Trade News

The pandemic forced many dealership service departments across the country to implement or accelerate new amenities for customers such as mobile service vans and scheduling and payments by phone. Here's which of these new amenities will become staples in the service lane and why. 

Speakers:David Bergamotto, Service Manager, Park Avenue BMWJim Henne, General Manager, Performance Toyota/Performance Volvo CarsLarry Hourcle, NADA Academy Instructor, NADAEd Roberts, Fixed Operations Director, Bozard FordDan Shine, Editor, Fixed Ops Journal

This conversation was originally broadcast on October 29, 2020, as the fourth of five conversations in the Fixed Ops Journal Forum series. The series runs through November 5. Learn more and register for future broadcasts here.

Visteon Corp. said Thursday that cost management and product launches helped the company post higher adjusted profits and sales in the third quarter.

The cockpit electronics supplier reported third-quarter net income of $6 million, a 57 percent drop from the same period last year but up from a loss of $45 million in the second quarter, when many auto plants were shuttered because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Net income included restructuring charges of $32 million.

Adjusted net income more than doubled to $38 million in the quarter, while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 40 percent to $87 million.

Sales were up 2.2 percent to $747 million compared with the year-ago period.

Visteon CEO Sachin Lawande said in a call with media and analysts that resilient employees and product launches helped the company outperform the overall market.

The supplier said it launched a record 23 products in the third quart…

BOSTON -- A federal judge on Thursday granted a last-minute request to stop the U.S. government from turning over to Japan two Massachusetts men to face charges that they helped smuggle former Nissan Motor Co. Chairman Carlos Ghosn out of the country while he was awaiting trial on financial crimes.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston granted a request by lawyers for U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, to delay the transfer shortly before the two men were scheduled to be placed on a flight to Japan.

Their lawyers sought the delay after the State Department approved handing over the men, who in September lost a court challenge to their potential extradition. They were arrested in May at the request of Japanese authorities.

In a joint statement, two lawyers for the Taylors, Ty Cobb and Paul Kelly, said they were actively seeking to have the State Department and White House reconsider the decision authorizing t…

STOCKHOLM -- Electric vehicle maker Polestar, owned by Volvo Cars and its parent, China's Geely, is recalling the new Polestar 2 sedan for the second time in a month, it said on Thursday.

The company, which made its last recall on Oct. 2 after several cars had lost power and stopped running, is recalling close to 4,600 vehicles due to a faulty component.

"Polestar has initiated a voluntary safety recall and a service campaign that contains a number of updates for Polestar 2 vehicles," the company said in a statement.

"The recall involves the replacement of faulty inverters on most delivered customer vehicles," Polestar said, adding the hardware updates can be done in a single workshop visit.

The Sweden-based automaker started producing the Polestar 2 sedans this year in China and sells them in Europe and the United States, as well as China.

SHANGHAI -- Tesla Inc. will begin exporting Model 3 sedans assembled at its Shanghai plant to Europe next week, according to Chinese media. 

Some 7,000 Model 3s are due to leave the Shanghai port Tuesday for Europe, Shanghai Television Station reported this week. 

The EVs are expected to arrive at Belgium’s Zeebrugge port toward the end of November. 

Some of the vehicles will be distributed in Belgium and the rest will be shipped to other European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland, according to Xinhua, a state-run news agency.

By the end of September, the new factory had churned out more than 85,000 Model 3s cumulatively, with weekly output reaching 3,500 to 4,000, according to Xinhua. 

With exports underway, Tesla’s Shanghai plant is expected to boost the value of vehicle and battery exports to $450 million for 2020, the news agency said, citing Shanghai’s vice m…

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co.reported third-quarter net income of $2.4 billion and raised its full-year forecast even as it readies for a number of major product launches in the coming months.

The automaker's adjusted earnings before interest and taxes in the quarter more than doubled from the same period a year ago to $3.6 billion, and margins jumped to 9.7 percent. Revenue increased 1 percent to $37.5 billion.

Ford generated nearly $3.2 billion in North America with a profit margin of 12.5 percent. CFO John Lawler credited higher demand than anticipated and stronger pricing on popular nameplates including F-Series pickups and Transit vans.

Ford made $72 million in its International Markets Group but lost money in China, Europe and South America.

Lawler said Ford was on track to post a profit for the quarter in Europe before a supplier issue related to battery fires in the Kuga crossover led to an overall loss. He said the issue will not affect the u…

The National Independent Automobile Dealers Association said Wednesday that it has chosen auto-retailing outsider Bob Voltmann as its next chief executive, effective immediately.

