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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.

Former megadealer Bernie Moreno says ''seismic changes'' have occurred in the dealership space within the past six months that have influenced his decision to get back into the car business.

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I've noticed two things recently while browsing for a newer Jeep to replace my 2011 Liberty.

First: Used-vehicle inventory pressure seemingly has reached my local market. Two months ago, I could filter searches to a smaller radius around my home and yield eight or 10 vehicles matching my preferred model year and trim level. Now, the results turn up one or two. I have to expand my search by 20 or 25 miles to get a broader selection — which gives me more choices, yes, but doesn't fulfill my interest in finding a local dealership with which to build a service and sales relationship.

Second: The algorithms have found me. My browser knows I'm looking at cars. I don't know that I would call myself "in market" yet, but ads are popping up in multiple places. On news stories I read. On Hulu commercial breaks during reruns of NBC's "This Is Us." Even on the Yahtzee game I play on my smartphone. (That last one really caught my attention. It wasn't a national brand but rat…

After the historic sale of most of its stores and brand name to Asbury Automotive Group, Texas retailer Park Place Dealerships is now Avondale Group. Asbury finalized the purchase of Park Place on Monday, which will add an expected $1.7 billion in annual revenue for the public group.

Avondale is comprised of the remaining dealerships that Park Place founder Ken Schnitzer kept in the deal with Asbury, executives said Monday, as well as one store, Aston Martin Dallas, that was acquired before finalizing the new deal.

"We are thankful to both the Asbury and Park Place employees who have worked tirelessly over the last few weeks to complete this transaction," Asbury CEO David Hult said in a statement. "The talent in both organizations and the resilience of the dealer model have put us in a position to become a stronger and more diversified company."

Pandemic conditions and issues with the public group's financing arrangements led Asbury to terminate in Marc…

It was always going to be an uphill slog for the Nissan Titan.

Though Nissan's first full-size pickup was never going to challenge the mighty Ford F-150 or put up six-figure sales numbers like the other competitive trucks from Ram, Chevrolet and GMC, the Titan could have created a sustainable niche for itself had it been anything more than just an average vehicle.

Average won't work in the brutally competitive full-size pickup market.

A truck needs to stand out in some compelling way. But the Titan never claimed best in class in any of the metrics that truck buyers really care about — towing, hauling, stopping, fuel economy, luxury features, etc.

If you look at the F-150, Ram 1500 and Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500, each has some unique feature or capability that can't be had on other trucks.

Arguably, nobody makes a classier interior than Ram. You want to haul something massively heavy, an F-150 is just the tool for the job. The indus…

Tesla Inc. has posted four quarters of positive earnings. That’s enough to get it into the S&P 500, right? Not necessarily, says DataTrek Research.

Fans of Elon Musk’s automaker have been on high alert for news Tesla will be added to the index ever since the company reported a $104 million profit for its June quarter. But while the results would seem to satisfy rules for inclusion, aspects of its earnings may give the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices pause, the research shop said.

Specifically, Tesla would not have made money on a generally accepted accounting principles basis the last several quarters without the sale of regulatory credits to carmakers that need help complying with toughening emissions standards around the world.

In the first half of this year, the company booked $782 million of revenue from the sale of those credits, which are pretty much all profit, according to Nicholas Colas, DataTrek’s co-founder. That compares with…

ATLANTA — Porsche is making its vehicle subscription program more accessible with a new entry-level tier. The sports car maker will also expand the service to Los Angeles — the epicenter of luxury car sales.

"For the metropolitan area in L.A., this is a perfect way to engage certain target groups with the brand," Porsche Cars North America CEO Klaus Zellmer said last week. "If California were a country, it would be our fifth-largest market in the world."

The Porsche Drive subscription program, launched in 2017 in Atlanta, starts at $2,100 a month (before taxes and a $595 activation fee) and offers unlimited vehicle swaps. Since then, the program has been expanded to San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Toronto.

