Trade News

How the coronavirus pandemic disrupted fixed ops in 2020 will continue to dominate discussions in 2021. One topic of interest is what service-related things will go back to how they were pre-pandemic and what changes are here to stay.

Todd Marcelle, vice president and founder of kiosk vendor GoMoto, said he thinks the new contactless ways customers have used to check in and out of service appointments -- and paid for repairs using mobile phone apps or kiosks -- will stick around. Or more accurately, Marcelle believes dealership service departments will be making a mistake if they don't keep these conveniences.

Well, of course, you say, the kiosk guy recommends we keep using kiosks. Big surprise. But Marcelle emphasizes that service departments should embrace all new technology, including mobile phone apps. Besides, that's just not him talking — it's service customers in survey after survey last year talking about how much they want the convenience technology gi…

STOCKHOLM -- Volvo Cars, which is owned by China's Geely Holding, will temporarily stop or adjust production in China and the United States for parts of March due to a global shortage of semiconductor chips, it said Wednesday.

"We expect the situation to become critical during the second quarter and have therefore decided to take measures to minimize the impact on production while working daily to improve the situation," Volvo Cars said in an e-mailed statement.

"Volvo Cars will temporarily stop or adjust production in some of its car factories (in the United States and China) during the month of March," it said.

The Swedish automaker said last month it had so far not lost volumes due to the chip shortage, but added there was a "big risk" it could happen during the first quarter.

The shortage has hit automakers globally and stems from a confluence of factors as automakers compete with the consumer electronics industry for chip supplies.

The average amount of negative equity customers bring to vehicle transactions dropped at Lithia Motors Inc. during the pandemic, largely because of stimulus checks and stronger used-vehicle values.

Before the pandemic, the average down payment on a Lithia vehicle was $1,800, CEO Bryan DeBoer said during an investor presentation last week. Today, the average down payment has risen 39 percent to $2,500.

The average negative equity rolled into a new-vehicle purchase at Lithia dropped to just more than $4,000, down from $5,000.

Stronger trades and stimulus checks "have put more money into the pockets of consumers and allowed them to have a little more savings to be able to apply for a little bit lower loan to value, which allows them to get better interest rates," DeBoer said.

After reaching record highs in May 2020, negative equity levels on new-vehicle sales have dropped during the coronavirus outbreak. Higher used-car values are benefiting vehicle …

LONDON -- British electric van and bus startup Arrival said on Wednesday that it will build a new plant in North Carolina and much of its production will go to fulfilling an order from package delivery company UPS for up to 10,000 vehicles.

Arrival's "microfactory" in Charlotte will be the startup's second U.S. plant and is due to launch production in the third quarter of 2022. Last October, Arrival announced plans for a plant in South Carolina.

Arrival plans a series of small plants -- which it dubs "microfactories" -- that will take up far less space and require lower investments than conventional vehicle factories. The plants will not include expensive paint shops or welding equipment, which also require a lot of space. The company also has a plant in England.

Arrival will invest around $41.2 million in the Charlotte plant, which will be able to assemble up to 10,000 electric delivery vans annually and create more than 250 jobs.

The van and bus…

A Tesla on Autopilot crashed into a stationary police car on a Michigan freeway early Wednesday, authorities said.

No one was injured in the crash, which happened on Interstate 96 near Lansing while a Michigan State Police trooper was investigating an earlier accident involving a deer.

The Tesla's Autopilot driver-assist system was engaged when it struck the police car, a blue Dodge Charger with its emergency lights activated, police officials tweeted. The driver of the Tesla, identified as a 22-year-old man from Lansing, was ticketed for failing to move over and driving with a suspended license.

The crash happened a day after police in Detroit said they did not believe Autopilot was involved in a March 11 crash of a Tesla into a tractor-trailer. The Tesla became wedged underneath the semitrailer and critically injured a passenger. NHTSA said it was sending a special crash team to investigate the crash.

NHTSA has previo…

Dierdre “Dee Dee” Fultz was pregnant and discussing her plans with her boss at the Chrysler manufacturing plant. “I remember he said to me, ‘I’ve never managed a woman before. How does this work? Do you come back after maternity leave?” she says.

“We’ve come a long way in the past 20 years,” says Fultz with a laugh. 

To begin with, Fultz is now the boss— the plant manager for Stellantis’ Indiana Transmission Plant in Kokomo.

