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With the right online tools, your dealership can get customers to the two-yard line. And your salespeople can get them into the end zone to finalize the deal.

At Temecula Valley Buick GMC, they have perfected this seamless online to in-store handoff. How exactly?

Providing customers with a detailed, human to human chat interaction. Expanding their full retail experience beyond the four walls. Using a single process, wherever the customer starts their journey. They’re competing against the Carvana’s of the world with an experience that allows them to turn chats into signatures; an approach that allows them to retail anywhere.

5 things to look for in an inverter for EV battery and e-axle testing Flexibility: supports a broad range of DC output voltages and currents Power: it can deliver on ever-increasing DC output current demands Precision: accurate control with less than 0.1 percent ripple Efficient cooling: liquid coolant for more effective, energy-efficient testing Safety: well-designed safety disconnects to protect workers and testing equipment

Accurately testing complex systems like electric vehicle (EV) batteries and e-axles in a high-output, mass-production environment takes a new level of speed, flexibility and precision. But high-performance industrial inverter drives are powering a new generation of end-of-line EV battery and e-axle testing systems to meet the challenge. Advanced inverters like IndraDrive ML from Bosch Rexroth offer more power and more options in a scalable, space-saving design to handle high-volume testing more efficiently. Learn how to start increasing your productivity in EV battery and e-axle testing.

Steve Pitt, the longtime organizer of the convention held annually by the National Automobile Dealers Association, died Saturday of a brain hemorrhage just days before his 76th birthday, an NADA spokeswoman confirmed to Automotive News.

Pitt joined NADA in 1974 and planned 48 conventions for the dealer association before retiring this year. As senior vice president of NADA's conventions and expositions group, he directed the annual NADA Show, where he booked and stage-managed speakers such as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former U.S. presidents including George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, among other famous celebrities, politicians and business executives.

Pitt was an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam and then worked in the hotel industry. In 1974, while working at ITT Sheraton's national sales office in Washington, D.C., he received a job pitch from NADA. Pitt rejected the offer twice before ultimately deciding to go for it.

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General Motors is recalling 484,155 SUVs in the U.S. after the discovery of an improperly riveted seat belt assembly in the third row.

NHTSA said the recalls affect the following 2021-22 models:

Only vehicles with third-row seating are subject to the recall.

Improper forming in the third-row seat belt assembly could lead to the belt not properly restraining occupants and increasing the risk of injury, according to the NHTSA report.

The company was alerted to the defect after a customer report of a separated seat belt buckle assembly in May.

"Operators at the supplier's manufacturing plant may have not properly followed manufacturing processes and inadvertently missed the rivet forming operation," the report said.

GM's supplier added an optical scan of the rivet head formation to its manufacturing process in July to prevent further defects.

The defect has not resulted in any reported injuries or fatalities, a GM spokesman told …

Fast-growing Morgan Automotive Group further bolstered its Florida presence this week with the acquisition of three stores, including its first Lexus dealership.

The group on Tuesday bought Wilde Honda Sarasota, Wilde Lexus Sarasota and Wilde Jaguar-Land Rover Sarasota from Wilde Automotive Family, Morgan Automotive CEO Brett Morgan confirmed in an email to Automotive News.

The affiliated Wilde Automotive Group also has dealerships in Wisconsin, but those were not part of the sale, Morgan said.

The three dealerships will be renamed Honda of Sarasota, Lexus of Sarasota and Jaguar-Land Rover Sarasota. Sarasota is south of Tampa.

"We have been doing business in the Sarasota market now for over a decade with our BMW and Lamborghini stores," Brett Morgan said in a statement. "We are thrilled to add Lexus, Jaguar, Land Rover and Honda to that market offering. The Wilde family has a great reputation and we look forward to carrying their legacy forward."…

Annual vehicle exports by automakers producing in China are on track to jump 19 percent year on year to a record high of more than 2.4 million this year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers predicted this week. 

The trade group made the forecast after data show China’s vehicle exports kept picking up in the first seven months. 

In July, vehicle shipments from China to other markets rallied 67 percent to top 290,000 vehicles, with year-to-date volume rising 51 percent to exceed 1.5 million, according to the trade group’s tally.

Last month, exports of light vehicles ranging from sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multi-purpose vehicles and minibuses spiked 73 percent to some 242,000.

