Trade News

Lincoln appears to be in limbo. U.S. sales by the luxury brand are on pace to fall for the fourth straight year, and new President Dianne Craig has backed away from electrification commitments made by past leadership.

Craig said Lincoln has too many dealers and plans to whittle down the network from the roughly 600 it had at the start of 2023. It also plans to shrink the lineup those dealers can sell.

Lincoln is expected to discontinue gasoline versions of two nameplates, the Corsair and Aviator, while its first EV, a three-row crossover, is expected to debut in late 2025.

Aviator-size EV: Lincoln's long- awaited three-row electric crossover, roughly the size of today's Aviator, is planned for the Oakville Assembly Plant in Canada. Production is expected to begin in late 2025, after that of a Ford-badged version. It's possible the vehicle could include some interior and exterior design elements of the Star concept unveiled in 2022. It's unclear whether…

Wasn't it just the other day that there was a long waiting list for Mustang Mach-Es?

Now my colleagues report seeing them stocked — even overstocked — at their local Ford dealership.

A number of unsettling data points have raised some doubts about the electric vehicle revolution. Market share appears stuck at around 7 percent. Publicly held dealerships say Tesla's price cuts are putting pressure on incumbent brands' EVs. Incentives are double those of gasoline-powered vehicles. At the end of last month, U.S. dealers had a 103 days' supply of electric vehicles, which is a worrisome number — at least in normal times with mature products.

Of course, it's really a different situation for EVs, with a new technology, an incomplete range of vehicles available and volatile production. But the data does reflect some of the challenges of growing from a niche to the mainstream.

Most Americans who have bought an EV in the past de…

Police in the Detroit area arrested seven people this month they say were involved in stealing 16 new Bronco Raptors from Ford Motor Co. factory lots.

The suspects are all ages 19 to 21, according to CBS Detroit. Police recovered 10 of the stolen Raptors; they were located as far away as Alaska, Arizona and Texas.

The SUVs were valued at $1.8 million. Thieves have made off with $6 million worth of new vehicles — mostly F-150s and high-performance Raptor trucks — from plants and holding lots in southeastern Michigan this year, the Detroit Free Press reported.

At least 37 vehicles have gone missing since the beginning of July alone. Ten of those were taken on a single night.

In some cases, trucks were apparently left unlocked with the keys inside, and the thieves were able to resell them to dealerships by using stolen government forms to get clean titles.

Ford isn't the only automaker to have factories targeted…

The Ford brand has taken a two-pronged approach to its product lineup, offering high- margin gasoline models in select segments while slowly ramping up electric vehicle production.

Although the company is finding the electric transition to be harder than previously expected — it delayed some production goals this year — executives are speeding ahead with development of a second-generation platform to underpin EVs assembled at the new Blue Oval City plant in Tennessee and a retooled plant in Oakville, Ontario.

CEO Jim Farley recently said the company plans to quadruple hybrid sales in the next five years, following success with hybrid Maverick and F-150 pickups.

Meanwhile, three longtime products — the Escape, Edge and Transit Connect — are slated for the scrap heap.

E-Transit: Ford Pro, the company's commercial business unit, boosted the range of the E-Transit this year by 48 percent with a model that can travel up to 186 miles on a charge. The …

Jay Leno didn't visit suburban Detroit's Woodward Dream Cruise just to crack jokes.

He also had a car to pick up.

The comedian helped kick off the annual Motor City celebration of car culture by appearing with Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis to announce a new line of co-branded car care products. Then he became the first customer to take delivery of a 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 "Last Call" edition.

Leno said he ordered the 1,025-hp Demon, which costs $103,361 after shipping and gas guzzler charge, in March when he helped unveil it in Las Vegas. The special edition, which marks the Challenger's final year of production as an internal combustion vehicle, is his fourth car with four-digit horsepower, he told The Detroit News. "I'm a huge fan of Dodge," he said. "To me, it's a great American road car."

Leno said he preferred to be at the Dream Cruise this month instead of hobnobbing at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in …

Troy Duhon and his bustling Premier Automotive Group, along with partners, acquired three new dealerships and expanded into a new state in second- and third-quarter transactions, Premier Automotive CMO Gia Katzenmeyer confirmed to Automotive News.

Duhon, with partners Vincent Castro and Jorge Clue, on June 5 purchased the former Hyundai of Moreno Valley, east of Los Angeles.

