Trade News

A veteran automotive retail executive has teamed up with a recognized Kia dealership manager to buy their first stores: three franchised dealerships, plus a used-car lot, in rural Texas.

Chuck Kramer, former COO of Foundation Automotive Corp., formed a partnership in February with Kimberly Eakin, general manager of Dennis Eakin Kia in Killeen, Texas.

On Feb. 27, Kramer Automotive purchased Premier Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Premier Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in Livingston, and a used-car store in Porter, while Kimberly Eakin Automotive purchased Premier Kia in Lufkin. Karl Williams of Elm Creek Auto Group was the seller of all stores.

Livingston, Lufkin and Porter all are north of Houston.

The Livingston dealerships have been renamed Kramer Autoplex and include Kramer Chevrolet-GMC and Kramer Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram, while the Lufkin store was renamed Kimberly Eakin Kia.

The partners accepted a buyout from General …

Leasing of new General Motors vehicles has picked up after hitting a low point last year, but the automaker's captive finance company said there are no plans for a significant boost while incentives remain low.

The percentage of GM's sales that were leases rose slightly to 16.5 percent in the first quarter from a low of 13.9 percent for the last half of 2022, according to GM Financial data. Yet that remains down from 24 percent at the end of 2019.

Leasing has "historically been a highly incentivized product; without the need for incentives to drive sales, leasing mix is going to be where it's at," GM Financial CEO Dan Berce told Automotive News.

"I think the trough we hit in lease sales mix in mid-'22 is the low point," he said. "I think you will see it go up from here, but I wouldn't expect it to reach historical levels anytime in '23."

GM Financial's outlook on leasing largely aligns with experts' view of the broader…

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — As Volkswagen plans to launch the ID Buzz electric bus tailored specifically for North America in the third quarter next year, regional CEO Pablo Di Si is making one thing clear: He does not want dealers gouging customers.

Discussions with Volkswagen dealers on the three-row ID Buzz's retail plan — including how customer orders will be handled if demand proves overwhelming — are ongoing, Di Si said last week during a media roundtable here to discuss the launch strategy.

"We need to find a fair way ... for the consumer and the dealer — there's no overpricing, that the system doesn't crash," he said. "We have, I would say, another three to five months to figure it out. We don't have the solution yet."

Anecdotal reports on social media and web message boards complained that some dealers were tacking on "market adjustment fees" that added thousands of dollars to the sticker price of the VW ID4 electric crossover, which starts at $…

A sharp rise in incentives at some brands amid the industry's ongoing inventory recovery fueled a jump in U.S. light-vehicle sales last month.

Deliveries rose 21 percent to around 720,000 vehicles for the seven automakers that report monthly figures. American Honda was among the big winners, notching a 58 percent gain, while Subaru of America posted a 28 percent increase.

May marked the industry's 10th consecutive monthly sales increase, according to LMC Automotive, as it continues to bounce back from supply chain challenges that dogged automakers last year.

The latest results were helped by favorable year-earlier comparisons, when the inventory shortage was at its worst. Retail inventory entered June at around 1.3 million vehicles, up 48 percent from a year earlier, according to estimates from J.D. Power and LMC Automotive.

"Vehicle shoppers now have a much better chance of finding something that fits their needs," C…

In Levi Tillemann’s book, The Great Race: The Global Quest for the Car of the Future, he tells a story of Ford’s then-chief technology officer hearing an investment pitch in 2007 for an improved internal combustion engine. Afterward, the executive told the young inventor that Ford’s powertrain road map had been written and it “will end up in battery land in about 15 years.”

Fifteen years later, based on the amount of attention and investment received by electric vehicles compared with internal combustion vehicles in the industry and some symbolic events favoring EVs, the former Ford chief technology officer may not be off by much. By the end of 2022, the U.S. government passed favorable legislation to promote EVs under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Ahead on the transition curve, China phased out its 10-year-old nationwide subsidy program to manufacturers as EVs are now deemed competitive with internal combustion vehicles in total cost of ownership and desirabil…

General Motors sees the biggest revenue opportunities from software and services that go beyond what vehicles offer today, rather than charging for features such as heated seats that customers already expect, CEO Mary Barra said Friday.

Such software and services represent a major growth opportunity for GM, particularly as they extend beyond a vehicle's first owner, Barra said at a Bernstein investor conference Friday. She said the automaker has learned from its OnStar safety and connectivity service what consumers are willing to pay for and what they expect to be in the vehicle.

GM has seen a willingness for "something that's above and beyond," Barra said, citing examples such as safety and security services, in-vehicle wireless hotspot capability or vehicle customization.

