Trade News

Asbury Automotive Group Inc. generated record net income in the first quarter that was fueled by its 2021 acquisitions and higher profits in all dealership business lines.

Asbury on Thursday reported first-quarter net income of $237.7 million, more than 2.5 times the $92.8 million it produced a year earlier. Asbury reported first-quarter revenue of $3.91 billion, up 78 percent. On a same-store basis, revenue rose 5 percent to $2.28 billion.

Shares in Asbury surged 10.5 percen to $174.79 in afternoon trading on Thursday.

The results were buoyed by a slew of new locations. Asbury added a net $5.8 billion in annual revenue through those 2021 acquisitions, most of which closed during the final months of last year. Asbury's biggest deal was its December purchase of Larry H. Miller Dealerships and its finance and insurance products provider Total Care Auto.

"We see tremendous opportunity ahead of us as we roll out [digital retailing platform] Clicklan…

Sonic Automotive Inc.'s first-quarter net income soared 80 percent to $97.3 million despite a drop in used-vehicle sales from its growing EchoPark brand. The dealership group reported slight increase in retail sales at its expanding portfolio of franchised dealerships.

Revenue for the Charlotte, N.C., retailer rose 29 percent to $3.6 billion, a first-quarter record, Sonic said.

On the franchised dealership side, average gross profit per retail new vehicle more than doubled to $6,771 in the first quarter, Sonic said, while average gross profit per used vehicle also increased.

Sonic said total F&I gross profit per retail vehicle hit $2,495, an all-time quarterly record.

The group's standalone EchoPark used-vehicle stores generated record first-quarter revenue of $625.3 million, but higher expenses led to a $34.9 million loss for the unit.

"Despite inventory constraints and inflation due to ongoing supply chain issues, we continue to see s…

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. on Wednesday said it is cutting 580 salaried and agency jobs in the U.S. as it reorganizes under two new divisions.

The automaker is eliminating about 350 salaried and 280 agency positions on U.S. engineering teams, according to a spokeswoman. Ford alerted affected employees earlier Wednesday.

"We continue to align staffing around the critical skills needed to deliver our products, services, and the Ford+ plan," a Ford spokeswoman said in a statement.

The job cuts were reported earlier Wednesday by the Detroit Free Press.

Ford earlier this year separated its business into two divisions to focus on gasoline and battery-powered vehicles. Executives at the time did not rule out job cuts.

"There's going to have to be a change in the skill mix," Kumar Galhotra, president of the Ford Blue division, told investors in March. "We will reduce skills in certain areas, and we'll have to invest more in other areas. So, nothi…

BERLIN -- Volkswagen is considering an expansion of its Chattanooga plant in the United States to produce an electric pickup and the new ID Buzz electric microbus, a source close to the matter told Reuters.

The move would help the automaker to increase its market share in North America, which it identified in March as the region with the greatest growth potential, but which was unprofitable for several years before 2021.

VW said in March it was shifting production to the U.S. and China as a result of the war in Ukraine, which has caused production stoppages at its European plans because of parts shortages.

The automaker plans to invest at least $7.1 billion over the next five years in North America and add 25 new electric vehicles there by 2030, with the aim of 50 percent of sales to be electric by then.

The Chattanooga plant, its only U.S. plant so far, produces models including the Passat and Atlas. It started pilot production of the ID4 full-…

STOCKHOLM -- Volvo Cars said chip constraints were gradually improving after the automaker posted a fall in quarterly profit despite strong demand for its vehicles.

First-quarter operating profit fell to 6 billion crowns ($607.4 million) from 8.4 billion a year ago, the company said in a statement on Thursday. EBIT margin was 8.1 percent, down from 12.3 percent during the same period last year.

The difference in the EBIT is because Volvo benefited from two large financial one-offs in the first quarter of 2021 that added 3 billion crowns ($304.7 million) to its books, Volvo CFO Bjorn Annwall told Automotive News Europe.

If those were excluded, the EBIT margin for the first three months of 2022 would have beaten the 2021 figure, he said.

A global shortage of semiconductors forced Volvo to halt production in the first quarter.

The automaker warned that the supply problem was expected to continue in the second quarter.

Annwall said Volv…

Catering to sports car enthusiasts who have dwindling options for rowing their own gears, Toyota Motor Corp. is adding a new six-speed manual transmission to the GR Supra coupe for the 2023 model year.

The optional transmission was developed specifically for the GR Supra, and will be paired with the car's inline-six, 3.0-liter, 382 hp engine, Toyota said Thursday.

The six-speed will be an option on the 3.0, 3.0 Premium and limited A91-MT Edition — the 2.0 will be automatic-only. Other additions for 2023 include a retuned suspension and braking, a new 12-speaker JBL Audio system and a new Stratosphere Blue paint option.

