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Sonic Automotive gave its executive officers 20 percent raises, established parameters for cash bonuses for the four executives, and added a board member, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Two board members will not be seeking reelection.

The filing said the Sonic board's compensation committee approved the base salary increases, retroactively effective on Jan. 1, 2022, for the officers, raising Executive Chairman Bruton Smith's pay to $240,000; CEO David Smith's to $1,336,366; President Jeff Dyke's to $1,193,230; and CFO Heath Byrd's to $930,000.

The four executives' additional cash bonuses will be determined by adjusted earnings per share and customer satisfaction levels from Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2022, according to the filing.

The new board member is Michael Hodge, executive vice president, finance of Speedway Motorsports.

Board members Victor Doolan and Robert Heller notified Sonic that …

Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday it has not yet resumed production at its three manufacturing lines in Ontario even after a key U.S.-Canadian bridge reopened.

The Japanese automaker's plants in Ontario, where it builds its best-selling RAV4 crossover, have halted production since Thursday because of parts shortages stemming from the border disruption from a protest by Canadian truckers.

Toyota said it expects "related disruptions to continue this week" in Ontario. Toyota also said its plants in West Virginia, Kentucky and Alabama are still facing production impacts on Monday.

Flavio Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association in Canada, said Monday that it will take a few days for production to reach full capacity at parts plants across Ontario.

Stellantis told Automotive News Canada that production has resumed at its two assembly plants in the province. The automaker builds the Chrysler Pacifica minivan and Pacifica Hybrid for th…

DETROIT — General Motors is doubling its investment to its Climate Equity Fund — part of a strategy to create equitable climate action — to $50 million.

The fund is designed to help close equity gaps in the transition to electric vehicles. GM has said it will invest $35 billion in electric and autonomous vehicle development and launch 30 EVs globally through 2030. The automaker also plans to have more than 1 million units of EV capacity in North America through 2025. To achieve that goal, GM leaders have said that building EVs across various segments and price points and expanding access to EV charging will be crucial.

GM plans to launch a Chevrolet Equinox EV starting at $30,000 next year, followed by a lower-priced Chevy EV. In April, GM said it would partner with seven major charging companies to help customers locate and pay for EV charging through its vehicle mobile apps.

The automaker established the Climate Equity Fund eight months ago. Since then…

Elon Musk apparently isn’t pleased with pressure the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration put on Tesla Inc. to conduct its 11th recall in the U.S. in just over three months.

Asked by a Twitter follower on Saturday what the rationale was for recalling a feature called Boombox, which enabled people to play sounds through an external speaker of their vehicle, Tesla’s chief executive officer replied: “The fun police made us do it (sigh).”

Tesla told NHTSA on Feb. 4 that it would disable Boombox when its vehicles are in drive, neutral or reverse, to comply with a safety standard requiring electric cars to emit sounds that alert pedestrians. In its recall report, the company said NHTSA asked for information in January 2021 to investigate whether the feature complied with the safety standard. Tesla decided to conduct a voluntary recall after months of back-and-forth with the agency, according to the report.

Many clashes

Musk has repeatedly cl…

In Chevrolet’s world, even the Sopranos drive EVs. 

For its Super Bowl ad, Chevy remade the iconic opening scene of the classic HBO show, but with a twist: Instead of Tony driving a 1999 Chevy Suburban from Manhattan to his New Jersey home while smoking a cigar, the remake features his now-grown-up daughter, Meadow, who licks a lollipop while driving a Silverado EV -- which is due to hit dealers in 2023.

The ad, from Commonwealth/McCann, marks the first big marketing push for the electric version of the nation’s third-best-selling pickup. The vehicle, which General Motors unveiled in January at CES, will duel with other new EV pickups, including the Ford 150 Lightning, as a new chapter begins in the high-stakes truck marketing war.

“The brief was ‘this is a whole new truck for a whole new generation,’” Chevrolet Marketing Vice President Steve Majoros said of the Sopranos ad, which is called “New Generation.”  

