Trade News

Generation Z and millennial borrowers are falling significantly behind on their car payments at rates last seen during the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by car insurance comparison site Jerry.

And that's during a time when they didn't have to make their federal student loan payments — a budget burden that could ding millions of borrowers' credit, the alternative credit score provider VantageScore notes.

The Federal Reserve's quarterly household debt report, which draws on Equifax data to produce its auto loan delinquency results, breaks out borrowers into age ranges including those 18 to 29 and 30 to 39 years. These brackets capture what the Pew Research Center had previously defined as older Gen Zers (the generation starting with 1997 births) and nearly all millennials (those born in 1981 to 1996), though the organization in May said it would reduce its use of generational labels.

Those age demogra…

Toyota Motor Corp. said it is recalling certain 2023 model year Toyota Corolla, Corolla Cross, Corolla Cross hybrid, Highlander, Highlander hybrid, Tacoma, Lexus RX and RX hybrid and 2024 model year NX and NX hybrid vehicles.

Toyota spokesperson Josh Burns on Wednesday said about 118,000 vehicles are included, “with approximately 110,000 of those in the U.S.”

In affected vehicles, the spiral cable assembly in the steering column may lose electrical connection on the circuit controlling the driver’s airbag.

If loss of electrical connection occurs, the airbag warning light will illuminate, and the driver’s airbag may not deploy in a crash. Vehicles will not comply with certain federal motor vehicle safety requirements as a result, which may increase risk of injury to the driver in a crash.

Toyota declined to comment on injuries, accidents or deaths that could have resulted from the safety issue.

For all recalled vehicles, Toyota and Lexus dealers …

STUTTGART, Germany — Auto parts supplier Robert Bosch said it has started volume production of a fuel cell power module for U.S. electric truck startup Nikola Corp.'s upcoming, hydrogen-powered Class 8 semi.

The production launch is the latest step for Bosch, the world's largest auto supplier, in its big bet on hydrogen as an alternative power source for vehicles.

The company said it expects hydrogen technology to generate about $5.5 billion by 2030, anticipating that 1 in 5 new trucks that weigh more than 6 tons will be hydrogen-powered by that time.

The module will debut on the Nikola Tre FCEV, which is expected to hit the U.S. market in the third quarter. Bosch is producing the systems at its Stuttgart-Feuerbach manufacturing complex in Germany, and it will supply the plant with components such as fuel-cell stacks and electric air compressors from other factories in Germany.

Fuel-cell power module production has also begun at Bosch's plant in…

U.S. consumers increasingly prefer larger vehicles. They want lots of space and an abundance of features, and larger vehicles are typically considered safer. But while larger vehicles tend to provide a high level of protection for their drivers, they are among the most dangerous vehicles on the road for drivers of other vehicles, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found in a study released Thursday.

In 30 years studying this topic, the IIHS has found that smaller vehicles always have higher death rates. "The reasoning was just the physics of a crash," Chuck Farmer, IIHS vice president for research and statistical services, told Automotive News. "When a larger vehicle hits a smaller vehicle, the larger vehicle wins."

Though larger vehicles are safer for their own drivers, they might be more dangerous for drivers of the vehicles they crash into. "If you're in the larger vehicle, you're more protected, but the physics would say the other guy is going to b…

Automotive retail isn't just about cars. Without the people who work tirelessly to ensure that each customer gets a safe, reliable car, a dealership is simply a building. It doesn't exist without the technicians whose specific and invaluable skill set allows the industry to flourish. However, according to ESi-Q data, 1 of every 5 technicians in automotive is considering a different career path.

There is a strong and direct correlation between customer retention and service technician teams in a dealership. The NADA Workforce Study collected data from the last 15 years and found only 56 percent of service technicians stay at a dealership longer than three years. The good news is that in recent years, technician turnover has slowly declined. Last year, 19 percent of technicians that ESi-Q surveyed were looking to leave their dealership for a different job, a 3 percent decrease from the previous year. While that is encouraging, the numbers still are not wher…

Tully Williams is the parts and service director at Niello Co., based in Sacramento, Calif.

First car: 1965 Chevy Impala.

First concert you attended: Willie Nelson.

Name a pet peeve: Negativity.

Most thrilling/adventurous thing you've done: Rock climbing.

Your personal hero (and why): My grandfathers.

First job: Apprentice tech.

Something on your bucket list: A vacation with NO access to the world.

One thing you learned on the job you never forgot: IT'S ALL ABOUT HOURS!

If you could pick up a new skill, what would it be? Better time management.