When it reintroduced the Supra in 2019 for the 2020 model year after a 17-year absence, Toyota installed an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The fifth-generation Supra is one of three cars under Toyota's Gazoo Racing brand. The GR 86 and GR Corolla also offer manual transmissions, as the automaker s…

Tesla Inc. co-founder Elon Musk won't have to hand over as much as $13 billion in shares of the EV maker he got in a buyout of SolarCity, after a judge found he isn't liable for backing the deal.

Delaware Chancery Court Judge Joseph Slights III concluded that the multibillionaire properly used his influence with his fellow Tesla directors to persuade them to acquire the struggling solar power provider Musk founded with his cousins. Tesla investors had demanded Musk return Tesla shares he received as part of the $2.6 billion acquisition in 2016.

Slights found that Musk, who served as SolarCity's chairman and largest shareholder at the time of the purchase, wasn't improperly on both sides of the deal and didn't ram it through at the expense of Tesla shareholders. Disgruntled investors argued SolarCity was insolvent at the time and not worth the price.

"The preponderance of the evidence reveals that Tesla paid a fair price -- SolarCity was, at a minimum, wo…

Porsche is introducing a limited-production version of the "ducktail" 911.

The sports car maker will build 1,250 of the 911 Sport Classic, which pays homage to the 1970s-era 911 Carrera RS 2.7

The 911 Sport Classic, based on the wide-body 911 Turbo S, is powered by a 3.7-liter twin-turbo flat-six pumping out 543 hp.

Unlike the 911 Turbo models, the Sport Classic is available only with a seven-speed manual transmission powering the rear wheels.

The 911 Sport Classic features unique design elements, including the signature large carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic ducktail spoiler in the rear and a fixed spoiler lip and LED matrix design headlights in front.

Porsche also eliminated the large cutouts for the air intakes, giving the rear fenders a wider appearance. Instead, ducts underneath the ducktail spoiler channel air to the engine.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday asked a judge to set aside recent information attorneys for Bob Brockman submitted about the state of his cognitive abilities as the judge weighs whether the former Reynolds and Reynolds Co. CEO is competent to stand trial on tax evasion charges.

Brockman's lawyers' filing this month, which claimed Brockman's cognitive functioning has deteriorated after recent illnesses, including COVID-19, "is a naked attempt to improperly interject unadmitted, unverified, and unsworn evidence into the record," prosecutors wrote in their own filing Wednesday in federal court in Houston.

"The Court should not consider it, and should instead rely on the record established during the Competency Hearing."

Brockman, 80, contracted COVID-19 in December and was hospitalized in January with acute prostatitis and toxic metabolic encephalopathy, Brockman's lawyers wrote in their recent filing. They added that the new health issues sped up his co…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. posted a first-quarter net loss of $3.1 billion attributable to a drop in the value of its Rivian stake but affirmed guidance for the year despite continued production limitations.

Ford was profitable before accounting for the Rivian investment, though adjusted earnings fell 41 percent from a year earlier to $2.3 billion before interest and taxes. Its adjusted profit margin was 6.7 percent, down 4.1 percentage points.

Revenue during the latest quarter fell 5 percent to $34.5 billion, the company reported Wednesday. The value of Ford's Rivian shares fell by more than half to $5.1 billion during the quarter. The EV startup's stock tanked from about $102 per share at the beginning of the year to about $50 on March 31 – and has fallen even further in April to around $30.

Executives on Wednesday declined to comment on Ford’s plans for the Rivian holding, although CEO Jim Farley told Automotive News late last year that Ford “loved…

WASHINGTON -- A group of 12 U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday urged Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to develop a comprehensive federal framework for autonomous vehicles, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

"We lag behind in shaping a regulatory framework that will foster this innovation while simultaneously protecting and encouraging all of the important benefits we believe autonomous vehicles are capable of delivering," wrote the senators, led by Gary Peters, D-Mich., who chairs a subcommittee on surface transportation.

The letter cited efforts by competitors, particularly China, who "have significantly invested in autonomous and connected vehicle technologies." It asks Buttigieg to detail what "specific actions" the department is "considering in the near term regarding autonomous vehicles."

A spokesperson for Buttigieg, who will testify on May 3 before the Senate Commerce committee, did not immediately comment.

The letter said the "s…

Apollo Global Management Inc. tossed a lifeline to Carvana Co. by offering to buy roughly half of a struggling junk-bond sale that will help the used-car retailer fund an acquisition and make new investments.

The firm submitted a $1.6 billion order anchoring Carvana’s offering of eight-year bonds at a yield of 10.25 percent, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.

Carvana raised $3.275 billion through the sale, which priced Wednesday afternoon at par to yield 10.25 percent and will finance its acquisition of Adesa Inc.'s U.S. car-auction business and improvements across 56 of its sites. The deal was revamped after Carvana’s bankers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. struggled to find enough buyers for the original structure, which included a $2.275 billion junk bond and $1 billion of preferred equity.

Representatives for Apollo, Carvana and JPMorgan declined to comme…