“Now that the truck …

As a shop foreman at Barbour-Hendrick Honda Greenville in North Carolina, Chris Tucker often suspected service operations could be more efficient. But like many harried fixed ops supervisors, he didn't have the time or data to verify his assumptions.

"You sometimes ask yourself why things take so long," Tucker says. "But that was based on assumptions ... there really was no easy way to actually know how long it takes to perform oil changes and other tasks."

Now there is. Last November, Barbour-Hendrick's service department began using Bayley job-tracking devices from Service Write Inc. in two express service bays.

Three months later, the results are so encouraging that the dealership — part of Hendrick Automotive Group — plans to install the technology in its 17 full service bays as well, Tucker says.

In October, for example, the average elapsed time between creating a repair order and getting the vehicle up on a lift …

David Peterson was never tempted to hit the links or put his toes in the sand after he sold his Louisville, Ky., Mercedes-Benz dealership in early January. Instead, Peterson is preparing for his next act: developing a national apprenticeship program for automotive technicians.

"I'll get to the beach eventually," he says. "I gotta do something else. This has energized me."

Peterson, a 48-year veteran of the auto industry, has formed Automotive Apprenticeship Group to roll out his vision for a nationwide program to help recruit and retain dealership technicians.

"This is a pain spot I have suffered along with my fellow dealers," he says of the tech shortage.

Peterson's group finds potential candidates, assesses their automotive aptitude and discusses their goals. The candidate is assigned a mentor and starts training. AAG then talks with dealerships in need of techs, and a match is made.

"We make sure we're all…

Workers at Hall Dodds Ford are busily lubricating a work truck and two passenger vehicles on hydraulic lifts. Hall Dodds was one of the first Ford dealerships in Detroit, opening in 1912. Bruce Dodds operated the dealership until 1953.

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Ask fixed ops executives why they're investing in expensive high-tech equipment, expanding their marketing efforts and ramping up adviser training to sell more tires — a low-margin item — and they'll tell you it is not just about the amount of money they make on each set of radials that rolls out of the service lane.

"It is definitely a retention tool," says Mike Zalowski, regional fixed ops director at MileOne Autogroup, a 77-dealership East Coast group. "We don't want our customers going someplace else for tires. If they bring the car to us for maintenance, when they buy their next car we want to make sure they come back to us."

At Mel Hambelton Ford in Wichita, Kan., tire sales are booming, going from nearly zero in 2008 to around 600 per month today. Hambelton sells tires through two channels: its service department and a Quick Lane store three blocks away.

Although most of the MileOne stores and Hambelton are more than 1,200 mi…

I've always prided myself on my work ethic and my perseverance. Both have made me the professional I am today.

I needed both my first day in 2012 as the fixed ops director at a New Jersey Toyota store. The day before I started, Hurricane Sandy hit the area. When I walked in that first day — OK, waded — there was 4 feet of water in the shop and no power. I had faced adversity in the past and persevered, but the situation made me wonder if I could do it again.

In two weeks, we were able to get the facility up and running — thanks to portable trailers and a lot of plywood. The waiting area was cold, but we served bagels and hot coffee.

To my surprise, customers showed up — even some who followed me from my old store.

What didn't surprise me was why they showed up. They felt valued and heard, and this new dealership team was reliable and ready to help them.

My perseverance was shining through in a way I had …

Fortune 500 companies and other major corporations encourage employees to "get out of their silos" and work seamlessly with other departments.

A franchised auto dealership is no different. Sales, service, parts and collision all need to work together to improve customer satisfaction and retention. But that doesn't always happen.

Corey Smith, 46, national fixed operations training manager at National Auto Care, spoke last month with Editor Dan Shine to explain why and suggest what dealerships can do to build better relationships between departments. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: Why don't some dealership departments work together?

A: I think it all starts with the owner and the culture they set at the top. Most owners come up on the sales side where they are conditioned to celebrate the selling of the car and hitting sales targets. Rewards come from winning the boss's accolades and earning the right to say, "I'm No. 1." T…