Trade News

Bankrate predicted that banks would charge new- and used-vehicle buyers higher interest rates this year following a decline in 2021.

However, both 48-month used-vehicle loans and 60-month new-car terms would still end 2022 with average APRs below 5 percent, Chief Financial Analyst Greg McBride said Monday.

McBride predicted four-year used-vehicle loans would average 4.85 percent at the end of 2022, up from the 4.43 percent Bankrate reported for Dec. 29, 2021. He expected five-year new-model loan APRs would grow to 4.4 percent by the end of the year, compared with the 3.85 percent Bankrate saw at the close of 2021.

The 2022 forecasts represent increases above auto loan rates at the beginning of 2021 as well. Bankrate said the average 60-month new-vehicle bank loan was 4.24 percent on Jan. 6, 2021, while the average 48-month used-vehicle loan held a 4.79 percent APR then.

McBride's predictions apply to direct auto loans by traditional …

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. light-vehicle sales topped the industry in the fourth quarter of 2021 with 508,451 deliveries despite the ongoing chip shortage.

The automaker said the quarterly total, up 27 percent from the third quarter, was fueled by demand for its newest models such as the Mustang Mach-E, Bronco, Bronco Sport and Maverick.

Ford said it vaulted past rival General Motors during the year's final quarter to become No. 2 in electric vehicle sales, behind Tesla. GM hasn't built the Chevrolet Bolt, its only current volume EV, since August amid a recall and recently extended the downtime to Jan. 28.

Ford's light-vehicle sales for all of 2021 fell 7 percent to 1,891,753, although the automaker was optimistic given the strong end to a year marked by production constraints and sparse dealership lots.

"After a really turbulent and dynamic 2021 in the auto industry, we're pleased with how we finished the year," Andrew Frick, Ford's vice pre…

Subaru's U.S. sales slid 20 percent in December to 51,146 as inventory and production bottlenecks continue to plague the Japanese automaker.

It was the company's seventh straight monthly decline.

Each of Subaru's higher-volume crossovers saw declines while three lower-volume cars posted increases.

For the year, Subaru said U.S. sales finished down 4.6 percent to 583,810.

Notable nameplates: Outback, down 27%; Forester, down 13%; Crosstrek, down 37%; Ascent, down 9%; Impreza, up 4.7%; WRX/STI, up 3.5%; BRZ, up 525% (1,069 vehicles)

Incentives: For the fourth quarter, $1,006 per vehicle, down 32% from a year earlier, TrueCar says.

Average transaction price: For the fourth quarter, $31,360, up 3% from a year earlier, according to TrueCar.

Quote: "2021 is now in the record books and we know it could have been so much better had we not had to deal with the microchip shortage and the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic," Tom…

A resurgence in brand confidence, fueled by refreshed products, lifted Nissan Group's U.S. sales 8.7 percent last year.

It's an optimistic sign in a key market for the Japanese automaker which suffered its largest annual percentage decline in 2020.

The Nissan division sold 919,086 vehicles in 2021, up 12 percent from the year earlier. Infiniti sales, meanwhile, tumbled 26 percent to 58,553 vehicles last year.

There's greater demand for Nissan vehicles because the brand is getting stronger, Judy Wheeler, Nissan division vice president of sales and regional operations in the U.S., told Automotive News.

"We started the year with such a bang," Wheeler said.

That is until the global auto industry got walloped by semiconductor and other supply chain shortages.

In 2021, Nissan lost about 228,000 units of production in North America because of the chip shortage, according to data from AutoForecast Solutions.

"We continue to work our w…

Qualcomm Corp. on Tuesday announced deals to supply chips to automakers Volvo Group, Honda Motor Co. and Renault, accelerating its push to partner with legacy automotive firms digitizing their product lines.

The company once known for its mobile phone chips has created a range of automotive offerings, from self-driving car brains to chips that operate digital dashboards and infotainment systems. But the chips are all aimed at the same goal of helping automakers transform their vehicles into rolling computers that can be updated over the air with paid upgrades that generate revenue for carmakers long after a vehicle has left dealer lots, a business model pioneered by Tesla Inc.

At the CES 2022 show in Las Vegas, Qualcomm said it has reached a deal with Geely Holding-backed brands Volvo and Polestar to use Qualcomm's "Snapdragon Cockpit" chips and an operating system from Alphabet Inc's Google in vehicles starting later this year.

The deal will allow Volvo…

Kia America sold a record 701,416 cars and trucks in the U.S. last year for a 20 percent increase over 2020, the automaker said Tuesday.

