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Elon Musk is years behind on his ambition to render Tesla Inc.’s cars fully autonomous. He’s now saying in no uncertain terms that he’s willing to bet the company’s profit margins on making it happen.

Musk said on a conference call last week that Tesla has the wherewithal to sell cars at “zero profit” and then earn immense sums later off driverless software.

The trouble with that for investors? His predictions since at least 2019 that autonomous Teslas are just around the corner haven’t panned out.

“We’re the only ones making cars that technically we could sell for zero profit for now, and then yield actually tremendous economics in the future through autonomy,” Musk said April 19. “I’m not sure how many of you will appreciate the profundity of what I’ve just said, but it is extremely significant.”

The challenge Musk has had turning driverless visions into reality isn’t stopping him from going forward with markdowns that threaten to set off a pri…

WASHINGTON — U.S. traffic deaths declined slightly in 2022, reversing a two-year trend of increases during the COVID-19 pandemic but continuing to remain a crisis, NHTSA said last week.

The agency estimated 42,795 people died in vehicle crashes on U.S. roads last year, down about 0.3 percent from the 42,939 fatalities reported for 2021.

NHTSA also projected that traffic deaths declined in the fourth quarter of 2022, marking the third straight quarterly decline in fatalities after seven consecutive quarters of increases that started in the third quarter of 2020.

The agency estimated 27 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico were projected to have decreases in fatalities in 2022 compared with 2021, while 23 states were projected to have increases.

For 2022, the estimated fatality rate fell slightly to 1.35 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled compared with 1.37 in 2021.

The small decline comes as Americans are driving more …

SHANGHAI - Tesla has begun producing in Shanghai a version of the Model Y to be sold in Canada this year, the first time it will ship cars to North America from China, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plan and a production memo seen by Reuters.

The move would connect Tesla's biggest and most cost-efficient factory in the world to North America, its largest market. The Model Y is the EV maker's best-selling model globally.

Over the weekend, Tesla posted on its website that it would offer a new, cheaper version of its Model Y in Canada, a rear-wheel drive variant of the crossover priced C$10,000 ($7,377.90) lower than the long-range version of the vehicle available in that market.Tesla's website showed that customers in Canada could take delivery of the new version of the Model Y between May and July.

The Canadian government's website was updated on Friday to show that the new version of the Model Y and the more expensive long-range vari…

TOKYO — Not long after Shoichiro Toyoda assumed the helm of his family's namesake company, he took two Toyota Crown sedans to the U.S. to see how they would perform in the market.

It was 1957, and the underpowered Crown was a big flop in the land of Corvettes and superhighways. Not only did the car need a down ramp just to acquire enough speed to merge, people thought the frumpy import was downright dangerous in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

"It was major regret," Toyoda later recounted of the Crown's premature debut in America.

But out of that setback was born a mindset that would power Toyota's triumphant return to America and its climb to become the world's biggest automaker.

"I want to tell people not to fear failure," Toyoda later said. "That kind of courage is essential."

This remembrance was one of many tales recounted on Monday, April 24, at an all-day memorial service for the late Toyota president and chairman, who died Feb. 14.

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Erikka Tiffani Wells, general sales manager at Walser Polar Chevrolet in White Bear Lake, Minnesota discusses ways to ensure dealers are building and fostering a work environment that is inclusive for both staff and shoppers.

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Emma Hancock: Hi everyone. Welcome back to the All Ears podcast. I'm Emma Hancock, host, and strategist at Automotive News. This podcast is sponsored by Ally Financial and produced by the Automotive News Content Studio. In each episode, we explore topics that are important to leaders in automotive retailing. Our guests include experts in their field from Ally, plus dealers from around the country, and we cover tips and explore insights that can help dealerships succe…

The Shanghai auto show was striking this year for the amount of attention given to Chinese brands compared with foreign rivals.

The domestic brands captured the majority of interest from media and influencers during the show's press days, leaving the exhibition stands of global brands much emptier than those from Chinese rivals.

It did not help that global brands were outgunned on new model reveals. Around 100 new vehicles were launched at the event, of which 70 were all-electric. The vast majority of those 100 were from Chinese automakers.

Most participating automakers – local or foreign -- spent a lot of money to attract attention at an event that has not been held to a global audience here since 2019 due to the pandemic.

Eye-catching gimmicks were everywhere. Polestar, for example, positioned its new Polestar 4 midsize crossover and Polestar 3 large crossover on a narrow runway strip above a field of 80,000 tulips.

