Trade News

For suppliers with diverse ownership, there are bridges to success in the auto industry just waiting to be crossed.

General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis are among automakers that have helped diverse suppliers along on their journeys as they work to develop a rich ecosystem of service providers that can be partners for years to come. Prime examples are the supply chain stalwarts at Detroit's James Group, and DFM Solutions, a Detroit operation that specializes in facilities and construction management.

GM, the first automaker to begin a minority supplier program in 1968, spends around $7 billion annually with diverse suppliers. The former Chrysler Corp., now Stellantis, founded its minority supplier program in 1983 and has spent more than $100 billion with diverse suppliers since. Ford has spent more than $161 billion since 1978, the year it officially created its supplier diversity program. Ford's supplier diversity initiative was a byproduct of the in…

Power-thirsty electric big rigs will soon need places to charge up.

Charging company TeraWatt Infrastructure intends to become a prime destination as truck operators begin to electrify their fleets. The San Francisco startup tailors its charging stations for fleets, often heavy-duty trucks.

TeraWatt Infrastructure has raised $1.1 billion and aims to have its first charging station operational by the end of the year. Neha Palmer, the company's CEO and co-founder, recently joined Automotive News News Editor Pete Bigelow on "Shift: A Podcast About Mobility" to discuss TeraWatt's business strategy and plans.

Below is an excerpt from their conversation, edited for brevity.

Q: There are a lot of charging companies, but TeraWatt has a distinct business strategy focused on a single niche. Can you tell us about that?

A: We start with fleets first, and build our solutions around the complex needs of fleets. Something that's key for fleets and maybe …

A deadly fire breaks out on a cargo ship carrying 1,200 new and used vehicles in New Jersey. Pickup sales thrust Ford to double-digit gains in Q2. And PHINIA CEO Brady Ericson talks about the company’s spin-off from BorgWarner and its new listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Learn about the four stages that can foster a supply chain's digital journey and help OEMs and tier suppliers develop better sense-and-respond capabilities to address today's automotive supply chain.

4 Key Takeaways

Build supply chain resiliency Address the volatility in today’s automotive supply chain Understanding of the sequential stages of the supply chain’s digital journey Develop better sense-and-respond capabilities

Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales increased 9.9 percent in the second quarter, as F-Series pickup volume jumped to the highest level in nearly three years.

Sales increased 11 percent for the Ford brand while declining 15 percent for Lincoln. In June, the Ford brand achieved a 17 percent increase to mark its seventh consecutive monthly gain and sixth straight month as the nation's top-selling brand. Lincoln snapped a three-month losing streak with a gain of 0.6 percent in June.

Ford sold 212,516 F-Series pickups in the second quarter, 34 percent more than a year ago and the most for any quarter since 2020. Ford attributed the increase to the launch of the redesigned Super Duty and improved inventory flow.

Nearly 4,500 of those trucks were the electric F-150 Lightning, 4.1 percent more than in the first quarter. The company's overall EV sales rose 36 percent in June, with Mustang Mach-E volume more than doubling from a year ago.

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"In a recent survey by Forbes, Generation Z listed mental wellness as their primary focus going forward. It's the first time that survey has ever been performed on a generation and [the priority] wasn't income. ... We got a technician shortage — and I believe it's not necessarily a technician shortage, it's an apprentice shortage. And I look at it as apprentices or any technician that's got less than five years of experience. We want new people into our trade. Well, that's Generation Z. If their focus is mental wellness, so should our focus be. What can we do as leaders to improve the environment around these folks so that they have less anxiety, less stress, less conflict, less challenges in their day? What challenges and what barriers can we remove from their day to improve it?" — Joshua Taylor on another consideration in the technician recruitment effort, speaking on the "Fixed Ops 5" podcast hosted by Corey Smith. Taylor is publisher of the Wrenches for Wrenches ne…

Natasha Fay Cox is a community architect for dealership training company Quantum5.

