News

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

Laurie Halter is the owner of Charisma! Communications, a public relations firm for tech providers in automotive.

First car: Chevy Citation with one headlight popped out and rope holding my passenger side door closed

First concert you attended: New Kids on the Block (I am seriously dating myself here!)

Name a pet peeve: Playing the victim. Do what needs to be done and move on to better things!

Most thrilling/adventurous thing you've done: I took both my teens to Belize last year and we swam with sharks, found howler monkeys in the jungle, cave tubed and hiked to the back of an ancient cave with sacrificial burials. Very cool memories!

Your personal hero and why: My personal heroes are my kids. They have such a good head on their shoulders and they chart their own path. I could not be more proud of them.

First job: I would make my mom buy a package of Blow Pops for $5 and sell them to the kids com…

Nikola Corp. shareholders are voting in favor to approve a proposal critical to the hydrogen fuel cell truck developer's survival, but the company still needs more votes to put its plan into action.

Although 77 percent of those shareholders voting agreed to double Nikola's outstanding shares to 1.6 billion from 800 million, the company has not obtained the required majority of all common stock holders to approve the measure.

It adjourned Wednesday's annual shareholders meeting until July 6 to solicit more votes. Nikola declined to say what percentage of all shareholders have voted to approve the proposal.

The plan provides a way for the cash-strapped startup to raise new capital to build hydrogen-powered Class 8 trucks and a national fueling network.

Additionally, the Phoenix company may still have to execute a reverse stock split to remain in compliance with Nasdaq's listing requirements.

If the share authorization measure stalls or fail…

The UAW is preparing for a major fight with Detroit’s legacy carmakers over the future of workers at their electric-vehicle battery plants.

The dispute could be lengthy and complex, since the 18,000 or so workers those carmakers — General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV — plan to hire in the U.S. will work for a patchwork of joint ventures not covered by existing labor contracts. The new corporate structures also mean the UAW might have to craft new deals for each plant.

The outcome of the negotiations, due to kick off in July and accelerate in the fall, could have far-reaching consequences — not just for auto workers sweating the move to electrification. As producers of everything from EV batteries to semiconductors, along with miners and processors of lithium, try to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., unions will fight to represent a new generation of workers doing jobs that moved abroad decades ago.

“The transition from internal…

The Federal Trade Commission's proposed new rules on auto dealerships would cost customers more time and dealers more money than the agency expects, a new Center for Automotive Research study concludes.

The FTC in June 2022 proposed requiring expanded disclosure and consent on finance-and-insurance products and physical accessories "not provided to the consumer or installed on the vehicle by the motor vehicle manufacturer." The agency also is considering cracking down on dealerships' statements related to the cost or financing of the vehicle itself, seeking to curtail bait-and-switch pricing and lower monthly payments that mask higher overall cost to a consumer. The agency has not taken further action on its plan following the close of a public comment period last year.

Under the FTC's plan, the average consumer would spend two more hours on a vehicle transaction, the Center for Automotive Research wrote in a May analysis based upon polling more than 60 dealer…

Stellantis says Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis will also become Ram's new leader. U.S. franchised dealerships are seeing a favorable market, but worry about rising interest rates. Plus, GS3 Global CEO Lisa Lunsford talks about how business is looking in 2023 and how suppliers are preparing for the possibility of at least one big UAW strike this year.

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

Android

Spotify

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. could revive the venerable Land Cruiser nameplate in the U.S. as early as next year when it plans to introduce a redesign of the SUV's little brother, the Land Cruiser Prado.

In bringing the rugged truck stateside, Toyota may simply drop Prado from the name and badge it a Land Cruiser. The automaker is considering the move in the U.S., a person familiar with the plan said.

Globally, the Land Cruiser Prado is sold as a Toyota sibling to the premium Lexus GX midsize SUV. And in some European markets, the Prado is already marketed simply as a Land Cruiser.

The full-size Land Cruiser was discontinued in the U.S. after the 2021 model year. The redesigned Lexus LX remained as the automaker's top luxury SUV, while the next-generation Toyota Sequoia took the Toyota's brand's spot for large SUV when it migrated onto the automaker's new global F1 platform for body-on-frame vehicles.

The GX, the Prado'…

Auto dealerships might have a harder time getting certain customers approved as the year progresses, according to the latest Federal Reserve quarterly survey of bank senior loan officers.

Thirty-nine percent of banks polled in April expected to toughen lending at some point between the survey date and the end of the year. And 29 percent of banks had tightened their auto loan standards in the three months before the April survey.

Loan officers representing 17 of 46 large and "other" (less than $50 billion in assets) banks in April expected their institutions to tighten auto loans "somewhat" by the end of the year, according to the Fed. One bank planned to be "considerably" stricter. No banks expected to ease their standards, and 28 planned no further change.

These plans for the rest of 2023 followed tightening among some of the industry in the three months leading up to the April survey. Twelve of 51 banks had toughened their standa…

Finance managers should focus on presenting finance-and-insurance products "FOR the customer not TO the customer," writes Dwayne Wiggins, vice president of training at Automotive Training Academy by Assurant.

Some customers will act based upon what the majority of customers do or what the finance professional recommends, Wiggins says.

"However, most customers will see value in protective products if the presentation illustrates how the benefit will affect them individually," Wiggins writes. "A personalized approach is the key for increased product sales."

Have a good finance and insurance tip to share? Submit it to John Huetter at [email protected] and Gail Kachadourian Howe at [email protected].

FLINT, Mich. — As General Motors transitions its vehicle lineup away from internal combustion engines, it isn't planning to build or close any plants, the automaker's top manufacturing executive said.

Instead, GM plans to use its existing manufacturing footprint as it shifts to electric vehicles — converting some plants to build only EVs and others to build both electric and gasoline vehicles, Gerald Johnson, GM's executive vice president of global manufacturing and sustainability, told Automotive News.

GM will add more EVs to its lineup this year while also maintaining production of combustion models. This week, GM committed to invest more than $1 billion at two plants in Flint, Mich., for the next generation of its gasoline-powered heavy-duty Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

It previously converted its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in Michigan into Factory Zero, its first all-EV plant, to build the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV and soon …

The Ram brand is getting a new leader.

Stellantis on Tuesday said Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis will also be Ram's CEO starting July 1. He replaces Mike Koval Jr., who will head the Mopar North America parts unit instead.

The change in leadership for Ram, which is Stellantis' second-largest U.S. brand after Jeep, comes as it prepares to launch an electric van this year followed by the electric 1500 REV pickup in 2024.

The moves are part of a shuffle that involves several other Stellantis executives as well.

"These changes demonstrate that the diversity of talent and experience inside Stellantis' Top Executive Team make it possible to adapt our leadership team to address the challenging business environment while continuing the success story that this team has built over the past two and a half years with the focused execution of the Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan," Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement.

Olivier Francois, the automake…

Bridgewater Interiors CEO Ron Hall talks about how suppliers like him are faring in 2023 as well as persistent challenges for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the sector. Ford hires a new supply chain chief to tackle surging costs. And a racism lawsuit against Tesla draws almost 240 Black workers.

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

Android

Spotify