Trade News

The rapid change in electric vehicle technology is driving more people to dealerships, for advice, education and peace of mind. When the product is new and different, buyers are more likely to work with trusted local experts and to purchase extended warranty coverage to protect themselves from perceived risk.

The first generation of EV shoppers did all their own research and came in knowing what they wanted to buy and what to expect. This is changing as EVs become mainstream. The expectation today is that dealers can provide the same level of information and accuracy to a nervous buyer as they could about a traditional gasoline car.

At the same time, other technology shifts threaten to move consumers further away from dealerships. As online ordering and home delivery become the norm rather than the exception, dealer teams need to adapt their customer-centric approach to meet the changing expectations of their customers.

As an indu…

Roger Conant is an account executive with the Ted Ings Fixed Ops Roundtable and founder of the Women in the Service Lane initiative that promotes the recruiting and hiring of women in fixed-ops positions, such as service advisers.

First car: Chevrolet Vega (that I bought on my own)

First concert you attended: Beatles (first U.S. visit at old Houston Coliseum)

Name a pet peeve: People saying "no problem"

Most thrilling/adventurous thing you've done: Drove from Newark airport to the far eastern tip of Long Island at 2 a.m. in the blowing snow!

Your personal hero, and why: Tom Peters, business consultant

First job: In the mailroom for a travel map company that provided service for oil companies

Something on your bucket list: Would like to make it back to Jamaica for our 60th wedding anniversary

One thing you learned on the job you never forgot: Always try to be early for appoi…

Brookdale Community College in New Jersey and Penske Automotive Group have formed a partnership to establish an automotive technician career program to give students the skills and knowledge to succeed in the service and parts industry.

Brookdale, in Lincroft, N.J., about an hour south of New York City, will offer state-of-the-art facilities and an associate's degree in Applied Science in Automotive Technology designed to develop students' automotive expertise. Graduates of the program will be eligible to be hired by Penske.

The Automotive Technician Career Program will take three years to complete and cost $20,000. Graduates who get a job at a Penske dealership are eligible for tuition reimbursement of up to $13,140, and will receive $2,000 for tools and a $5,000 employment bonus.

Penske has 26 locations in New Jersey, and more than 150 in the U.S.

"As the largest automotive retail company globally, Penske Automotive …

Toyota Motor Corp. will offer special limited editions of each of its three GR track car models this year, including two that hearken back to Toyota models from decades ago.

Arriving in U.S. dealerships this fall, the 45th-anniversary edition of the GR Supra will be limited to 900 vehicles, split evenly between orange and white versions, and calling back to the MkIV Celica Supra from the 1990s. The vehicle will feature special badging and painted strut tower braces bearing Toyota's Gazoo Racing logo and will ride on 19-inch matte black aluminum rims.

In winter, the Japanese automaker will roll out 860 GR86 Trueno Editions, featuring two-tone paint and an upgraded performance package with Sachs dampers and Brembo brakes standard. An eight-speed automatic or six-speed manual transmission will be available. The versions equipped with a manual transmission will also come standard with a suite of driver assist and safety technologies. The GR86 Trueno Editions mark 4…

SAN FRANCISCO - Rivian has acquired Swedish EV route planning app maker Iternio to add its technology to its electric pickups and sport utility vehicles, as well use its data to better expand its own charging network, its CEO told Reuters on Wednesday.

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe did not disclose the value of the deal but said it was closed in the first quarter.

This comes after Reuters reported first on Tuesday on Rivian's plan to adopt Tesla's charging standard for its vehicles as well as its own small fast-charging network, giving customers access to the biggest U.S. charging network and Rivian a significant revenue stream from Tesla users.

Iternio's app - called A Better Routeplanner (ABRP) and popular with EV owners in North America and Europe - provides route calculation services that take into account weather conditions, charging stops, vehicle weight and other factors.

Scaringe said Rivian would invest in improving and growing ABRP as a stand…

A federal court in Louisiana last Friday dismissed Tesla Inc.'s complaint against a state restriction on direct car sales, according to a ruling. 

