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Auto dealerships are beginning to explore the use of customer data platform technology — a digital innovation that multiple industries have employed for years.

Better late than never, auto dealerships are starting to understand its potential to enhance customer interactions, said John Campos, automotive industry managing director at Acxiom, a data company focused on customer intelligence.

"We are seeing growing demand and interest," Campos told Automotive News. "It is really in that exploratory phase right now."

Designed to grab customer data from multiple sources, the software has the capacity to use it to personalize every customer interaction. It is an efficient alternative to Internet browser cookies, which are being phased out.

A customer data platform enables retailers to combine data collected from a customer relationship management platform with that taken from a data management platform and other sources, after…

Canada is on fire. The skies of New York are sci-fi orange. Phoenix is running out of water. And raging atmospheric rivers of rain and snow complicated life in the West all winter.

What else could go wrong for people who just want to sell cars?

Supply chain logistics experts are keeping a worried eye on the skies over Panama — hoping for rain. Believe it or not, that situation has a bearing on the smooth flow of the North American auto industry.

Panama has been in a severe drought for months. May was the driest month since 1950.

A lack of rain in Panama translates to less water streaming into Panama's Gatun Lake. Less water in the lake means less water flowing into the Panama Canal, which means its depth is reduced. And that means fewer big cargo ships can go through, back and forth between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The canal conducts 45 million tons a year of what the shipping industry calls "roll-on-roll-off" cargo, meaning vehicle…

New England megadealer Herb Chambers is adding to his superyacht collection.

And his latest acquisition has quite a backstory.

Chambers was the winning bidder for the 152-foot Lady May from the bankruptcy estate of federally indicted Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui, according to a court filing this month in Connecticut. He agreed to pay $24 million for the vessel, which sleeps 10 people and features a rotating living room.

Guo is scheduled to go on trial in the U.S. next year on charges that he defrauded investors of more than $1 billion, and the Chinese government has accused him of fraud, blackmail and bribery. He has close ties to Steve Bannon, who was an adviser to former President Donald Trump.

Bannon was arrested aboard the Lady May in 2020 on fraud charges, and a New York federal judge fined Guo $134 million last year for attempting to hide the yacht from U.S. debt collectors. Herb Chambers Yachting was one of 10 bidders for the Lady May. Th…

FLINT, Mich. — As General Motors ramps up electric vehicle production over the next several years, the automaker is working to show employees that they have a role in the EV future, its top manufacturing executive said.

At the same time, the company plans to add electric vehicle capacity by repurposing existing plants, including turning some into EV-only factories and adding EVs alongside gasoline-vehicle assembly lines at others, said Gerald Johnson, GM's executive vice president of global manufacturing and sustainability.

EV production capacity will rise when GM retools its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan to build electric pickups after production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV and EUV ends this year. GM plans to bring Orion back online in the first quarter of 2025, he said.

The automaker also will negotiate a new contract with the UAW this year. It will be the first round of talks involving new union leaders directly elected by members…

The former site of Buick City, a long-vacant property in Flint, Mich., that was once the world's largest auto plant complex, is getting new life.

Officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking last week at the 400-acre site, which had nearly 30,000 General Motors workers at its peak in the 1950s. Factories there churned out nearly 16 million vehicles before GM began abandoning it in 1999.

The company redeveloping the site into an industrial park, Ashley Capital, has bought 20 acres of it so far. It expects to acquire 330 more acres this summer from the trust formed to clean up and sell off old GM properties during the automaker's bankruptcy.

Plans call for a total investment of $300 million in up to 10 buildings, creating as many as 3,000 jobs. Construction of the first building is expected to be completed in 2024.

Though that's only a fraction of the employment previously supported by the site, the project would fill a major…

<!--*/ */ /*-->*/ Inside the fight over AM radio in EVs

Once at the center of American life, AM radio stands in the middle of a tussle between automakers who want it gone to save money and avoid noisy interference in electric vehicles, and federal lawmakers who say it is key for emergency alerts during catastrophes.

BMW, Mazda, Polestar, Rivian, Tesla, Volkswagen and Volvo do not offer broadcast AM radio in their electric vehicles, citing the EV motor's electromagnetic interference with the AM system and a resulting ticking sound. About a third of all new EV models available for purchase in the United States in 2023 are not equipped with an AM tuner, according to SBD Automotive, a global automotive technology research firm.

Automakers are dumping AM radio as they face immense pressure to cut costs, reduce complexity and increase EV efficiency, even marginally. Competition is fierce and companies are struggling to make money on electric vehicles …

A periodic corporate branding campaign is absolutely necessary, according to Cars.com CMO Jennifer Vianello, and is something most consumer-facing companies rely on to remind customers they exist and reach new clients.Cars.com is no exception. The Chicago company launched 25 years ago as an automotive marketplace platform and now boasts 28 million unique monthly shoppers. And on June 1 it debuted a new branding campaign, including a new logo, designed to move it beyond those early days and to help establish it as a varied consumer-focused auto services company.

