Trade News

DETROIT -- General Motors is expected to announce on Tuesday significant investments to expand production of electric vehicles at a factory in Spring Hill, Tenn., and potentially other sites.

GM said in a statement Monday that it planned to make a "major U.S. manufacturing investment announcement" on Tuesday. The Detroit News reported that the automaker planned to begin building the Cadillac Lyriq electric crossover at its Spring Hill, Tenn., plant. AutoForecast Solutions, which tracks industry production plans, said it expects the Lyriq to go into production in late 2022.

GM could move production of vehicles to other plants, resulting in new investments in other locations. AutoForecast Solutions said it expects some electric vehicle production will also be announced for a factory in Mexico.

The automaker's plans for investing in U.S. factories come with two weeks left in the U.S. presidential election campaign. U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic…

Mercedes will have a shiny new bauble for America's 1-percenters to park in their driveways for Christmas — a Mercedes Maybach SUV.

In early December, Mercedes-Benz will enter the rarefied world of ultraluxe SUVs with the most expensive passenger vehicle made in America.

The 2021 Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC starts at $161,550, including shipping. Fully loaded, the SUV tops out at nearly $200,000.

The SUV, based on the redesigned third-generation GLS platform, will be manufactured at Mercedes' factory in Vance, Ala.

The tony SUV will compete with the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Bentley Bentayga for the attention — and wallets — of shoppers in that exclusive segment.

Ultraluxury SUVs, which often share platforms with much less expensive vehicles, are cash cows for automakers. The global market for ultraluxury SUVs should grow from around 7,500 in 2018 to more than 20,000 by 2023, according to AutoForecast Solutions. About 75 percent of these vehicle…

Editor's note: All currency figures in this story have been translated from Canadian dollars to U.S. dollars at current exchange rates.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles workers represented by Unifor ratified a new three-year contract that includes up to $1.2 billion in planned investments in Canada, the union said Monday.

Negotiations with General Motors Co. will kick off in Toronto on Thursday, according to GM and Unifor. Unifor President Jerry Dias said a strike deadline was set for Nov. 5, but a spokeswoman for GM Canada said a deadline had yet to be "officially confirmed."

The union said 78 percent of FCA voting members cast a vote in favor of the agreement during virtual ratification voting that ran from Sunday through Monday morning.

“Workers who have feared plant closures and job losses in recent years can now look forward to a bright future with good jobs for years to come,” Dias said in a statement.

In a statement, FCA said the contract d…

Join Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for a daily podcast series about the coronavirus crisis. He’ll speak with industry experts, insiders and Automotive News reporters about how the virus is impacting and reshaping the automotive industry.

The CEO of Harbour Results shares insight on the consulting firm's annual productivity study for the North American auto industry and offers advice on how Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers can withstand the impacts of the pandemic.

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Tesla will start exporting Model 3 sedans from China to more than 10 countries, including Germany, France and Switzerland, the automaker said.

The exports of cars built at its factory on the outskirts of Shanghai will begin later this month, the automaker said in a statement sent via WeChat.

The Chinese exports will help Tesla to maintain supply of its vehicles in Europe until its new plant in Gruenheide near Berlin starts production next summer. The factory will build the Model 3 and Model Y crossover.

Tesla's European growth has slowed as the electric-car maker struggles to match demand with supply. Tesla sold 45,531 cars in Europe in the first 8 months, down 19 percent on the same period last year, according to JATO Dynamics market researchers.

China expansion

Tesla's Shanghai factory is its first outside of the U.S. It opened for local deliveries at the start of this year.

The Shanghai factory has helped Tesla expand in China, an…

Digital or direct from the person, training helps dealership staff learn the process—and stick to it.

The unique challenges of 2020 have shined a spotlight on the importance of up-to-date F&I training. Effective training can help F&I staff master new digital processes and selling techniques. It can also help the dealership stay on top of the continued need to comply strictly with federal and state laws.

As dealerships were confronted with stay-at-home orders and closed showrooms earlier this year, many shifted to providing digital and off-site transactions. But they also “often have been running on a tighter staff. That can mean that people are handling F&I who are not as familiar with it,” says Patrick Hennessey, senior director of sales for Ally. “Dealerships need to get those people up to speed. The business can be exposed if they don’t know the ins and outs of F&I.”

As Ryan Daly, district manager of KPA’s F&I compliance business,…

Joyson Safety Systems Japan, a unit of the company that took over failed airbag maker Takata Corp., discovered that falsified production data at its Japanese seatbelt factory was used to pass safety standards for a European certification agency, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The issue comes on top of revelations last week, confirmed by Japan’s transport ministry, that Joyson Safety Systems Japan, or JSSJ, had given faulty data to automakers on seatbelts shipped from its factory in Hikone, Shiga prefecture, which it took over from Takata in 2018. The Nikkei newspaper reported on Oct. 15 that as many as nine million seatbelts supplied by JSSJ to Japanese automakers fell short of strength standards.

JSSJ is ultimately owned by Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corp., the Chinese company whose subsidiary acquired the bankrupt Takata in 2018. The Japanese company became aware of the faulty inspection data at the Hikone factory in April, with certain data also app…

Bert Ogden Auto Group outlined three ambitious goals at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic: Cut costs wherever possible, close deals quickly and avoid layoffs.

The 18-store south Texas dealership group has focused on cash management throughout the pandemic, permanently eliminating $150,000 in expenses and saving $400,000 more through temporary cost reductions and renegotiations with vendors. The group also tightened deadlines in its mid-month close-sales initiative, urging sales staff to finalize deals by the middle of the month, rather than letting them linger until month end.

"Cash management is the biggest area of opportunity that a dealership can have," said Jorge Gutierrez, corporate strategist for the group. "You can be very successful at selling cars. You can make a lot of money off of it. But if you're not collecting on your money, then what are you doing?"

Despite the pandemic-related challenges, Bert Ogden recorded some of its highest sale…

As COVID-19 state mandates shut down dealership retail sales, more targeted marketing efforts with bigger budgets were shifted to fixed ops departments that remained open as essential services.

"Many dealers made massive cuts to their marketing budgets, but they didn't touch service," says Alexi Venneri, CEO of marketing firm Digital Air Strike.

The sudden importance of service marketing in the early days of the pandemic led many dealers to closely examine new strategies. While dealership budgets have largely returned to normal, Venneri says a bigger-than- usual piece of the pie has gone to service marketing.

"If a dealership was only spending $5,000 a month on service marketing, it may have grown to $10,000," she says. Dealerships should do even more but "it's a step in the right direction," Venneri says.

Other marketing companies report similar changes. From April to July, dealerships increased their service market…

For most dealers, running an express service lane generally makes more sense than cents. That's because the financial aspect of offering fast oil changes is often not the most important consideration.

For example, at Tempe Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Arizona, Service Manager Mike Purtle uses his express lane to boost the dealership's customer satisfaction scores, raise retention and funnel loyal service customers to the sales department when it's time for a new vehicle.

Express service also combats a top consumer complaint with dealers — waiting for service, according to a 2018 Cox Automotive survey. It's one of the best options for fixed ops directors looking to prevent time-conscious customers from going elsewhere for oil changes and other maintenance.

"I've never had anyone tell me: 'I can't wait to go to the dealership so I can hang out in the lounge,' " says fixed ops consultant and author Jim Roche. "People are busy, and as m…