Trade News

Electric vehicles are growing in popularity and market share. And as their numbers on the road grow, so does the cost and length of time it takes for collision shops to put these vehicles back together, according to an EV trends report by CCC Intelligent Solutions Inc.

In 2022, the average time between the last repair estimate and the collision work being completed was nearly 58 days for EVs, more than 12 days than for non-EVs. Getting the vehicle into the shop added seven full days, and repairs required an additional five days.

Last estimate assignment sent to vehicle (in days)EVs: 35.3Non-EVs: 28.2

Repair started to repair completion (in days)EVs: 19.5Non-EVs: 14.3

"They always say focus on your top 10 percent. But I think you have to be cognizant of why are we in an industry shortage— It's not the income. It's not the workload; demand is there. Something else is going on. ... There's no easy solution to it because there's pros and cons with every aspect of pay that we look at. But there's a lot of respected people that I've seen step out of the industry and in listening to them and really trying to understand what it was ... what led up to it, I think pay and pay structure — [is] definitely hurting our industry in some respects. If a flat rate tech gets it, they can produce phenomenal income — but that's not everybody. That's not the majority; that's that top 10 percent. What happens to the bottom 10? You hear about it. And then that 80 percent in the middle — some of them grit it, get through, but I think a lot of them silently exit, and that's what we've experienced now. How do we adapt and change and provide opportunities and…

A technician who fatally struck a pedestrian while taking a service customer's vehicle for a test drive after an oil change failed to get his conviction for "careless driving involving unintentional death" overturned.

A three-judge panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania upheld Liam Crosby's conviction and $500 fine in the Sept. 7, 2021, death of 89-year-old Susan Simpson, who was on the sidewalk when she was hit by a 2018 Nissan Armada. Crosby's driver's license also was suspended for six months.

The charge is considered a summary offense under state law and is regarded as a nontraffic crime that is less serious than a misdemeanor.

Crosby had been working at Piazza Nissan of Ardmore for seven months at the time of the accident, the decision said.

"As part of his duties, it was standard for Crosby to road test, service and road test again a customer's vehicle before it would be returned," the Montgomery County Distr…

Volkswagen’s third-generation Tiguan has undergone a sleek makeover that the automaker claims reduces the compact crossover’s drag coefficient to 0.28Cd from 0.33.

New styling accentuates the lower part of the light truck’s grille, which extends to the edges where air curtains help reduce drag by flowing air more efficiently around the front wheels.

VW has included light strips across the front and rear of the vehicle, bringing the styling of the Tiguan in line with more recent designs. It can also be specified with high-definition matrix LED headlights.

VW has moved interior features including heating and ventilation controls on to the dashboard screen, which measures up to 15 inches. Like the VW Passat, the new Tiguan runs what the automaker calls its MIB4 (modular infotainment matrix 4th generation) digital architecture for cockpit and central screen displays.

The plug-in hybrid version of the new Tiguan will have an electric range of up to 10…

Stellantis on Wednesday said it had submitted a new contract proposal to the UAW, while General Motors sought to counter what it called “misinformation” by sharing more financial details of its latest offer.

Stellantis presented its latest offer on Tuesday, according to a spokesperson. The company said the proposal — its fifth since negotiations began — "focused on subcommittee open issues," but gave no further details.

A UAW source on Wednesday confirmed that the union had received a new offer from Stellantis. It's the first new offer from any of the three automakers since the UAW went on strike against them Friday, Sept. 15, the source said.

Talks were continuing between the UAW and all three companies ahead of the union's Friday deadline to show "serious progress" toward new contracts. Absent that, UAW President Shawn Fain has said he plans to have workers at more plants join the strike.

A source with knowledge of the negotiations said GM an…

Penske Automotive Group Inc. on Wednesday said its PAG International subsidiary, together with Sweden's Hedin Mobility Group, submitted a cash offer to buy U.K. auto retail giant Pendragon, just two days after rival dealership group Lithia Motors Inc. announced its plan to purchase most of the same company for $350 million.

Pendragon in a Wednesday regulatory filing said its board considered the proposal, but concluded that it "fundamentally undervalues the company and is therefore not in the best interests of shareholders or other stakeholders" and rejected the Penske-Hedin bid.

Reuters valued the bid price of 28 pence (35 cents) per share at about $486 million.

Pendragon added that the board is "excited about the future prospects for Pendragon as a result of the transaction announced with Lithia Motors."

Lithia declined to comment Wednesday.