In the same month, exports of commercial vehicles such as buses and trucks also advanced 42 percent to about 49,000.

For the first seven months, automakers shipped some 1.18 million light vehicles and 322,000 commercial vehicles overseas, surging 5…

Amy Sudik, senior director of marketing for Ally discuss methods of encouraging repeat business for sales and service offers, including ways dealers might employ targeted digital ads as part of their communications with customers.

Advertisement: It's time to take your dealership from 0 to 100 from dedicated underwriter and account executive teams to comprehensive training courses. Ally has the resources needed to help you take your business to the next level. Contact your local account executive today.

Jackie Charniga: Hi, everyone. This is Jackie Charniga with Automotive News and welcome to the All Ears podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Ally Financial and is produced by the Automotive News Content Studio. In each episode, we delve into topics important to executives in automotive retailing. We tap Ally's leaders to offer actionable solutions for dealers and others to successfully navigate transformational changes in the industry. Today, we catch up with Am…

The track-focused 2023 Porsche 911 GT3 RS debuts a motorsports-inspired central radiator and a large carbon wing that delivers greater downforce.

The redesigned GT car arrives in the spring with a starting price of $225,250, including shipping.

Under the hood sits a high-revving 4.0-liter six-cylinder boxer engine that delivers 518 hp and a 0-to-60-mph time of three seconds.

Adjustable wing elements on the front and on the two-part rear wing help provide more than 900 pounds of downforce at about 124 mph — three times as much as a current 911 GT3.

To boost performance, the GT3 RS uses a central radiator concept — first used in the Le Mans class-winning 911 RSR.

Instead of the three-radiator layout seen in previous cars, the GT3 RS relies on a large, angled center radiator in the car's nose, positioned where the luggage compartment is located on other 911 models. The freed-up space on the sides allowed engineers to integrate active aerodyna…

Tesla Inc. has parted ways with the law department leader heading an internal inquiry into purchase orders at the electric vehicle maker.

David Searle left his position as Tesla’s head of legal less than a month ago, according to three people familiar with the matter. His LinkedIn profile has not been updated to show his departure.

Dinna Eskin, a deputy general counsel at the company, has taken over the role, the people said.

Searle had been overseeing an internal investigation involving Omead Afshar, a key lieutenant to Tesla’s top executive, Elon Musk, who was tasked with navigating a tangled global supply chain to obtain critical construction materials. The probe over a hard-to-get glass order has led to some Tesla employees being fired, according to Bloomberg.

Searle is a former federal prosecutor who was initially hired by Tesla in 2021 to be its head of compliance. His title at Tesla was acting head of legal and corporate secretary.

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Electric vehicle owners are dealing with a large number of inoperable charging stations and a slow rollout of public charging infrastructure, hurdles that could hamper adoption even as the technology looks to be gaining momentum.

EVs accounted for about 5 percent of U.S. new light-vehicle registrations during the first half of this year, up from 2.5 percent during the same period of 2021.

"Not only is the availability of public charging still an obstacle, but EV owners continue to be faced with charging station equipment that is inoperable," said Brent Gruber, executive director of global automotive at J.D. Power.

Driver satisfaction with Level 2 public chargers is falling, according to J.D. Power's annual U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience Public Charging Study, released Wednesday.

Its survey of more than 11,000 EV and plug-in hybrid owners found satisfaction declined to 633 from 643 last year on a 1,000-point scale. Satisfaction with DC fast charg…

A lawsuit filed against Ford Motor Co. by New York dealer Kitty Van Bortel surrounding reneged plans to purchase a dealership has been dismissed.

Last September, Van Bortel, a dealer based in western New York, entered into an oral agreement with a Ford representative to purchase Henderson Ford in Webster, N.Y., according to the suit.

The representative told her that if another buyer arose, Ford would exercise its right to refusal and give her the deal, according to the complaint. Ford told Van Bortel on Oct. 25 that the company planned to sell Henderson Ford to West Herr Auto Group.

Van Bortel filed the complaint in U.S. District Court on Nov. 15, claiming breach of contract and that Ford discriminated against her based on her sex, violating the state's Human Rights Law.

But U.S. District Judge David Larimer dismissed the lawsuit Aug. 10, saying an oral agreement between Van Bortel and Ford did not constitute a valid, legal contract.

In hi…