3 people you'd invite to dinner, living or dead: Bill Gates, John Rockefeller, Henry Ford.

What did you want to be when you were a kid? Builder.

You're king for a day. What's your first order? YOU MUST BE POSITIVE!!!!

First album/CD you bought: Journey.

Favorite c…

Leading F&I provider Safe-Guard Products International has jumped into the service side of automotive retail with its recent acquisition of fixed operations facility development firm Dealer Solutions and Design.

This is Safe-Guard's first acquisition. The company said integrating DSD's services will greatly grow its ability to work beyond the and allow Safe-Guard to help dealership groups with process and infrastructure improvements.

"DSD has nearly two decades of success transforming dealerships into modern models of function and design," said Safe-Guard CEO Randy Barkowitz. "With this acquisition, we will be able to offer our customers a positive customer experience from the initial point of sale all the way through the service experience. The combination creates unique capabilities for our retailer partners to maximize their customer and service opportunities."

DSD has worked with dealerships on more than 1,000 facility projec…

Kia has revealed the price tag for putting its new electric EV9 into production at its U.S. plant in West Point, Ga.: $200 million.

The Korean automaker said the company will add about 200 jobs to build the three-row crossover alongside four other models at the West Point, Georgia, plant. It will be the first Kia electric vehicle assembled in North America and comes as automakers are shifting away from gas-powered vehicles.

A rising amount of EV and battery investments have been made in Georgia.

Battery assembly in North America, using North American sourced minerals, is a requirement for vehicles to be eligible for up to $7,500 in U.S. consumer electric vehicle tax credits under the $430 billion U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed in August 2022.

Electric carmaker Rivian Automotive is building a $5 billion plant in the state, while Hyundai Motor Group and SK On said in December they will build a new battery manufacturing plant in Georgia t…

Cadillac crept into the top 10 of brands ranked in the latest National Automobile Dealers Association Dealer Attitude Survey, replacing Audi.

NADA surveys its dealer members twice a year on how they're feeling about the brands they represent to produce a scorecard of sorts on the relationship between manufacturers and their dealers. It typically asks respondents to rate their satisfaction with overall automaker performance, as well as with a brand's willingness to consider and incorporate their feedback into business decisions.

In the 2023 winter survey, traditionally conducted in January and February, Lexus and Toyota came in at No. 1 and No. 2, continuing the sibling Japanese brands' typical one-two domination of the results. Lexus, Toyota and Honda all ranked in the top five of a June inventory efficiency index that Cloud Theory released.

BMW and Porsche were No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, and Honda took the fifth spot. Subaru came in sixth place fol…

BMW anticipates selling 50,000 electric vehicles in the U.S. this year, the brand's top sales executive told Automotive News.

That's nearly triple the 17,964 EVs the German automaker sold in the year's first six months.

"We're driving electric more in the transition from a combustion-only to a world that includes combustion and BEV," said Shaun Bugbee, BMW of North America's executive vice president of operations. "The No. 1 volume car for us within BEV is i4."

The electric compact sedan accounted for nearly 60 percent of BMW's first-half EV volume, or 10,724 units.

"We have an accelerated Q3 and Q4," Bugbee said, noting the arrival of BMW's fourth battery model — the i5 sedan — in late 2023.

But BMW isn't alone among luxury brands in getting a sales lift from EVs. Several competitors also hope to mount a fight with segment leader Tesla Inc. with an expanding portfolio of competitively specced and sleek batte…

The UAW opens negotiations with member meetings at plants. Ford says its UAW costs put it $1 billion behind GM and Stellantis. Tesla Model Y sales doubled, thanks to steep price cuts. A Detroit dealer reflects on the market, America’s race problem, and handing over power to a new generation.

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A former Oklahoma Kia and Mitsubishi dealer has pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with his auto lender fraud case, authorities said last month. A third charge will be dropped as part of a plea deal.

Former Big Red Dealerships owner Bobby Mayes admitted he encouraged and provided funds for his fraud co-defendant Courtney Wells' flight to Mexico while both awaited sentencing in that case, the Western District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney's Office said June 26.

Mayes also told the court he sent it an anonymous email in October 2022, "which contained false allegations of an alleged meeting and evidence as part of an effort to obtain a new trial in the proceeding."

This appeared to be a reference to an Oct. 5, 2022, email Mayes' counsel said described prosecutors speaking to and receiving more than 300 pages of text messages from a witness — exchanges allegedly not disclosed to the defense. Authorities called this email, which had …