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It used to be that analysts could refer to vehicle sales simply as "demand" — the vehicles were there, how many did people, governments and business choose to buy?

But in the extreme scarcity of this pandemic era, it's been harder to discern the true level of demand.

Now that the pace of production is getting closer to normal, the view should become clearer. In this week's issue of Automotive News, we examine some revealing developments.

The seasonally adjusted pace of light-vehicle sales last month was the fastest since the spring of 2021, before the full impact of the chip shortage became evident. But that's really a function of greater utilization of the industry's factories.

In fact, it appears that sales to individual consumers — those people who drive the economy — actually slowed in January, perhaps because interest rates are still rising and prices for new and used vehicles are at record highs, a…

A personal connection and an interest in cars were catalysts for an NFL team owner to enter automotive retail and quickly expand his dealership holdings via acquisitions.

Ed Glazer, an owner of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, founded US Auto Trust in Los Angeles in 2018 when he bought his first dealership, a rare Aston Martin store in Newport Beach, Calif.

"I've always liked cars," Glazer told Automotive News. "I'm not a classic car collector, but always buy a lot of new cars. I've always owned a bunch of Aston Martins over the years and I got to know some of the people down in Aston Martin. At the time, [former Aston Martin CEO] Andy Palmer was running the place. I was talking to him one day and I said 'You know, if you ever have anything for sale, let me know.' He said, 'Well, we may have something.' "

Pendragon, a large publicly traded auto retailer in the U.K., was in the midst of divesting its U.S. dealership portfolio, including Aston Martin Newpo…

Every maintenance and repair job tells a story. The quality and accuracy, however, varies greatly, depending on the storyteller.

That's because service technicians are trained to fix problems, not document what they do. But the details matter — a lot. Poorly written reports can cost dealerships time, money and customers, said industry veteran Joe McCue, who was determined to find a solution.

To help speed up the process and boost quality, McCue began developing a web-based software platform about 10 years ago. He's been refining the tool ever since, and now heads a 40-person team at Pencilwrench, the company he co-founded in 2019 to market the product.

Pencilwrench enables technicians to write a detailed 150- to 200-word story in as little as 30 to 40 seconds, according to McCue. By comparison, he said, some technicians can take up to a half-hour to compose a service report on their own.

"Technicians are incredible at their jobs, but they aren't…

Despite many lidar companies going public in recent years, via the special purpose acquisition company process, the industry has taken a hit with some companies shutting down or being acquired over the past year.

Lidar technology, which stands for "light detection and ranging," uses lasers to map the environment. The reliability and cost of the multifaceted systems, with their spinning mirrors and motors, have been questioned by some auto industry observers and lidar competitors. The argument: Lidar systems may break more easily because they are more complex than self-contained solid-state radar and cameras, lidar's main competitors, and could hinder their mass adoption by the industry.

"If I had to bet, the solid-state approach will eventually win out," said Michael Ramsey, transportation and mobility analyst at Gartner Inc., told Automotive News.

A solid-state lidar system promises lower costs to produce, install, repair and rep…

In the spring of 2021, $150,000 of Scott Robins' $1.6 million parts inventory was considered obsolete — meaning it had been sitting in inventory for at least 13 months without being sold.

"The chances of those parts selling are pretty slim when they get to that age with no sales and orders," said Robins, parts manager at Weld County Garage Buick-GMC in Greeley, Colo.

Obsolescence is a costly monthly expense that drains revenues. To address the problem, Robins turned to parts inventory and management service provider PartsEdge. After using the service last year, his dealership reported a 96 percent reduction in non-Retail Inventory Management obsolete inventory and an overall reduction of 87 percent in obsolescence.

RIM is GM's dealer inventory program, meaning the automaker will buy back unsold parts. Other purchased parts, such as special orders, are not protected.

According to the National Automobile Dealers Associ…

Lyten’s chief battery technology officer discusses the limits of conventional lithium ion technology, the arduous process of manufacturing battery cells and how she dreamed of batteries during her time at Tesla.

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Operating profit at Robert Bosch increased by 16 percent in 2022, as the supplier's Mobility Solutions division outperformed an auto market that was hurt by semiconductor shortages and the war in Ukraine.

Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose to 3.7 billion euros ($4.04 billion) from 3.2 billion euros in 2021. Profit margin was 4 percent.

Revenue increased 10 percent after adjustments for exchange-rate effects to 88.4 billion euros, Bosch said Friday.

Sales at Bosch’s Mobility Solutions business sector, its largest unit, rose by 17 percent to 56.2 billion euros, or 12 percent after adjusting for exchange rate effects, Bosch said. 

The supplier did not release separate profit or margin figures for the unit, but Bosch said in a release that it “cannot be satisfied with its profitability” and that margins were weighed down by supply chain cost increases and investments “in the transformation of the company’s mobility business.”

…

Toyota will use this month's Chicago Auto Show to introduce a long-promised larger three-row crossover to its U.S. lineup, while Volkswagen and Subaru will rely on the Windy City's massive McCormick Place to showcase updates to strong-selling crossovers on opposite ends of the size spectrum.

The Chicago show is in its 115th year, and with Detroit's move to the fall, now occupies the lead-off position among major metropolitan auto shows on the calendar. After consolidating into a smaller portion of McCormick Place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chicago show has added floor space and will now occupy two halls of the south side convention center, including a large EV test track that's new this year. The EV ride joins several existing experiential ride displays inside the convention center.

"Chicago has been a show for facelifts and special editions for a number of years. Its impact for reveals has been pretty bare for a while. Three reveals is actually a prett…

SAN FRANCISCO -- A jury cleared Elon Musk of claims by Tesla Inc. investors that he defrauded them when he tweeted 4 1/2 years ago that he was considering taking the company private and had “funding secured” to make the deal happen.

The verdict in San Francisco federal court rejects allegations that the electric-car maker’s CEO violated securities laws and should pay billions of dollars in damages. The finding is a major vindication for Musk, whose August 2018 tweets got him and Tesla sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and once again proves that the billionaire is difficult to beat in court.

The outcome, after a three-week trial, is a bitter loss for the shareholders who sought to recoup trading losses from fluctuations in Tesla shares after Musk posted the messages. Musk abandoned the take-private plan about two weeks after his initial tweets.

Musk’s victory on Friday, after about two hours of jury deliberations, will be cause for cele…

A wellness program implemented in 2021 by Friendship Family of Dealerships is helping the retailer lower its benefits costs for employees.

The program at the Bristol, Tenn., dealership group encourages healthier lifestyle choices and is delivering improvements in team morale and increased productivity, said Alana Wilson, Friendship's human resources director.

Wilson created the wellness program as the coronavirus pandemic shifted people's focus to personal and global health, she said. She also was motivated to try to reduce the cost of benefits, which were marked as a concern in a 2020 employee survey.

"We had to come up with a way to get people a little bit healthier," Wilson told Automotive News.

The program focuses on four areas of employee health: physical, financial, environmental and emotional. Team challenges are intended to motivate employees to practice healthier habits, such as drinking water, exercising and spending time outside, she s…