News

No-interest, seven-year loans did the job.

Maybe even a little too well.

Now, some dealers who worried in March about business evaporating instead fear they'll run out of the pickups their customers are clamoring for.

"The pipeline is very dry," said Mike Maroone, CEO of Maroone USA, which operates five stores in Colorado and one in Florida. Maroone's stores have only a 30-day supply of their top-selling Chevrolet Silverado.

"That is a problem for us," he said.

Pickup inventory at General Motors dealerships was already slimmer than usual in the aftermath of the 40-day UAW strike last fall, but Ram dealers also are feeling inventory pressure. GM and Ram have been particularly aggressive with incentives since the coronavirus crisis began.

With North American auto plants closed since mid-March to protect workers from contracting COVID-19, the most sought-after vehicles have become tough to fin…

Electrification and shared mobility are taking it on the chin during the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

But don't count either industry trend out, says former Ford Motor Co. CEO Mark Fields.

"Electrification has a bright future in the industry, but clearly it is going to be a bit of a collateral damage of COVID," said Fields, now senior adviser with private capital firm TPG Capital. He made the prediction last week as part of the video series "Congress Conversations," the 2020 online version of the Automotive News World Congress.

Electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid adoption rates have probably slowed as the purchasing power of American consumers has been diminished significantly, Fields said, noting that "electrified products are more expensive than [internal combustion engine] products right now."

Fields noted that depressed gasoline prices are also working against EVs, as is the pandemic's pressure on…

Tesla Inc. told furloughed employees on Friday that they will remain out of work for at least another week, postponing a plan to resume normal operations on May 4 at its California  assembly plant, according to an internal email.

"For furloughed employees, unless you are contacted by your manager about a start date, you will remain on furlough until further notice, at least for another week," the company's in-house counsel Valerie Capers Workman said in the email, which was sent to employees and seen by Reuters.

Tesla suspended production at its Fremont, Calif., plant on March 24.

The extension comes days after health officials from San Francisco County, along with five other Bay Area counties, said they would revise shelter-in-place orders that are set to expire on Sunday.

The new orders will keep the restrictions in place and extend them through May, with limited easing for a small number of low-risk activities.

The company was not i…

April 23 was supposed to be a day when about 1,000 children descended upon Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' suburban Detroit headquarters to get a taste of what their parents do every day.

But when the coronavirus outbreak scuttled the plan for "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day," the automaker came up with a Plan B: Bring the workplace to the kids.

FCA found a way to observe the day by creating a virtual experience to give children of its U.S. employees a glimpse into the company.

Its online portal, which came together in about three weeks, gives kids something educational to do while schools are closed and exposes them to the auto industry, said Kelly Tolbert, FCA's vice president of global talent, leadership and learning, who led the effort.

She said the company designed the portal so every department was represented. Youngsters can browse sections on product development, quality, human resources, marketing, design, manufacturing and other spe…

Before the coronavirus took hold in the U.S., Genesis had big plans. Not just for a new model or a few more retailers. More like a relaunch of the brand, which has suffered from its all-sedan lineup and sparse dealer network.

Genesis had been building momentum from the start of the year: Its first crossover — the GV80 — debuted in January; the freshened G90 sedan went on sale the same month; a new-generation G80 sedan was unveiled in March. And about 350 dealers had gone through the process of setting up new franchises by the end of last year.

While some automakers are pushing back plans for new and freshened models because of the COVID-19 crisis, Genesis is doing everything in its power to maintain momentum as authorities in the U.S. outline plans to reopen the economy with a patchwork of local rules, said Mark Del Rosso, who was named CEO of Genesis North America in October.

"It's a big country, and every dealer is going throu…

DETROIT — Federal prosecutors have informed General Motors that it is not a target in a yearslong corruption probe into the UAW.

According to The Detroit News, GM on Thursday received a rare written notice from the U.S. Attorney's Office clearing it, and a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed it.

"Recent media reports suggested that General Motors may be a focus of a 'newer front in the years-long criminal investigation' being conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit," the company said in a statement. "This is simply not true. GM is not a target of the government's ongoing investigation. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit officially confirmed this to GM."

The News first reported in 2017 that investigators were looking into potential bribery and kickbacks involving officials at the company's jointly run training center with the UAW. Since then, a number of former officials have pleaded guilty to wrongdoing, including retired …

Jaguar Land Rover's North American arm is conserving cash by suspending co-op advertising for at least 90 days. It's also putting roughly 150 employees — 40 percent of its U.S. work force — on paid leave for a month.

"In light of a partial suspension of our U.S. business operations and a continued decline in revenue, the company has placed a number of employees whose positions are significantly impacted by COVID-19-related circumstances on paid leave for one month, effective May 1, during which their pay and health care benefits will be maintained in full," Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement emailed to Automotive News.

The company's senior leadership in the U.K., including CEO Ralf Speth, has taken pay cuts as the automaker grinds through the stay-at-home orders that have closed plants, tech centers and dealerships.

"In coordination with our Retailer Cabinet, we have temporarily suspended the co-op advertising program for April…

WASHINGTON -- Some of the world's largest auto suppliers told Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer they are ready to restart production and raised alarm about new delays to resuming operations.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, most suppliers halted operations in late March as automakers closed their factories. Six weeks later, uncertainty about when Michigan will allow the resumption of operations is causing delays throughout the U.S. auto industry.

The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association and Original Equipment Suppliers Association told Whitmer in a letter late on Thursday that "delays in re-opening facilities would increase liquidity risk for suppliers and jeopardize long-term capital investment and employment for Michigan."

The group asked Whitmer "to provide clear authority for automotive suppliers to restart their operations in Michigan at least five days before OEM production begins."

Auto suppliers in Michigan employ about 125,000 pe…

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tesla Inc. shares plunged after CEO Elon Musk said the electric-car maker’s stock is too high in a stream of tweets reminiscent of the posts that securities regulators sued over in 2018.

The billionaire said in a separate post that he’s selling “almost all” of his physical possessions and won’t own a house. He also renewed his call for reopening the economy and then recited parts of the “Star Spangled Banner.”

Tesla shares plunged as much as 13 percent as of noon Friday in New York trading. The stock is still up about 65 percent for the year, an advance that’s put him in position to meet the final performance threshold needed to be awarded stock options that would yield him a windfall of about $730 million.

Musk, 48, didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking further comment. He joked about Tesla’s stock being “so high” in December, and has said in the past the company has a higher market capitalization than it deserves.

Mu…

The already-reeling used-vehicle market is hanging in the balance as Hertz Global Holdings Inc. negotiates with its creditors, a Benchmark Co. analyst said.

The rental-car company has been seeking leniency from lenders and U.S. government support to avoid a bankruptcy filing, CEO Kathryn Marinello said in an interview Wednesday. Hertz has missed lease payments related to the vehicles it rents out and has until May 4 to either make them or convince lenders to waive a potential default.

“The risk for the auto sector occurs if the creditors of the debt using the rental vehicles as security decide to liquidate the fleet to repay the bonds,” Benchmark analyst Michael Ward wrote in a report Friday. “A fire sale of a significant portion of the Hertz fleet could add to the price volatility in the used vehicle market.”

Used-car prices at auction have plunged since much of the U.S. economy began to shut down in mid-March. Values are expected to remain depress…