Trade News

After 11 years of running our 40 Under 40 recognition program honoring talented young people working in dealerships — and asking them about their early careers — we had some questions of a different sort.

What are they seeking from their employers in the area of professional development? What factors are most important to them in creating job satisfaction? How important is diversity, equity and inclusion to them and their employers?

And how good is the auto retail sector in general in laying out defined career paths and offering professional development opportunities for younger employees working in dealerships?

We'll be writing about our findings in the next week and talking about these topics Wednesday, July 6, with a couple of past 40 Under 40 honorees in a LinkedIn Live session in advance of next week's announcement of the 2022 honorees.

The vast majority of respondents to our survey so far are still working in dealerships.

And most o…

The journalist and author delves into the details of her new book, There Are No Accidents, and explains how the word protects the status quo and hinders us in taking pragmatic steps to thwart preventable crashes.

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European auto plants are cutting 68,000 vehicles from their production schedules this week and North American factories 36,000 because of the ongoing microchip shortage, according to the latest report from AutoForecast Solutions.

Those plan changes and others around the world have caused AFS to raise its projection for total lost 2022 auto production related to chip shortages by almost 167,000 vehicles. AFS now forecasts that automakers will cut a total of 3.3 million vehicles from their schedules worldwide by year end.

But trimmed factory plans do not tell the whole story of the chip shortage at the moment. Last week, General Motors said in a regulatory filing that it had built 95,000 vehicles in the second quarter that were incomplete because of missing components. Most of the incomplete GM vehicles were produced in June.

The filing said that GM expects to get the vehicles finished and delivered to retailers by the end of this year.

Source: Au…

Bring your questions to a conversation with past 40 Under 40 honorees about professional development, mentorship and employee satisfaction.

Ashlee Church, general manager of Volkswagen of Marion in southern Illinois, and Erikka Wells, the store's sales manager, will share insights with Automotive News reporter Lindsay VanHulle and Executive Editor Jamie Butters on a video chat. Audience questions are encouraged.

Church was a 40 Under 40 honoree in 2020; Wells in 2021. They bring different experience sets to the discussion.

Church came from an auto retail family and earned an MBA before opening the VW store — right before the Dieselgate scandal blew up. Wells got into the industry as a young, single mom taking on a second job to get her transmission fixed. She went on to help found WOCAN, the Women of Color Automotive Network.

The conversation will be Wednesday, July 6, at noon Eastern.

Go to the Automotive News LinkedIn page or autonews.com…

Tesla Inc. said on Saturday its global deliveries fell to 254,695 in the second quarter, snapping a two-year streak of gains, as a COVID-related shutdown in Shanghai hit production and supply lines.

In the preceding quarter, the U.S. electric vehicle maker delivered 310,048 vehicles globally. Sales totaled 201,250 in the second quarter a year ago.

Analysts expected Tesla to report deliveries of 295,078 vehicles during the April-June period, according to Refinitiv data. Several analysts had slashed their estimates further to about 250,000 due to China's prolonged lockdown.

Tesla said it delivered 238,533 Model 3 compact cars and Model Y crossovers, as well as 16,162 Model S and Model X vehicles to customers in the quarter.

Total production fell 15 percent to 258,580 vehicles from the first quarter. Still, June 2022 marked a monthly high for vehicle production in Tesla's history, the company said Saturday.

Deliveries are one of the most clos…

Toyota Motor Corp. has used up a key U.S. tax credit for hybrid and electric vehicles, a milestone that the automaker says will raise its costs and hinder adoption of climate-friendly cars.

The company said Friday that it sold 3,876 plug-in hybrid and electric cars in June. The U.S. allows automakers to offer a $7,500 tax credit to buyers of fully or partly electric cars, but only up to 200,000 per company. Toyota’s cumulative sales of eligible vehicles have now surpassed that threshold, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and confirmed with the company.

The Japanese manufacturer becomes the third automaker to hit the limit, joining General Motors and Tesla Inc. Demand for EVs has steadily grown in the U.S. over the last few years.

