Trade News

Group 1 Automotive Inc. sold two Texas dealerships during the first quarter: Mini of El Paso and Cadillac of Arlington.

Frank Kent Motor Co., of Fort Worth, Texas, bought the Cadillac store Jan. 11, said Will Churchill, an owner of the Frank Kent group.

The store has been renamed Frank Kent Cadillac of Arlington. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed.

Churchill said he agreed to build a new $20 million dealership, and the Cadillac store will be relocated in Arlington. He said construction should begin this summer, with an opening targeted for June 2022.

"We understand Cadillac's direction and have a lot of faith in the Cadillac brand," said Churchill, a former Cadillac National Dealer Council chairman.Frank Kent dates to 1935, and the company has been a Cadillac dealer since 1953. It has a Cadillac store in Fort Worth and a Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac store in Corsicana, Texas. On Jan. 25, the group sold Frank Kent …

Investment firms Knighthead Capital Management and Certares Management submitted a sweetened offer to buy Hertz Global Holdings Inc. out of bankruptcy in a deal that could see equity investors recover $2.25 a share.

Hertz will evaluate the proposal that assigns the rental-car company a more than $6.2 billion enterprise value to determine if it’s higher than one from its current reorganization sponsor, a group backed by Centerbridge Partners, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named because the bid isn’t yet public.

The bid includes fully committed debt and equity financing, the people said. Hertz bondholders would be paid in full while shareholders get the chance to own a bigger portion of the reorganized company.

Hertz’s existing equity holders would receive 50 cents per share plus the chance to participate in either a boosted $1.3 billion rights offering or warrants for up to 10 percent of the reorganized company, the …

The global semiconductor shortage roiling a wide range of industries likely won’t be resolved for a few more years, according to Intel Corp.’s new CEO Pat Gelsinger.

The company is reworking some of its factories to increase production and address the chip shortage in the auto industry, he said in an interview with CBS News, based on snippets from its “60 Minutes” program that will be aired later Sunday. It may take at least several months for the strain on supply to even begin easing, he added.

“We have a couple of years until we catch up to this surging demand across every aspect of the business,” Gelsinger said.

Demand for semiconductors was boosted in 2020 as consumers scooped up home gadgets during the pandemic. But meeting that increase has been hard, thanks to shuttered plants, among other factors. Companies worldwide say they expect supply-chain constraints due to logistics backlogs and the chip shortage to continue for much of 2021.

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Romain Automotive Group of Indiana has drastically reduced its employee turnover rate while increasing productivity.

But Romain President Mike Mintline acknowledged that the retailer's method for achieving this feat may not be for everyone — at least not at first blush.

"Really, it's hard to implement," he said. "Most guys like to operate by the seat of their pants. And we don't."

Since 2003, the three-store group has used what it calls the quality education systems management philosophy, adopted from the teachings of entrepreneur Philip Crosby, who is noted for improving large corporations' efficiency. It includes a series of team-driven processes that have led to Romain employees being more engaged by giving them a voice in dealership operations. It's created a work force of problem-solving, longer-term employees, Mintline said.

In this system, a quality improvement team is installed at each store. The teams — made up of senior store leaders s…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ It's a chiptastrophe The shortage keeps messing up a good thing

Usually the problem with chips is that you can never eat just one.

These days, nobody can get enough.

Every day now, the auto industry's chiptastrophe gets bigger, costlier and more difficult to believe. Even at a time when it sure feels like there shouldn't be much that can still surprise us anymore.

A year ago, dealers were just starting to emerge from a lengthy stretch when almost nobody wanted to buy a new car.

And now? Demand is booming. For Ford Motor Co., the latest F-150 is in full swing, the new Mustang Mach-E is stealing market share from Tesla and the Bronco we've been hearing about since the Mesozoic Era is almost here.

But because of the Great Global Microchip Shortage of 2021 that somehow nobody saw coming, Ford is telling dealers not to expect many deliveries of shiny new vehicles until at least August. Many figure they'll run…

Tesla Inc.'s new European factory is not expected to start production until the end of January 2022.

