Trade News

Volkswagen sales fell 1.7 percent to 76,934 in the second quarter despite a surge in ID4 electric vehicle deliveries after production expanded to the U.S. VW's four core crossovers and its top-selling car all declined during the latest period. Meanwhile, Audi sales rose 16 percent to 55,582 on growth among its most popular models.

Brands: VW, down 1.7%; Audi up 16%

Notable nameplates: VW Atlas, down 13%; Tiguan, down 7.1%; Atlas Cross Sport, down 8.3%; Taos, down 3.9%; Jetta, down 9.8%; ID4, up 303%; Audi Q5, up 17%: Q7, up 31%; A5, up 39%

Quote: "With record consumer demand for our BEV portfolio, a strong premium market and better supply conditions, Audi of America is on track to have one of our best years ever," Daniel Weissland, president of Audi of America, said in a written statement.

Did you know? Crossovers accounted for 85 percent of VW's first-half sales. Audi EV sales represented 10 percent of total brand sales for the second quarter, th…

June caps a stronger-than-expected first half for U.S. sales. Ford gets a favorable court ruling on its EV program for dealers. Plus, Navier CEO Sampriti Bhattacharyya talks about how the company hopes to disrupt the way transportation works in most major cities.

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Hyundai Motor America's second-quarter sales rose 15 percent to 227,629 between the Hyundai and Genesis brands. Strong demand for Hyundai electrified and hybrid vehicles as well as robust Genesis deliveries helped the automaker achieve the double-digit growth.

In June, Hyundai and Genesis' combined sales rose 11 percent to 75,354.

Though Hyundai's retail sales dipped 2 percent to 61,991 in June, electrified models represented 20 percent of all vehicles sold to consumers and jumped 53 percent year over year during the month. Retail sales of Hyundai crossovers accounted for nearly 74 percent of total June volume, according to the company.

Hyundai said the Ioniq 5 EV, Tucson plug-in hybrid and Kona EV each set monthly sales records in June.

"Despite the ongoing challenges in the market due to higher interest rates, Hyundai had an outstanding performance in the month of June, for the quarter and for the first half of the year," Hyundai Motor America C…

American Honda Finance Corp. remained among the nation's top three new-vehicle financiers in 2022 despite giving up a large piece of its market share, according to Experian statistics on the top 20 auto lenders in 2022.

The Honda captive finance company was involved in 5.13 percent of new-vehicle loans and leases last year, down 3.61 percentage points from 2021, tying for third place with Ford Motor Credit Co. In 2021, Honda was No. 2, and Ford ranked sixth. Toyota's captive finance operations — Toyota Financial Services and Southeast Toyota Finance's World Omni Financial Corp. — ranked first again in 2022 with a combined 11.92 percent of the market.

A Honda spokesperson cited inventory for its decline.

"As with others in the industry, Honda's overall vehicle sales have been impacted by global supply challenges for the past few years to varying degrees," Honda spokesperson Chris Martin said in a statement. "As you would expect, these ups and downs in av…

As the retail automotive industry continues its regression to pre-pandemic business realities, the absence of a fundamental sales process is illuminated by the reports of decreased F&I income per sale reported by the publicly traded automotive retailers.

The "road to the F&I sale" is not a fail-safe path toward success at every turn but rather a coordinated process built upon best practices that tend to result in the best outcome more times than not.

While this road can vary by training provider, one thing remains consistent: the importance of the customer interview. This step, like the beginning of each assembly line, is essential to the foundation of a profitable outcome.

Many F&I managers will challenge all aspects of the interview: time required, location, etc. Some may not understand that each is part of the process for a reason. Get educated on the "why" and not just trained on the "how."

If you are l…

The American Financial Services Association on June 21 sent a letter to a Congressional subcommittee requesting it consider amending a proposed Federal Trade Commission rule and preserve dealers' ability to sell consumers protection products for their vehicles.

The trade association sent a letter to U.S. Rep Steve Womack, R-Ark., who chairs the Subcommittee on Financial Services & General Government, asking him to add language to stop the FTC from finalizing or implementing the Motor Vehicle Dealers Trade Regulation Rule.

