Trade News

Did you know dealers have the most success reaching customers on cold calls at 8:00 AM?

Leveraging proper outbound phone handling tactics allows your dealership to get ahead of the competition by boosting customer experience, appointment conversions, show-up rates, and bottom-line revenue.

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Five stand-out trends that are affecting the success of your outbound efforts The best times of the day and days of the week to connect with customers on outbound calls Tips to improve staff outbound performance and appointment conversion rates

It took some time, but electric vehicle adoption is on the rise. But what caused the shift in momentum?

In this insightful new white paper from Cox Automotive Mobility EV Battery Solutions, we dive into the momentum behind EV adoption, and explore some of the leading factors:

Affordability and supply-chain issues Technological advances in charging infrastructure Significant OEM investments Federal Policy Impacts Range anxiety and battery replacement costs

Download the white paper today for an expert analysis of EV trans that are sweeping the industry.

Josh Nassar, the legislative director for the UAW who led the union's lobbying efforts in Washington for more than a decade, has been fired as President Shawn Fain continues to build out his international staff.

A handful of employees were notified this week that they had been terminated, two sources told Automotive News. They include Nassar, who has been in his role since 2011, along with other management personnel in a range of departments.

It's expected that Dawn Le, the union's national political and government affairs director who was hired shortly after Fain was elected, will assume Nassar's duties.

A UAW spokesman declined to comment.

Nassar's departure comes as Fain seeks to move the union in a new political direction. Last month, he said the UAW, which traditionally supports Democrats, would withhold its endorsement of President Joe Biden's 2024 candidacy until he addresses concerns over the transition to electric vehicles.

Ahead…

Inspired by the remarkable success of Tesla in the 2010s, a slew of new automaker ventures rose in hopes of claiming their own share of the emerging global electric vehicle market. New U.S. government policies to encourage EV adoption fanned their ambitions, as did a receptive stock market and a new finance approach know as reverse mergers, or Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, which made billions of dollars in cash available overnight to develop EVs and build and tool the necessary factories for them.

Tesla was once a startup but is now one of the nation's leading manufacturers. Rivian Automotive, following in its footsteps, is still dealing with ramp-up challenges, but is no longer a true example of a startup.

But for several of the aspiring new ventures of recent years, the car business has proven difficult.

The market reality has revealed fickle shoppers and increasingly competitive sales landscapes. Strategic plans have been complicated by ris…

TrueCar Inc. is laying off nearly a quarter of its work force and appointed COO Jantoon Reigersman as its new CEO to help the struggling vehicle listings company amid a restructuring.

The Santa Monica, Calif., company said Wednesday that it will cut 102 positions, or 24 percent of its work force. Reigersman, 41, replaces CEO Mike Darrow, 66, who also has left his board position.

Barbara Carbone, TrueCar's incoming board chair, said in a statement that restructuring would help the company better align its costs with revenue "and is designed to make TrueCar a nimbler, more efficient company."

Shareholders reacted favorably to the news, driving shares of TrueCar up more than 12 percent to $2.78 in after-hours trading.

The company said the job cuts and a realignment of its leadership structure will slash employment expenses by more than $20 million annually, excluding stock-based compensation.

TrueCar said it will incur $7 million in restructu…

FedEx Express Canada deployed 50 all-electric vehicles with BrightDrop in an effort to reduce carbon emissions in last-mile delivery.

The 50 Canadian-made BrightDrop Zevo 600 electric delivery vehicles will serve communities in Toronto, Montreal and Surrey.

General Motors' commercial EV business locked in FedEx Express as their first customer in 2021. The 50 Canadian EVs are part of a larger agreement of 2,500 total vehicles being incorporated across FedEx locations, including more than 400 that are already in operation in Southern California.

The Canadian launch is BrightDrop's first venture outside of the U.S. Brightdrop started producing EVs in Canada in December.

BrightDrop is manufacturing the Zevo 600s at GM's CAMI Assembly plant in Ontario.

