Trade News

John Hiester, dealer principal of Hiester Automotive Group, and Matt Arnold, senior regional vice president of auto finance at Ally Financial, talk about how dealerships can effectively leverage digital options to keep in touch with customers and create content that improves customer satisfaction.

Transcript:

Automotive News Hi, everyone, this is Jackie Charniga with Automotive News. And welcome to the All Ears podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Ally Financial and is produced by the Automotive News Content Studio. In each episode, we delve into topics important to executives in automotive retailing, which have allies leaders to offer actionable solutions for dealers and others to successfully navigate transformational changes in the industry. Today, we catch up with John Hiester, dealer principal of Hiester Automotive Group, and Matt Arnold, senior regional vice president of auto finance at Ally Financial, to discuss methods dealerships use to keep car buy…

Ally Financial, one of the nation's largest auto lenders, said it anticipates at least a 15 percent reduction in used-vehicle prices by the end of 2023.

Prices have been increasing, and the path to Ally's estimated cumulative decline of 15 to 20 percent in the next two years might not follow a straight line, CFO Jenn LaClair noted on the lender's fourth-quarter earnings call Friday.

CEO Jeffrey Brown said on the call that Ally's outlook involved a "really robust used-car market," but the company did see prices "moderating."

Douglas Timmerman, Ally's Dealer Financial Services president, told Automotive News on Friday that Ally expected "a slow unwind," a pace that represented "probably the best of scenarios for all stakeholders," including dealerships and consumers.

The average used vehicle sold for $28,205 in December, up 28 percent from the same time a year earlier, Kelley Blue Book said the same day as the earnings call.

In 2020, the aver…

The burly Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer are about to get even bigger.

Jeep is preparing larger variants of the premium SUVs with longer wheelbases that will put them head-to-head with rivals such as the Chevrolet Suburban, GMC Yukon XL, Cadillac Escalade ESV and Lincoln Navigator L.

A camouflaged extended Wagoneer or Grand Wagoneer prototype has been spotted road testing in metro Detroit. The latest version is considerably longer than the current models, which are nearly 18 feet in length.

Jeep officials declined to comment.

General Motors has dominated the lucrative segment for large, extended SUVs for decades.

Dave Kelleher, chairman of the Stellantis National Dealer Council, said he's "hopeful" that the extended Jeep models will arrive this year.

"As a dealer, I'm excited because it closes the loop and pretty much covers all of our competition," said Kelleher, who owns David Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram in Glen Mills, Pa. "We will…

Former Reynolds and Reynolds Co. CEO Bob Brockman, who is charged with the largest criminal tax evasion case by an individual in the U.S., asked a judge to lift an IRS demand that he pay $1.4 billion in taxes and penalties.

The IRS has improperly imposed a so-called jeopardy assessment, which is normally used when a taxpayer is "designing quickly" to leave the country and place assets beyond the reach of U.S. authorities, or when the taxpayer faces insolvency, Brockman's lawyers said in a Houston federal court filing Friday. None of those conditions applies to Brockman, they said.

"No exigency exists here," attorneys said in the court filing. "There is no jeopardy. The IRS's actions were baseless and wholly unreasonable, and must be immediately abated."

They asked that a judge rule on their motion within 20 days.

The filing expands on a lawsuit Brockman filed Thursday, and it denies key allegations that are also central to an indictment accusing h…

It’s the Lunar New Year holiday across Asia next week, and a time when many single people in China are anxious about visits to their home towns. Many families traditionally use the opportunity to quiz unattached children about their marriage prospects.

Relationships are currently on the minds of carmakers too, particularly international producers and local brands who’ve had sometimes awkward unions under a three decade-policy that’s required foreign companies to operate in joint ventures with domestic competitors.

Beginning earlier this month those requirements, which initially limited overseas auto giants to a 50 percent stake in the partnerships, have been removed — giving all overseas producers the same kind of freedoms that were previously granted only to a tiny handful of companies, including Tesla.

For the about two dozen alliances formed under the mandatory marriages since 1994, it’s time for some couples counseling. Almost all are likely to be co…

General Motors Co aims to launch an algorithm-based auto insurance plan by the end of the first quarter in some U.S. states that charge policyholders based on their driving performance, a company executive said in an interview.

The automaker's OnStar subsidiary has asked for regulatory approval of the new data-based insurance plan in Arizona, Illinois and Michigan together with its insurance partner American Family. It hopes to receive the go-ahead by the end of March, Andrew Rose, president of OnStar Insurance and GM's vice president of Global Innovation, said during an interview Friday.

"We hope to follow that with a dozen, two dozen and hopefully more states," Rose said.

GM's policy currently does not factor in the use of driver-assistance systems, which can automate some driving tasks, and control braking and acceleration.

Sensor data from GM's Super Cruise system, including an in-cabin camera that monitors drivers' eye and head movements, cou…

General Motors on Monday began assembling Chevrolet Silverado HD pickups on a second shift, just two months after the first truck rolled off the line at the reopened Oshawa Assembly Plant.

GM first announced the $1.3-billion retooling of Oshawa in the fall of 2020. 

In November, the automaker announced the hiring and training of 1,800 new employees to support two shifts of production.

“Adding a second shift of truck production so quickly after launch continues Oshawa’s long history of speed and agility and helps GM meet strong customer demand for its largest and most important market segment,” GM Canada President Scott Bell said in a statement.

GM Canada on Dec. 23 said on Twitter that the Oshawa-built truck bearing vehicle identification number (VIN) 001 was on its way to Paillé Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in Berthierville, Quebec, winner of the rights to purchase the first Oshawa-built Silverado.

The one-year turnaround for Oshawa’s retoo…

Ford Motor Co. is suspending customer orders for the Maverick, a compact pickup that the automaker had rolled out in June last year, the company confirmed Monday.

Ford told its dealers in a memo that it is suspending customer orders for the Maverick pickup truck because it is already straining to fill a backlog.

The automaker said it will stop taking new orders after Jan. 27 to focus on existing bookings, although customers may still be able to purchase a Maverick at their local Ford dealer.

Ford will resume taking orders for the 2023 Maverick in the summer, the company said in a statement.

The Maverick compact pickup was launched with a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain as standard equipment, a technology choice aimed at keeping the vehicle's starting price below $20,000.

The worldwide shortage of computer chips has left car manufacturers unable to complete assembly of some new vehicles. Suppy-chain and production disruptions have left a…

The National Automobile Dealers Association is committed to an in-person convention in March, and its CEO says he believes the trade group can hold a safe event without requiring proof of vaccination from attendees and despite the current high coronavirus case counts across the U.S.

NADA has no plans to cancel in-person receptions or make displays virtual at its annual gathering set for March 10-13 in Las Vegas, CEO Mike Stanton told Automotive News.

A worldwide swell of COVID-19 cases and continued concerns over the fast-spreading omicron variant caused several auto industry companies to back out of in-person appearances at the CES trade show this month. The high U.S. caseload has led to speculation about whether changes could be made to the NADA Show, which is scheduled to return to an in-person event this year after a virtual convention was staged in 2021.

But during an interview for Automotive News' "Daily Drive" podcast, Stanton pushed back on the …