California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed AB 179, enacting new dealer protections against below-market warranty reimbursement rates and OEM-ordered facility upgrades. The bill also allows dealers to issue recall notices without violating new data privacy rules.
October 15, 2019
Electrek reports Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to open ‘Tesla Centers’ around the U.S., once again challenging rules against direct-to-consumer sales. Sources say the firm’s Electric division could provide a workaround.
October 14, 2019
U.S. sales of new cars and light trucks fell 12% year-over-year in September, suppressed in part by a Labor Day weekend allotted to August. Few were spared the sting, with all six of America’s and Japan’s biggest factories reporting double-digit declines.
October 3, 2019
Stock are on the rise following the second quarter-point reduction to the federal funds rate in less than two months. No further cuts are planned for this year or next, guaranteeing further pressure from the White House.
September 19, 2019
Motorcars Honda of Cleveland Heights has been purchased and renamed by the nine-store Foundation Automotive group. The Ohio store was recognized by BP as the world’s first carbon-neutral auto dealership in 2016.
September 18, 2019
National Automobile Dealers Association officials have told the FTC that proposed new provisions to the Safeguards Rule may be unnecessary and could cost smaller dealers more than $400,000 in the first calendar year of enforcement.
September 9, 2019
U.S. sales of new cars and light trucks fell 1.2% year-over-year in August, a sales month that extended through the Labor Day weekend and set new records for Honda, Toyota, and Subaru.
September 5, 2019
2019 marks the last model-year for the Fiat 500, 500e, and 500 Abarth in the U.S. and Canada, ending a 10-year production run and leaving the 500X CUV, 500L, and 124 Spider as the Italian brand’s only North American models.
September 4, 2019
Toyota Motor Credit will offer loans, leases, and F&I products to Mazda’s U.S. dealers and customers, replacing the JPMorgan Chase-backed Mazda Capital Services as the factory’s captive finance company.
August 29, 2019
Volvo dealers will soon be allowed to pull new vehicles off their lots and into the Care by Volvo sub service, a significant change that leads a list of reported revisions to the embattled program.
August 28, 2019
Hoover Mitsubishi’s Mark Hoover has sued two former employees accused of doctoring auto loan applications, a scheme that led to an FBI raid and the shuttering of the dealership.
August 21, 2019
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Nissan Motor Acceptance will pay $3 million to settle charges that it unlawfully repossessed 113 vehicles belonging to active military members.
August 7, 2019
July deliveries increased 1.3% in the first monthly U.S. new-vehicle sales report to include none of the Detroit 3 automakers, but the seasonally adjusted annualized rate fell below 17 million for the fourth time this year.
August 2, 2019
Facing new global realities and pressure on multiple fronts, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade in an attempt to prolong the economic expansion.
August 1, 2019
The starting prices for the Model X SUV and Model S sedan went up nearly $5,000 overnight following the abrupt deletion of their ‘standard range’ variants from Tesla’s lineup.
July 17, 2019