In fact, it took Kia just 11 months to beat its all-time sales peak from 2016, when it sold 647,598 vehicles. Breaking through the 700,000-vehicle mark for the 12-month period was icing on the cake.

For the fourth quarter, sales fell 7.5 percent compared with the same period of 2020 to 145,891.

Deliveries in December fell 9.8 percent compared with the year-earlier month to 48,506 as the company dealt with supply chain shortages that have affected the industry in general, Kia said.

Notable nameplates: Forte, up 21% in December; K5, down 9.1%; Seltos, down 50%; Sportage, down 24%; Sorento, up 20%; Telluride, down 23%

Incentives: For the fourth quarter, $1,730 per vehicle, down 42% from a year earlier, TrueCar says.

Average transaction price: For the fourth quarter, $29,922, up 7.4% from a year earlier…

The head of autonomous technology at the U.K. design and testing firm outlines the latest advances in lidar and radar, provides insight on CES sensor developments and details the power of ultrasonic technology to keep sensors clean.

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DETROIT — General Motors' U.S. light-vehicle sales plunged 43 percent in the fourth quarter to a new post-bankruptcy low as the global microchip shortage continued to pummel production. For all of 2021, GM's sales fell 13 percent to 2.22 million, falling behind Toyota Motor North America for the first time.

GM delivered 440,745 vehicles from October through December, making the fourth quarter the worst since the first quarter of 2009. The performance came a year after GM's best retail sales quarter since 2007, GM said Tuesday.

GM sold 2,218,228 vehicles in 2021, 114,034 fewer than Toyota. It was GM's worst sales year since 2010 and third worst since 1952, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center.

GM said the chip crisis drove much of its sales decline. AutoForecast Solutions estimates that 11.31 million vehicles — including 3.4 million in North America — were eliminated from global production schedules last year because of chip-related…

Mobileye, Intel's autonomous driving unit, is partnering with three automakers on driver assist and autonomous vehicle technologies expected on production vehicles in the coming years.

The technology company said it:

has inked a deal with Volkswagen Group to use its mapping data on upcoming models. is partnering with Ford Motor Co. to enhance a future version of the automaker's yet-to-be released BlueCruise driver assist system. will incorporate sensing and mapping software into a Geely Holding Group vehicle set to launch in China in 2024.

Mobileye announced the moves Tuesday in a digital presentation at CES in Las Vegas.

"Our customers are demonstrating that innovation is at the center of their future strategies and leaning on Mobileye to help execute their visions," Amnon Shashua, Mobileye CEO, said in a statement. "As a trusted collaborator, Mobileye is firing on all cylinders to deliver scalable ADAS-to-AV solutions that exceed the expectations of …

Toyota Motor North America's December sales fell 30 percent to 174,115 — the automaker's biggest drop of 2021 — as it continued to struggle with production and inventory in the face of supply shortages and disruptions from COVID-19. However, for the year, the Japanese automaker posted a gain of 10 percent to 2,332,261 vehicles, edging out General Motors to become the nation's top-selling automaker for the first time. GM had held the U.S. sales crown for 90 years.

Brands: Toyota, down 29%; Lexus, down 37%

Notable nameplates: Toyota RAV4, down 26%; Highlander, down 28%; Corolla, off 45%; Camry, down 34%; Tacoma, down 33%; 4Runner, down 12%; Lexus RX, down 20%; NX, down 82%; ES, down 21%

Incentives (Q4): $1,243 per vehicle, down 53% from a year earlier, TrueCar says.

Average transaction price (Q4): $36,985, up 5.2% from a year earlier, according to TrueCar.

Inventory: 125,423, a 20-day supply

Quote: "Despite a second consecutive ye…

BERLIN -- Daimler's Mercedes-Benz has informed owners of its luxury cars of a technical defect that could spark a fire, the company said on Tuesday, adding a recall was not possible because parts needed to fix the problem are not available.

The issue was traced to possible leakage in the coolant pump that could heat up components, Daimler said.

The news was first reported by the Bild newspaper in Germany, which published a copy of a letter Daimler sent to some 800,000 Mercedes-Benz owners affected by the defect that said "the risk of a fire could not be ruled out."

Daimler confirmed the letter was authentic. It was not immediately clear how many of the 800,000 vehicles are being driven in North America.

It added in the letter that the parts needed to fix the problem were not immediately available so a recall was not possible at the moment, but would be launched as soon as the components became available.

"In the meantime the affected vehicl…