Trade News

F&I product and reinsurance provider Portfolio Holdings has agreed to acquire competitor National Automotive Experts/NWAN. Combined, the company will rank among the top 10 largest F&I product providers in the nation, executives said.

The acquisition continues an ongoing trend of F&I product company consolidation. Portfolio CEO Brent Griggs said the company has watched an uptick in mergers and acquisitions in the F&I product space over the past five years and noted some of the pressures from the competitive environment drove the need to acquire another company.

"We see consolidation happening in a much more rapid fashion than it has in the past," Griggs said. "It's just inevitable because there are100-plus F&I administrators out there, many of them very small. And it's just a very efficient way of delivering this product to dealer customers."

Griggs cited significant acquisition activity in the past few months…

The Department of Defense reversed its guidance on the Military Lending Act last month, removing a complex process that had been a barrier for automotive dealers to sell guaranteed asset protection, or GAP, to military members and covered relatives. Yet some confusion remains as the auto finance industry catches up with the latest interpretation.

Uncertainty over how to sell F&I products without running afoul of the law had previously blocked military members from buying GAP from dealerships, which could save them from owing thousands of dollars if their vehicle is totaled. Some auto lenders refused to work with the military in the years following the Defense Department's interpretation, and according to F&I managers and trainers, many still haven't caught up with the program.

F&I managers should stay on top of which lenders are now ready to fund GAP contracts, finance experts say, and be cognizant that while the Pentagon's view on…

MEXICO CITY -- Some of Mexico's auto factories may have to suspend production in the coming weeks as the coronavirus disrupts shipments of key parts from China, according to local officials, in what would be another blow to the stagnant Mexican economy.

Manuel Gonzalez, economic development minister of Aguascalientes, one of a dozen Mexican states that have car factories, said some manufacturers had already told him they were running low on parts.

"I've been in contact with some important companies: They tell me that they have inventory through the second or third week of March," Gonzalez told Reuters. "If that supply is not normalized, we will probably see firms suspending production."

The fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak has rippled through the global economy and upended supply chains. More than 119,100 people have been infected by disease and 4,298 have died, the vast majority in China, according to a Reuters tally.

If Mexican automakers wer…

TOKYO -- Honda Motor Co. on Wednesday said that limited operations had resumed at its production site in Wuhan, the epicenter of China's coronavirus outbreak where some workers returned to their jobs after a month-long shut down of offices, schools and factories.

The Japanese automaker said that it would gradually resume vehicle production at the plant, which produces popular models including the CR-V crossover for the world's biggest auto market.

Earlier in the day, government authorities in Wuhan, a major manufacturing center in the country, lifted restrictions on a limited number of key industries in the city, allowing some people to return to work.

Rival Nissan Motor Co., which also operates a vehicle manufacturing plant in Hubei province, plans to partially resume production at the site along with another plant in Zhengzhou, Henan province, sometime this week, a company spokeswoman in China told Reuters.

DETROIT -- Three U.S. senators pressed Japan's government to assure a fair trial for Greg Kelly, an American citizen and former Nissan director, who is being held for alleged financial crimes, saying his case highlights issues that could put the countries' relationship at risk.

In a commentary published by Real Clear Politics, Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Lamar Alexander and Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee criticized the treatment by Japanese authorities of the former Nissan executive, who was temporarily jailed in solitary confinement and has been unable to leave the country while awaiting trial.

"His predicament is a cautionary tale for Americans thinking about working in Japan, raising serious questions about whether non-Japanese executives can comfortably work in Japan under its legal system," the three Republicans wrote Tuesday. "If Americans and other non-Japanese executives question their ability to be treated fairly in Japan, then that most imp…

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said Wednesday it will start implementing temporary closures at some of its Italian plants, and Italy's largest dealer group said it will shut its doors until April 3 to help combat Europe's worst outbreak of the coronavirus.

A FCA spokesman said affected plants were in Pomigliano d'Arco, Melfi, Atessa and Cassino. Each factory will be halted for two or three days between Wednesday and Saturday. Production is scheduled to restart on Monday.

FCA's move affects plants that account for 600,000 units a year and 4 percent of European vehicle production, Evercore ISI estimates.

FCA said in a statement it was taking additional steps to minimize the risk of spreading the virus among employees, including intensive sanitization of all work and rest areas, to support the government's directives to curb the spread of the infectious disease.

"As a result of taking these actions the company will, where necessary, make temporary closur…

TOKYO – Mike Colleran has been appointed the new global head of the struggling Infiniti premium brand as part of a personnel shuffle at parent company Nissan Motor Co. 

Colleran, currently deputy chairman of Infiniti’s management committee, will become chairman starting April 1 and be promoted to corporate vice president at Nissan, the company said on Wednesday.

He will report to Nissan Chief Quality Officer Christian Vandenhende, who had filled in as Infiniti chairman following the departure of previous Infiniti President Christian Meunier in May to become global president of the Jeep brand. Meunier’s resignation came just four months after the departure of his predecessor, Roland Krueger, deepening a leadership crisis at the brand.

A former captain in the U.S. Marines, Colleran steps into Infiniti at a delicate time.

The brand is moving its head office back to Japan from Hong Kong this year and is battling slumping sales. Infiniti sale…

TrueCar has named Mike Darrow president and CEO, making permanent the role he'd filled on an interim basis since last May.

Darrow, 62, will lead the Santa Monica, Calif., vehicle listings site and steer several new initiatives developed under his tenure, including new shopping tools and a rebranding campaign that launched this year. He also will have a seat on the company's board.

"I'm extremely humbled and honored at the opportunity to lead this talented group of TrueCar employees," Darrow said Tuesday in a statement. "I'm so proud of the way the company united to launch our new brand and consumer experience earlier this year, which was no small feat. I look forward to working with the team as we continue to innovate and deliver a modern and world-class car-buying experience that appeals to consumers and dealers alike."

Darrow was appointed interim president and CEO in May 2019, following the retirement of then-CEO Chip Perry. Pr…

DETROIT -- "Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive."

Former Vice President Joe Biden and his supporters aren't using this bumper sticker slogan from the 2012 re-election of Barack Obama going into Tuesday's presidential primary in Michigan.

But it's the foundation of their appeal to Democratic voters — that Biden is a relationships guy with a long history of backing Detroit when it mattered most.

"In 2009, when GM and Chrysler were on the verge of bankruptcy, it was Barack Obama and Joe Biden who believed in us," Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said Monday night at a rally with Biden at Detroit's Renaissance High School.

Biden didn't say the words — "I bailed Detroit out" — but he didn't have to.

His allies in the Democratic Party establishment were happy to oblige, drawing on the playbook Democrats have used for the past five cycles by touting the Obama-Biden administration's use of billions in taxpayer dollars to bail out General M…