Trade News

Aiming to capitalize on the growing trend of offering remote services, Alderman's Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in Rutland, Vt., in 2011 began delivering newly sold vehicles across New England free of charge. Similar practices were enabled in the service department, where some employees were engaged full time in picking up and returning customer vehicles in need of repair and maintenance.

The goal was convenience and customer satisfaction. Up to 30 percent of the 1,100 new and used vehicles the dealership sells annually were delivered across state lines.

But Mark Alderman, the store's general manager, noticed a trend. Most of the dealership's hottest vehicles were shipped out of market, and those customers wouldn't return for their next purchase or even for service work.

"What we were doing was really spreading ourselves thin, not executing as well and raising expenses," Alderman said.

Another casualty of free delivery was finance and insurance revenue. O…

Last month, Arizona and Phoenix officials gathered to break ground on an electric vehicle assembly plant planned by the Canadian EV startup ElectraMeccanica.

It was, in fact, the third new EV assembly plant groundbreaking in the Phoenix area in 16 months. Earlier this year, the hydrogen-electric commercial truck startup Nikola began constructing a plant on the south side of the city, in Casa Grande. And in 2019, Lucid Motors began building its $700 million electric vehicle plant, also in Casa Grande.

Has anyone told these people that Phoenix is in the far left-hand bottom corner of the U.S., 1,600 to 2,000 miles from the core of the North American supply base?

That's the wrong way of looking at it, says Sandra Watson, CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority, the public-private development agency that has been quietly stretching the auto industry map toward Arizona in recent years.

Watson makes the argument that far from being outside th…

HOUSTON — Greg Clark, vice president of the Americas for Ineos Automotive, part of the British chemical company launching a rugged Land Rover Defender-like off-road vehicle in early 2023, has just one job: every job.

Clark, a former Jaguar Land Rover and Daimler marketing executive who was named to his post at Ineos in February, has on his to-do list:

Select a location for the U.S. headquarters for the automotive operation of Ineos, which late next summer will begin building the Grenadier off-road vehicle in a former Daimler plant in Hambach, France, minutes from the German border.Figure out how best to get vehicles to dealers in all 50 states. Clark says he's leaning toward appointing regional distributors that would deliver to multiple dealers instead of offering franchises to individual retailers.Hire the marketers, compliance managers, warranty administrators, zone managers, parts and service personnel and others who will staff the company's U.S. ar…

New Jersey drivers could be allowed to conduct an entire vehicle transaction online and show authorities a digital copy of their registrations following bills approved Thursday by the state's Legislature.

The bills would authorize dealers and buyers to conduct motor vehicle sales entirely online, assuring the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission would not reject digitally signed paperwork. While online sales are currently allowed, buyers still have to physically sign purchase and registration documents, according to a report from NJ.com.

The legislation would allow a buyer and a licensed dealer to use electronic signatures for all motor vehicle transaction documents in place of wet-ink signatures.

The digital alternative could potentially cut down on paper and speed up transaction time.

"I think everybody in the business realizes there's just way too much friction and paperwork involved in purchasing a motor vehicle. Cons…

BorgWarner Inc. has finalized its takeover of Akasol AG, the German maker of lithium ion battery systems that it agreed to acquire in February.

BorgWarner became 89 percent owner of Akasol upon the auto supplier's completion of a tender offer for shares of the battery manufacturer, according to a Friday news release.

BorgWarner paid about $788 million from cash balances to settle the tender offer. Following the deal, Akasol will function as an independently operated subsidiary.

"We are excited to add Akasol's innovative products, capabilities and team to BorgWarner as we advance our plan to grow our electric vehicle businesses to approximately 45 (percent) of total revenues by 2030 under Project Charging Forward," CEO Frédéric Lissalde said in the release.

Akasol makes battery systems for buses and commercial vehicles, as well as train engines and marine vehicles. It has more than 300 employees at two plants in Germany and one in Hazel Park, Mich.…

Four U.S. dealership groups have expanded their regional footprints with acquisitions that were finalized in recent weeks.

Here's a quick look at the transactions involving domestic- and import-brand stores. One deal involved one of Automotive News' top 150 dealership groups.

Phil Long Dealerships, of Colorado Springs, Colo., acquired a Subaru store on Tuesday, marking a return to the brand. It bought Glenwood Springs Subaru, west of Denver, from former National Automobile Dealers Association Chairman Jeff Carlson, Steve Nilsson and Carroll Winkler. Winkler will remain as the store's general manager.

