Trade News

We've spent the past couple of months planning our fourth annual Fixed Ops Journal Forum, scheduled for the five Tuesdays from July 13 to August 10.

And as we've made these plans, in the back of my head I'd have this small worry whether we were putting together a program interesting enough that people would want to attend. Luckily, Mike Weldon quickly eased my concerns.

Weldon, fixed ops director at Hansel Auto Group in the Sonoma Valley region of Northern California, was the first registrant for the FOJ Forum.

"I'm more proactive than I thought," Weldon, 66, quips when I tell him he was the first one in the door.

Weldon has spent most of his life involved in the auto industry, starting as a young boy sweeping the showroom floors at his father's car business. His father would add after-market items such as a radio or air conditioning for new cars sold by local dealerships. For the past 10 years he's been at Hansel, which has eight rooftops across …

Another day, another industry survey of U.S. dealerships that indicates offering finance-and-insurance products online has proved profitable amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic period.

Dealerships believe a more diverse lineup of F&I products with different coverage tiers helps sell those products to digital retailing customers, according to a new study from F&I provider Protective Asset Protection. The survey comes in the wake of numerous auto lender, F&I product provider and automotive finance software company studies that claim the exact same thing: offering educational and transactional tools for the F&I office online increases sales and profitability of those products.

In a survey of 500 F&I and dealership executives across the U.S. in March, dealership respondents indicated customers are looking for more customization with F&I product coverage. Forty-four percent of respondents said the ability to adjust products…

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Advocates Rana Abbas Taylor and Ken Snyder believe advanced driver-assist systems are key to preventing alcohol-related traffic deaths.

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Cox Automotive has hired Michele Parks as its next chief people officer, succeeding Janet Barnard, who is retiring.

The Atlanta-based dealership services company said Parks, who previously worked as senior vice president of HR service delivery at Cox Communications, will report to Cox Automotive President Steve Rowley.

"I'm excited that Michele chose to join us because I believe she's the right leader to continue the evolution of the team," Rowley said in a statement this week. "She'll ensure that the team's vision and capabilities continue to keep pace with our fast-moving business, which will be especially important as we continue implementing our strategic growth plan."

Barnard, 62, an executive vice president, will retire at the end of the month, the company said in March. Barnard worked at Cox for more than 15 years, including at Cox Communications and as president of the Manheim wholesale auction unit.

Parks has a background at Walt Disney W…

WASHINGTON -- General Motors will boost global spending on electric and autonomous vehicles to $35 billion through 2025, a 30 percent jump over its most recent forecast as it pursues EV leadership, people briefed on the matter told Reuters.

As part of that spending, the automaker will build two additional U.S. battery plants and move ahead some of its EV investments, said the people, who asked not to be identified. In November, GM upped its spending plans from $20 billion, a figure that was announced in March before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the auto industry.

GM declined to comment.

The expected announcement of increased spending by GM comes less than a month after rival Ford Motor Co. upped its EV spending by more than a third to more than $30 billion by 2030.

The combined $65 billion in commitments by the largest U.S. automakers, as well as increased spending by EV leader Tesla Inc. and startups including Lucid and Rivian reflect the EV…

McLaren Americas President Tony Joseph is leaving the British sports car maker.

Nicolas Brown, vice president of sales for the Americas, will take over in the interim while a permanent successor is identified, McLaren told U.S. dealers on Tuesday.

Joseph, 53, had been with the brand since it set up shop in the U.S. 12 years ago, leading its growth from a fledgling operation to a profitable automaker with a growing retail base.

Before joining McLaren Automotive, the road-car unit of the British race-car builder, the Michigan native spent time at Ferrari, Porsche and Subaru.

In a letter to dealers, McLaren CEO Mike Flewitt said: "Tony . . . has played an enormous role in growing the region to become the leading global market for McLaren. Tony's passion for the brand and commitment to our shared success has been inspirational. He will be greatly missed by the entire McLaren team and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors."

McLa…

DETROIT -- Lordstown Motors Corp has "firm" and "binding" orders for the first two years of production of its electric pickup truck, the startup's president said on Tuesday, sending shares up a week after saying it had no binding orders for the vehicle.

"Currently, we have enough orders for production for '21 and '22," President Rich Schmidt said at an Automotive Press Association event in Detroit. "Those are firm orders we have for those two years."

"I don't know the exact facts of the legal aspect of that, but they are basically binding orders that are committed here in the last two weeks, reconfirmed orders," he added, when asked if they were binding orders. "They're pretty solid, and I think that's on the light side or conservative side."

In March, Lordstown's shares slumped after investment research firm Hindenburg Research disclosed it had taken a short position on the stock, saying the company had misled consumers and investors about its pre-ord…

The Fiat 500 — the world's smallest production car — makes its public debut at the Turin Auto Show on June 15, 1936.

Nicknamed the Topolino, Italian for Micky Mouse, the pint-sized car was born out of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's desire to give consumers a car that was innovative and economical.

It was the brainchild of Dante Giacosa, a mechanical engineer who joined Fiat in late 1928 as an aircraft engine expert and remained until his formal retirement in 1970.

The 1936 two-seater was powered by a front-mounted, 569 cc side-valve engine paired to a four-speed transmission. More than 520,000 were sold by the time it was discontinued in 1955.

Another Giacosa masterpiece, the Nuova 500, a successor to the 500, debuted in 1957, riding the postwar boom to sales and acclaim. When the Nuova was dropped in 1973, almost 3.8 million had been sold.

Fiat, looking to recapture some of the 500's magic and appeal, …

Jaguar Land Rover will begin testing a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle prototype later this year based on the Land Rover Defender, the company said.

The vehicle will be developed using technology and input from partners including engine specialist AVL and Marelli Automotive Systems.

The concept will be partially funded by a 8.7 million pound ($12.3 million)grant from the UK’s government-supported Advanced Propulsion Centre, which aims to support development of future automotive technologies in the country.

Jaguar Land Rover said in 2019 it was looking at fuel cells as an alternative to battery-electric powertrains as a way of powering its heavier Land Rover SUVs.

The concept is part of JLR’s push to achieve zero tailpipe emissions by 2036, and net-zero carbon emissions across its supply chain, products and operations by 2039. 

Hydrogen is attractive to makers of larger vehicles because it offers a longer range than batteries as w…