News

The state of Michigan is asking a court to deny Carvana Co.'s bid to prevent state regulators from suspending its operating license, saying the online used-vehicle retailer is unlikely to prevail in its case.

In a filing Monday in the Michigan Court of Claims, lawyers for the Michigan Department of State and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson argued that the state was authorized when it suspended Carvana's license Oct. 7, citing titling and registration issues. Carvana filed a lawsuit Oct. 13 against Benson, seeking a temporary restraining order to block the state from suspending or revoking Carvana's license.

The suspension is not a final decision, according to the state's filing. Carvana, the filing said, will have an opportunity to show that it is complying with state law at a preliminary conference set for Thursday and, if needed, at an administrative hearing in November to determine whether the company's license should be revoked.

That Carvana "is e…

WASHINGTON — The National Automobile Dealers Association elected Gary Gilchrist as its next vice chairman, indicating he is likely to be the group's chairman in 2024.

Gilchrist, president of Gilchrist Chevrolet-Buick-GMC in Tacoma, Wash., was elected Tuesday to the 2023 post during the association's board meeting in Dallas.

Gilchrist, 69, started in the auto industry in 1977 selling cars in Tacoma after graduating from college. He represents Washington's new-car dealers on NADA's board of directors and is chairman of NADA’s dealership operation committee. He was NADA treasurer in 2021.

“I am very honored to be trusted with the responsibility to do things that matter for dealers,” Gilchrist said in a statement. “The auto industry has always changed with the times, and we can do it again. We’ve got to take a hard look at ourselves and find ways to adapt to new technology and new demands.” NADA's 65-member board of directors also elected William H. Will…

More than $300,000 is a big ask.

Let's assume for a minute that the new Cadillac Celestiq ultra luxury sedan launches flawlessly with zero technical or fit and finish issues, that it's perfect right out of the box.

That's not going to be good enough for the millionaire and billionaire clientele that Cadillac hopes to attract with the Celestiq, whose starting price is in the low 300s. That kind of technical excellence is expected.

The real challenge for Cadillac dealers and the designers who will work with the car's mega-rich customers is making the commissioning process an experience worthy of the car's lofty price tag.

No American automaker has any track record of doing that since at least the 1950s.

I don't know that today's Cadillac showrooms are where this kind of business can be conducted with the serene luxury ambiance required of such a major purchase. Cadillac officials are not yet revealing much about the purchase process, which i…

DETROIT — The Cadillac Celestiq, a sleek, futuristic-looking five-door electric sedan coming in just over a year, represents more than just a new ultraluxury offering from General Motors.

The Celestiq is the start of a new way of doing business for the luxury brand that harks back to an old rivalry — Cadillac vs. Rolls-Royce.

At the General Motors Technical Center in suburban Detroit last week, GM President Mark Reuss said Cadillac intends to build other bespoke ultraluxury cars after the Celestiq's production run ends.

"We've got to learn how to do cars like this for Cadillac," Reuss said, from the sidelines of a media preview for the production-intent Celestiq. "I don't know what the next one is, but we have to learn how to do a couple of these really iconic things for the brand right now."

Expanding the Cadillac brand into the rarefied air of the ultraluxury segment, occupied mostly by Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Mercedes-Benz, was part of the b…

U.S. inventories are at the highest point in more than a year. VinFast recalls a third of its sold EVs. It turns out dealers don’t hate all of the FTC’s proposed rules. Plus, a conversation about the benefits dealers are seeing from new retail technology and digital strategies.

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Stellantis may stop manufacturing cars in China as geopolitical tensions escalate and western manufacturers cede market share to domestic players.

The producer of Peugeot and Citroën cars may implement an “asset-light” strategy for those brands in the world’s largest auto market, CEO Carlos Tavares said Monday. Earlier this year, he used the same phrase to describe Stellantis’ decision to pull out from the company’s only Jeep plant in the country.

“If we push ahead with this strategy -- which is our strategy right now -- then we don’t need plants in China,” Tavares told reporters at the Paris auto show, adding that the company could instead import vehicles made in Europe or the US. “I am not sure they are indispensable.”

Stellantis is mulling the potential exit as more established foreign auto brands have struggled to maintain their position in China’s market, raising questions about their long-term future in the country.

Business for the likes of…

American Honda Motor Co. has tapped longtime associate Lance Woelfer to head up the Honda brand sales division amidst a robust product rollout and efforts to ready itself for electric vehicles.

Woelfer's promotion comes as Honda battles to build back lost momentum after suffering one of the industry's tightest inventory supplies. He fills the spot left by Mike Kistemaker following his departure to Ken Garff Automotive.

