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NADA charts a new auto retail path. Cobalt mining returns to the U.S. after three decades. Tesla says it will finally deliver Semi trucks. Plus, a conversation about the ways the pandemic has changed how customers communicate with dealership service departments.

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Four growing dealership groups, including two of the largest in the country, completed acquisitions in the second, third and fourth quarters.

Here's a look at the deals involving domestic and import stores in California, Michigan, Texas, and Indiana.

Four of the deals involved a group ranked on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups.

Lithia sells Northern California Toyota store

Lithia Motors Inc., fresh off two separate store divestitures in California last month, sold another dealership this week in the Golden State.

Lithia on Monday sold Lodi Toyota to Lahham Automotive, the auto retail giant confirmed. The dealership's name remains. Lodi is south of Sacramento.

In May 2021, Lithia sold a Kia dealership in Stockton, Calif., to Lahham Automotive.

The Toyota store is Lahham's second dealership overall, said Joe Ozog, president of Ozog Consulting Group in Scottsdale, Ariz. Ozog Consulting represented Lithia in…

Booming demand for batteries powering the world’s shift into electric vehicles is rekindling U.S. cobalt production after at least a 30-year hiatus.  

Australia-based Jervois Global Ltd. is starting the first U.S. cobalt mine in Idaho on Friday, according to CEO Bryce Crocker. The mineral sits “at the top of the table” in terms of national security, said Crocker.

“There aren’t many new sources of supply, particularly in stable jurisdictions, which is why this mine in the US is very important,” he said. Cobalt hasn’t been produced in the US since at least 1994, according to data from the United States Geological Survey.

Cobalt is a crucial component in EV batteries and is on the U.S. government’s critical-minerals list. The U.S. sees widespread adoption of EVs as key to its efforts to combat climate change.

Both California and New York have passed laws that will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles in the coming decades. As automakers…

Johan de Nysschen is leaving his job as Volkswagen Group's North American COO, saying he has "done everything I have set out to do here."

De Nysschen, 62, who previously worked for Audi, Infiniti and Cadillac, framed his departure from VW as a retirement from the auto industry after a three-decade career, indicating that he plans to stay at his new home in Tennessee and "truly relax."

"It's time for me to step aside and let others who are more than capable to lead the way," de Nysschen said in an interview with Wards Auto published Thursday. "I've done everything I have set out to do here, but you are never truly 'done.' There's always the next thing in any job."

A Volkswagen of America spokesman confirmed to Automotive News that de Nysschen had voluntarily stepped down.

De Nysschen's job, which the company created for him in 2019, will be eliminated as part of a leadership restructuring, the spokesman said.

De Nysschen said he told Volkswa…

A plan to keep the wheels from falling off Toyota’s bZ4X, literally. The entry-level price for a Ford F-150 Lightning goes up again. Honda cuts production in Japan. Plus, a conversation with ONE CEO Mujeeb Ijaz talks about the battery company's planned $1.6 billion plant and his company's ambitious targets for the cost of its battery cells

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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. 

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“Daily Drive” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all iOS devices. Click here to subscribe to "Daily Drive"

Android

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A federal court jury in California has ordered General Motors to pay $102.6 million to a class of consumers after finding that it hid an engine defect that caused problems including stalling and premature breakdown in tens of thousands of SUVs and trucks.

The verdict was handed down Tuesday following a rare class action trial in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, lawyers for the plaintiffs announced.

The winning class includes owners and lessees of SUVs and trucks sold from 2011-2014 in California, North Carolina and Idaho that contained the company's Generation IV Vortec 5300 LC9 engine. Each of the roughly 38,000 class members would get $2,700 if the verdict survives appeal.

Christopher Stombaugh of DiCello Levitt, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement he was "thankful for the courage of the jury, which did the right thing in holding GM responsible for its deceit and half-hearted efforts to address its problems."

