News

When a mechanic told French filmmaker Dorian Degoutte that the 1997 Ford Fiesta he inherited a decade ago from his grandfather was on its last legs, he decided the car deserved more than just a tow to the scrapyard.

Instead, Degoutte took it on a journey of more than 6,000 miles to its manufacturer's birthplace in Michigan that serves as the centerpiece of a movie he's making about the attachment people feel to their cars.

"To make this movie, I needed to do something special with my car, and I decided to share a last trip with her," Degoutte told TV station WDIV in Detroit. "I also put myself into the mind of my car, asking her where she would love to go for her farewell trip. ... And of course she answers to go on [to] her motherland, the roots of Ford: Detroit, Michigan!"

Degoutte shipped the Fiesta to New Jersey from Belgium and then drove it across Pennsylvania and Ohio, chatting with people along the way. In Michigan, he visited Ford Motor Co. he…

If you're a dealer who had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reseal, resurface or restripe your new-vehicle sales lot with the least amount of hassle, you might be out of luck.

New-vehicle inventories are starting to build again — and relatively quickly — thanks to a combination of low incentives and higher interest rates that have kept millions of potential buyers on the sidelines. While assembly plants still face supply chain challenges, there are signs of recovery. For instance, North American production rose 12 percent in 2022 to 14.7 million vehicles.

U.S. vehicle inventory rose sharply in December, topping 1.8 million for the first time since May 2021, according to data compiled by Cox Automotive and the Automotive News Research & Data Center, and it was up nearly two-thirds from where it stood a year earlier.

Not all brands or segments are building at the same rate, and overall consumer demand remains strong, auto ex…

Proper Group Holdings LLC is planning to close its plastic tooling and molding plant near Detroit and lay off 130 workers due to financial hardship and a private equity takeover that went sideways.

Proper Tooling will close its manufacturing plant in Warren, Mich., by March 31 after a series of employee terminations— unless it can find an investor or buyer to rescue it, said Robert Hamood, president of Proper Tooling, a division of Warren-based Proper Group.

"It's pretty sad because Proper is known in the industry as one of the most capable, high technology builders of complex tooling," said Hamood, who has worked at the company 30 years. "It's a 50-year-old company, a very proud company."

Proper Tooling makes moldings for headlights, taillights and grills for Tier 1 suppliers such as Grupo Antolin, NYX LLC and ABC Technologies.

Proper was No. 7 in the most recent Plastics News ranking of North American toolmakers with an estimated $84 million i…

VinFast is celebrating the arrival of its first electric vehicle on U.S. shores, the VF 8 midsize crossover. But it's also getting pushback for introducing a $56,700 vehicle with just 179 miles of battery range.

And that's not all of its struggles.

The Vietnamese automaker, which moved quickly into the U.S. after first showing the VF 8 in 2021, is also facing headwinds after last year's Inflation Reduction Act removed the $7,500 EV tax credit for vehicles made outside North America.

And one of the brand's key selling points, a battery-leasing model that reduces the purchase price but adds complexity, hasn't received much traction. The base VF 8 can now be bought with the battery, starting at $56,700 including shipping. The battery lease requires a monthly payment tied to miles driven.

The newcomer brand has received about 12,000 U.S. reservations for the VF 8 and its larger three-row VF 9 crossover, a company represent…

There was a shocking statistic in my colleague Pete Bigelow's story last week about CES that should cause ulcers in automotive investors around the globe.

Automakers and others have committed those resources, investing more than $530 billion across autonomous, connected, electrified and shared mobility technology since 2010, according to the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility in the Americas.

But that massive number — $530 billion — is not the cause of global, gastrointestinal distress; it's not a surprise. It's the little number buried in the next sentence:

But just 6 percent of that investment came from automakers, McKinsey said. The remainder came from venture capital, private equity and technology players. For those accustomed to working outside the automotive business, the speed at which the industry moves remains a frustration.Over half a trillion dollars spent over a dozen years chasing things such as autonomous driving, electrification and the …

Eighty-four-month auto loans have soared in popularity among new vehicles and more than doubled on used vehicles over the past five years, credit bureau data show.