The campaign timing is designed, in part, to mark the company's anniversary, but also to reinforce with consumers and dealer customers what it now offers.

"Most consumer-facing brands need to invest in their brand in this way," Vianello told Automotive News. "There is only so long that you can go without having an overt brand message before you start to lose your emotional connection …

AUSTIN, Texas — With the introduction of two of its big haulers here, Lexus is fulfilling two big needs.

First, the new TX nameplate gives the luxury brand a larger crossover with comfortable third-row seating to compete with the likes of the Volvo XC90, BMW X7, Audi Q7, Lincoln Aviator and Cadillac XT6.

Second, the large Lexus GX SUV gets a heavy dose of modernization with its first redesign since the 2010 model year. In addition to moving to Toyota Motor's TNGA-F body-on-frame platform, the GX features the debut of Lexus' Overtrail trim package.

The TX, built on the automaker's TNGA-K platform, slots above the RX midsize crossover and below the GX. In similar fashion as the RX, the TX will be available with a variety of powertrains and in a number of trims: Standard, Premium, Luxury and F Sport Performance.

The entry-level TX 350 has a 2.4-liter turbo-four gasoline engine that gets 275 hp and 317 pound-feet of torque. It has an eight-speed aut…

General Motors said Thursday it has reached an agreement with Tesla to allow GM electric vehicles to charge at 12,000 Tesla Superchargers starting next spring.

GM also will build Tesla's preferred North American Charging Standard connectors into its EVs starting in 2025, the automaker said. GM will weave Tesla’s Supercharger network into its own vehicle and mobile apps.

“In order to drive EV adoption, we need to have a robust charging infrastructure. And so I'm really excited to announce our collaboration with you and with Tesla,” GM CEO Mary Barra said Thursday afternoon in a Twitter Spaces conversation with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“We have a real opportunity here to really drive this to be the unified standard for North America, which I think will even enable more mass adoption,” Barra said.

Barra said Thursday in an interview on CNBC that the automaker expects to save as much as $400 million by working with Tesla’s Supercharger network. GM has s…

While Porsche has high hopes for a synthetic gasoline called e-fuel to keep its long-running ICE-powered 911 going well into the EV era, the German automaker is also pushing ahead with what could morph into its first electric supercar, a concept revealed Thursday called Mission X.

The low-slung, two-seater features doors that open up and forward, a lightweight carbon fiber body, a 900-volt electrical system and a glass canopy for the roof. Porsche said the concept was created to prioritize the power-to-weight ratio, super-fast charging and downforce — which helps keep the car planted at very high speeds.

But Porsche gave few details on horsepower and torque, or the car's motors or specific speeds. The goal for the car, Porsche said, is that it be the fastest street legal car on Germany's famous Nürburgring Nordsschiefie track.

The Mission X, with a 107.4-inch wheelbase, is about the same size as the 918 Spyder. Mission X is a two-…

WASHINGTON - The head of the U.S. auto safety agency's defects investigation office said on Wednesday he has left the agency to join Amazon.com's self-driving unit Zoox.

Stephen Ridella, who had served as director of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation since 2017, oversaw key investigations including a probe into Tesla TSLA.O Autopilot and whether 67 million ARC Automotive Inc air bag inflators were defective.

He said on LinkedIn he had left NHTSA to join Zoox.

Another NHTSA official, Anne Collins, who was associate administrator for enforcement, opted to retire on April 30.

Last week, President Joe Biden withdrew the nomination of NHTSA's chief counsel Ann Carlson to take the agency's top job on a permanent basis.

NHTSA declined to comment when asked about the specific personnel moves but said it "believes it is well positioned to continue to address safety and enforcement efforts.…

CDK Global’s 2023 Trendsetter’s Guide to Automotive Retail addresses the known and new challenges dealers face every day. Our report surveyed managers across in all areas of the dealership as well as store leaders to uncover how existing obstacles like inventory and staffing are being treated as well as new ones that weren’t a primary concern last year.

How does the rapid rise in interest rates and the impact on affordability change operations, sales and more at the dealer level?

CDK Global investigated these issues and many others through the lens of the Trendsetter, the ones who are the first to implement change.

The 2023 Trendsetter’s Guide to Automotive Retail uncovers:

What areas do Trendsetters say they will retain The key tactics that produce positive operational and financial outcomes Technology’s impact across the dealership The challenges that dealers admit they may not be prepared for