The dealership is now Phil Long group's second store in Glenwood Springs, where it has a Honda dealership. Phil Long also has Ford, Lincoln, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Genesis, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Toyota dealerships. It ranks No. 100 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 9,068 new vehicles in 2020.

…

The largest vehicle charging network in the U.S. is counting on electric pickup trucks to finally win American drivers over to EVs.

ChargePoint Holdings Inc. CEO Pasquale Romano expects many businesses that maintain fleets of pickups will switch to electrics in the next few years, because they’re cheaper to maintain. And the workers driving those fleets will get hooked on their performance, Romano says.

“They’ll pull into the parking lot with their personal pickup truck, hang their stuff in the locker, and pick up the keys to the work truck,” he said, in an interview. “You have a built-in test drive: ‘I drive one of these electric ones every day, and it’s awesome.’”

President Joe Biden’s plan to wean U.S. drivers off fossil fuels requires massive investment in public charging stations. It’s still unclear, though, how the companies providing the service will make a profit when most of the time people are likely to charge their EVs at home.

Rom…

Penske Automotive Group Inc. has entered the growing Charlotte, N.C., market with its acquisition Thursday of Felix Sabates' Mercedes-Benz of South Charlotte, in Pineville, near the South Carolina border.

The second-largest new-vehicle retailer based in the U.S. said in a news release Friday that the store is expected to add $150 million in annual revenue. The dealership acquisition is Penske's first since late 2018, when it bought Lexus stores in Texas.

Penske said the more than 70,000-square-foot dealership, which opened in 2006, includes 50 service bays.

Sabates, like Penske CEO Roger Penske, has ties to the racing world. He was a NASCAR team owner with Chip Ganassi Racing and was set to retire as an owner last year. Sabates owned the dealership with Terry Taylor, according to Sabates' Chip Ganassi Racing biography.

The acquisition marks Penske's 26th Mercedes-Benz dealership globally. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed…

Nissan's U.S. marketing and sales boss Mike Colleran opens up about the automaker's turnaround plan, product push and relationship with retailers.

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WASHINGTON -- A group of key U.S. House Democrats introduced legislation on Friday to authorize $547 billion in additional spending over five years on surface transport, a plan that would mostly go to fixing existing U.S. roads and bridges and increase funding for passenger rail and transit. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio said in a statement the proposal seizes on a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to move our transportation planning out of the 1950s and toward our clean energy future."

The bill adopts some proposals made by Democratic President Joe Biden as part of his broader $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan. Congress faces a Sept. 30 deadline to reauthorize surface transportation programs. Other committees have jurisdiction over other aspects of infrastructure spending.

The 1,249-page proposal comes as Biden and Senate Republicans are in talks over a massive jump in U.S. infrastructure …

President Joe Biden's strategy to make the U.S. a powerhouse in electric vehicles will include boosting domestic recycling of batteries to reuse lithium and other metals, according to government officials.

As Biden makes fighting climate change and competing with China centerpieces of his agenda, the administration is set to wrap up a 100-day review on Friday of gaps in supply chains in key areas, including EVs.

These gaps include the minerals used in EV batteries and consumer electronics. The administration is also looking for ways to reduce metal usage in new battery chemistries.

Reports from various government agencies will be submitted to the White House, a process Biden ordered in an executive order earlier this year. Parts of the reports could be released publicly as soon as next week.

Democrats are pushing aggressive climate goals to have a majority of U.S.-manufactured cars be electric by 2030 and every car on the road to be electric by 20…

WASHINGTON -- U.S. traffic deaths soared dramatically after coronavirus lockdowns ended in 2020, hitting the highest yearly total since 2007 as more Americans engaged in unsafe behavior on U.S. roads, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday.

For all of 2020, 38,680 people died on U.S. roads -- up 7.2 percent or nearly 2,600 more than in 2019, even though Americans drove 13 percent fewer miles, preliminary data shows. The fatality rate hit 1.37 deaths per 100 million miles, the highest figure since 2006.

In the second half of 2020, the number of traffic deaths was up more than 13 percent.

NHTSA said the main behaviors that drove this increase include: impaired driving, speeding and failure to wear seat belts.

"We intend to use all available tools to reverse these trends and reduce traffic fatalities and injuries,” said acting NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff.

In an open letter to drivers in January, NHTSA urged actio…