Trade News

Germain Toyota of Naples had figured out how to conduct vehicle sales digitally in early 2020. But the achievement raised a new challenge for the Florida dealership: Traditional word tracks were no longer relevant.

So the dealership empowered staff to approach sales organically, discarding a rigid process in favor of having a conversation with the customer and addressing the question or shopping step on the consumer's mind at the time.

"We just roll with them," General Manager Brian Kramer said.

As a result, finance-and-insurance sales have increased, boosting per-vehicle profitability, Kramer said. After initial reluctance, sales employees now prefer the revamped approach.

Under the old scripted system, a customer asking what a trade was worth might have been required to test drive a vehicle first, Kramer said. Or an employee would be required to fill out paperwork before a customer could visit the F&I office.

But that system went ha…

More than three-quarters of dealers said they plan to buy one or more dealerships in the next year — a sign that the hot buy-sell market is likely to continue into 2022, with next year's transaction totals likely to exceed 2021's record pace, according to a survey by Kerrigan Advisors.

The third annual Kerrigan Dealer Survey of more than 825 dealers from June to October also found that just 3 percent of dealers plan to sell one or more stores in the next 12 months and 20 percent expect to remain the same size.

Despite concerns about electric vehicles and Tesla's growing market share, dealership profits and cash flow are high, boosting confidence in the future of retailing, Erin Kerrigan, managing director of Kerrigan Advisors, a sell-side firm in Irvine, Calif., told Automotive News.

"The dealers are making more money than they have — frankly many have shared with us [it's more] than they ever imagined they would in a single year," Kerrigan said. "And …

TOKYO — In a world where lithium ion power packs are the norm and buzz is building around solid-state batteries, old nickel-metal hydride batteries seem like yesterday's news.

After all, Toyota has been using the chemistry since the 1997 launch of the Prius hybrid.

But engineers at Toyota have found a way to squeeze more juice out of the old tried-and-true battery technology, and it is giving Toyota's latest hybrids a new life in the electric vehicle age.

Toyota calls its innovation the bipolar nickel-metal hydride battery. A new structural design delivers not only a more powerful battery, but one that is much more compact — essentially doubling its power density while using the same basic chemistry.

Toyota deployed the new battery this year in the redesigned compact Prius C hybrid. Each cell delivers 1.5 times the output of the old setup, and the structure allows for 1.4 times as many cells in the same space.

"If we use the same space, we…

SHANGHAI -- Chinese tech group Baidu Inc. and self-driving startup Pony.ai have won approval to launch paid driverless robotaxi services that will see the companies deploy not more than 100 vehicles in an area in China's capital Beijing.

The state-backed Beijing Daily newspaper reported on the approvals on Thursday, citing a ceremony held by the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, where the 60 square kilometre-large area (23 square miles) is located.

Baidu said in a statement the approval will herald its Apollo Go service's first commercial deployment on open roads.

Customers will be able to hail one of the daily service's 67 cars at more than 600 pick-up and drop-off points in both commercial and residential areas, it said. It will charge fares similar to the level of premium ride-hailing services in China, a Baidu spokesperson added.

Pony.ai, backed by Toyota Motor Corp., also confirmed that it had received the approval for its…

Cadillac has begun taking orders in China for the Lyriq, its first full electric crossover.

Customers, beginning Nov. 17, can initially place orders for the rear-wheel drive, long-range version of the Lyriq at a price of 439,700 yuan ($68,811), GM China’s unit said. 

The vehicle is produced at SAIC-GM, GM’s passenger vehicle joint venture with SAIC Motor Corp. 

The Lyriq can drive for more than 650 kilometers on a full charge or 96 km on a 10-minute charge.

China deliveries are slated to start in mid-2022. 

An all-wheel-drive variant of the Lyriq will be introduced at a later time.

While launching Lyriq orders, GM’s luxury brand is set to open its first six Cadillac IQ Spaces in five Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Guangzhou. 

The sites allow car shoppers to view, select and order the Lyriq and Cadillac’s future electric products, GM China said. 

In the first three quarters, Cadillac’s Ch…

Dongfeng Motor Group, a major state-owned Chinese automaker, plans to sell its 25 percent interest in an unprofitable partnership with Kia Motors via the Shanghai United Asset and Equity Exchange. 

Dongfeng has priced the 25 percent stake in the partnership, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, at 297 million ($46.5 million), according to information disclosed last week by the exchange, which helps corporate customers in China sell assets or equity stakes.

The move is widely believed to pave the way for Kia to increase its stake in the joint venture, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, to 75 percent from 50 percent. 

Dongfeng Yueda Kia is a 25-50-25 partnership between Dongfeng, Kia and Yueda Investment Co. -- an investment company in the east China city of Yancheng.

Kia, Dongfeng and Yueda Investment signed a memorandum of understanding in August to allow Dongfeng to transfer its 25 percent interest in the joint venture to Kia, Shanghai-based newspaper China Business N…

Xpeng introduced its fourth model, a large crossover, at the Guangzhou auto show last week, and the Chinese electric-vehicle startup expects to sell it globally as well as domestically.