As of the third quarter of 2022, one-fifth of all new-vehicle borrowers and one-tenth of all used-vehicle borrowers were committing to seven years of debt on their vehicle, Experian said.

In the third quarter of 2018, only 11 percent of new-vehicle borrowers and 4.1 percent of used-vehicle borrowers were on the hook for 84 months, according to Experian. By the third quarter of 2022, 19 percent of new-vehicle debt and 11 percent of used-vehicle loans ran seven years. Another 1 percent of new-vehicle and 0.3 percent of used-vehicle loans during the third quarter of 2018 had even longer terms. Five years later, those proportions had grown to 1.8 percent for new vehicles and 0.9 percent for used models.

TransUnion and S&P Global Mobility report a similar trend. Twelve percent of new-ve…

Tesla cuts prices across its lineup after missing sales targets. A majority of U.S. Lincoln dealers sign up to sell EVs. Toyota looks to convert old models to achieve its zero-emission goals. Plus, a conversation about how customers win and profits rise when dealership sales and service departments work together.

How do I subscribe?

Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

iPhone / iPad

Android

Spotify

Carvana Co. will lay off more workers and take other measures such as reduced work hours as the used-car retailer contends with weak sales, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The company was letting open positions go unfilled and several operations teams were working fewer than 30 hours a week or four-day work weeks, the WSJ reported, citing current and former employees as well as internal emails.

Carvana, best known for its automated car vending machines, did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment.

The company's shares were down nearly 9 percent in premarket trade on Friday, a day after surging about 40 percent amid interest from retail investors.

Carvana let about 4,000 employees go in 2022 as it struggled to deal with the debt that piled up as it acquired cars at elevated costs.

The demand for used cars has fallen over the past year as consumers opt for alternative means to commute in an attempt to trim expens…

A Nevada lithium mine that would be only the second in the U.S. is getting backing from the Biden administration as it seeks to boost the domestic supply of the critical mineral needed to make electric vehicle batteries.

The Energy Department issued a conditional commitment for up to $700 million for Ioneer's Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project, a prospective supplier to Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. that could produce enough lithium for 370,000 EVs a year.  Project partners include mining and metals processing group Sibanye Stillwater Ltd.

The funding, being made through the department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program, comes as the Biden administration seeks to create a domestic battery supply chain amid a broader goal of half of vehicles sold in the U.S. by the end of the decade be emissions-free.

Demand for lithium, which also is used for grid storage and weapons, is projected to exceed current production by 2030…

Used-vehicle sales in 2022 tumbled to their lowest numbers in nearly a decade, and used volume is poised to fall further this year if volatile economic conditions and consumers' resulting affordability concerns continue to hamper the market.

The 2022 volume drop — a turnabout from a record 2021 — occurred even as wholesale used-vehicle prices were sliding for most of last year, according to data from Cox Automotive auction unit Manheim. And despite a slight recovery in those prices in December, Cox forecasters say wholesale prices are likely to continue to decline in 2023.

The number of used cars and trucks sold in the U.S. decreased nearly 11 percent to an estimated 36.2 million vehicles in 2022, Cox said Thursday. That is the lowest that figure has gone since 2013 when about 35.8 million were sold. Used-vehicle sales on the retail side fell, too, dropping nearly 10 percent to an estimated 19.1 million vehicles last year, the lowest retail per…

West Herr Automotive Group Inc. on Monday bought four western New York dealerships selling BMW, Mini, Volkswagen and Audi vehicles from Towne Auto Group, Charles Hardy, director of variable operations for West Herr, told Automotive News.

Towne BMW and Towne Mini, of Williamsville, N.Y., were renamed BMW of Buffalo and Mini of Buffalo, respectively. The former Towne Volkswagen, now West Herr Volkswagen, and Audi Buffalo, retaining its name, are in nearby Bowmansville, N.Y. The cities are east of Buffalo.

The Audi, Mini and Volkswagen brands are first-timers for the West Herr portfolio, the company said. West Herr said it plans in the future to relocate the Mini dealership to a building adjacent to its Acura store in Williamsville.

The group said it expects the four acquired dealerships will sell about 3,800 new- and used-vehicles combined a year.

"We are excited and look forward to carrying on the quality treatment of customers and employees that…