Trade News

Despite the pandemic, despite the global irritation of microchip shortages and supply chain snarls for the rest of the industry, it's been a very good year for Rolls-Royce.

CEO Torsten Müller-Ötvös says that since September 2020, orders and production have been "flying." The BMW Group subsidiary has been unaffected by the semiconductor shortage because its parent has given the low-volume British brand's high-margin models priority when it comes to chips. As a result, Rolls-Royce is on pace to top its global sales record of 5,152 vehicles set in 2019.

Müller-Ötvös, 61, says Rolls-Royce has increased revenue per vehicle by emphasizing personalization. In addition, Rolls this year added a bespoke program called Coachbuild that will offer limited-edition multimillion-dollar models every other year.

But another way Rolls-Royce is maintaining its strong balance sheet is by declining to expand the brand into nonautomotive areas. The aim is to protect Rolls-Ro…

The most nerve-racking moment of Carlos Ghosn's daring getaway from Japan came as airport security in Osaka debated whether to X-ray the trunk in which he was hiding.

Ghosn, scrunched up inside, could hear the officials deliberating but couldn't tell which way the decision would go. They were speaking Japanese.

If they scanned that trunk, he'd be sunk.

Ghosn took a deep breath. The talking stopped, and the trunk resumed its rolling. Only then did he realize he finally made it. Ghosn was loaded onto a private jet and spirited to freedom.

"This is the single most important decision that had an impact on my life," Ghosn told Automotive News of that make-or-break moment to wave his box through. Because of that decision, the international fugitive says he is now free to start rehabilitating his reputation.

In a wide-ranging video interview from Lebanon last week, the ousted Nissan Motor Co. chairman said he is…

FRANKFURT -- Tesla boss Elon Musk has addressed 200 Volkswagen executives via a video call after an invitation from the German carmaker's CEO Herbert Diess, who wants to galvanize VW's top brass for a faster pivot to electric vehicles.

The comments on Thursday by Musk to a VW managers gathering in Alpbach, Austria, confirmed by Diess via Twitter on Saturday after a report in Handelsblatt daily, included praise of VW for being an "icon" and Tesla's greatest challenger, Handelsblatt said.

The paper said that when asked by Diess why Tesla was more nimble than its rivals, Musk said it came down to his management style and that he is an engineer, first of all, and has an eye for supply chains, logistics and production.

In a post on LinkedIn, Diess added that he had brought in Musk as a "surprise guest" to drive home the point that VW needs faster decisions and less bureaucracy for what he called the biggest transformation in VW's history.

"Happy to he…

When it comes to sourcing his most important asset, John Secondo looks within.

The general manager of Mall of Georgia Mini in Buford, Ga., relies on employee referrals as his primary recruitment strategy.

"This has worked out much better than using third-party recruitment sites," Secondo said. "We have much lower turnover by hiring people we actually know, rather than strangers."

Secondo said being general manager of a dealership is like being a football coach.

"You need to be looking for five-star players every single day," he said. "And when you're looking for five-star players, the best place to start is by talking to other five-star players you know."

Employee referrals have proved effective for the Hendrick Automotive Group dealership, which sold 1,872 new and used vehicles last year.

"If our employees are willing to say, 'This guy or gal could be a great candidate,' we want an opportunity to try and talk with them," Secondo s…

DETROIT — As General Motors evolves its vehicle portfolio and adds new business lines, its captive is ready to help.

GM Financial has given the automaker a boost during much of the pandemic and throughout the global microchip shortage by running promotions at the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, consistently paying dividends to GM and carefully planning remarketing strategies. The role of the 11-year-old captive will continue to expand in the next few years as GM launches its latest digital retail platform, powered by Tekion, and as the automaker elevates new business models, such as BrightDrop, its commercial electric van business, and Cruise, its majority-owned self-driving subsidiary.

"All of those initiatives within GM, we would have a seat at the table. From that seat at the table, we've taken that back to our organization to say, 'What part do we need to play as a captive?' " said GM Financial CEO Dan Berce, who also is on the automaker's s…

More than 5 out of every 8 electric vehicles registered in the U.S. this year through August were Tesla Model Y crossovers or Model 3 sedans, underscoring Tesla's increased reliance on its less expensive models as it continues to dominate the EV market.

During that time, 105,445 Model Y crossovers were registered, accounting for about 36 percent of all EV registrations, according to data gathered by Experian. Meanwhile, 80,681 Model 3 sedans were registered, making up about 27 percent.