CEO Elon Musk has given the team in charge of the plant six more months to complete the project, company sources told Automobilwoche, the German affiliate of Automotive News.

Tesla had said on April 26 that production is on track to start in late 2021, instead of its earlier target of July. But there will be a further delay due to problems in getting the plant ready for battery pack production and gaining regulatory approval, company sources said.

Battery production will not start by the end of the year, the sources said. But construction of the main factory structure, along with the press shop and paint shop, is well advanced, they said.

Tesla has made changes to a planning application that must be approved before it can start production. The revised application means there will be another round of public consultation, pushing back regulatory appr…

The CEO of sensor startup Light discusses the company’s 3D camera technology, how it can perceive objects at ranges three times farther than current industry standards and its potential for improving automated-driving systems.

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LOS ANGELES — The redesigned Honda Civic is getting a more grown-up design and feature set for its 11th generation as it battles to stay relevant amid America's crossover surge.

Long popular among younger drivers as easy on the wallet and entertaining on the roadway, the Civic is not taking a radical departure in the new iteration. But it does take a step toward Honda's more stylish Accord midsize sedan.

For the 2022 model, the Civic offers an all-digital instrument panel, a sport driving mode, a premium Bose stereo system and a tasteful metal honeycomb accent across the dash as part of a simplified interior design.

"Inspired by classic elements of past Civics, you can really see how the Civic's new thin and light body has taken shape," said Gary Robinson, assistant vice president of Honda Automobile Product Planning. "We've stretched the wheelbase and adopted a cleaner, more sophisticated look."

The new-gen Civic was …

CEO Elon Musk often uses Tesla Inc.'s earnings calls to make wild, headline-grabbing predictions, many of which never come to pass.

Here's a closer look at four notable assertions from the company's first-quarter report last week, as Tesla posted record net income of $438 million yet continued to lose money on its core business of selling vehicles.

Musk previously said he expects the Model Y crossover to outsell all other Tesla vehicles combined. Now he's aiming higher.

"We think Model Y will be the bestselling car or vehicle of any kind in the world and probably next year," he said on the call. "So I'm not 100 percent certain next year, but I think it's quite likely. I'd say more likely than not that in 2022, Model Y is the bestselling car or truck of any kind in the world."

He later amended the claim on Twitter, saying it would be the bestselling vehicle by revenue in 2022 and No. 1 by volume in 2023.

Either way, it's a tall task.

…

FRANKFURT -- Volkswagen expects semiconductor supplies to the car sector to remain tight in coming months, the head of the autormaker's namesake brand was quoted as saying on Saturday.

"I think the situation will remain tense," Ralf Brandstaetter, CEO of the Volkswagen brand and member of the carmaker's management board, told German news agency dpa.

He said a fire at a factory operated by automotive chip maker Renesas Electronics Corp., as well as snowstorms in Texas that have hurt factory production, had effectively idled output.

"The impact will certainly be felt in the coming months," Brandstaetter said, adding Volkswagen's procurement task force was busy around the clock dealing with the issue which remained at the top of the agenda of Volkswagen's management board.

Volkswagen AG has been unable to build 100,000 cars due to the shortage, CEO Herbert Diess said in March, adding the group would not be able to make up for the shortfall in 2021. Read more

Hyundai, Kia and Genesis, behind light trucks and robust retail demand, posted sharply higher U.S. light-vehicle sales last month compared with April 2020, when the market bottomed out early in the pandemic and showrooms and factory floors were mostly shuttered.

Hyundai Group, the parent of all three brands, has been largely untouched by a chronic shortage of semiconductors that has curtailed light-vehicle production worldwide, allowing the company to rebound strongly more than a year into the coronavirus outbreak.

A 146 percent rise in retail volume drove an overall gain of 128 percent at Hyundai, with total April deliveries of 77,523, the second straight monthly record for the company. Fleet shipments dropped 27 percent and represented just 3 percent of April sales, the company said.

A Hyundai Motor America spokesman said Saturday U.S. dealers had 123,046 cars and light trucks in stock at the end of April, down 13 percent from 141,425 when March close…