Trade News

Strict shelter-in-place orders brought on by the coronavirus pandemic severely hindered profits at publicly traded U.S. megaretailers in the first quarter. But despite showroom closures, slowing vehicle sales and economic uncertainty closing out the month of March, all six public groups posted gains in finance-and-insurance profit per vehicle.

Public groups cited automaker support and robust digital processes for raising F&I figures.

Retailers have long been concerned that digital car deals, which have increased on a national scale following pandemic-related closures, corrupt F&I profits. But several public groups noted in first-quarter earnings that they are making the same amount, if not more, per vehicle in online transactions.

AutoNation Inc. and Sonic Automotive Inc. reported all-time quarterly records for average per-vehicle F&I profit in the first quarter.

Sonic showed the biggest improvement in F&…

LONDON -- Ford will restart output at its two British engine factories on Monday, which means that all of the automaker's European manufacturing sites will be in operation next week, after shutdowns due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Ford built nearly 1.1 million engines last year at two British sites, Dagenham in east London and Bridgend in south Wales. The engines are shipped to vehicle factories in countries such as Turkey and Germany.

Ford's Valencia engine plant in Spain will also resume output next week.

The automaker said anyone entering a Ford facility will need to wear a company-provided face mask and have their body temperature checked. Work areas have been redesigned to make sure social distancing rules can be adhered to.

"Our key priority is the implementation of Ford's global standards on social distancing and strengthened health and safety protocols to safeguard the well-being of our workforce," Ford of Britain Chairman Graham Hoa…

The COVID-19 outbreak dealt a major blow to large auto lenders' first-quarter earnings as banks deferred auto loan payments and shifted resources to shield themselves from future losses. As lenders tighten credit access to mitigate the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic on their auto portfolios, finance-and-insurance managers are working overtime to get these customers approved for loans.

The swift descent from one of the longest economic expansions in history to an economy now burdened with the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression is prompting F&I managers to assemble complicated car deals and figure out how to report employment status on a coronavirus-related job loss.

Employment earnings are further muddled by government stimulus, which when layered over traditional unemployment boosts income for out-of-work consumers so they temporarily qualify for larger monthly payments than they may have otherwise.

Appr…

Global auto supplier Marelli said it will open an interior unit manufacturing plant next year in Bowling Green, Ohio.

The company is hiring 75 employees to work in manufacturing, assembly and warehousing operations to support two new bulkhead programs. A bulkhead is a structural component with attachment spots for headlamps, the radiator and the hood latch.

"There are many factors that go into building a business case for a new site," Chris Bradford, regional head of interiors at Marelli, said in a Wednesday statement. "Our key considerations were affordability, proximity to customers, quality of the local work force and the opportunity to expand."

The company declined to identify which automakers the plant will supply, but said it expects the operation to make about 760,000 components per year. Plant construction is expected to be completed by early 2021. Bowling Green is about 80 miles south of Detroit on Interstate 75.

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The strength of GM Financial has been a bright spot for General Motors during the coronavirus crisis. GM's captive has enough liquidity to stand largely on its own, the ability to defer existing customers' loan payments and the power to attract new buyers with generous financing incentives.

At the end of the first quarter, GM Financial had $24.9 billion in liquidity, which would cover at least six months of net cash needs without tapping capital markets or GM, CEO Dan Berce said. Under its support agreement with GM, the lender has a $2 billion cushion before it would need any additional capital from the automaker.

GM expects 2020 credit losses to range from 2 to 2.5 percent and for used-car values to decline 7 to 10 percent industrywide.

"We could experience double that credit loss expectation and double that decline in used-car values, and it wouldn't eat up the whole $2 billion capital cushion. And GM wouldn't have to pay capital," Berce said.

…

Amid much uncertainty in the broader mobility industry, Waymo has added fresh funding to its coffers.

The self-driving tech company said Tuesday it has raised an additional $750 million in an extension of its first external funding round. The addition brings outside investment in the Google-backed company to $3 billion.

New investors include T. Rowe Price Associates Inc., Perry Creek Capital and Fidelity Management & Research Co. Other investors were undisclosed.

"COVID-19 has underscored how fully self-driving technology can provide safe personal mobility and delivery services," CEO John Krafcik said in a written statement. "We're grateful these partners share our mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they're going."

Waymo did not specify a valuation of the company. Investment bank Morgan Stanley estimated its value at $105 billion in September, though a year earlier, the firm had said Waymo was worth $175 billio…

LONDON, BEIJING, FRANKFURT -- James Li, a public relations account director, would rather spend an hour sitting in Beijing traffic than risk 30 minutes exposed to crowds on a train.

"Traffic is as bad as it could be" but the subway is still too dicey," he said.

In Frankfurt, real estate assistant Anna Pawliczek is driving to work for the first time in her career. "I definitely have always preferred to chill out in the train, instead of being stuck at traffic lights," she said.

But days after Germany ended its lockdown, her company is asking returning employees to avoid public transportation at all costs.

Gasoline demand is rebounding, suggesting that the car -- at least for now -- is making a comeback. As lockdowns ease and parts of the world reopen for business, driving has emerged as the socially distant transportation mode of choice and is offering some near-term relief to an oil market fresh off its worst crash in history and reeling from an u…

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Tuesday released plans detailing how it will resume North American production next week.

The automaker is implementing new policies in its U.S. and Canada manufacturing centers to ensure that cleanliness and social distancing are in line with the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

"We have drawn on our collective global expertise and best practices to rethink our production processes to put in place comprehensive protocols to keep our work force safe," FCA CEO Mike Manley said in a statement.

In preparation for reopening in North America, FCA cleaned and disinfected more than 57 million square-feet of production floor and will implement a daily health risk assessment that must be completed by employees.

The assessment consists of employees taking their temperature less than two hours before reporting to work and com…

The RAV4 compact crossover is released by Toyota on May 10, 1994, in Japan, ushering in the era of car-based crossovers and SUVs.

Beginning with briefings in 1986, Toyota engineers sought to create a vehicle that passenger-car operators could easily drive, with greater maneuverability and a relatively high driver's seat to enhance visibility.

The small crossover debuted as the RAV Four concept at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show. Toyota introduced a revised version of the concept at the 1993 Tokyo auto show that more closely resembled the final production version. In addition to Japan, the RAV4 was initially sold in Europe, with U.S. sales beginning in early 1996.

The RAV4 named was a contraction of "recreational active vehicle" with "four-wheel drive."

The first-generation RAV4 featured a frameless, car-like monocoque body and a front-wheel-drive-based, full-time four-wheel-drive system, making it a new type of four-wheel-…