"FedEx is a key collaborator in our journey to help reduce carbon emissions for deliveries," said Steve Hornyak, chief commercial officer at BrightDrop, in a statement. "As our first customer to…

President Joe Biden on Wednesday vetoed a measure approved by Congress that would overturn his administration's sharp new limits on emissions from heavy-duty trucks responsible for significant soot and smog.

The veto preserves EPA rules that will "make our air cleaner and prevent thousands of premature deaths by limiting hazardous heavy-duty vehicle pollution," Biden said on Twitter.

The EPA standards tighten yearly emissions limits, the first update to clean air standards for heavy duty trucks in more than two decades. They are 80 percent more stringent than current standards.

The heavy vehicles include delivery trucks, motor homes, refuse haulers, transit, shuttle and school buses and tractor-trailers.

Republicans opposed the EPA rules, finalized in December, saying they are too challenging to implement, will increase supply chain costs and will make trucks too expensive for small business owners.

The EPA estimates by 2045, the rule wi…

FRANKFURT, Germany — Continental AG today debuted its greenest tire, as the German parts supplier and tire maker looks to meet environmental targets set by its customers, governments and itself.

Continental's UltraContact NXT tire is made of up to 65 percent sustainable materials, the highest proportion of any of its tire models in production. Those materials include renewable and recycled materials such as plastic bottles and silicate made from the ashes of rice husks, according to the company.

The tire comes nearly two years after Continental showed off a green concept tire that featured many of the same renewable sources as the production series UltraContact NXT. It signals the company's efforts to bring sustainable products to the market, Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer said.

"This tire shows we have concepts, and we bring them into production with the best ratings on the technology side, as well," Setzer said during a news conference in Frankfurt. Read more

Diversified auto supplier BorgWarner said Wednesday its anticipated spinoff of Phinia is scheduled to be completed by July 3.

Phinia is set to trade on the New York Stock Exchange on July 5.

The completion of the spinoff is still subject to some conditions, according to Phinia's final information statement filed with U.S. regulators.

BorgWarner revealed its intention to spin off its fuel parts and aftermarket business in December. Brady Ericson, president of BorgWarner's fuel systems and aftermarket business since March 2022, was named CEO of Phinia in February.

The spinoff comes as part of BorgWarner's overarching "Charging Forward" strategy for navigating the EV transition.

BorgWarner stock gained 2.7 percent to $47.94 in late afternoon trading on Wednesday.

BorgWarner, of Auburn Hills, Mich., ranks No. 15 on Automotive News' list of the top 100 global suppliers, with sales to automakers worldwide of $13.99 billion in 2021.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday but signaled in new economic projections that borrowing costs will likely rise by another half of a percentage point by the end of this year as the U.S. central bank reacted to a stronger-than-expected economy and a slower decline in inflation.

In an effort to balance risks to the economy with a still unresolved fight to control inflation, "holding the target (interest rate) range steady at this meeting allows the committee to assess additional information and its implications for monetary policy," the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee said in a unanimous policy statement issued at the end of its latest two-day meeting.

Further rate increases would "take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments," it said.

The Federal Reserve’s rate …

Shareholders give Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda and other leaders multiple wins. The UAW and Clarios reach a new tentative deal in Ohio. Plus, the head of research for Autoliv, the world’s biggest maker of airbags and seatbelts, talks about how the company is evolving for a new era.

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American Honda Motor Co.'s future evolution is not only electric, it's digital.

As the introduction of the automaker's first new-era electric crossovers draws near with the Honda Prologue and the Acura ZDX, the company is just as focused on digitizing the user experience as it is on launching its first two competitive zero-emission vehicles.

The Acura ZDX will offer the brand's first iteration of Google Built In when it goes on sale early next year. The Honda Prologue, also scheduled for an early 2024 on sale date, will likely offer the same type of in-car digital experience.

The digital platform tethers the user to the vehicle through their Google profile and immediately enables a smartphone-less connected in-car experience.

Both 2024 model year EVs are being co-developed with General Motors on Ultium battery-electric platforms and represent the first major step toward American Honda's goal of selling 500,000 EVs in North America by 2030.

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