The announcement ends a more than two-month search by the NIADA board of directors to replace former CEO Steve Jordan, who resigned in August to join KAR Global as executive vice president of dealer sales. Jordan had been the association's chief executive since 2013.

Voltmann has spent the past 23 years as CEO of the Transportation Intermediaries Association, which represents the third-party logistics industry. Under his leadership, the group has more than tripled its membership, increased its annual budget and strengthened its presence in government affairs, according to the news release.

Prior to that, Voltmann was director of policy for the National Industrial Transportation League. He also served in former President George H.W. Bush's administration at …

Three factors will be pivotal in shaping the automotive industry's trajectory, according to Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke: the spread of COVID-19 and a potential vaccine; the size and timing of an additional round of government stimulus; and the outcome of the 2020 election. But perhaps the most important is who will be president, because it will likely influence the continuing efforts to abate the deadly virus and provide financial support to impacted Americans.

In a Tuesday blog post that posits former Vice President Joe Biden will win the presidential race next week, Smoke outlined several ways that a new leader would impact the auto finance landscape.

Here are some key takeaways:

After months of bickering, the Senate adjourned this week without reaching a deal on another stimulus package. Major auto lenders called for more government support during earnings this month, warning that portfolio performance could…

Volkswagen Group is recalling 218,192 vehicles in the U.S. because the fuel rail bolts may loosen, allowing fuel to leak.

The recalled vehicles are 2016-18 Volkswagen Jetta sedans in the U.S.

Impacted vehicles may have fuel rail bolts that were incorrectly tightened, causing leaking fuel and increased risk of vehicle fire, according to a NHTSA document.

A spokesman for Volkswagen told Automotive News that there have been no reports of accidents or injuries

The NHTSA document said that a remedy is under development, but the fuel rail bolt tightening torque will change.

Volkswagen notified NHTSA of the recall on Oct. 21 and is expected to begin notifying dealers and owners on Dec. 20.

The supplier of the fuel rail bolt is Volkswagen de México, according to NHTSA.

Toyota Motor North America said it added 1.5 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles to a large recall announced in January over a fuel pump that may stop operating, potentially causing a stall or risking a crash.

In total, about 3.34 million vehicles are now included in the recall, covering model years 2013 to 2020. The most recent recall involves vehicles manufactured between 2017 and 2020, Toyota said in a Wednesday statement.

As part of the recall, Toyota and Lexus dealers will replace the involved fuel pump with an improved one at no cost to customers, the automaker said.

"Replacement parts are available for the vehicles that were recalled in January and March," a Toyota spokesman said in an e-mail. "Customers can go to Toyota.com to inquire about their particular VIN. For vehicles that were added today, we are working closely with the supplier to prepare the replacement parts quickly."

Toyota says that if the recalled fuel pump fails, warning ligh…

Automating the credit approval process for customers with less than perfect payment histories remains a challenge even as the U.S. auto retail industry allows more of the vehicle transaction online. Lithia Motors has a possible solution — tapping into its finance and insurance talent to aid online shoppers.

The rollout of the retailer's omnichannel vehicle shopping and servicing platform, Driveway, includes what the No. 3 dealership group calls a "Virtual Center of Excellence." The backbone of these centers? In-store F&I managers.

Lithia CEO Bryan DeBoer said on an earnings call this month the centers "include our finance specialists from our existing network behind the scenes as partners with our Driveway Care Centers to provide solutions and expertise for customers who are unable to be automatically approved."

Customers who work with Lithia's F&I managers obtain financing approvals at "two to three times the rate" of the r…

The last few months have pushed forward the adoption of digital selling, lending and servicing solutions at breakneck speed — and consumers are happy with the changes. However, with great digital services comes great responsibility to ensure that fraud doesn't grow to an even bigger problem.

The shift to digital allowed car dealers and lenders to keep employees and customers safe while maintaining a semblance of business continuity amidst the crisis. At the same time, the rapid, urgent shift to digitization has meant auto fraud — a perennial problem — had a chance to proliferate. Indeed, in the digital world, bad actors can learn the digital fraud measures that are put into place and beat the system.

According to TransUnion research, the percentage of high-risk global financial interactions has jumped by 11 percent since March. Auto finance has been hit particularly hard with fraud spiking by 30 percent each week since March, despite a drop-off in originations.…