The Geely-owned brand…

There's a new No. 1 at the top of Automotive News' annual used-vehicle ranking — acquisition-fueled juggernaut Lithia Motors Inc.

The ranking also has been revamped and has returned to a list exclusively featuring franchised dealership groups. That means the list's longtime leader, CarMax Inc., has departed, as have online used-vehicle retailers Carvana Co., Vroom Inc. and Shift Technologies Inc. The change was spurred in part by CarMax's sale in late 2021 of its last franchised dealership.

Those used-only giants will be part of a new list debuting May 22. Used-vehicle retailers, please let us know who you are so you can be considered. Submit your contact information to the Automotive News Research & Data Center at autonews.com/usedretailsurvey.

In the meantime, check out our extensive analysis of the top 100 dealership groups based in the U.S. and ranked by used-vehicle retail sales. Lithia's ascent to the apex of the used list just follows its toppl…

The United States is facing a charging challenge.

The Biden administration set a goal for zero-emission vehicles to make up half of new-vehicle sales by 2030. That initiative includes building a 500,000-site charging infrastructure by 2030 — about a tenfold increase from today.

Constructing a public charging infrastructure— with or without federal funding and largely from scratch— is a time-consuming, complicated process that requires coordination and investment across sectors.

Automakers, charging companies, retailers, utility companies and other stakeholders are coming together to develop a convenient, reliable charging map for EV drivers. They are plotting locations for chargers, partnering with dealerships, testing alternatives to standard charging and applying lessons from EV-trailblazer Tesla.

Automotive News spoke with dozens of industry participants and observers to identify the hurdles and solutions to deploying charging infrastructure. In…

Dissecting the EV charging challenge

In this week's pages, we explore America's charging challenge.

Constructing public charging infrastructure for what will be hundreds of millions of electric vehicles is a time-consuming, complicated process that requires coordination and investment across sectors.

Many players, including automakers, charging companies, retailers, utility companies and other stakeholders, are coming together to develop a convenient, reliable charging map for EV drivers.

Automotive News spoke with dozens of industry participants and observers during the past two months to identify the hurdles and solutions to deploying charging infrastructure.

■ My articles highlight the challenge and urgency of charger deployment with buy-in across sectors, the process for choosing charger locations, collaboration between automakers and charging companies and alternatives to standard public charging.

■ Laurence Iliff explains how…

In this week's pages, we explore America's charging challenge.

Constructing public charging infrastructure for what will be hundreds of millions of electric vehicles is a time-consuming, complicated process that requires coordination and investment across sectors.

Many players, including automakers, charging companies, retailers, utility companies and other stakeholders, are coming together to develop a convenient, reliable charging map for EV drivers.

Automotive News spoke with dozens of industry participants and observers during the past two months to identify the hurdles and solutions to deploying charging infrastructure.

My articles highlight the challenge and urgency of charger deployment with buy-in across sectors, the process for choosing charger locations, collaboration between automakers and charging companies and alternatives to standard public charging. Laurence Iliff explains how Tesla secured EV dominance and built its global Supercharge…

The head of North America at ev.energy explains how smart charging can help reduce strain on the electrical grid. He says different regional utilities face different challenges, including weather and grid capabilities.

How do I subscribe?

Apple Podcasts: “Shift: A podcast about mobility” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe.

Spotify: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" can be streamed through Spotify on your desktop, tablet or mobile device. Click here to subscribe.

Google Play: "Shift: A podcast about mobility" is available on Android devices through the Google Play store. Click here to subscribe.

Dealership groups 2022 used-retail vehicles 2021 used-retail vehicles % change 1: Asbury Automotive Group † 151,464 105,206 44.0% 2: Cavender Auto Family 19,611 14,538 34.9% 3: Keating Auto Group 22,846 17,115 33.5% 4: Envision Motors 10,429 7,903 32.0% 5: Empire Automotive Group 8,332 6,476 28.7% 6: Shottenkirk Automotive Group 26,107 20,325 28.4% 7: Morgan Auto Group 77,610 62,808 23.6% 8: Fletcher Jones Automotive Group 19,278 15,785 22.1% 9: Car Pros Automotive Group 8,713 7,228 20.5% 10: Del Grande Dealer Group 12,801 10,767 18.9% † Publicly held Source: Automotive News Research & Data Center

Twenty-three dealership groups on the list recorded double-digit percentage gains in used-vehicle retail units sold. Those with the highest increases largely achieved the gains as a result of dealership acquisitions made in 2021 and 2022, as the addition of more stores boosted overall sales volumes. The chart above shows the groups with the 10 highest percentage improveme…