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Public dealership group Asbury Automotive Group Inc. on Wednesday rolled out a new digital retailing platform called Clicklane that it says will help it more than double its revenue to $20 billion in 2025.

Asbury, the seventh-largest new-vehicle retailer as ranked by Automotive News, announced the growth goals Wednesday. It says it plans to expand from an estimated $8 billion in revenue in 2020 by adding $5 billion in incremental business through Clicklane over the next five years, plus another $5 billion through acquisitions and $2 billion in same-store revenue growth. Asbury posted revenue of $7.21 billion in 2019.

Clicklane replaces Asbury's previous digital retailing tool called Push Start. The change is the latest step in the dealership group's 4-year-old-plus omnichannel strategy, Asbury CEO David Hult said in a statement. Omnichannel retailing refers to offering a seamless buying experience to consumers whether they shop online, in-store or both.

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Auto loans, which are historically less expensive to incentivize, received the most aggressive offers this spring from captive finance companies, with no-interest, seven-year loans driving new-vehicle sales in the early days of the pandemic. Leasing levels concurrently fell industrywide, according to J.D. Power data, and remain below prior-year levels.

The shift in incentives is one factor that hindered leases this year. Fewer sales, lease extensions and early closures of high-penetration leasing states such as New York and Michigan all contributed to the trend, as did limited new-car inventory and extensions on leasing contracts for many customers impacted by pandemic-related shutdowns.

Leasing likely will remain a largely captive-controlled business, though credit unions are eyeing opportunities to move into the spaces captives left behind.

Mike Buckingham, senior director of the auto finance practice at J.D. Power, said credit u…

U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, an auto dealer in Pennsylvania, on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to issue an emergency order that would block his state from certifying its election results, including Joe Biden's win over President Donald Trump.

The Republican congressman and other plaintiffs are asking the court to prevent Pennsylvania from taking any further action to certify its results of the Nov. 3 election and to undo any such actions already taken, according to the filing.

Kelly's request comes after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Saturday dismissed a challenge, led by the congressman, of the state's mail-in voting system. The suit argues that provisions of Act 77 — an election reform bill signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf last year expanding mail-in voting — are unconstitutional.

Pennsylvania certified its presidential election results Nov. 24, declaring Democrat Biden the winner.

Kelly owns Mike Kelly Automotive, which retails Cadillac, Che…

General Motors is planning to apply for a banking charter that would allow its lending unit to hold deposits and expand its auto finance business, The Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter.

The automaker's finance arm, GM Financial, has been talking to federal and state banking regulators for months about forming an industrial loan company and could file its applications as early as December, the report said.

A GM Financial spokeswoman declined to comment on the report or answer further questions on the matter.

Forming an industrial loan company would aid auto financing for the lender to support its auto finance business through deposits. The charter also would allow the lender to offer consumers high-yield savings accounts and other deposit products to auto customers.

Industrial loan company charters allow nonbanks to originate loans and collect insured deposits. Operating under the charter also provides l…

Laura Schwab, who left her job as Aston Martin's president of the Americas in mid-November, has been named vice president of sales and marketing at Rivian, a new position at the company.

Schwab, 47, began Monday from Rivian's office in Irvine, Calif.

Her arrival comes at a crucial time as Rivian moves from a startup to a revenue-generating company. Rivian's order books are now open. Customers who placed deposits on the company's electric pickup and SUV, the R1T and R1S, can now configure their vehicles and finalize their purchases. Deliveries for the R1T are expected to begin in just over six months. The R1S is scheduled to arrive in August.

"Laura’s such an exciting addition to our Rivian team," the company said in a statement. "Her experience in deploying rich and truly personal sales and ownership experiences for customers is a key asset for Rivian as we prepare to deliver our vehicles next summer.”

Rivian's plant in Normal, Ill., is …

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation on Wednesday released a four-year action plan to guide federal policies and advance the testing and deployment of automated vehicles in the U.S.

The auto trade group's AV policy road map makes 14 recommendations under three pillars that "reform regulations to allow for AV deployment at scale, harmonize federal, state and international policies and lay the foundation to achieve longer term objectives."

Specifically, the alliance is recommending the U.S. Department of Transportation, Congress and state governments, where applicable:

Create a vehicle class within the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for AVs. Clarify the applicability of the "make inoperative" prohibition for vehicles that are equipped with selectable AV features. Establish a national pilot program for AV testing and deployment. Improve the exemption petition process by issuing guidance that specifies what data is required as part of the application.…

Join Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for a daily podcast series about the coronavirus crisis. He’ll speak with industry experts, insiders and Automotive News reporters about how the virus is impacting and reshaping the automotive industry.

Moran Price, CEO of electric powertrain supplier IRP Systems, discusses the pandemic's impact on micromobility solutions such as e-bikes and scooters. Plus, why micromobility is key to the mass adoption of EVs.

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The Hyundai Motor Group’s new EV platform promises ranges up to 310 miles, sports-car level acceleration and supreme design flexibility, starting next year.

The South Korean auto group’s so-called e-GMP, short for electric global modular platform, was unveiled on a video conference from Seoul on Tuesday, with executives and engineers rattling off a litany of specifications.

For starters, the system has been developed to achieve long-range, dynamic driving and low-energy consumption. Its rear-wheel and all-wheel drive layouts, with wheels pushed to the edges, accommodates a range of body types, from sedans and crossovers to performance cars.

The system, which gets an all-new battery and motor, can cover 0-100 kph (0-62mph) in less than 3.5 seconds with a top speed of 260 kph (161mph), Hyundai said. The new vehicles can drive up to 500 kilometers (310 miles) on a full battery, which can recharge to 80 percent in 18 minutes.

The new platform will be …

Lawyers for former Reynolds and Reynolds CEO Bob Brockman want a judge to move the federal tax evasion and wire fraud case against him to his home state of Texas, citing Brockman's declining health as a factor.

A hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15 to consider a motion Brockman's lawyers filed Monday formally requesting a change of venue from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the government's 39-count indictment against Brockman was filed, to the Southern District of Texas. Brockman, 79, lives in Houston. A court hearing held Tuesday did not materially address Monday's transfer-of-venue motion but instead focused on a narrower request filed earlier.

Brockman stepped down last month from his post as chairman and CEO of Reynolds and Reynolds, a privately held dealership management system provider in Dayton, Ohio, following his indictment in October. Prosecutors allege he created an elaborate offshore scheme over two decades to ev…

Sonic Automotive Inc. CEO David Smith will plead not guilty to charges including felony assault by strangulation related to an alleged October incident with a 22-year-old woman in Charlotte, N.C., his lawyer told Automotive News.

Smith on Tuesday waived his probable-cause hearing in Mecklenburg County District Court in which Smith's lawyer, George Laughrun, appeared on Smith's behalf, Jessica Davis, public information officer in the Mecklenburg County trial court administrator's office, wrote in an email to Automotive News.

Defendants have rights to probable-cause hearings, which are used to determine if there is probable cause to believe a crime was committed and if the defendant is believed to be the one who committed the crime. The waiver of the hearing is often procedural and does not equate to any admission of guilt.

The case will move to Mecklenburg County Superior Court because one of the charges against Smith is a felony, Davis said. His next cou…