Trade News

Ally Financial's auto finance income fell by 50 percent in the second quarter to $600 million — but that's not necessarily a bad thing, according to the company.

Under the Current Expected Credit Losses accounting standard, Ally must record the expense of setting aside money as a hedge against losses on all the new financing business it did during the quarter, the company said Tuesday. Ally attributed its auto income decline to this consideration and "higher non-interest expenses."

Ally wrote $13.3 billion in auto loans and leases during the quarter, a 2.3 percent increase from a year earlier and the highest quarterly origination value since 2006. It didn't lower its standards to achieve this growth; the average Ally auto borrower had a credit score of 685, compared with 652 a year earlier.

"Our scale and ability to adapt to changing conditions allowed Ally to generate the strongest quarter of retail auto originations in 16 years wh…

Volkswagen Group of America CEO Scott Keogh will leave the brand and take over as the first CEO of the German automaker's nascent Scout electric vehicle brand, the automaker said Tuesday.

Pablo Di Si, 52, who has headed VW's South American region, becomes CEO of Volkswagen Group of America and CEO of Volkswagen North American Region.

Keogh, 53, has been CEO of VW of America since November 2018, following his tenure as president of Audi of America. When he was appointed, he was the first American to lead the brand's U.S. operations in 25 years.

"Scott Keogh and Pablo Di Si both have played key roles in turning around the businesses in their respective regions, North America and South America," Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said in a written statement. "In their future positions, they will be pivotal in helping the Group seize the historic market opportunities in the U.S., taking our growth strategy in the region to the next level."

Keogh will …

Jeep was one of the first international auto brands to enter China, widely recognized by consumers and understood by its owners to have huge potential. And yet, Jeep is shutting down its only plant in the world's largest market.

The announcement this week that Stellantis plans to terminate its local joint venture with state-owned Guangzhou Automobile Group was the culmination of a seemingly can't-miss wager gone awry. And it begs some unsettling questions about what the future holds for foreign manufacturers in China.

The government set out 40 years ago or so to develop the nation's auto industry by pairing local companies with experienced international players. Among the earliest was former Jeep owner American Motors. These proverbial training wheels are not only no longer needed, but out of step with President Xi Jinping's desire for China to become more self-reliant. The golden age of brisk growth and abundant profits for these various joint ventures appears…

A quarter of American consumers will likely go fully electric for their next vehicle purchase, according to a AAA survey.

It's a substantial finding, said Greg Brannon, director of automotive engineering at AAA. He said it will pave the way for a smoother EV transition for those who follow.

Gasoline prices are a key factor in spurring that transition, with 77 percent of respondents listing a strong desire to save on fuel costs as the most important factor for purchasing an EV. But consumers should be aware of all cost factors with their next purchase, Brannon said.

"Gas prices are always a moving target," he said. "It's funny, Americans tend to have a pretty short memory when it comes to these things. When gas prices are low, large SUVs tend to fly off the lot. But we can't look at it in the short term. It's important to balance how higher vehicle prices and higher fuel prices are going to result in increased interest in EVs."

Other problems such …

Mercedes-Benz of San Diego, the target of a strike by union technicians for the past month, last week fired 20 striking employees.

Management at the luxury dealership owned by Penske Automotive Group Inc. has filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board stating that the former employees "unlawfully condoned and encouraged blatant picket line misconduct."

"Safety and security of our employees and customers is our top priority. Out of concern for the future safety of our staff and customers and after an investigation, we have informed those union members who engaged in serious misconduct that we have terminated their employment," Mercedes-Benz of San Diego said in a statement to Automotive News.Pedro Gomez, a shop steward at International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local Lodge 1484 and technician at the dealership, said the union will also file a complaint with the labor board. Gomez said the dealership wrongfully terminated the …

We got more insight last week into CDK Global's future under new ownership — and leadership.

The dealership technology giant, which specializes in dealership management systems and other auto retail software, this month completed its sale to investment firm Brookfield Business Partners, a unit of global alternative asset management firm Brookfield Asset Management's private equity group.

Brookfield brought back Brian MacDonald, who previously led CDK as its chief executive between 2016 and 2018, as acting CEO. MacDonald was at the helm when CDK bought the ELEAD1ONE customer relationship management system provider, now known as Elead, and he told me it's a platform in which CDK intends to continue investing. Same with Roadster, the digital retailing provider CDK acquired last year, MacDonald said.

He said CDK is "fully supportive" of Salty Dot Inc., an insurance technology company CDK also acquired last year that allows consumers to purchase auto insuranc…

Ford, a stalwart in the commercial truck market, has moved fast to offer electric variants, starting with the E-Transit van and most recently the F-150 Lightning pickup.

