Trade News

The next-generation Ford Ranger will feature an extended wheelbase variant, according to spy photographers. Images of the midsize pickup, set to debut in the U.S. in 2023, have been captured in Dearborn, Mich., showing what appears to be a longer bed than the current model's 5-foot bed. The Ranger, the No. 2 seller among midsize pickups in the U.S. last year, fell to fifth place in the first quarter. Ford unveiled the overseas version of the next-generation Ranger late last year, but it has not revealed the version that will be sold in North America. It plans to continue building the Ranger for North American buyers at its Michigan Assembly Plant.

TechForce, an Arizona-based nonprofit dedicated to boosting the ranks of technicians in all industries, interviewed dozens of female automotive technicians in the spring. TechForce wanted to find out what challenges face women who fix cars for a living and how new-vehicle dealers, body shops and garages can do a better job recruiting and retaining female technicians. Just 2.5 percent of the technicians in the transportation industry are women, says Dana Rapoport, 55, who is in charge of diversity and inclusion for TechForce. She spoke with Staff Reporter Richard Truett. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: The TechForce report on female technicians working at new-car dealerships didn't gloss over the negative experiences women often face. Were the interviews with female techs surprising?

A: So much of [female techs'] situation depended on how their employer set them up for success. We saw some employers that weren't as welcoming and gracious. Then there were stores wh…

At least for now, General Motors has reclaimed the U.S. sales crown it held for nine decades before losing it to Toyota Motor North America last year. The fluid, unpredictable nature of the global microchip shortage and other supply chain disruptions continue to put all automakers on edge.

"It feels a little bit more like treading water," Jeff Schuster, president of global forecasting at LMC Automotive, told Automotive News. Production is "flowing in and flowing out as soon as it comes in, so we're not seeing any accumulation of inventory at this point."

GM outsold Toyota by more than 47,000 vehicles in the second quarter, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center. GM delivered 578,507 vehicles, while Toyota sold 531,105.

"Whatever we are wholesaling, [dealers] are retailing," said Jack Hollis, the new executive vice president of sales for Toyota Motor North America. "Right now, we are not seeing any softening."

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Software developer Bryan Levenson worked for more than 20 years in Silicon Valley before setting his sights on Detroit and the auto industry.

In meetings with manufacturers, he learned how work stalled when dealership service department technicians had to put down their tools to find a computer to research vehicle parts or repair information.

Levenson saw an opportunity to supply both experienced technicians and a new generation of digital-savvy ones with a tool that would give them comprehensive information to fix vehicles.

"We discovered the great inefficiencies that happen when a tech puts down his or her tools and moves away from the vehicle," he said. "There may be one computer workstation in the shop, the printer may be out of paper, or there were typing mistakes when entering VIN information. We felt that if we could enable techs with accurate information that would not result in their moving away from the vehicle, we could increase repair and se…

Lithia Motors Inc. continued its expansion last week, buying nine dealerships in southern Florida and one in Nevada, all of which are expected to add nearly $1 billion in annual revenue to the growing auto retailer.

Lithia, the nation's No. 2 dealership group, has been on an acquisition spree and wants to grow to $50 billion in annual revenue by 2025 from $22.8 billion last year. The company is closing in on the annual revenue of AutoNation Inc., the nation's largest new-vehicle retailer, with $25.8 billion in revenue last year.

The 10 dealerships Lithia purchased last week are expected to generate $950 million in annual revenue — part of $2.1 billion in annual revenue from dealerships it has acquired so far this year.

Other potential acquisitions are in play. In April, Lithia had dealerships under contract worth $1.9 billion in annual revenue.

Tom Dobry, vice president of marketing for Lithia, said he couldn't commen…

Ram burnished its 2022 lineup with the new Uconnect 5 infotainment system that puts an emphasis on personalization for passengers.

But the added bells and whistles came with a cost for the truck brand in the latest J.D. Power Initial Quality Study.

Ram dropped from first place in the 2021 rankings to No. 18 this year after being dinged in the infotainment category that has perplexed many automakers in the era of touch screens and voice controls. J.D. Power said it was the largest fall ever for a brand that led the industry the previous year.

Infotainment hiccups slammed other manufacturers as well in 2022, accounting for six of the top 10 problem areas in the J.D. Power study. Consumers complained about Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity, built-in voice recognition, difficulties with touch screens and other display screens, and built-in Bluetooth systems.

David Amodeo, J.D. Power's director of global automotive, said Ram is experiencing…

The FTC wants to hear from you, the dealers at home

Citing repeated complaints from consumers, the Federal Trade Commission last month proposed 14 pages of new regulatory language targeting car dealership bait-and-switch advertising and certain finance and insurance business practices.

The pejorative language and prospect for additional regulatory obligations was not appreciated by the National Automobile Dealers Association.

"The FTC's proposed rule would impose a vast array of new, completely unwarranted, redundant and ineffectual requirements that will cause great harm to consumers by increasing prices, extending transaction times, and making the customer experience much more complex and inefficient," NADA CEO Mike Stanton said in a statement Thursday.

It seems unlikely the agency will accept this argument and retreat.

The FTC said in its notice of rulemaking June 27 it received more than 100,000 complaints each of the past three years…

Elon Musk and four of his sons met with Pope Francis at the Vatican last week and the Tesla Inc. CEO then broke 10 days of silence on Twitter to share a photo of the audience.

Musk, the world's richest individual, who is in the midst of a $44 billion takeover of Twitter Inc., wrote Friday: "Honored to meet @Pontifex yesterday."

The Vatican did not issue a public statement about the meeting, according to The Associated Press. Pope Francis often meets with corporate leaders to urge them to use their wealth and technology to aid the poor, the AP reported.

Over the years, the Holy See has made public appearances with auto executives to take delivery of popemobiles. Last year Pope Francis met with Fisker Inc. CEO Henrik Fisker to see the design for an all-electric papal vehicle. Fisker said it will covert its all-electric Ocean SUV for use by the pope, providing a retractable glass cupola and sustainable interior materials, such as the carpets.

Pope …

A quarter of the way through the '20s, it seemed like a good time to step back and look at the efforts to shift the U.S. auto industry to half zero-emission vehicles by 2030.

At this stage of the road trip, the team at Automotive News took a company-by-company look at the transition to electric vehicles as well as key government efforts on the matter. Check out the coverage on Pages 16-21.

The destination is pretty clear: Replacing millions of gasoline-burning vehicles with battery-powered ones every year. If half of the market is electric, it will be a big proof point that the industry is doing its part to address global warming and leave a livable planet for future generations. (Reducing pollution in the manufacturing process is also important, but separate, and harder to measure.)

EV share needs to grow tenfold by the end of the decade, and challenges abound: cost, quality, charging infrastructure.

Mining and mineral refining operations — suc…

Advanced driver-assistance systems are touted as today's answer to road safety. The technology is mandated across Europe, as "technical progress in the area of advanced vehicle safety systems [like ADAS] offers new possibilities for reducing [pedestrian and driver] casualty numbers." Meanwhile, regulators in the U.S. plan to address road safety issues with similar advances that prevent distracted driving in privately owned vehicles.

Such regulation could be met with resistance from the average driver. A report assessing drivers' attitudes toward advanced driver-assistance systems found that 70 percent of drivers disable "bothersome" lane-keeping assist and lane-centering systems. Furthermore, a staggering 84 percent of drivers feel that driver-assistance features don't promote safe driving at all and could actually lead to a preventable collision.

Though regulators understand the potential of this technology, drivers haven't bought in — yet. I…