Last year, Tesla filed a lawsuit to challenge Louisiana's refusal to allow the company to sell vehicles directly to consumers, calling the U.S. state's move protectionist and anticompetitive.

The case is part of Tesla's strategy of reversing direct sales bans in some states against the electric carmaker, which bypassed traditional car dealerships to sell vehicles to consumers online or at its own stores. 

“(T)he direct sales ban applies equally to all manufacturers, and Tesla has alleged no facts regarding anti-Tesla animus on the part of the Louisiana Legislature," the ruling said.

WASHINGTON — ARC Automotive has responded to the latest request by NHTSA as part of the agency's ramped-up investigation of rupturing airbag inflators manufactured by the Tier 2 supplier.

NHTSA on May 31 issued a special order directing ARC to answer written questions under oath and produce additional documents by June 14.

The request came after the agency demanded ARC recall 67 million airbag inflators produced through January 2018 that the agency "tentatively concluded" were defective. ARC rejected NHTSA's demand.

The company stated that it "strongly disagrees with the agency's 'tentative conclusion' that a safety defect exists" in the subject driver and passenger inflators — 11 million of which were manufactured by Autoliv-acquired Delphi under a licensing agreement with ARC, which made the remainder.

At least nine incidents globally — seven in the U.S. — of ruptured airbag inflators have been identified in NHTSA's still-open investigation of…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. Executive Chair Bill Ford on Tuesday pushed back on aggressive rhetoric from new UAW officials who have tried to position the Detroit 3 automakers as adversaries of the union workers they employ.

In his inaugural address to members in March, UAW President Shawn Fain referred to corporations such as the Detroit 3 as the union's "one true enemy" and told members to prepare for "war." In a virtual town hall last month, Vice President Rich Boyer noted how much the Detroit 3 CEOs made in relation to the average worker, telling members to "remember that when they say we're family. We're not family."

Bill Ford balked at that characterization.

"That's just wrong," he said on the sidelines of an event announcing a $5.8 million investment in a disaster relief organization. "Every plant I go to, the members in that plant run up and tell me about their family stories.

"I was just at Kentucky Truck Plant and met with a whole room of m…

Global Auto Holdings said Tuesday it plans to buy British car dealership chain Lookers for about 465.4 million pounds ($595 million) in cash.

Global Auto Holdings values Lookers at 120 pence per share, a premium of 35 percent to the stock's closing price on Monday.

Global Auto Holdings, an entity related to privately-owned Canadian car dealer network Alpha Auto Group by having the same owner, said the acquisition enables its entry to the UK market and supports its bid to become a global auto retailer.

Lookers directors said they intend to unanimously recommend the offer to shareholders.

Lookers, which sells new and used cars and vans and offers after-sales services, in April raised its 2023 profit forecast, supported by robust trading in used vehicles, stable margins and improvement in supply.

Shares in Lookers surged as much as 35 percent to their highest level since September 2017.

Alpha Auto Group also has a presence in the U.S., …

Automotive News reporter Michael Martinez talks about this year’s Detroit auto show and why statements from organizers don’t seem to add up. Hyundai will launch a new electric vehicle platform with eyes on double-digit profit margins. And Rivian jumps on the Tesla charging network bandwagon.

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Auto loan delinquency exceeded recession-era highs in the first quarter of this year, S&P Global Mobility reported Tuesday.

Auto loans more than 60 days past due reached 1.69 percent in the first three months of 2023. That tops recession-era highs of about 1.46 percent in 2009 and 2010, and is 26 basis points higher than the 1.43 percent recorded in the first quarter of 2021.

The spike is mostly contained within the subprime tier, with independent lenders focused on subprime loans for used-vehicle purchases most feeling the squeeze, according to S&P Global Mobility.

Inflation and high interest rates may be partly to blame for the increase, S&P Global Mobility said.

"The interest rate rise is squeezing the monthly budget for the average American consumer," Jill Louden, product management associate director for S&P Global Mobility, said in a statement. "Consumers set aside money monthly for housing, vehicles, and insurance, but may …