Toyota and its rivals have lobbied Congress for an extension of the tax credits, but they disagree on who should be eligible. Toyota and Tesla oppose a proposal by the Biden administration to offer an additional $4,500 in …

SAN FRANCISCO -- Fifteen Black former or current employees at Tesla Inc. filed a lawsuit against the electric vehicle maker on Thursday, alleging they were subjected to racial abuse and harassment at its factories.

The workers said they were subjected to offensive racist comments and behavior by colleagues, managers and human resources employees on a regular basis, according to the lawsuit filed in a California state court.

The harassment, which occurred mostly at Tesla's Fremont, Calif., factory, included using the n-word and such terms as "slavery" or "plantation" or making sexual comments such as "likes booty," the lawsuit said, adding that the automaker's "standard operating procedures include blatant, open and unmitigated race discrimination."

The filing described one plaintiff, Teri Mitchell, as being regularly harassed by co-workers and managers who used racial slurs and made statements including, "It is rare for Blacks to work here. I don't know…

Kia, with one of the U.S. auto industry's leanest supplies of new vehicles, racked up June sales of 65,142, a drop of 4.9 percent, meaning the automaker gained share in a market on track to fare far worse to close out the second quarter and first half. June was the fourth month in a row that Kia volume declined on a year-over-year basis, but it represented the smallest decline over the period after double-digit declines in March, April and May.

Four of Kia's core light trucks and utilities — the Sportage, Sorento, Telluride and the Carnival "multipurpose vehicle" — all posted year-over-year gains last month, offsetting a broad decline in car deliveries.

Eric Watson, vice president of sales operations, says Kia's portfolio of crossovers and electrified vehicles is "well balanced" and is helping keep the brand competitive, especially as consumers seek more fuel-efficient options amid high fuel prices.

Notable nameplates (June): K5/Optima, down 31%; Sportag…

Subaru sales rose 0.7 percent to 43,175 in June as the automaker marked the anniversary of the industry's inventory crisis even as it continues to struggle with supply issues. June's gain snapped a streak of 12 consecutive monthly declines for the brand. For the quarter, Subaru was down 18 percent to 131,449.

Notable nameplates (June): Crosstrek, up 66%; Forester, off 9.8%; Outback, down 20%; Ascent up 7.9%.

Incentives: $753 per vehicle, down 44% from a year earlier, TrueCar says

Average transaction price: $35,393, up 8.4% from a year earlier, according to TrueCar

Quote: "Our priority for the second half of the year is to continue navigating supply chain challenges to best meet the strong demand for Subaru vehicles," said Jeff Walters, senior vice president of sales.

Did you know? Subaru saw four of nameplates post gains in June, and four nameplates post losses compared with a year earlier, with Outback generating the biggest loss by volu…

Software company WirelessCar is at the forefront of a global push to find new ways to use connected-vehicle data.

Founded in 1999, the Swedish company provides connected services in more than 9 million vehicles in more than 100 countries. WirelessCar works with nearly a dozen automakers, with its most robust services featured in Volkswagen, Volvo Cars, Subaru and Jaguar Land Rover vehicles.

One of the company's latest developments is showcased in ongoing work with Polestar, and it includes the expansion of applications built on the Android Automotive Operating System.

That paves the way for new WirelessCar connected data services such as Journey Log, a system that collates and tracks details about each ride taken in a vehicle, storing the data in the WirelessCar cloud.

"We're able to monitor when a trip starts and when it ends," said Greg Geiselhart, vice president of sales and marketing at WirelessCar, who showcased the work during the AutoTech …

An advanced driving simulator is helping Ford Motor Co. push out new vehicles more efficiently.

The simulator in Dearborn, Mich., which helped bring the Maverick and F-150 Lightning to market, uses rFpro, a driving simulation software, and lidar by scanning roads to the millimeter to create an immersive experience for the driver, a Ford official said.

"We use the simulator to refine everything before we even build a prototype. Everything from the suspension, architecture, layout, basic tuning, even starting to develop all the ride handling characteristics, we did that in the simulator," said Louis Jamail, Ford's core methods and simulator supervisor.

"Once we go to the prototype stage, we were able to transfer all that knowledge into the physical prototype and do much less tuning and changes. That saves both time and money. And it also helps us to deliver a more focused product from the beginning."

Ford simulation technical expert Robert Rieveley …