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HORSESHOE BAY, Texas — Forget the boring training videos and bulleted brochures.

To better acquaint its retail network with the 2021 Bronco SUV, Ford Motor Co. ditched the standard informational materials for a unique, hands-on boot camp in the mud and rocky crags of Texas Hill Country.

The automaker invited representatives from each of its more than 3,000 U.S. dealerships to come to the Bronco Off-Roadeo, a 360-acre driving school it created outside of Austin as a free perk for new Bronco owners. Dealers got the first crack at traversing miles of curated trails before the site opened to customers so they could better sell the new SUV and build excitement for a subbrand that Ford hopes will steal sales and market share from Jeep.

"Most of us are not experienced off- roaders," said Brian Farnsworth, an inventory manager at Marcotte Ford in Holyoke, Mass., who attended in May with the store's president and general manager. "When you talk about terms like…

Tesla is based in California, and California is part of the U.S., sources tell Automotive News.

But that didn't stop a security guard at a General Motors plant in Missouri from believing a California-made Tesla Model 3 was imported from overseas.

The guard cited the Model 3 as "foreign in domestic lot," The Drive reported last week.

Tesla's work force is nonunion, unlike employees of GM and the other Detroit automakers, but Tesla's Fremont, Calif., factory is nowhere near foreign soil, of course. Auto plants created domestic-only lots mainly to keep out vehicles made by nonunion workers, though that issue has become complicated now that so many vehicles sold by GM, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis come from Mexico and other countries.

A GM spokesperson said the ticket, which carries no fine or other penalty, was a mistake.

"Wentzville, like many of our manufacturing sites, has a parking policy and designated park…

Harry Truman, when he was president, is said to have demanded a one-armed economist. He was frustrated, the legend went, because none would give him straightforward policy advice — they all said "on the one hand" this "and on the other hand" that.

Jonathan Smoke still has both of his arms, but the chief economist for Cox Automotive has a decidedly bullish outlook on the auto industry. I interviewed him for the "Daily Drive" podcast last week, and it was almost like pulling teeth to get him to utter a discouraging word.

"We have at current count $3.6 trillion sitting in bank accounts that did not exist prior to the pandemic, because of the massive amount of savings that consumers have accrued," he said. He projects years of growth to come, and said "we've got more risk to the upside, frankly, than I think we have to the downside."

But let's talk about the risks a little.

The labor market is still walking a bit of a tightrope, with several states …

For dealers who still had cars and trucks to sell, June brought booming consumer demand and another jump in the industry's average transaction price — which topped $40,000 for the first time.

But for dealers with showrooms mostly surrounded by empty asphalt, it was a prelude to a summer of missing out on the party.

"June was the first month where inventory was uncomfortably tight. We had been operating with one less car than everybody wants, which is a good thing," said Larry Zinn, general manager of Warren Henry Auto Group in Miami. "June was where it really caught up to us. Days' supply was at its lowest point."

Warren Henry, which sells 13 brands at five stores, has had only about a 15-day supply of new vehicles, vs. the 45 to 65 days' worth it had before the global microchip shortage ate into production.

Across the country, General Motors entered July with 211,974 vehicles in inventory, only about half as much as it started t…

Experts say the growing risk of cyberattacks means dealerships and their software vendors should stay on top of data security practices.

Mike Knipe started his professional career in the chainsaw business working for power equipment manufacturer Stihl. But it was while doing some consulting business with his wife that Hyundai asked if he would be interested in working for the automaker. It was a "pretty crazy idea" at the time, in Knipe's words. But he interviewed and later told his wife, "This might be fun to do." It would be the start of a three-decade career in the auto industry, mostly in manufacturer aftersales with Hyundai and then Subaru.

Now 65, he officially retires as vice president of fixed operations at Subaru this week. He plans to do a bit of consulting but spend the bulk of his time traveling and fishing near his southwest Florida home. Knipe spoke with Fixed Ops Journal Editor Dan Shine. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: What changes have you seen during your time in fixed ops?

A: My mission, since I started with this business, was to elevate the visibility and understanding o…

In case one Ferrari is not enough, the Italian automaker has a new program that lets buyers get two identically configured cars — with one being a scale model. The models, made by Amalgam Collection, replicate the buyer's car in "every aspect," Ferrari says, at either a one-eighth or one-twelfth scale. Ferrari didn't provide pricing, but the models won't be cheap; the one-eighth scale Ferraris on Amalgam's website cost $10,000 to $15,000.

Two 2022 Chevrolet Silverado pickups snapped by spy photographers last week show the freshened trucks will have smoother edges, especially on the grilles.

Close attention to aerodynamics helped bump the current Silverado to the head of the pack in the fuel economy race — the diesel model edges out Ford and Ram trucks in city, highway and combined mpg.

But when the truck debuted in 2018, many found the front end, especially with the "air curtains" on the lower outer section of the grille just ahead of the wheels, somewhat jarring to look at. The latest model apparently fixes that. The new air curtains, which direct air through the wheel wells and away from the tires, are smaller and more integrated.

Other changes show the trucks appear to have a slightly higher ride height, which should improve off-road maneuverability.

Chevrolet said last week it plans to add a high-performance ZR2 package to the Silverado this fall for 2022. The ZR2 trim was re…

Rivian has cooked up a number of new ideas for its upcoming R1T off-road electric pickup, from the tank turn to the one-stop shopping experience to the guides program that pairs customers with their own personal valet inside the company.

Here's the latest ingredient in Rivian's recipe: the Camp Kitchen. The $5,000 option is a fully equipped, self-contained cooking center stored in Rivian's Gear Tunnel, a space behind the cab and in front of the bed that is accessed through a door on the side of the truck. The Camp Kitchen slides in and out of the Gear Tunnel.

It has a 1,440-watt, two-burner, induction-heated cooking surface so campers can cook outdoors without worry that high winds could blow flames from a campfire into flammable brush. The kitchen is powered by the truck's battery pack.

Rivian also thought about taking care of the dirty dishes. The Camp Kitchen comes with a 4-gallon water tank and pump, spray faucet and collapsible sink.

A full…

While North American auto factories leveled off in their production cuts because of microchip shortages this week, European and Asia Pacific plants made more volume changes. Worldwide, automakers could eventually see 6.1 million vehicles lost because of the supply crisis, according to AutoForecast Solutions’ latest weekly survey, compared with its forecast of 5.8 million vehicles one week ago.

Source: AutoForecast Solutions Inc. autoforecastsolutions.com

A report last week succeeded in stirring public anger over Toyota Motor North America's donations this year to federal lawmakers, although it tells only part of the story.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington released an article headlined "This sedition is brought to you by…," which tabulated corporate money given since Jan. 6 to 147 Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. Media reports zeroed in on Toyota, which as of a Thursday, July 1, tally had donated to 38 of those lawmakers, more than any other company, for a total of $56,000, according to the group.

Consumers who were outraged by those politicians' behavior took to social media to blast Toyota, as well as Walmart, insurance giant Cigna and similar corporate donors — as they have done throughout the year as companies, including Ford Motor Co., declined to blackball legislators who failed to accept the legally count…