Ford Launches F-150 Lightning
Ford’s new Lightning is the fastest-accelerating F-150 yet and the only full-size electric pickup available now with a starting price of less than $40,000 Ford began building the truck on April 26 at Ford’s historic Rouge Complex. The Ford F-Series has been America’s...Toyota NA chief Lentz to retire March 31; COO Ogawa named successor
Jim Lentz — the CEO of Toyota Motor North America for the past seven years and the man who helped guide the Japanese automaker’s North American operations for the past 14 years — will retire effective March 31 at the end...Mercedes exec outlines next steps in road toward autonomous driving
Sajjad Khan heads up Mercedes-Benz’s future technology development, grouped under the name CASE, short for connected, autonomous, shared and electric. He recently spoke to Automotive News Europe Correspondent Christiaan Hetzner about the challenges slowing the...Volkswagen headquarters raided again over diesel scandal
FRANKFURT — German public prosecutors raided the Wolfsburg headquarters of Volkswagen on Tuesday in the latest investigation into the automaker’s diesel emissions scandal. Prosecutors said investigators aimed to confiscate documents. Volkswagen, which...Renault-Nissan plans to reboot alliance with new overseer
PARIS — Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi plan to appoint a general secretary at the helm of their partnership to boost cooperation and reboot joint operations after the departure of former alliance CEO Carlos Ghosn. Renault is trying to repair relations with its...Sell BHPH Auto Notes |Sell BHPH Notes- Sell Auto Portfolio
David Marsh of GM (right) and Amir Hever of UVeye. Photo courtesy of GM.DETROITGeneral Motors, though its venture capital arm, GM Ventures, has invested an undisclosed amount in UVeye, an advanced vehicle inspection systems developer. The companies also entered a commercial agreement to explore placing the inspection system in GM dealerships throughout various markets and a strategic collaboration agreement which calls for the two to work on several vehicle-inspection technology projects. UVeye uses artificial intelligence, machine learning and high-definition camera technology to spot things such as worn tires, underbody damage and exterior scratches, defects and other imperfections or irregularities, when… [...]
Image by siam.pukkato / Shutterstock.comWholesale prices softened by 0.15% during the week going into the Fourth of July weekend. However, why Black Book said it was “no surprise” values moved in that direction might not be fortuitous for either auctions or dealerships. Analysts continued in the newest installment of Market Insights by saying, “with the exception of the compact and full-size van segments, all segments reported softening last week, leading up to the July 4th holiday weekend. “In recent weeks, the sales rates at the auctions have been trending downward and dealer sentiment is that leads have softened, so it… [...]
Ron Hope, during Used Car Week 2017. Photo by Jonathan Fredin.CARS Recon has a new president. In a move that was effective Friday, director of operations and client services Becky Anderson is now president and will lead day-to-day operations, strategy and planning. CARS Recon chief executive officer and board chairman Ron Hope (formerly the president) will remain in those positions but will not be directly involved in the daily operations. Anderson has been with the company since 2021. Also on the senior management team now are Philip Hall, senior vice president of finance/administration, and Ed Gilley, senior vice president of… [...]
Group 1 Automotive has exited Brazil. The dealer group said Tuesday it has closed on the disposition of its operations in the South American country, after nine years there. Group 1’s wholly owned subsidiary GPI SA, LLC closed the sale under the share purchase agreement with Original Holdings S.A. UAB Motors Participações Ltda., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Houston-based dealer group, was an intervening party. Per the agreement, Original acquired all of the issued and equity interests of UAB from Group 1 for 510 million BRL in cash. “I want to thank our employees in Brazil for… [...]
A new study from Rapid Recon-certified partner iPacket identified the three most convincing documents utilize when used-vehicle buyers are evaluating their purchase decision. The study results released on Tuesday pointed to authentic OEM MSRP data, new-vehicle brochures and reconditioning receipts For the study, Rapid Recon and iPacket explained that click activity and time spent were measured on various modules or documents provided in participating dealers’ digital vehicle presentations on their websites. Combined, according to a news release, authentic OEM MSRP data, the reconditioning receipts and the new-vehicle brochure accounted for 36.6% of all click activity (99,190 clicks) and 42.3% of… [...]