GM said in a st…

Consumer expectations have evolved. Be ready for any consumer, any deal, anywhere with this guide. While purchase path possibilities are infinite, we focus on four shoppers and their journeys: Rick: Consistent Consumer Experience Julian: Right Shopper, Right Deal Tara: Buying Signals Lily: 100% eCommerce

Prepare for individualized purchase scenarios, discovering the tools, technologies, and processes you'll need for every unique path to vehicle purchase.

Advancing autonomy is not autonomous. It’s much easier when you team up with a reliable technology partner that understands the end-to-end process. When you’re pushing into new realms of technology, it’s not always clear how to identify the right partner, one that checks all of the boxes. For example: How many miles of proven experience do they have? How big is their partner network, and who’s in it? Are they reliant on VC funding or do they have a track record of reinvesting in themselves?

These are just a few critical questions that automotive OEMs need to ask as they’re vetting autonomy partners. For more guidance, download our white paper.

When Nissan's long-awaited second all-electric model, the Ariya, rolls into stores by early next month, it will have to do so without the federal support that has powered EV adoption in the U.S. for more than a decade.

The Inflation Reduction Act alters the eligibility rules for a long-standing $7,500 EV tax credit. Designed to incentivize domestic EV production and reduce reliance on foreign supply chains, automakers must now assemble EVs and plug-in hybrids in North America to qualify for the credit.

That means the Japan-made Ariya won't be eligible for the federal incentive, potentially putting its starting price of $44,485 at a competitive disadvantage.

Aditya Jairaj, Nissan's director of U.S. EV marketing and sales strategy, said the loss of the credit is unlikely to have a near-term effect on sales as few vehicles on the market now qualify under the new rules.

"But there are some changes or adjustments we need to look at in the longer term,…

LMP Automotive Holdings Inc.'s pending sale of six dealerships across Florida and West Virginia has been terminated in the latest setback for the small auto retailer.

LMP said in a news release late Wednesday that the buyer, revealed as Atlantic Coast Automotive Group in an August regulatory filing, terminated the dealership and real estate asset sale agreements. It was not clear why the deal was terminated or when.

"I'm unable to provide comments at this time," Ali Ahmed of Atlantic Coast Automotive wrote in an email to Automotive News.

LMP's stock, which is now traded over the counter, plunged 32 percent to $6.20 a share around 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

In the regulatory filing, LMP said it entered into asset purchase agreements with Atlantic Coast Automotive on Aug. 5 for its Florida Kia dealerships in Port Charlotte and Cape Coral, plus Kia and Subaru stores in Mount Hope, W.Va., a Chevrolet dealership in Oak Hill, W.Va., and a Buick-GMC store in…

Demand for high-performance, high-sticker electric vehicles is white hot in the U.S.

Consider this: BMW's flagship i7 electric sedan won't arrive at U.S. stores until mid-November. But advance orders for the nearly $120,000 vehicle already account for more than half of next year's U.S. allocations, BMW of North America sales boss Shaun Bugbee told Automotive News.

Meanwhile, demand for BMW electric models already on the market — the i4 compact sedan and iX midsize crossover — helped lift the brand's third-quarter sales by 3.2 percent over the prior year. BMW has sold 6,900 EVs in the U.S. this year, including more than 4,300 in the third quarter.

Bugbee said BMW dealers have pre-sold the i4 M50 into the second quarter of next year.

"We see very strong demand for EVs," Bugbee said. "Our gate is really our limitation on volume right now in terms of supply."

BMW is betting on a fleet of battery-powered vehicles…

Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc.’s executive chair resigned following what the company said were death threats and baseless allegations against certain directors, accelerating a planned transition of the troubled electric-vehicle startup’s leadership.

Two additional board members stepped down this week along with Executive Chair Susan Swenson, the company said Thursday in a securities filing. Adam He was appointed to serve as interim non-executive chair.

The startup has been rocked by a fight over control, which veered into the morbid last month when Faraday reported that criticism of current management has escalated to include “threats of physical violence and even death threats.”

That contributed to a shakeup under which Swenson was to have left once the company received certain funding as part of a wider overhaul giving more control to a group of dissident shareholders who own about 36 percent of the company.

But Faraday said the thre…