The G9, a large crossover, is its first product “conceived and designed from the outset for both domestic Chinese and international markets,” Xpeng said. 

The vehicle complies with 5-star safety design standards under new car assessment programs in China and the European Union, as well as the EU’s vehicle certification standards known as European Whole Vehicle Type Approval.

It also meets the EU’s environmental protection requirements, with a reusability rate exceeding 85 percent and a recyclable rate of more than 95 percent, according to the EV startup.

The vehicle is fitted with Xpeng’s in-house proprietary advanced driver assistance system to enable comprehensive assisted smart driving from vehicle start-up to parking. 

It can drive for 200 kilo…

Lincoln has started preselling the locally produced Zephyr in China with a starting price of 255,000 yuan ($39,906). 

The sedan, built at Ford Motor Co.’s joint venture with Changan Automobile Co., debuted at the Guangzhou auto show last week. 

The vehicle, targeting young Chinese households, is 4,982 mm long, 1,865 mm wide and 1,485 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,930 mm. 

It is powered by a 2.0-liter turbo-charged direct-injection gasoline engine and can accelerate to 100 kilometers within 6.8 seconds, according to Lincoln’s China unit. 

Lincoln said it also plans a hybrid variant of the Zephyr, without specifying the timeframe.

The Zephyr is Lincoln’s fourth model produced at Changan Ford, following the Nautilus, Aviator and Corsair crossovers.

The Nautilus and Aviator are only available with gasoline engines, while the Corsair is available in both gasoline and plug-in hybrid versions. 

In the first …

China’s used light-vehicle sales rose less than one percent to below 1.16 million in October after double-digit growth in the first nine months, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.

The sudden market slowdown was mainly caused by lockdowns in multiple cities in northwest and northeast China, triggered by resurging coronavirus infections, the trade group said last week. 

In October, deliveries of used crossovers and SUVs surged 25 percent to some 173,500 while sales of second-hand minibuses rose 4.6 percent to around 34,400.

But second-hand sedan deliveries dropped 3.3 percent to about 866,600 while sales of used multi-purpose vehicles slid 1.3 percent to roughly 81,200.

Through October, China’s used light-vehicle market expanded 34 percent from a year earlier to approach 11.5 million on the back of a nearly 100 percent rebound in the first quarter.

BERLIN -- Daimler's China sales will stay strong next year, Hubertus Troska, the automaker's China chief, said, adding he was confident that Mercedes-Benz could grow its share of the country's electric-vehicle market given little competition in the premium car segment.

The brand's car sales in China jumped 12 percent last year to a record 774,000 despite the pandemic, and over 8 percent growth has been registered this year so far, Troska told journalists.

"Everything speaks for the fact that China will be a super market next year as well," Troska said.

Daimler's market share of electric-vehicle sales is still small in China, Troska said, where it competes with numerous Chinese EV makers from Xpeng to Li Auto and Nio as well as U.S. EV giant Tesla.

However, most Chinese companies sell in the price range of 35,000 euros ($39,270) or less, Troska said, below Daimler's range.

Separately, Mercedes-Benz is planning to build a new electric vehicl…

BERLIN -- Daimler's China sales will stay strong next year, Hubertus Troska, the automaker's China chief, said, adding he was confident that Mercedes-Benz could grow its share of the country's electric-vehicle market given little competition in the premium car segment.

The brand's car sales in China jumped 12 percent last year to a record 774,000 despite the pandemic, and over 8 percent growth has been registered this year so far, Troska told journalists.

"Everything speaks for the fact that China will be a super market next year as well," Troska said.

Daimler's market share of electric-vehicle sales is still small in China, Troska said, where it competes with numerous Chinese EV makers from Xpeng to Li Auto and Nio as well as U.S. EV giant Tesla.

However, most Chinese companies sell in the price range of 35,000 euros ($39,270) or less, Troska said, below Daimler's range.

Separately, Mercedes-Benz is planning to build a new electric vehicl…

TOKYO -- Subaru Corp. expects slumping U.S. sales to finally rebound in 2022, but only after two-straight years of declines, the brand's first back-to-back sales retreat since the mid-1990s.

CEO Tomomi Nakamura, in a Thursday interview, told Automotive News that sales in the Japanese automaker's most important market aren't expected to reach 600,000 units in 2021.

Such a total would fall short of the 611,942 vehicles Subaru sold in the U.S. in calendar year 2020, when its volume slumped 12.6 percent in the throes of the pandemic from an all-time high set in 2019.

Demand in 2021 has been further reduced by the global semiconductor shortage.

Through October, Subaru's U.S. sales were static, with the brand notching a 0.3 percent increase to 499,619 vehicles.

"We'll have to consider orders after the Thanksgiving holiday, but we're looking at a little more difficult situation than in previous months," Nakamura said of the U.S. sales outlook. "F…