Lithia's plan announced Monday includes buying Pendragon's 160 retail locations in the U.K. Mos…

Detroit-based seating supplier LM Manufacturing has temporarily laid off 650 workers due to the UAW strike shutting down its customer.

The company, a joint venture between Canadian auto supply giant Magna International Inc. and minority-owned LAN Manufacturing, made the move in response to a work stoppage Friday that has halted production of Ford Motor Co.'s Bronco, among various other makes and models by the Detroit 3.

Magna spokeswoman Tracy Fuerst confirmed the temporary layoffs began Wednesday. Production at LM Manufacturing's new plant launched just a few months ago after completion of an $18 million build-out at the Bedrock-owned, former Sakthi Automotive site in southwest Detroit. Fuerst said the company is not offering to supplement unemployment benefits and plans to bring back employees once production resumes.

The company had been competing with crosstown competitor Lear Corp. and other suppliers for employees. The tight labor market contrib…

Unifor plans to have members vote on its tentative agreement with Ford Motor Co. of Canada “before the end of the week,” though precise timing for ratification meetings is still being finalized, a union spokesperson told Automotive News Canada Wednesday.

The union representing about 5,600 hourly workers at Ford assembly and engine plants in Ontario, as well as several parts distribution and office locations, struck a tentative three-year deal with the automaker late on Sept. 19, nearly a full day after its initial strike deadline had passed and six weeks after bargaining began.

Unifor President Lana Payne said the tentative agreement addresses “all of the items” members raised as priorities before talks opened in August.     

“We believe that this agreement will solidify the foundations on which we will continue to bargain gains for generations of autoworkers in Canada,” she said in a statement.

The deal has been unanimously endo…

Jessica Robinson believes that turning points in life “don’t always happen when you’re onstage or being promoted or successfully making money.”

She says one of those turning points occurred when she was marketing manager for Zipcar, when the idea of shared mobility was new. Part of the job took her out into the community, talking to Seattle-area residents about how they traveled.

“Those conversations still stick with me every day,” Robinson says. “I talked to people who wanted to live in a certain neighborhood but couldn’t afford to own a car, or struggled because the trains didn’t get where they needed to go. We had a mobility solution that was a piece of the puzzle that they didn’t know about but could change people’s lives.”

Those very personal stories — about the life-changing importance of being able to get around — sparked Robinson’s passion for mobility. “It is an industry that is aligned with who I am as a person,” she says.

Robinson is a …

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Bollinger Motors is about to shift into drive.

With the majority of the engineering complete on Bollinger's first commercial product, a battery-powered Class 4 chassis cab, final testing is underway. Bollinger's marketing team is about to hit the road to book orders ahead of the planned start of production in the second quarter of 2024.

"Our next event after we leave here is to take these trucks straight to fleets. We'll bring them to parking lots and test tracks near customers in whatever state they are in," CEO Robert Bollinger said.

The company is also building a nationwide dealer network, which will include traditional franchised new-car dealers who also run fleet businesses, said Jim Connelly, Bollinger's chief revenue officer.

"The order books are open. We have not announced final pricing and we cannot sell directly to customers, but we have customers who have reserved the first ones off the li…

Unifor said it struck a last-minute tentative agreement with Ford Motor Co. of Canada, averting what would have been the company's second union walkout in North America since Friday. It also would have been the first strike by Canadian auto workers against Ford in 33 years. 

The UAW struck Ford at its assembly plant last week in Wayne, Mich., along with two other plants owned by General Motors and Chrysler. But the Detroit 3 negotiations in Canada have been far less confrontational so far.

Top union and Ford negotiators hammered out the deal late Tuesday, six weeks after the bargaining process began in August, and nearly 24 hours after the original strike deadline passed.

“We believe that this tentative agreement, endorsed by the entire master bargaining committee, addresses all of the items raised by members in preparation for this round of collective bargaining,” Unifor National President Lana Payne saind in a statement. “We believe that thi…

WASHINGTON - A senior Republican in Congress asked Tesla Tuesday to detail its relationship with Chinese battery manufacturer CATL amid concerns electric vehicle subsidies are flowing to foreign entities raising security concerns.

The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Representative Jason Smith, asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a letter if the EV maker has contracts with CATL or is considering contracts. Smith said the committee is concerned CATL "may be trying to negotiate other agreements like the agreement with Ford."

Republicans in Congress have been probing Ford's planned $3.5 billion investment to build a battery plant in Michigan using technology from CATL, the world's largest battery maker.

The auto industry is watching how new rules around future electric-vehicle tax credits will be implemented as they make investment decisions on producing batteries for their transition to electric vehicles.

In 2022, Congress passed the $430 bi…