The E-Transit is equipped with a single 198.0-kW electric motor on the rear axle. It is integrated with a single-speed transmission and sends up to 317 pound-feet of torque via reinforced halfshafts to the back wheels. A new independent rear suspension was developed to make better use of the immediate torque while also providing enhanced handling, whether loaded or unloaded, over the gasoline-powered Transit's leaf springs and solid-rear axle.

Ford builds the E-Transit alongside the gasoline-powered Transit van at Kansas City Assembly. Starting in 2020, the company invested $100 million and added 150 jobs there for the electric van.

Pricing for the E-Transit, available in eight configurations, three roof heights and three lengths, starts at $44,900, including shipping.

The low-ro…

It's been 41 years since General Motors used the words "Standard of the World" to describe and promote the Cadillac brand.

Now they're back with the ultra-luxury Celestiq high-performance electric luxury sedan. The production-intent Celestiq, rumored to carry a price tag of between $300,000 and $350,000, gets its world debut on Friday. Production is slated to begin in late 2023.

Since Cadillac's sales peaked in the 1980s, the brand has had numerous reboots, none really gaining much traction. Some Cadillacs have been great, the V Series performance cars and the current Escalade, to name two, But many more have stiffed — the Catera, Allante, XLR, ELR, CT6, XTS and on and on.

Because of Cadillac's many false starts over the decades, the resurrection of "Standard of the World" is bound to bring with it a lot of scrutiny, skepticism, doubt and outright denial from weary automotive analysts and journalists, and from consumers who have heard some version of it…

China’s electric-vehicle makers have discovered a new fan base: camping enthusiasts who’ve embraced the great outdoors in their own backyard as the nation’s strict COVID Zero measures make international travel off-limits.

Geely, the automaker whose parent controls Volvo Cars and Polestar, last week unveiled a new-energy pickup truck brand, called Radar. Its first model, a fully electric beast that can run more than 600 kilometers (373 miles) on a charge, should be available in the fourth quarter.

“Chinese car owners have added outdoors settings into their routine scenarios, apart from home and work,” said Ling Shiquan, Radar’s newly appointed CEO, adding that the pandemic has pushed people in China to focus on a more healthy lifestyle.

Draconian measures to stop the virus from spreading have kept huge swaths of the population, including millions of people in Shanghai, sealed inside their homes or workplaces for weeks or even months on end. People subjec…

Electric vehicle-only automakers are trailing other premium brands in shopping experience satisfaction, a report out Monday from retail service tracker Pied Piper found.

The Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index, or PSI, uses about 70 best-practice behaviors to measure retail service performance of automakers. These include in-person and Web-response categories, making up 60 percent and 40 percent of a brand's score, respectively, and included scores for sales person attentiveness, availability of finance options and how quickly the dealership responded to an online inquiry. Lack of inventory did not play a factor.

In cases where a brand did not have physical dealerships, such as Rivian, its in-person score was determined by telephonic communication. The survey also used a different set of factors to evaluate electric-only automakers because of different sales practices compared with those of with traditional automakers.

In Pied Pi…

WASHINGTON -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is opening a special investigation into the crash of a 2021 Tesla Model Y that killed a motorcyclist in California, it said on Monday.

Since 2016, NHTSA has opened 37 special investigations of crashes involving Tesla Inc. vehicles and where advanced driver assistance systems such as Autopilot were suspected of being used. A total of 18 crash deaths were reported in those Tesla-related investigations, including the most recent fatal California crash.

The agency declined to identify the specific crash but media reports said a 48-year-old motorcyclist was killed on July 7 after a collision with a 2021 Tesla Model Y on the Riverside Freeway in California.

NHTSA has opened three special probes in recent weeks, including one into a Florida crash that killed a 66-year-old Tesla driver and a 67-year-old passenger, and one into a fatal pedestrian crash in California involving a 2018 Tesla Model 3. Read more

In 1978, Lyn St. James read an article about the Ford Mustang in Car and Driver. The story had a sidebar about Ford’s interest in marketing the Mustang to women by providing competitive and racing opportunities. 

St. James had been racing for fun for years and earned her competition driver’s license at age 27. She was ready to get more serious and was looking for a sponsor. “I wrote letters to everyone at Ford who was quoted in that article, asking them to sponsor me,” she says. She got a letter back from Ford, congratulating her on her racing success and telling her to keep them informed about her career. So she did. She raced whenever she could and sent her results to the Ford team. After a dogged pursuit, in 1981, she became one of the first female race car drivers to receive a full-season sponsorship.

Her subsequent story is legendary: St. James was the first woman Rookie of the Year at the Indianapolis 500, in 1992 — and she had six more Indy 500…