News

As the old saying goes, the easiest way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Shawn Butler can relate. The recently hired fixed ops director at Bristol Honda in Tennessee is taking that metaphorical advice to heart as he works — step by step — to revive a moribund and neglected service department that's been underperforming for years.

The importance of Butler's mission is magnified by the inventory shortage hampering dealerships' vehicle sales, which fosters more reliance on fixed ops revenue. Furthermore, service departments now serve as valuable funnels for potential used-car acquisitions that can at least partially replenish stores' flagging inventories.

The problems at the 55-year-old store, recently purchased by Umansky Automotive Group, of Memphis, Tenn., are, well, elephantine in scale: a well-below-average level of customer-pay repair orders per day; a low effective labor rate stemming from below-market prices for serv…

For almost a decade, technician Russell Wickham wandered the automotive wilderness, working for nine dealerships in a quest for a great place to ply his trade.

Along the way, he contended with a gamut of challenges: low pay, inadequate flat-rate hours, too much warranty work, indifferent leadership, subpar working conditions and politically charged workplaces, to name a few.

But now Wickham is finally in a good spot, employed as a lead technician by Country II, a Buick-Chevrolet-GMC-Toyota retailer in Pampa, about 60 miles northeast of Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle. It's one of two new-vehicle dealerships owned by Country Auto Group.

Wickham certainly isn't the only technician who has endured a bumpy ride in the industry. But he's unique because he chronicled his experiences in a series of posts on LinkedIn. His candid commentary underscores the challenges technicians face — and it just might give fixed ops manager a reason to pause and reflect given…

Tesla Inc. said it will ask shareholders to approve a 3-for-1 stock split at their August annual meeting, according to a proxy statement filed Friday after the market close.

The stock jumped 1.9 percent in postmarket trading on the news. The proposed split in the form of a dividend comes amid a sharp selloff in Tesla, which saw its shares underperform broad markets. The stock is down nearly 35 percent this year, compared with a 18 percent drop for the S&P 500.

The company also said Larry Ellison will step down from the board. Ellison, the 11th richest person in the world worth about $87 billion, originally made his fortune as the co-founder of the software company Oracle Corp., and first joined Tesla’s board in December 2018. As of June 30, Ellison held a 1.5 percent stake in the EV maker, according to Bloomberg data.

Elon Musk's EV company first announced its plan for a stock split on March 28 via a tweet that lacked further details. The shareholde…

DETROIT — General Motors has dropped a four-year degree requirement for many jobs, opting for a skills-based, people-focused hiring process instead.

"From a soft skills perspective, we really needed people who can connect with people," said Tammy Golden, GM's executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion and head of the automaker's work force strategy. "When you focus on what's required of the job versus, say, a four-year degree, as your ticket in, it allows you the opportunity to open the aperture to another pool of talent."

Nearly half of the about 500 group leaders GM has hired over the past several months are part of underrepresented categories, which GM defines as women and Black, indigenous and people of color.

The strategy is part of GM's mission to become the most inclusive company in the world. GM's new diversity, equity and inclusion team is leading the effort.

GM has three pillars for its work force strategy, Golden said:

New-vehicle inventory in the U.S. stayed nearly flat in May from the previous month as supply disruptions and continued strong demand made it difficult to refill depleted stocks, according to data compiled by the Automotive News Research & Data Center and Cox Automotive.

Cox said automakers and dealers had 1.13 million vehicles on hand nationwide, a 35-day supply, which is roughly the same days-supply figure that has been in place since January, Cox said. The figure is up 20,000 vehicles from the previous month but still 30 percent below where inventory stood a year earlier, Cox said.

Among the automakers that continue to report monthly sales and inventory data, Ford Motor Co., Hyundai-Kia and Subaru maintained their days' supply from the previous month, while American Honda, Toyota Motor, Mazda and Volvo saw their days' supply decline in May.

Cox said in its analysis that among the U.S. market's 30 top-selling models, full-size trucks had the most…

The Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association filed a lawsuit Wednesday in an attempt to block the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's adoption of California Air Resources Board rules, which would require automakers to produce a higher percentage of electric and hybrid vehicles for sale in Minnesota by 2024.

The lawsuit was filed in the Minnesota Court of Appeals after a suit filed in federal court in 2021 failed to block the regulation.

The new suit claims the adoption of the rules exceeds the pollution agency's "statutory authority," as it is delegating rule-making authority to CARB. According to a statement released by the Minnesota dealers association Wednesday, Minnesota law prohibits a government agency from writing rules for another government agency.

Association President Scott Lambert told Automotive News that the rules will disrupt demand and cause dealers to purchase more EVs than they can sell.

"This is the Upper Midwest. It gets cold …

Kellen Walker gives you the top headlines. Car dealers are not as confident about the near future. A top Toyota supplier considers spinning off its chip business. There’s good and bad news for Tesla. Plus, Robert Ebin of KPA talks about new updates to the Safeguards Rule and some things dealerships should be doing now to ensure they’re in compliance by December.

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Ford Motor Co. is upping its investment in electric vehicle training and demo models for dealerships and dropped an idea to give EV buyers a seven-day return option after executives solicited extensive feedback from retailers.

The automaker is largely sticking with its plans to have dealerships sell EVs using a new set of standards that would involve them keeping no inventory on-site, setting nonnegotiable prices and offering customers the ability to complete their purchase online.

Company executives say they have adjusted their thinking on some aspects of the customer experience after more than two dozen gatherings with dealers across the country but assert that some of their goals have been misinterpreted. They noted that dealers will retain the ability to set their own prices and operate physical storefronts even with online sales.

According to Ford executives and dealers familiar with the discussions, Ford entered the talks floating the concept of a…

Honda's redesigned 2023 HR-V subcompact crossover — bigger, sportier and available with a new driver-assist feature for enhanced off-roading — is powered by a 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder engine with 158 hp and 138 pound-feet of torque.

And while the base price is rising by nearly $2,000, it will remain under $25,000, making it accessible to the 25 and younger audience Honda hopes to capture more of.

The second-generation HR-V, on sale now, adopts a new architecture that puts it more in line with the latest, 11th-generation Civic as well as the redesigned, sixth-generation CR-V compact crossover coming in September.

It features an independent rear suspension for smoother ride quality. The three available trims — LX, Sport and EX-L — can all be configured with front- or all-wheel drive.

Honda says the awd system is improved for a more responsive driving character. Upon start, the system is tuned to send more torque to…

Bob Carter has spent the better part of four decades talking nearly nonstop to Toyota and Lexus dealers, visiting their stores, helping them develop their businesses and building lasting friendships with his quick, folksy wit and an amiable smile.

But at the end of this month, Carter, 62 — a fixture at Toyota since the days when the Japanese automaker's pickups were called just, well, Pickup and the man who's headed sales at the automaker since 2017 — will call it a career. He said he plans to spend the next few months doing what he's done for the past several decades: head out to travel — only now he'll be accompanied by his wife, Jane, instead of just his cellphone.

"It's been a hell of a career, but after 41 years, it's time to toss the keys to the next group," Carter told Automotive News last week after Toyota Motor North America announced his retirement June 6. Last year, amid COVID-19 and supply disruptions, Toyota finished as the top-sel…