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The U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday it settled a lawsuit against American Honda Finance Corp., in which it alleged the auto financing entity broke the law by not refunding certain lease payments to service members who ended their vehicle leases early.

The unit will pay more than $1.58 million to 714 affected service members, according to a Justice Department release. The settlement also requires the company to pay $64,715 to the U.S. Treasury to "adopt new policies and implement new training requirements."

American Honda Finance, headquartered in Torrance, Calif., provides retail financing in the U.S. for Honda and Acura vehicles. In a complaint, the Justice Department said the company specifically failed to provide refunds of vehicle trade-in credit that was applied toward capitalized cost reduction.

The department said that violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, a law enacted in 2003 that provides financial protections to active duty serv…

When Asbury Automotive Group Inc.'s pending acquisition of Larry H. Miller Dealerships is complete, Asbury CEO David Hult will have gone from leading the industry's smallest publicly traded dealership group to one of the largest.

The $3.2 billion megadeal for Larry H. Miller's 61 stores announced Wednesday positions Asbury to spread its dealership network coast to coast, add thousands of new customers for its Clicklane digital retailing platform and operate its own finance-and-insurance company.

"We believe that this acquisition is truly transformative for Asbury," Hult said in a statement.

In addition to the $5.7 billion in expected annual revenue from Larry H. Miller, Asbury also announced Wednesday that it has stores representing another $900 million in annual revenue under contract. It's the second supersized deal since Hult was promoted to the CEO post in 2018, following Asbury's $735 purchase of eight Park Place luxury dealerships in Texas last ye…

ZURICH -- ABB has launched the world's fastest electric-car charger, the Swiss engineering company said, as it presses ahead with plans to float the business which could be valued at around $3 billion.

The company's new Terra 360 modular charger can charge up to four vehicles at once and can fully charge any EV within 15 minutes, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

The device, which can deliver 62 miles of range in less than 3 minutes, will be available in Europe by the end of the year, the company said.

The U.S., Latin America and the Asia Pacific regions are due to follow in 2022.

CEO Bjorn Rosengren said in July that investor materials for the IPO of its EV charging business will be ready in the fourth quarter of this year, with a potential flotation targeted for early 2022.

ABB has seen rising demand for chargers and has sold more than 460,000 units across more than 88 markets since it entered the e-mobility business in 2010.…

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey warned car buyers Wednesday to be aware of dealers who may not accurately advertise vehicle prices or honor those prices.

Healey's office issued an advisory in response to an uptick in consumer complaints that allege deceptive pricing practices by dealers. About 74 such complaints were filed in the past year.

The office said it received reports of some dealerships advertising specific prices online but denying them once interested car buyers got to the store. In some cases, dealers had confirmed the advertised price in an email, the complaints said. Other car buyers reported dealers not honoring buyout provisions in lease agreements.

"Purchasing a vehicle is a significant financial investment for many individuals and families," Healey said in a statement. "After a surge in complaints to my office, we're making sure consumers are aware of their rights under the law, and that auto dealerships know our office will…

The $3.2 billion acquisition of Larry H. Miller Dealerships will give Asbury Automotive Group Inc. a highly profitable in-house F&I products provider.

Total Care Auto produces about $240 million in revenue, has about 2 million contracts open and delivers EBITDA margins of more than 20 percent, Asbury said in announcing the deal. Asbury CEO David Hult said on an analyst call Wednesday that Total Care Auto's margins in some cases can exceed 30 percent.

And 90 percent of Total Care Auto's claims wind up with the work being done at locations within the Larry H. Miller group.

"It's really a great business model," Hult said.

So Larry H. Miller — and now Asbury — is basically paying itself back whenever customers use the products for free repairs and service.

"That money all stays in-house, or a good majority of it," Hult said.

Scaling Total Care Auto at Asbury "really puts a nice business model toge…

DETROIT — General Motors plans to launch Ultifi, an in-vehicle customer experience platform, in 2023, aiming to make its vehicles smarter and more personalized, the automaker said Wednesday.

The platform is a critical part of GM's plan to develop a wider profit net through technology and software and subscription-based services that extend beyond the vehicle purchase. GM and other traditional automakers could boost their revenue as much as 30 to 40 percent with service businesses in the next five to 10 years, analysts told Automotive News in March.

"Today, cars are enabled by software. With Ultifi, they are going to be defined by it," Scott Miller, GM vice president, software-defined vehicle, told reporters Wednesday.

Ultifi will deliver features, apps and services to customers via over-the-air updates. The system builds on GM's electric vehicle architecture, called the Vehicle Intelligence Platform. It will be available on new electric and gasoline-powe…

Ford Motor Co. is recalling 354,330 crossovers, one set from the 2020-21 model years because their rearview cameras may not correctly display images and the other from the 2011-13 model years over suspension issues.