The nameplates were the top-selling EVs in the U.S. by far and also accounted for about 96 percent of all Teslas registered nationwide. Fewer Model S sedans and Model X crossovers were registered in the U.S. through August this year than through the same point in 2020. According to Experian, 6,212 Model S sedans were registered, down from 8,200 a year earlier. Meanwhile, 1,827 Model X crossovers were registered, a sharp decline from 11,302.

Jessica Caldwell, executive di…

Bart Reagor, co-principal of the Reagor Dykes Auto Group in Texas that went bankrupt in 2018 amid accusations of widespread floorplan fraud, was found guilty Friday by a federal jury of one count of false statement to a bank, according to local media reports.

It was one of three counts Reagor faced as part of the trial, which began earlier this week.

Reagor was indicted by a federal grand jury last spring on two counts of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a bank insured by the FDIC.

A 12-person jury, which began deliberating Thursday, found him guilty Friday afternoon of only the count of making a false statement to a bank, but not guilty on the bank fraud charges, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reported. He faces up to 30 years in prison.

Reagor was accused of diverting more than $1.7 million of a $10 million commercial loan from International Bank of Commerce to his personal bank account, which was prohibited by the loan agr…

Stellantis will transform its Windsor, Ontario, minivan plant into a one-shift operation beginning in the spring of 2022, the automaker announced late Friday.

The company didn’t say when one of the two remaining shifts will be slashed, but it did blame the ongoing semiconductor shortage and COVID-19 pandemic for the change.

Aside from some shifts run in late May and early June, the Windsor Assembly Plant was down from March 29 to July 5, due to the global microchip shortage. It was then down again from Aug. 16 through Sept. 26, but had been running consistently this fall.

About 4,500 people, the majority of them Unifor members, build the Chrysler Pacifica, Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid and Chrysler Grand Caravan in Canada, as well as the Chrysler Voyager for the U.S. market.

The cut will affect 1,800 jobs, the company told Automotive News Canada.

“In response to these factors, Stellantis will adjust …

LG covering the lion’s share of Chevy Bolt recall costs, Toyota releasing fuel economy and performance specs for the new Tundra pickup and the Detroit 3 setting COVID vaccine mandates in Canada made headlines this week. 

Here’s a roundup of the week’s top automotive stories:

The U.S. Department of Labor is suing a luxury dealership group in Austin, Texas, for firing an employee who told his co-workers they potentially had been exposed to COVID-19.

When the employee learned in December 2020 that a co-worker had tested positive for COVID-19, he asked Hi Tech Motorcars management to warn other employees, then emailed them all himself when management did not do so, according to the lawsuit. Hi Tech Motorcars fired the employee within an hour, the complaint said.

The matter was investigated early this year by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. That investigation determined the dealership violated Section 1 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.

"This employee acted out of real concern for their safety and that of their coworkers, and their actions are protected under federal law," Labor Department Regional Solicitor John Rainwater said in a news release. "The law also protects whis…

Two dealership groups expanded in California and Texas, respectively, with October transactions, while publicly traded auto retailer Lithia Motors Inc. sold a Nissan store this month.

Here's a look at the deals involving import and luxury dealerships.

Lithia dealership divestitureLithia Motors Inc. has divested another dealership from the Carbone Auto Group, which it acquired in 2016.

Lithia on Oct. 5 sold Carbone Nissan in Yorkville, N.Y., to Steet Ponte Auto Group of Yorkville, according to DCG Acquisitions, a Dave Cantin Group company that handled the transaction. The Steet Ponte group, with stores in central New York, is owned by Steve Ponte Sr. and Joe Steet Sr.

The store was renamed Steet Ponte Nissan. This is Steet Ponte's seventh new-vehicle dealership and first Nissan store, according to its website. The group dates back to 1945.

"We are very excited to add Nissan to our lineup of dealerships," Joe St…

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen's deliveries of battery-powered electric vehicles in China more than tripled in the first nine months of the year, the carmaker said on Friday, less than two months after it flagged the need to change its e-car strategy there.

Deliveries of battery electric vehicles in the world's largest car market stood at 47,200 in the January-September period, up from 15,700 in the same period last year.

"As planned, we significantly accelerated the BEV market ramp-up in China in the third quarter, and we are on track to meet our target for the year of delivering 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles of the ID. model family," said Christian Dahlheim, head of group sales.

Volkswagen Chief Executive Herbert Diess in July said the carmaker had to change its approach to how it markets BEVs in China after first-half deliveries stood at just 18,285.