Starting Sept. 25, the new subscription level will offer access to a single Porsche model for one or three months. It starts at $1,500 per month for the Porsche Macan crossover and tops out at $2,600 for the Porsche 911 Carrera.

Adding a sing…

Vivek Chaand Sehgal has a track record of achieving the seemingly impossible. His company, a sprawling auto supplier to the world’s biggest carmakers, has exceeded its five-year target every time bar one in the past quarter century.

His latest goal is equally daunting -- Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd. is targeting to triple annual sales to $36 billion by 2025. That would rank Mothersun among the world's top five auto suppliers in terms of revenue,  based on the 2020 Automotive News list of the top 100 global suppliers.

Sehgal, 63, plans to achieve that by doing what he does best: dealing. Or more specifically, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, buying up distressed companies as they run out of money.

For Sehgal to achieve that, however, things will have to improve dramatically. Five years ago, Motherson set a target of consolidated net sales of $18 billion by 2020, and it managed less than $12 billion as the virus hit and India saw its worst-ever sl…

DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. is gearing up for an intricate, two-phase overhaul of factories for its most profitable vehicle, putting to the test a pledge by incoming CEO Jim Farley for flawless execution.

Ford will temporarily shut a factory in Michigan next month to install machinery for the redesigned F-150 pickup going on sale next year.

The automaker also is constructing a new facility adjacent to its Dearborn, Michigan, truck plant to build an electric version of the F-150, people familiar with the project told Bloomberg. Prototype production is expected to start next year, said the people, who asked not to be identified revealing internal plans.

Ford also will idle and overhaul its Missouri pickup factory in October to prepare for the redesigned truck after closing its Dearborn plant for two weeks of retooling starting Sept. 7, according to the people. The complex and costly changeover of the two factories will trim output of Ford’s biggest cash cow …

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.

Brian Benstock discusses how COVID-19 has impacted his Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura stores in hard-hit New York. He also opens up about his personal battle with the virus and explains why automakers should create more uniform standards for franchised dealers around digital retailing and allow for business models that are less dependent on brick-and-mortar stores.

How do I subscribe?

Can't wait to hear the next episode of "Daily Drive"? Subscribe through a podcast app to receive episodes days in advance. If you don't have a podcast app already, here are some options. 

iPhone / iPad

“Daily Drive” is available on the iTunes Store and through the ‘Podcast’ app pre-installed on all i…

Self-driving shuttle provider May Mobility is resuming service, with extensive cleaning measures, in Grand Rapids, Mich., after halting its operations for five and a half months due to the pandemic. 

Operations were suspended on March 16, with the initial anticipation of being down until at least Friday, March 27.  

“As a service that has over 500 users a day, and with current passengers who fall into the category of being at risk of severe illness, we feel it is in the best interest of our community to suspend service. This is an unprecedented event, and this is a decision we did not come to easily,” May Mobility CEO Edwin Olson said in a March statement.

The company had been operating in Detroit and Providence, R.I., as well. It temporarily halted shuttles in all of the cities due to COVID-19, but service is only resuming in Grand Rapids for now,  a spokesperson said.

The eight free shuttles, including one with wheelchair access, …

Ford Motor Co. has paid a former supplier, Mitec, about 10 million euros ($11.8 million) to settle a 13-year dispute over a canceled contract, Germany's Welt am Sonntag reported.

Ford declined to comment on the payment when contacted by Automotive News Europe. The automaker said the terms of the settlement were "confidential."

Mitec supplied Ford with a component for the Mazda6 sedan, which Ford built in the U.S. in a joint venture with the Japanese automaker in Flat Rock, Mich. Mitec sued Ford after the automaker terminated the contract in 2007.

Ford rejected the part because of quality issues but the supplier then discovered the same part being built for Ford by the supplier Linamar in Mexico, Mitec said. The supplier accuses Ford of having passed on technical information with the aim of being able to purchase the parts more cheaply from Mexico.

Mitec's former owner, Michael Militzer, said the settlement was too little and too late.

The l…