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It’s a familiar story: A business mogul parlaying much of his fortune into a massive bet on electric vehicles, only to fall on hard times.

Pham Nhat Vuong is among the latest to take after Elon Musk, the PayPal mafia member who made it through what he famously described as Tesla Inc.’s “production hell.” Other examples include James Dyson, the household-appliance billionaire; Jia Yueting, founder of the Netflix of China; and Hui Ka Yan, the embattled property tycoon behind China Evergrande Group.

The odds that any of these players ride out the inferno as Tesla did are looking increasingly long. Dyson pulled the plug on his EV venture in 2019. Jia’s Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. is staring down a potential Nasdaq delisting. And Hui’s China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd. is struggling to survive.

Vuong’s difficulties are proving costly. VinFast, his automaker that filed for a initial public offering a year ago, has delayed plans to li…

Toyota said Friday it planned to reveal the redesigned 2024 Tacoma on May 19. A day later, the midsize pickup's enthusiast base apparently decided that was too long to wait, found a back door into the automaker's website and posted an image of the upcoming vehicle for all to see.

The leaked image was first posted on tacoma4g.com and shows a white 2024 Tacoma 4x4 with black trim traversing through sand.

Doug Liu, a co-owner of tacoma4g.com, said he verified the image "by sleuthing on the Toyota website and matching up the hosting domain."

One of tacoma4g.com's users "found the image by taking the URL from previous Toyota images and changing the path and file names before landing on this image of the next-gen Taco in all its glory," Liu said.

The image shows the pickup will adopt many styling cues from the larger Tundra, including the styling lines on its hood, lighting elements and the front fascia.

In a brief statement emailed to Automotiv…

Never mind the auto industry’s relentless push toward electrification, Chery Automobile Co. is the latest Chinese carmaker trying to win over Australians with gasoline-powered SUVs pitched at the lower end of the market.

Chery’s midsize Omoda 5 is selling across Australia for as little as A$32,000 ($22,000) for the base model. A colleague and I drove a high-end version around Sydney for four days. It’s stuffed with extras you’d normally find in luxury cars — think heated steering wheel and exterior puddle lights — and costs not much more than A$35,000.

Australia’s best-selling car, Ford Motor Co.’s Ranger pickup, can go for more than double that price.

Wuhu-based Chery joins Chinese rivals Great Wall Motor Co. and SAIC Motor Corp. — owner of the MG brand — in pouring relatively affordable cars into an Australian market that’s been slow to turn to electric vehicles. Chery was China’s second-biggest car exporter worldwide last year.

With inflation i…

Lordstown Motors said its first-quarter net loss widened to $171 million from $89 million during the same quarter last  year.

Technology is rapidly changing the F&I office to speed up processes and improve accuracy. New features include electronic contracting, more precise online payment quotes, video conferencing with F&I staff to discuss products, and tools to discover loan paperwork errors early.

Read below to find out more.

The auto finance office might be the last place that comes to mind when considering which areas of the dealership could benefit from new technology or new practices reflecting innovations in the auto retail or auto lending industries.

After all, the finance managers are spinning deals and hitting their gross profit targets having face-to-face conversations with customers. No need to fix what isn't broken, right?

But you might be surprised at how much better things could be with a little more technology.

Automotive News' second-quarter finance-and-insurance special section focuses on technology that could enhance the F&I process.

Read how lenders are growing more receptive to the notion of electronic contracting with auto dealers — and being encouraged by CDK Global and Reynolds and Reynolds to do so. Working with the captive finance companies and other lenders embracing this capability can mean faster deal funding, cleaner paperwork, juggling …

Deploy technology for a better dealer, customer F&I experience

The auto finance office might be the last place that comes to mind when considering which areas of the dealership could benefit from new technology or new practices reflecting innovations in the auto retail or auto lending industries.

After all, the finance managers are spinning deals and hitting their gross profit targets having face-to-face conversations with customers. No need to fix what isn't broken, right?

But you might be surprised at how much better things could be with a little more technology.

Automotive News' second-quarter finance-and-insurance special section focuses on technology that could enhance the F&I process.

Read how lenders are growing more receptive to the notion of electronic contracting with auto dealers — and being encouraged by CDK Global and Reynolds and Reynolds to do so. Working with the captive finance companies and other lenders embracin…

John O’Leary, Daimler Truck North America’s CEO, and Michael Lohscheller, Nikola’s CEO, both spoke to Automotive News at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in Anaheim. They discussed charging and fueling infrastructure challenges, the role of hydrogen in long-haul trucking and competition in the industry.

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Automakers cut 48,421 cars from their global production schedules because of microchip shortages last week, according to an estimate by AutoForecast Solutions. Europe led in factory schedule changes, with about 18,200 vehicles axed. North America lost about 17,000 vehicles, while China cut about 11,700. 

Although automakers continue to point to the chip shortage as a cause, output is steadily improving, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions.

Source: AutoForecast Solutions Inc. autoforecastsolutions.com

New York City is handing out 500 free Apple AirTags to help police fight an epidemic of stolen Hyundais and Kias.

Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference last week that the city, like others around the country, has seen a rise in car thefts linked to viral TikTok videos that show how to easily steal many Hyundais and Kias using a USB cable and other common tools. The AirTags wouldn't make stealing vehicles more difficult but could lead police to them afterward.

"You will see the spike that we are experiencing now is a large part of what's happening on social media," Adams said.

New York Police Department officials said it knew of 966 stolen Hyundais and Kias so far in 2023, which is already more than the 819 reported last year. Hyundais and Kias account for more than 20 percent of all stolen vehicles in the city.

Adams said police wouldn't automatically be able to track the AirTags being given away. A vehicle owner wo…

Most experts agree the economy is not in a recession. Some, however, believe we could be entering one soon.

The good news is dealers might not feel the impact until the middle of 2023.

But in this period of economic uncertainty, it's important to prepare your F&I department for a potential downturn.

Which steps are worth taking and which ones should be avoided?

Here are tips to recession-proof your dealership.

When finances get tight, potential customers tend to think twice before buying a new or used vehicle. And the customers you have might start exploring cheaper options for auto servicing and upgrades.

To keep the customers you have, it's important to build long-term connections. This way, your customers will remember why they chose your dealership over the competition. Here are three strategies to help retention.

1. Follow up multiple times after each sale. Many dealersh…

The top two dealership management systems this year seek to grow e-contracting between dealerships and lenders, initiatives the vendors say will benefit retailers.

Reynolds and Reynolds announced in January more than 100 lenders already participate in its e-contracting option, with more than 150 expected to join "in the coming months." The technology would result in deals "funded in a matter of hours, not days" and allow borrowers both inside and outside the store to sign contracts, the company said.

And CDK Global product marketer Jason Swiech in March told Automotive News the company's finance-and-insurance priority likely was bringing lenders into the DMS workflow. Dealers would no longer have to switch between systems and conduct "multiple signing ceremonies" to digitally contract a deal, he said.

Swiech estimated the system already worked with more than 70 lenders in 11 states, and CDK had turned its attention to incorporatin…