this year on a U.S. exchange.

The massive valuation makes VinFast worth more than BMW, and more than Ford and Rivian combined on paper in terms of market capitalization but lagging BYD’…

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said three models performed poorly in a new rear-seat safety test of seven 2023 midsize vehicles.

The 2023 Kia K5, 2023 Volkswagen Jetta and 2023 Hyundai Sonata all received a "poor" rating in the new moderate overlap front crash test, the IIHS announced Wednesday.

In the test, the IIHS placed a dummy the size of a small woman or 12-year-old in the back seat. Measurements from these dummies in all three poorly rated vehicles showed likely head or neck and chest injuries, as well as excessive belt forces.

In the Jetta, the rear dummy's head also came too close to the front seatback, while in the K5 and Sonata the shoulder belt moved off the dummy's shoulder toward the neck.

The 2023 Honda Accord was the only model to receive a good rating, with no heightened risk of injuries measured. Rear restraints in the Accord also controlled the dummy's motion.

The 2023 Subaru Outback was rated acceptable for…

Expanding Midwest auto retailer Zeigler Auto Group bolstered its Indiana presence and Subaru store count with its latest acquisition.

Zeigler Auto on Monday bought Bob Rohrman Subaru in Lafayette, Ind., and Bob Rohrman Subaru of Fort Wayne from Rohrman Automotive Group. The dealerships were renamed Zeigler Subaru of Lafayette and Zeigler Subaru of Fort Wayne.

"Zeigler is proud to expand our family of dealerships across the Midwest with these Subaru store purchases in Lafayette and Fort Wayne, which were both top locations for us when considering a strategic expansion in Indiana," Aaron Zeigler, the group's president, said in a statement.

The Lafayette dealership, northwest of Indianapolis, is minutes away from Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc., the automaker's lone manufacturing plant in North America. Fort Wayne is northeast of Indianapolis.

Last month, Zeigler, of Kalamazoo, Mich., and one of the largest privately owned dealership groups in th…

Auto retail group Holman led a new venture capital investment round for Vincue, a dealership technology company whose platform focuses on marketing and inventory management.

The tech company touted Holman, one of Vincue's customers, as a significant investor to enabling its growth.

"Holman is an innovator in our industry and the organization's forward-thinking mindset along with its strategic capital investment will help to fuel our company's continued growth," Chris Hoke, Vincue's founder and CEO, said in a statement.

Investment firms Autotech Ventures and Automotive Ventures also participated in the Series B round. Vincue, of Kansas City, Mo., declined to disclose how much money it raised.

Holman of Mt. Laurel, N.J., ranks No. 26 on Automotive News' most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 23,902 new vehicles in 2022. Holman said it has more than 30 franchised dealerships in eight states.

Holman als…

Startup electric delivery van producer Canoo Inc. said it narrowed its second-quarter net loss to $71 million, compared with a net loss of $164 million during the same quarter of 2022.