Trade News

CarMax's success procuring and selling vehicles helped the company achieve record net revenue of $8.53 billion during the third quarter, a 64 percent increase from a year earlier.

"Our solid execution, customer-centric omni-channel strategy, and macro factors are driving strong performance across our diversified businesses," CarMax Inc. CEO Bill Nash said in a statement Wednesday. "Our top line momentum continued into this quarter and we achieved record levels of third quarter unit sales in both retail and wholesale, generating all-time record revenues. We also bought more cars from customers than ever before."

CarMax increased retail sales 17 percent year over year to 227,424 vehicles during the third quarter. Wholesale volume rose 49 percent to 187,630 vehicles.

On the supply side, CarMax nearly doubled the amount of vehicles it purchased directly from customers during the quarter. The company said it acquired about 194,000 of those 383,215 vehicles th…

Ford Motor Co. is recalling 184,698 F-150 vehicles from the 2021 and 2022 model years because the driveshaft, which transfers torque to other parts of the vehicle, may become fractured.

In a safety recall report filed with NHTSA, the automaker said heat and noise insulators on the underbody of the vehicle could loosen and make contact with the aluminum driveshaft, which could damage it.

A compromised driveshaft could cause a loss of drive power and increase the risk of a crash, Ford said. A broken driveshaft dragging on the ground may interfere with wheels turning properly, which could lead to a loss of vehicle control.

Ford said dealers will inspect and repair the driveshaft if needed and fully attach underbody insulators. The automaker said owner notification letters were expected to be mailed Jan. 31. Dealers were notified Tuesday.

As of Dec. 7, Ford had received 27 reports of fractured aluminum driveshafts possibly related to sagging underbody…

DETROIT — General Motors plans to provide electric components across industries to expand its electrification technology to a larger group of commercial customers, the automaker said Wednesday.

The automaker will begin introducing electric vehicle component sets for vehicle owners and non-automotive customers to retrofit their products. Use cases for GM's EV component sets span from the Chevrolet Performance and Aftermarket division to GM Powered Solutions and even airport tractor equipment.

GM estimates that the total addressable market for electrification components could grow to $20 billion by 2030 as companies within various sectors set emission-reduction goals.

"GM has an established strategy, network of integrators and co-development agreements to apply an extensive array of components and solutions to a broad range of customers and use cases," Travis Hester, GM vice president of electric vehicle growth operations, said in a statement. "As compani…

Nikola Corp. entered this year with ambitions to start full production of a battery-powered semi-truck, make progress on a fuel-cell big rig and break ground on a network of hydrogen fueling stations.

It's going into 2022 with those and other objectives incomplete -- and a shrinking cash pile to make them happen.

One of the first of a series of electric vehicle startups to gain a public listing by merging with a blank-check company, the once high-flying stock is mired at less than the SPAC's $10-a-share offering price three years ago.

Nikola's been stuck in neutral since last year, when its founder resigned under a cloud of fraud allegations, General Motors Co. pulled away from a partnership and it lost a key truck supply contract. Repeated production delays have hurt efforts to rebuild trust with investors.

While the company says it has access to plenty of funds -- including an obscure financing tool to raise more money if needed -- Nikola has bu…

Customers expect a great experience.

In F&I, products are only 25 percent of what you sell. The remainder is an intangible feeling tied to that product. That requires helping the customer experience the benefit of each product on a personal level.

Multiple product presentations are no longer a satisfactory sales process for customers. Instead, customers today are looking to reduce or eliminate unexpected and unforeseen risks. In the F&I office, they want to know why a particular product is important in their unique situation.

While online shopping offers more convenience, it eliminates the personal interaction necessary to make an informed purchase. Customers have made it clear the impersonal efforts of the past will no longer be rewarded with their participation.

When an F&I professional makes a genuine effort to understand their concerns, it results in an open discussion that focuses on product benefits v…

The Federal Reserve's more aggressive credit tightening plan announced last week could mean auto loan interest rates will begin to rise in the spring, Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke wrote in a post.

"From a historical perspective, rates would still be low and attractive," Smoke wrote Dec. 15. "However, that would mean an end to the 2021 financing trend that helped mitigate some of the vehicle price inflation."

The Fed had kept rates steady and low and made monthly purchases of $80 billion in Treasury bonds and $40 billion in home loans to stimulate the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting in November, it began to buy $10 billion fewer bonds and $5 billion fewer mortgage bundles each month, which would have wound down the practice completely in June. The federal funds rate was to remain at 0 to 0.25 percent indefinitely until certain inflation and employment conditions existed.

But on Dec. 15, the Fed anno…

Market conditions, finance and insurance pricing and customers' auto loan terms are factors dealerships might take into account when establishing a reinsurance strategy for 2022, an executive at a leading F&I provider and administrator said.

David DeCredico, senior vice president of wealth building and strategic accounts at APCO Holdings, offered suggestions for dealerships evaluating their F&I product reinsurance position during an interview with Automotive News last month.

"Take a very critical look at what you have currently," he advised. Reinsurance "should become part of your 2022 planning process."

Reinsurance programs take a dealership beyond simply being a retailer of vehicle protection products to having an added stake in the underwriting results for those contracts. DeCredico called such participation extremely common and said offering reinsurance was the "price of entry" for an F&I products provider trying to win a dealership's bu…

Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk said he had sold "enough stock" to reach his plan to sell 10 percent of his shares in the world's most valuable car company, according to an interview released on Tuesday.

The billionaire, who moved the company's headquarters from California to Texas this month after his personal move last year, also slammed California for "overtaxation."

Tesla shares, which had hovered near record-highs, lost about a quarter of their value after Musk said on Nov. 6 he would sell 10 percent of his stake if Twitter users agreed.

On Tuesday, Musk sold another 583,611 shares, bringing the total number of shares he has offloaded to 13.5 million -- about 80 percent of what he had planned to sell. 

"I sold enough stock to get to around 10 percent plus the option exercise stuff and I tried to be extremely literal here," he said in the interview with satirical website Babylon Bee.

When asked whether he sold the stock because of the T…

The Biden administration on Tuesday finalized a reversal of a rule issued under then-U.S. President Donald Trump that sought to pre-empt California's vehicle emissions regulations.

The Department of Transportation said it was issuing final rules rescinding the Trump action, which sought to bar the most populous state in the nation from setting vehicle rules that might conflict with the federal government's authority to set Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements.

The program, in place since 1975, sets vehicle fuel efficiency requirements.

"States can now actively pursue solutions to address the climate crisis and environmental challenges in their communities," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.

About two dozen U.S. states sued to block a pair of Trump actions that sought to remove California from vehicle emissions regulations, while major automakers had backed the effort. The Republica…