"If I buy my vehicle today and two years from now, there's something that's been invented that's new, or a new service or a new feature, people are willing to pay for that. And so I …

China is poised to extend incentives for electric-vehicle purchases as part of broader efforts to shake off a sluggish post-pandemic period.

The foundation for China’s economic recovery is not yet solid, the nation’s state radio reported late Friday, citing a State Council meeting chaired by Premier Li Qiang. China will therefore extend and optimize new-energy vehicle sales tax exemptions, the report said, without giving more detail.

People familiar with the matter said earlier on Friday an extension was being considered for some clean vehicles for another four years. One of those measures may be extending the sales tax break for EVs and plug-in hybrids that cost less than 300,000 yuan ($42,400), one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.

Cars over that amount are broadly classed as luxury vehicles in China, so making it easier for people to buy more affordable clean cars would boost the nation’s EV adoption rate…

Franchise Equity Partners invested $55 million in Parks Automotive Group of Kernersville, N.C., to acquire a minority stake in the auto retailer, the firm said Thursday.

The financial stake detail follows Parks Automotive partnering with the New York private investment firm to purchase two Stellantis stores near Charlotte, N.C., on Jan. 18. The investment amount was not revealed when that acquisition was announced.

"We took a minority, permanent stake in Parks Automotive Group," Franchise Equity Partners Co-Managing Partner Scott Romanoff told Automotive News.

Romanoff would not disclose the percentage stake that Franchise Equity Partners has in Parks Automotive. He said Parks Automotive CEO Adam Parks has a "long-term strategic plan to grow his operations anchored in North Carolina," and Franchise Equity Partners will provide support for that plan.

"We remain a passive partner," Romanoff said. "Adam and team continue to fully run operations, bu…

WASHINGTON — The nation's top auto safety regulator is failing to complete defect investigations and upload related documents in a timely manner, potentially limiting its ability to address "rapidly evolving and severe" risks to motorists, a government audit found.

In a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General, auditors reviewed a sample of investigations conducted in 2018, 2019 and 2021 to determine whether the agency has adequate tools, processes and resources to probe and identify safety defects. The audit was conducted between May 2021 and March 2023.

Despite efforts to restructure its office, modernize its data systems and enhance its investigative processes, NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation does not meet its internal deadlines for investigations and relies on legacy information systems that impede its ability to conduct defect analysis, according to the report.

Additionally, the agency "d…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk's decision to host the presidential announcement of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Twitter was marred by technical glitches and relatively few listeners for the audio-only format. Analysts suggested it was bad for DeSantis, bad for Twitter and bad for Musk.

But it may have been good for Tesla.

Musk's widely covered public embrace of DeSantis, a conservative Republican, is part of a larger strategy to better position Tesla in red states where car buyers have been reluctant to consider the EV brand, one longtime industry analyst said. Blue-state California has by far been Tesla's most important market since its founding.

"No matter how altruistic Elon seems at any moment, he is first and foremost a businessman, and he will do things that will benefit him financially first and foremost," said Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars and a former analyst at Cox Automotive and Edmunds.

Musk hosted the Twitter political event with D…

Chrysler-parent Stellantis and General Motors paid a total of $363 million in civil penalties for failing to meet U.S. fuel economy requirements for prior model years, documents seen on Friday by Reuters show.

The record-setting penalties include $235.5 million for Stellantis for the 2018 and 2019 model years and $128.2 million for GM covering 2016 and 2017, according to NHTSA, which administers the Corporate Average Fuel Economy program. 

Stellantis said the penalties "reflects past performance recorded before the formation of Stellantis, and is not indicative of the Company’s direction." Stellantis previously paid a total of $156.6 million in penalties for the 2016 and 2017 model years.

GM said Friday as "we work towards the goal of a zero-emissions future, we may use a combination of credits from prior model years, expected credits from future model years, credits obtained from other manufacturers, and payment of civil penalties to comply w…

General Motors and South Korea's Posco Future M said they will invest more to expand the production capacity at their chemical battery materials facility in Canada, taking their estimated total investment in the plant to over US$1 billion.

The companies said on June 2 the new investment in their Ultium CAM plant, expected to start operating in 2025, will be used to set up additional facilities for local on-site processing of critical minerals used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

The announcement comes less than a week after the two initially said it would be a C$600-million facility in Becancour, Que. The Quebec and federal governments are kicking in C$150 million each.

It will produce cathode active material (CAM) for EV batteries. CAM includes components such as processed nickel, lithium and other materials that make up about 40 per cent of the cost of a battery. Cathodes are also the most complex and costly chemical component of an electric vehicl…