She also points to workplace advances like paternity leave and more flexible schedules for working parents, as well as the “progressive culture” she says the new Stellantis is trying to build. But she is passionate about the industry’s need to continue creating working conditions that support women. “We in leadership need to be flexible, to consider the needs of a person—whether that’s a man or a woman. How can you be flexible enough to attract them into the industry, and also keep them in the industry?” she says. “I was a singl…

Prime Automotive Group confirmed Monday it is selling five dealerships in the Northeast, including two Toyota stores that have been sold to Group 1 Automotive Inc.

Prime has been under contract to sell a Subaru, a Chevrolet and three Toyota stores, Automotive News previously reported. The sales process, overseen by Haig Partners, began last summer and is separate from legal action surrounding Prime's parent company, GPB Capital Holdings.

Last month, a federal judge in New York ordered that an independent monitor be appointed to oversee GPB, which has been accused of securities and other fraud by the U.S. and several state governments.

Group 1 CEO Earl Hesterberg said last month the nation's fourth-largest dealership group planned to be more "aggressive in growing externally" this year. The company last bought stores in late 2019, when it purchased two in New Mexico. The company has the financial capability to add $1 billion or more in annual revenue thr…

Canadian electric-vehicle maker ElectraMeccanica will build its three-wheeled, single-seat commuter car for the U.S. market at a factory in Mesa, Ariz. The company will also build an engineering technical center in the city near Phoenix.

When fully operational, the new plant is expected to be capable of producing up to 20,000 Solo vehicles per year and create up to 500 new jobs, ElectraMeccanica said. 

The technical center will house multiple labs to support research facilities as well as vehicle chassis, battery pack and power electronics testing workshops. 

“Arizona has fast become the electric vehicle center of America thanks to our robust and growing workforce, vibrant innovation ecosystem, and ideal business environment,” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said in a statement.

ElectraMeccanica, headquartered in Vancouver, didn’t say how much the facilities will cost to build, when they open or whether it received financial …

LOS ANGELES — The Kia Stinger will receive more than just a mild styling update under a midcycle freshening for 2022. The Korean automaker's answer to near-premium rivals also is getting more power, especially on the entry model, which will now crack the 300-hp barrier when it goes on sale in the spring.

That's a significant 45-hp upgrade for the base sports hatchback, which was already a bargain compared with the German brands that Kia considers rivals. Unlike corporate sibling Hyundai, Kia does not have a luxury brand. The Stinger, however, shares a rear-drive platform with the Genesis G70 sedan.

"The Stinger confidently shows Kia's ability to build a sport sedan that can compete — and beat — the best the world has to offer," said Sean Yoon, CEO of Kia Motors North America, said in a statement Tuesday. "It is definitive proof of our proud and evolving engineering prowess."

Kia has dropped the slow-selling Cadenza and K900, which…

The UAW says it will take unspecified action against Ford Motor Co. unless the automaker reverses a decision to build an upcoming vehicle in Mexico that it had previously committed to assembling in Ohio.

Gerald Kariem, head of the UAW-Ford department, accused Ford of "corporate greed" in a letter to workers at the Ohio Assembly Plant, saying the company is reneging on a promise made to give the plant a new product before its latest labor agreement with the UAW expires in 2023.

Ford did not deny that its plans changed but said it would continue to invest in the Ohio plant.

"Unfortunately, Ford Motor Co. has decided it will not honor its promise to add a new product to OHAP and, instead, it intends to build the next-generation vehicle in Mexico," Kariem wrote in the letter, which was first reported by a Cleveland news station Monday. "Ford management expects us to just hang our heads and accept the decision. But let me be clear, we are making a different c…

Ford said the next version of its Transit Custom van for the European market will go into production in Turkey in 2023 and include full-electric and hybrid variants along with the combustion-engined version.

The van will be built by Ford Otosan, the automaker's joint venture in Turkey, Ford said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ford Otosan will also build a version for Volkswagen, badged as the Transporter, as part of a strategic alliance between the two companies. Transporter production will be transferred to Ford Otosan from VW's plant in Hanover, Germany.

The Transit Custom range includes the Transit Custom van and Tourneo Custom people mover.

Ford is Europe's top commercial vehicle brand in Europe with a 15 percent market share, and has led the commercial van market in Britain, Europe's largest, for 56 years.

Last month Ford said its passenger car lineup in Europe would be all-electric by 2030.

Tightening CO2 emissions targets in Europ…