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U.S. dealerships are enjoying drastically lower turnover rates as their employees' pay has soared, but industry experts warn the trend won't stick around when inventory levels normalize enough to make the job of selling vehicles harder and less lucrative.

2021 was a fruitful year for U.S. dealership employees, as their average earnings pushed past the $100,000 mark for the first time. The jump was led by increases for employees involved in vehicle sales, where high demand resulted in pricing power and a seller's market for dealerships. NADA said average weekly earnings at dealerships participating in its annual Dealership Workforce Study increased 27 percent in 2021. With these gains, average dealership turnover fell to 34 percent — the lowest turnover rate ever recorded in the 11 years NADA has conducted the study — from 46 percent in 2020.

But those improvements have been mainly driven by the ease of selling in the low-inventory market of t…

About four years ago, leaders at CMA's Valley dealerships in Staunton, Va., started asking employees about their personal and professional goals in an effort to get to know them better.

This simple but sincere effort is a central part of Carter Myers Automotive's mentorship program, known as "ImproveU," a voluntary, six-month initiative available to any of the roughly 200 employees at the five Valley rooftops.

The stores, which retail Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen and other brands, sold 2,927 new and 2,675 used vehicles in 2021.

The program was established to curb turnover and boost morale, but it's evolved into an endeavor that has changed the lives of its participants — both at work and at home.

"Before we started the program, we were constantly looking to hire people," said Scott Simons, president of CMA's Valley dealerships.

Now, employee retention has improved, and there's even a waitlist of people who want to work at the stores, he said…

General Motors donated a Chevrolet Bolt to serve as the official diplomatic vehicle of Ukraine's U.S. embassy.

Omar Vargas, GM's head of global public policy, delivered the electric vehicle to Oksana Markarova, Ukraine's ambassador to the U.S., in Washington last week. GM also provided a Level 2 charger.

"Today, our Embassy in Washington D.C. is proud to become the first Ukrainian diplomatic institution overseas that has a fully electric Chevrolet Bolt EV in its fleet, thanks to the generous donation of General Motors," Markarova said in a statement provided by GM.

The Bolt is GM's latest gift to the government of Ukraine since the country was invaded by Russia. The automaker sent 50 Chevy Tahoes to the Ministry of Infrastructure and gave $250,000 to the International Rescue Committee for humanitarian aid in the region. It also matched donations made by U.S. employees toward the war effort and provided support to Welcome.US, a refugee assistance organi…

Ellen Villafuerte has joined Automotive News as a copy editor.

Villafuerte, 29, previously worked at ALM as a copy editor for the Daily Business Review, which covers daily legal and real estate news. She also copy edited stories for Texas Lawyer, a leading source for legal news in Texas. Before that, she was a freelance copy editor and web producer at the Miami Herald.Villafuerte earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Florida.

Stellantis has activated retired New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter for a campaign promoting Jeep's new Grand Wagoneer SUV, with the leadoff spot debuting during Friday night's World Series Game 1 between the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros.

The multiyear campaign, dubbed "Eyes Wide Open," will begin with a one-minute commercial featuring images of Jeter, his wife, Hannah, and child actors playing their three daughters. It was shot in various settings in and around New York using a 2023 Jeep Grand Wagoneer L, an extended-wheelbase version of the large SUV — and the most expensive production Jeep ever.

Jeter — a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Fame inductee and 14-time All-Star with five World Series championships during his 20-year career with the Yankees — is an experienced pitchman who has appeared in a number of advertising campaigns during and after his career, including for Stellantis rival Ford Motor Co.

Stellantis marketing chief Olivie…

General Motors said late Friday it had temporarily halted paid advertising on Twitter after Elon Musk completed his takeover of the social media company.

The largest U.S. automaker said it was "engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership. As is normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily paused our paid advertising."

Musk is also chief executive of GM rival Tesla.

GM said its "customer care interactions on Twitter will continue."

Argo AI Inc. will lay off 173 employees in Michigan after its main backers Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen decided to pull the plug on the autonomous vehicle technology startup.

The Pittsburgh-based company will make the job cuts in waves starting Tuesday, according to a notice to the state. Operations will cease by the end of the year.

An unspecified number of employees "may be offered employment with a new company," the WARN notice said.

Ford CEO Jim Farley said Wednesday during a call with investors that the automaker plans to hire "a couple hundred" employees from Argo AI. VW said previously it working with Argo AI to find opportunities for its employees.

Ford declined to provide more information Friday.

Employees expected to be transferred to a different company will have the option to remain on Argo's payroll until Dec. 31, the notice said. Another group will also assist in winding down operations.

"Many of the employees will r…

The EU reaches a deal to ban new internal combustion cars in 2035. Ford CEO Jim Farley talks up the benefits of new EV tax incentive. GM and Stellantis say they can’t comply with Massachusetts’ right-to-repair law. Plus, KPA’s Robert Ebin shares tips on how procrastinating dealers can comply with the updated Safeguards Rule before the December deadline.

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A company extended into the next generation Aug. 1 when Mike Shannon sold Holiday Automotive in Fond du Lac, Wis., to his son, Michael Shannon Jr., according to Scott Mackie of buy-sell firm National Business Brokers.

The younger Michael Shannon bought three franchised dealerships: Holiday Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Cadillac, Holiday Mazda and Holiday Ford. A used-car store and collision shop were included in the deal.

Fond du Lac is on the south end of Lake Winnebago, the state's largest inland lake, and is northwest of Milwaukee.

Mackie, senior vice president of the Midwest for National Business Brokers of Irvine, Calif., brokered the transaction. Mackie said the businesses are in a great location and the Shannon family "knocks it out of the park."

Shannon Jr. is dealer principal of the stores and Thor Gilbertson is CEO. As part of the transaction, Shannon Jr.'s three sisters also received an increase in their minority shares of the business, Mackie to…

Mining companies are going to great lengths to source the raw materials needed for electric vehicle batteries, even miles below the ocean's surface.

They are racing to tap into these seabed stockpiles, striking deals, developing mining processes and equipment and striving to be eco-friendly.

Meanwhile, environmental groups want to slow the rush until more is known about the impact on this largely untouched area of the Earth. Several automakers have joined a moratorium on sourcing metals from seabed mining.

Vast fields of rocks containing high concentrations of nickel, cobalt, copper and manganese needed for EV batteries cover what's known as the abyssal plains. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the area makes up 70 percent of the ocean floor and is located at depths of over 10,000 feet. It is the largest habitat on Earth.

The pebble- to potato-size rocks coating the seabed, called polym…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Ford says full self-driving ‘is a long way off’ as Argo AI shuts down

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $827 million that it largely blames on newly revealed plans to shut down Argo AI, a self-driving vehicle development company the automaker had invested in heavily.

CEO Jim Farley said the company now believes mass deployment of fully self-driving vehicles is "a long way off," while CFO John Lawler added it could be "five-plus years away." Ford originally had planned to begin commercializing Level 4 vehicles in 2021 before pushing back that timeline due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"But things have changed, and there's a huge opportunity right now for Ford to give time — the most valuable commodity in modern life — back to millions of customers while they're in their vehicles," Farley said in a statement. "We're optimistic about a future for L4 ADAS, but profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are …