A global recall covers 228,297 Explorer, Lincoln Corsair and Lincoln Aviator crossovers from the 2020-21 model years equipped with 360-degree cameras. Ford said the video output of those cameras may fail, which could cause the rearview image to cut out and thus increase the risk of a backover accident or crash.

Dealers were notified Thursday. The company said it expected vehicle owners to be notified by mail between Oct. 7 and 14. Ford said dealers will update the vehicle's Image Processing Module software.

In a safety recall report filed with NHTSA, Ford said two accidents were associated with the recall. No injuries have been reported, the company said.

In that report, Ford said the components were manufactured by Magna Electronics…

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said her state wasn't given a "real opportunity" to pitch Ford Motor Co. on land, labor and tax incentives for the multibillion-dollar electric vehicle and battery assembly plants the automaker intends to build in Tennessee and Kentucky.

The Democratic governor on Wednesday pushed back on suggestions that Michigan couldn't compete for the $11.4 billion Ford and battery maker SK Innovation plan to invest in the massive projects.

"Being the primary domicile, Michigan is always going to be able to put a competitive alternative on the table when we are given an opportunity to," Whitmer said. "And we look forward to future investments and (Ford) looking to Michigan first and giving us the opportunity to really put a robust package on the table."

Whitmer said there were "probably a lot of factors" that went into Ford's decision to locate the new battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky.

She downplayed Michigan's average e…

A good relationship with the dealer's F&I department can take a price-competitive lender "over the top" to capture incremental business, a J.D. Power analyst said.

"It all revolves along [a] relationship," Patrick Roosenberg, J.D. Power automotive finance intelligence director, said Friday in discussing the firm's 2021 U.S. Dealer Financing Satisfaction Study results released last week.

He called it "absolutely" possible that a dealer would pay even a higher buy rate if a strong relationship existed with the vendor.

"Auto dealers who maintain transactional relationships with lenders, spreading their business across multiple institutions without establishing go-to relationships, have significantly lower levels of satisfaction with their lending partners," Roosenberg said in a statement Sept. 23.

"In this market, where rates are low and new-vehicle sales volumes remain significantly suppressed, captive and non-captive lenders who want to stay …

TOKYO -- Tokyo prosecutors are seeking a two-year prison sentence for Greg Kelly, the former Nissan director indicted alongside former Chairman Carlos Ghosn for alleged financial misconduct.

Prosecutors made the case against the American defendant on Wednesday as they delivered their closing argument in the long-running trial.

Kelly, who was arrested in Japan nearly three years ago, on Nov. 19, 2018, had faced a maximum penalty of up to 15 years for the alleged violation.

Prosecutors said they sought a two-year prison sentence, mindful of the time Kelly has already spent detained in Japan. After his arrest, Kelly was locked for more than a month in a Tokyo jail before being released on bail. Since then, he has been barred from traveling outside the country.

The trial began Sept. 15, 2020, and Kelly's lawyer says a verdict is not expected until March 2022.

Kelly's defense team gives its closing argument on Oct. 27. Then, the matter rests in…

We're firm believers that everyone should have the freedom to move and pursue their dreams, and it's people like Don Pijor who are driving this mission. As someone with Multiple Sclerosis, Don Pijor, F-150 Launch Manager at the Dearborn Truck plant and 32-year Ford veteran, knows firsthand the challenges that people who require wheelchair-accessible vehicles face, and he rose to meet them.

Inspired by his own experience, Pijor collaborated with AT Specialty Conversions to convert a 2021 F-150 into a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, using a custom-built hydraulic lift. This system helps people in wheelchairs to get in and out of the truck -- plus, it automacially closes the door. In his own words, Pijor said, "Just because you're in a wheelchair doesn't mean you should have to give up the things you like. The wheelchair uplift allows freedom and a lifestyle that people in a wheelchair aren't typically able to have." 

We're creating the future of mobility -- a…

We're firm believers that everyone should have the freedom to move and pursue their dreams, and it's people like Don Pijor who are driving this mission. As someone with Multiple Sclerosis, Don Pijor, F-150 Launch Manager at the Dearborn Truck plant and 32-year Ford veteran, knows firsthand the challenges that people who require wheelchair-accessible vehicles face, and he rose to meet them.

Inspired by his own experience, Pijor collaborated with AT Specialty Conversions to convert a 2021 F-150 into a wheelchair-accessible vehicle, using a custom-built hydraulic lift. This system helps people in wheelchairs to get in and out of the truck -- plus, it automacially closes the door. In his own words, Pijor said, "Just because you're in a wheelchair doesn't mean you should have to give up the things you like. The wheelchair uplift allows freedom and a lifestyle that people in a wheelchair aren't typically able to have." 

We're creating the future of mobility -- a…