Automotive News

France beats Germany, Netherlands to host the ProLogium battery plantFrance beats Germany, Netherlands to host the ProLogium battery plant

May 16, 2023| 5:30 pm

Macron, who personally met with ProLogium CEO Vincent Yang at the start of the vetting process, was due on Friday to officially announce in Dunkirk the 5.2-billion-euro ($5.7 billion) investment. Gilles Normand, ProLogium executive vice-president, said that after Macron, a former investment banker, pitched Yang more than a year ago Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire followed up and helped make the company’s case with the European Commission for EU financial incentives. “There was then the realization that there might be some interesting possibilities, which was maybe a little bit different from the clichés about France,” Normand told a small group… [...]

Shift Q1 earnings: Company reviewing ‘strategic alternatives’Shift Q1 earnings: Company reviewing ‘strategic alternatives’

May 15, 2023| 5:28 pm

Online used-vehicle retailer Shift Technologies Inc. said Thursday its board of directors is working with management and financial and legal advisers to assess a range of “strategic alternatives” for the company. in a statementShift said its board of directors was conducting a process to “explore and evaluate strategic alternatives, including exploring a potential sale of certain operating businesses, third party investment or partnership opportunities and/or funding alternatives for our marketplace business, to further enhance value for all stakeholders.” The company said its board did not set a timetable for the completion of the review process. There is “no assurance” it… [...]

Braking defect prompts Tesla’s big recall in ChinaBraking defect prompts Tesla’s big recall in China

May 14, 2023| 5:19 pm

Tesla Inc. recalled virtually every car it’s sold in China due to a braking and acceleration defect that may increase crashes and safety risks. The automaker will deploy an over-the-air software fix to more than 1.1 million vehicles produced in Shanghai from January 2019 to April this year, plus some models imported into China, the State Administration for Market Regulation said Friday in a statement. The defect relates to Tesla’s regenerative braking system, which makes use of energy created when drivers take their foot off the accelerator by sending power to the car’s battery. The vehicles haven’t allowed drivers to… [...]

Kia and Hyundai Break-Ins On the Rise in KentKia and Hyundai Break-Ins On the Rise in Kent

May 13, 2023| 6:45 pm

Social media challenges, which have steadily increased since 2020, range from silly and benign to downright dangerous and harmful. One of the latest harmful challenges to hit social media this summer is the “Kia Challenge”—and it continues to gain momentum across the country. The Kia Challenge is a TikTok trend that encourages social media users to steal Kias manufactured between 2011-2021 and Hyundais made between 2015 and 2021. These models are being targeted because they don’t come with an engine immobilizer, which is a piece of hardware that prevents the engine from starting if the matching chip in the key… [...]

45% of used-vehicle loan terms ‘frighteningly’ long at 84 months, up from 25% in 202145% of used-vehicle loan terms ‘frighteningly’ long at 84 months, up from 25% in 2021

May 13, 2023| 5:05 pm

With high vehicle values and high interest rates compromising affordability, buyers — particularly entry-level ones — have been forced to extend borrowing time frames, Ross said. “Consumers are looking to stay in a consistent monthly payment range to what they used to previously, so the only thing they have is to elongate that loan term,” he said. Ross, Karwel and Abraham saw little relief in sight for buyers as both new- and used-vehicle inventories remained tight. UPSIDE: MORE F&I SALES For dealers, however, the longer loan timelines are creating opportunities. Finance and insurance products, once pitched when selling new-vehicle sales,… [...]

McLaren reportedly confirms four-door model and next flagship supercarMcLaren reportedly confirms four-door model and next flagship supercar

May 13, 2023| 2:33 pm

See Full Image Gallery McLaren’s on-again, off-again four-door model has received the green light for production, according to an unverified report. The company is also allegedly working on a new flagship model that will take the torch from the long-retired P1 and get Formula One-derived technology. Citing anonymous dealer sources, industry trade journal Automotive News wrote that the first four-door McLaren model will make its debut by the end of the 2020s. “[McLaren will] bring in another class of automobile in 2028. Stay tuned. It may have four doors and four seats,” Jamie Corstorphine, the British company’s director [...]

Cupra announced Raval as the name of small electric hatchbackCupra announced Raval as the name of small electric hatchback

May 12, 2023| 4:59 pm

Also on Thursday, the Seat announced record operating profit for the first quarter of 2023, at 144 million euros, compared with five million euros in the first quarter of 2022. Revenue was 3.6 billion euros, 48 percent higher than the first quarter of 2022. Cupra began as a trim line of Seat and became its own sub-brand under former CEO Luca de Meo, now CEO of Renault Group. Cupra is now Seat’s main growth driver, Seat said. Seat said Cupra sold 46,600 units during the first quarter of 2023, 83 percent more than in the same period in 2022. Seat… [...]

BMW Q1 earnings: Higher margins for the car businessBMW Q1 earnings: Higher margins for the car business

May 10, 2023| 4:47 pm

BERLIN — BMW AG reported a higher earnings margin for its cars segment, with a rise to 12.1 percent in the first quarter from 8.9 percent a year earlier. BMW benefited from continued stable pricing for both new and used cars, it said in a statement on Thursday. The automaker attributed a drop in first-quarter earnings before tax to 5.1 billion euros ($5.65 billion) from 12.2 billion last year to the impact of last year’s full consolidation of its Chinese joint venture, BMW Brilliance Automotive. The company kept its outlook unchanged in the face of ongoing high costs and rising… [...]

What dealerships service managers are readingWhat dealerships service managers are reading

May 9, 2023| 4:34 pm

When I was first starting at Automotive News a few years back and trying to learn the service and parts business, Lee Harkins, CEO of dealership training company M5 Management Services, let me be a fly on the wall at one of his performance group meetings. I must not have made too big of a nuisance of myself because I’ve been invited back to every meeting since, including one a couple weeks ago in Orlando. The discussions there were the same: What are you struggling with? Where are you having success? What’s one best practice you want to [...]

April sales up 2.3% but still below pre-pandemic levelsApril sales up 2.3% but still below pre-pandemic levels

May 8, 2023| 4:26 pm

New light-vehicle sales in April were up 2.3 per cent compared with the same period last year, but still below pre-pandemic levels, at an estimated 144,069 units compared with 180,616 in April 2019, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. Sales in April were also slightly below March. All figures are estimates now that the vast majority of automakers report sales on only a quarterly basis. DesRosiers managing partner Andrew King said in a statement that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales for April was 1.48 million units. King says that’s easily the weakest reading so far in 2023, and a… [...]

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