Castro and Clue each have an undisclosed ownership stake in the renamed Premier Hyundai of Moreno Valley, while Clue is general manager, Katzenmeyer said in an email.

"Castro has been with Premier Automotive since its inception in 1995," Katzenmeyer said. "He's the partner in numerous dealerships under the Premier umbrella."

Texas store

The New Orleans group also bolstered its Texas presence on Aug. 3 when Duhon, with partners Randon Blacklock and Rick Martinez, purchased the former Littlefield Chevrolet-Buick-GMC, northwest of Lubbock.

Blacklock and Martinez h…

FRIEDBERG, Germany — Robotics specialist ABB said orders for its inkjet PixelPaint robot are likely to bring it to market soon.

ABB first revealed the painting technology in 2020, saying it would cut production energy costs, speed up paint application and allow for easier vehicle personalization.

"We are very, very close," Joerg Reger, managing director of ABB Robotics' automotive business, told Automotive News Europe during a visit to the tooling supplier's R&D facility here. "We have a preassignment with one customer, and we are in final negotiations with two to three others."

Both volume and premium automakers have expressed interest, Reger said.

The system allows volume automakers to offer contrasting roof colors without having to run a vehicle through the paint shop a second time.

Eliminating overspray also cuts the need to mask the body before painting the roof, which saves time.

Reg…

Auto industry elite, performance enthusiasts, and collectors donning pastel linen suits, floral jumpers, fascinators and fedoras gathered on California's central coast for Monterey Car Week to admire both old and new sheet metal exhibitions.

Amid bellowing V-8 engines and eye-watering wafts of tailpipe exhaust, one thing is clear: Americans' love for gasoline-powered autos is alive and well among the wealthy.

But despite the rich history and performance on display, electric vehicles shared an equally bright spotlight at this year's celebration — from exotic hypercars to spaceship-shaped cruisers to boxy kid haulers — taking the storied event into the ultimate collision of past and future.

Lotus EVIJA: The customized Lotus carries a 93 kilowatt-hour battery with an output of 2,011 hp and can go from 0 to 100 mph in under 3 seconds.

Automobili Pininfarina PURA Vision: The design concept shows tri-opening pillarless do…

Paige Hodder has joined Automotive News as a reporter covering auto retail, with a focus on finance and insurance. 

Hodder, 22, covered general automotive industry topics as an intern for Automotive News. Before that, she interned as a general assignment reporter for the Mackinac Island Town Crier in Michigan. 

Hodder is an alumna of the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts. While there, she was editor in chief of The Michigan Daily college newspaper.

General Motors President Mark Reuss and Hyundai Motor Co. President Jose Muñoz will be keynote speakers at the Automotive News Congress in Detroit on Sept. 12.

The event's theme is "Investing in Innovation," with a focus on navigating the future of electrification, infrastructure and sustainability across the auto industry.

Panelists include ZF North America President Martin Fischer, Fox Motor President Diane Maher and Assembly Ventures cofounder Jessica Robinson.

Automotive News will display the latest game-changing innovations from PACE Award finalists and post pilot pre-commercialized innovations from PACEpilot finalists. Automotive News also will introduce this year's class of Rising Stars.

The Congress takes place on the eve of the North American International Detroit Auto Show, which runs Sept. 13-24.

Register by scanning the QR code here or by visiting autonews.com.

According to a dealer-focused webinar poll cited by AutoSuccess, 36 percent of respondents said they're just getting started with their Safeguards Rule compliance plans, and only 25 percent were close to done.

If you're not yet compliant, you're not alone. That said, the Federal Trade Commission can enforce steep fines of up to $100,000 per violation now that the June 9 deadline has passed; it's critical to put in place your compliance plan now.

Here's why auto dealers should care, and what steps to take to get compliant.

The revised FTC Safeguards Rule put an emphasis on data protection and robust security measures.

To comply, dealerships must strengthen access controls and implement multifactor authentication on accounts with access to customer financial data.

A key part of the Safeguards Rule requirements is a data security program with identity and access management support.

Since nearly …

UAW members at the Detroit 3 have authorized a strike if talks break down. Ultium Cells offers to increase worker’s pay at its Ohio plant. Plus, banners are helping a dealership recognize its technicians for their work.

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