First car: 1984 Pontiac Firebird; bought it for $800!

First concert you attended: Boyz II Men for my 16th birthday

Name a pet peeve: Being late

Most thrilling/adventurous thing you've done: I'd say taking a seaplane over the Misty Fjords in Alaska was a breathtakingly beautiful adventure, and a helicopter tour that took us through the Grand Canyon and landed on a plateau for us to get out have lunch and champagne while enjoying the amazing views! More adventures to come!

Your personal hero (and why): Ed Roberts! He has an incredible story of overcoming the odds, and he continues to create such an incredible journey not only for himself but for others as well. He is a true servant leader and my hero!

First job: My first real job was as an executive assistant for an engineering firm in Findlay, Ohio.

Somet…

For 2022, the number of body shop repair orders for dealerships broke down this way, according to NADA Data: Customer work, 4.21 million; internal work, 2.13 million; claim work, 0.92 million. Here are other body shop figures from the 2022 report.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals invalidated a noncompete agreement the former general manager of a Kia dealership in Madison signed when he was hired, finding it overbroad and unenforceable.

Noncompete agreements "are pretty common, especially at general manager levels," according to Kevin Palmersheim, who represents Metro Kia of Madison, the dealership that sued to prevent its ex-general manager from working for competitors.

Because state laws vary, such agreements can be especially tricky for dealer groups operating in more than one state, said Palmersheim, of Middleton, Wis. In Wisconsin, for example, if any provision in a noncompete agreement is deemed unreasonable, the whole agreement is unenforceable. But in nearby Illinois and Minnesota, only the specific unreasonable restrictions can't be enforced, he said.

Metro Kia of Madison's challenged agreement purported to prohibit Drake Lallas from engaging "directly or indirectly, per…

Seven local automotive groups in the Greater Chattanooga area donated $81,000 to purchase 15 fully stocked toolkits for students in the automotive technician training program at Chattanooga State's Tennessee College of Applied Technology.

The dealer groups, which represent more than 20 automotive brands, also pledged to hold job fairs and meet-and-greets with industry professionals and organize work-study programs that would allow students to work at a dealership while completing their studies.

Brad Cobb, president of the Bowers Automotive Group, heard a talk by someone running a local business incubator who was working with Chattanooga State and the trucking industry. He wondered whether the local dealerships could do a similar program.

"I reached out to Chattanooga State and we developed the concept for the program to address the need" for tools, Cobb said in a statement. "I then contacted the local dealers to ask for their support…

Construction of a $3.7-billion electric-vehicle battery plant jointly owned by Stellantis and LG Energy Solution has resumed, the automaker said July 5

NextStar Energy, the name of the joint venture in Windsor, Ont., signed a binding agreement with the federal government ensuring the production of battery cells and modules at the facility.

The agreement includes the Canadian government’s commitment “to level the playing field with the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA),” Stellantis said in a statement.

NextStar lawyers spent the month of June reviewing a financial aid package the federal government gave the company on June 2.

Terms of the offer are unknown. But, Ontario has pledged to pay for up to one third of the entire package. Sources say that could be as much as $3.7 billion.

NextStar earlier this year said it wanted more subsidies to help pay for production of the cells and modules. It wanted terms similar to the U.S. IRA.

Ste…

A new Open Lending report found a majority of financial institutions are seeing increased delinquency rates across borrower demographics. More people are feeling the squeeze of continued inflation, recurring interest rate hikes and the end of pandemic stimulus checks and child tax credits. These issues, along with the recent turmoil at banks nationwide, have created a perfect storm for delinquencies to flourish.

But despite such a contentious environment, financial institutions can lower their risk while still providing necessary funds to borrowers by adopting lending enablement solutions.

The combination of the initial increases in consumer savings and the government fiscal stimulus and relief programs resulted in low delinquency rates on car loans during the first two years of the pandemic. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the personal saving rate over the last quarter of 2022 averaged under 4 percent, less than half of wh…