The rule would limit dealers' ability to sell consumers add-on protection products such as service contracts, Guaranteed Asset Protection coverage and tire and wheel protection at the time of their car purchase. The rule's current language would require dealers to disclose accurate pricing in ads and sales discussions, obtain consumers' consent for add-on charges and keep records of ads and transactions. It also would prohi…

SAO PAULO — Chinese automaker BYD on Tuesday said it will invest 3 billion reais ($620.17 million) in a new industrial complex in northeastern Brazil, as it aims to boost local production to offer more competitive prices.

The complex, made up of three plants, will be built in the Camacari industrial park in the northeastern state of Bahia, on land formerly occupied by a Ford plant that closed in 2021.

The announcement comes on the back of a reported push from the government to incentivize BYD to build a new electric vehicle hub after Ford closed its plant in the state.

Operations at the factories are expected to start in mid-2024.

One of the plants will be dedicated to production of chassis for buses and electric trucks, BYD said in a statement.

The second plant will be focused on hybrid and electric vehicles with initial production estimated at 150,000 vehicles per year, while the third will process lithium and iron phosphate for the …

BYD Co., China’s best-selling car brand, unveiled a new electric crossover — the Denza N7 — at a glitzy event in a former factory in Beijing on Monday, stepping up its push into the premium sector.

The model, which comes in six versions, has a starting price of 301,800 yuan ($41,680), which Morgan Stanley noted was in line with market expectations for 300,000 yuan.

Pre-orders have exceeded 20,000 units since the Shangha auto show in April, according to BYD, which showcased five different-colored N7 crossovers in a giant exhibition hall at the unveiling in Beijing, attended by several hundred people. The EV will initially be sold in mainland China.

The N7 launch follows the introduction of another BYD crossover early this year, the U8, which falls under the company’s Yangwang brand. The Shenzhen-based automaker then unveiled another higher-end range last month called Fang Cheng Bao, which translates as Formula Leopard.

Morgan Stanley analysts inclu…

SHANGHAI -- SAIC Motor is working on the site selection to build a plant in Europe to produce electric vehicles, the company said on Tuesday, as it presses ahead with it expansion in the region.

The Chinese partner of Volkswagen and General Motors, which did not give further details on the plant plans, said it had sold 530,000 units overseas in the first quarter, an increase of 40 percent from a year earlier.

Nearly 70 percent of those sales came from the MG brand in Europe, which more than doubled to 115,000 units in the first half, SAIC said.

The state-owned Chinese automaker estimated its overseas sales could exceed 1.2 million units in 2023. It plans to launch more than 10 new models under the MG brand in the next 18 months globally.

Automakers including Tesla, BMW and BYD are ramping up efforts to export China-made vehicles to other markets as auto demand weakened at home, taking advantage of the lower manufacturing and supply chain costs in …

TOKYO -- Toyota’s radical electric vehicle overhaul will deliver a plethora of knock-on benefits beyond the next-generation of Tesla-fighting Toyotas that start rolling off the line from 2026.

Breakthrough manufacturing processes will be applied to factories making more conventional vehicles as well. Meanwhile, the new all-electric platform being engineered from scratch may even be shared with partner automakers, helping Toyota expand scale and further slash costs.

All of Toyota’s global operations will cash in on the EV shift, not just its nascent EV business.

Top brass at the world’s biggest automaker outlined the multiplier effects on Tuesday in the latest briefing on their plan jump ahead in the global electric vehicle race in just a few short years.

The road map, pioneered by new CEO Koji Sato, calls for new engineering of Toyota’s products as well as its factories. On the manufacturing side, Toyota plans to halve the number of production pr…

Kia America posted second-quarter U.S. sales of 210,197, an increase of 15 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. June sales rose 8 percent to 70,495 and marked Kia's 11th consecutive month of gains and the seventh time Kia has posted more than 70,000 sales in a single month.

Kia also set a first-half record, with sales of 394,333, up 18 percent compared with 2022.

Eric Watson, Kia America's sales chief, told Automotive News that compared with the first six months of 2021, a notably strong period for the industry as consumers flocked back to showrooms following the pandemic, Kia's first-half results were up 5 percent.

Watson attributed Kia's record first-half results to the strength of its crossover lineup, which logged an increase of 26 percent in the first six months.

Kia's Forte sedan also is doing well thanks to urban shoppers, who still prefer smaller, more cost-efficient vehicles.

"Looking at markets on the West Coast like Los …