"Lance is essentially a pure Honda 'product,'" Mamadou Diallo, vice president of auto sales for American Honda Motor Co., told Automotive News. "He is 26 years in and everything he's done so far has prepared him for this moment.

"His entire career has been on the sales side, with a couple of stints in the back office, and we are super excited to have him on board," Diallo added.

After a more than 10-year run managing sales in Honda's mid-Atlantic region out of Maryland, Woelfer returned to California in 2020 to oversee the Honda and…

Lyft Inc. is increasing the service fee its U.S. riders pay directly to the company to cover higher insurance costs, the ride-hailing firm said.

The increase averages less than 50 cents per trip nationally, a Lyft spokesperson said. The company pays for drivers' insurance when they are working on its platform.

"Lyft is facing insurance inflation pressures and we've nominally increased service fees to help offset these costs," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

New data from YipitData showed Lyft increased its published service fee for rides in virtually all U.S. markets in the first week of October, including around 150 markets expect for New York.

The service fee went up by an average of about 60 cents, implying a 3 percent increase in the cost of an average ride, and an 18 percent increase in the service fee, according to YipitData.

The service fee, which goes directly to Lyft, is an additional fee added on a per-ride basis th…

Telva McGruder says as General Motors’ first chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, she is focused on people — part of CEO Mary Barra’s mission to make GM the most inclusive company in the world.  But for McGruder that’s really nothing new — it’s been her approach during her entire career. “A lot of my growth and my ultimate success has been based on my approach to people — my interest in listening and learning from them and helping them know they brought value to the company,” she says. And that, in turn, may stem from her dad. “My father worked in the auto industry, at a powertrain component factory in the Dayton area, where I grew up,” says McGruder. “He was a hard worker, and really focused on contributing to a quality product. I remember that he was consistently frustrated by people not listening to his ideas. ‘I run this machine, but they don’t ask my opinion,’ he’d say.” After McGruder earned electrical engineering bachelor’s and maste…

PARIS -- The Jeep Avenger 4x4 Concept previewed an all-wheel-drive version of the brand's new full-electric Avenger small crossover.

The concept points to how a future awd version will look, Jeep CEO Christian Meunier said at the unveiling of the car at the Paris auto show on Monday.

The Avenger 4x4 Concept differs from the standard Avenger by toughening up its appearance to indicate off-road capability.

Changes include a revised front bumper, a metallic surround to the lower grille, tow hooks, a wider track with beefier tires and thicker body cladding.

The car also features a light-weight rooftop luggage attachment system using straps rather than roofbars.

The production version of the Avenger 4x4 will mark the first time engineers have applied an electric motor to the rear axle as well the front to create all-wheel-drive capability. Jeep has not given an official launch date.

Jeep says the concept improves the Avenger's off-road a…

The current economic environment has made affordability one of the hottest topics in the automotive sector. Most headlines have focused on the pain felt by consumers, who between January 2021 and January 2022 saw new-vehicle prices increase 12.8% and used-vehicle prices jump 40.5%. Remarkably, manufacturers have borne an even greater burden. From March 2020 to May 2022, raw-material costs for ICE vehicles rose 106%, while EV costs skyrocketed 144% during the same period. While the supply chain issues are now slowly coming to an end and showrooms are filling with new models, interest rates have raced to more than 7 percent for new-car financing and more than 11 percent for used cars, bringing the average US car payment in Q3 to $700+, an unprecedented level.

Whether viewing this data through a consumer or manufacturer lens, these increases have far exceeded the pace of income growth. Creating vehicles in affordable segments has always been critical. Many global OEMs ha…

An expanding Swickard Auto Group entered Southern California via a majority stake purchase of John Elway's Crown Toyota in Ontario, one of the Japanese automaker's highest-volume U.S. dealerships.

And the dealership's price tag also fetched near-record blue sky value, according to the broker who facilitated the sale. Blue sky is the intangible value of a dealership, including goodwill.

Swickard Auto on Aug. 22 bought a 90 percent stake in the dealership just east of Los Angeles from Elway, Mitch Pierce, Dan Grubb and Paxton Gagnet, said Swickard's Greg Gates, vice president of business transformation. The four Elway partners collectively kept a 10 percent stake in the dealership, Gates said.

Gagnet will stay on as the store's general manager and the dealership's name will not change, Gates said.

"Crown Toyota was an opportunity to really get a foothold in Southern California," Gates told Automotive News. "What we've learned over time is it makes…