Trade News

Former Prime Automotive Group CEO David Rosenberg has purchased two more stores as he continues to build a new dealership group.

Rosenberg, with partners and brothers Rick and Mike Bickford, on June 30 bought Tri-City Subaru and Tri-City Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Somersworth, N.H.

The sellers were brothers Kenneth Plante, Roger Plante and Steve Plante. Rosenberg says he is keeping the stores' names, while Jordan Plante, a family member of the sellers, will remain general manager of the Subaru store. Somersworth is about 20 miles from the Atlantic coast.

"The stores have a great reputation," Rosenberg told Automotive News. "They've been in business a long time. We're keeping all the staff that works at both dealerships."

Rosenberg, a longtime Northeast dealer, said he previously worked with the Bickford brothers at Prime and described them as "great operators." They own a combined 40 percent in the dealerships, he said.

"It's been the…

The inventory shortage on new and used vehicles prompted by the microchip shortage is changing finance-and-insurance conversations in dealerships, experts say, as consumers consider their purchase more valuable.

Auto dealerships report increased ease in generating profits in the finance-and-insurance office, from dealer reserves rising alongside vehicle transaction prices to an increased appreciation for protection products.

Jason Garner, senior vice president of strategic product development at AUL Corp., said the dearth of new-vehicle inventory is driving up used-car pricing to astonishing heights — so much so that some used cars may be sell for more than their new counterparts. Lenders are cautious when underwriting loans at inflated levels, he said, which can benefit dealers.

"Lenders are giving a lot of leeway and giving more room for aftermarket products to allow the dealers to make money," Garner said.

Customers …

Longtime Tulsa, Okla., auto dealer Don Thornton died Friday at age 87.

Thornton spent more than 50 years in the business. He got his start working in automotive sales at Greensboro Ford in his native North Carolina after serving several years in the U.S. Air Force. In 1966, he moved to Dallas and became general sales manager for Maher Brothers Ford.

Thornton later moved to Tulsa. In the 1970s, he purchased Southland Volkswagen and later acquired Crawford Ford, which became Don Thornton Ford. Despite suffering from floods in 1974, 1976 and 1984, the store managed to win numerous awards. Don Thornton Ford was the top-volume store in Tulsa for many years, according to his obituary. He sold the store in 1998.

Thornton purchased Lexus and Land Rover dealerships in 2000 and added Cadillac, Volkswagen, Audi and Jaguar franchises over the next 15 years.

He was a member of the dealer councils for Ford and Lexus. He also had serve…

Elon Musk was cool but combative as he testified in a Delaware courtroom that Tesla Inc.’s more than $2 billion acquisition of SolarCity in 2016 wasn’t a bailout of the struggling solar provider.

Musk said he “definitely” did not have any sway over the company’s board when it approved the SolarCity deal. The Tesla CEO also denied vowing to retaliate against any director who voted against the acquisition and said he had no control over their compensation or board committee assignments.

Shareholders suing Musk claim he got the company to essentially rescue another firm that he also controlled. The suit contends that Musk and Tesla’s board breached their fiduciary duties when they orchestrated the acquisition of SolarCity, an installer of rooftop solar panels. In June 2016, Musk was the chair and the largest shareholder of both companies when he stunned Wall Street by announcing that Tesla would acquire SolarCity in a deal he later called a “no brainer.”

M…

The severe chip shortage that has disrupted light-vehicle output worldwide put a dent in second-quarter China sales at Ford Motor Co. and its two joint ventures, with volume dropping 3.6 percent from a year earlier to 152,885 vehicles.

Lincoln deliveries surged 65 percent to 22,934 during the latest three-month period but sales of Ford-badged passenger vehicles slumped 19 percent. Deliveries of commercial vehicles marketed under the Ford and JMC brands contracted 3.2 percent, Ford’s China unit said, without disclosing specific volumes.

In addition to the two joint ventures, Ford imports vehicles under the Ford and Lincoln brands.

Changan Ford, the Dearborn, Mich., company’s partnership with Changan Automobile Co., produces and markets four sedans – the Focus, Escort, Mondeo and Taurus -- and three crossovers -- the Kuga, Escape and Explorer.

Jiangling Motors Corp., a three-way joint venture between Ford, Changan and Jiangling Motors Group, bu…

Deliveries of new light vehicles in China will advance 9.5 percent to 22.1 million in 2021 after contracting for three straight years, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers predicted.

The trade group made the forecast after releasing industry sales tallies for June at a virtual news briefing on June 8.

New light-vehicle sales across China declined for the second consecutive month in June, slipping 11 percent to below 1.57 million, because of an acute semiconductor chip shortage that has upended output and inventory.

The group previously forecast volume would rise 6.5 percent this year as the market continues to rebound from the pandemic and benefits from government stimulus.

Behind a strong rebound in the first quarter, first-half light-vehicle deliveries industrywide jumped 27 percent to top 10 million.

CAAM expects sales of new vehicles including trucks and buses to rise 6.7 percent to 27 million this year, with demand for ele…

DETROIT -- General Motors is turning to a German parts supplier to make the initial, small production run of its new electric commercial van in a move to get the vehicle quickly into the hands of customer FedEx, three people familiar with the matter said.

The decision to use Kuka AG to build the EV600 vans is not typical in the industry. But it shows the automaker's desire to stick to a plan to roll out the vehicle in late 2021, said Travis Katz, chief executive of GM's BrightDrop commercial van business.

"We are working alongside Kuka for initial low-volume production to keep up with market demand and remain on track to deliver our first EV600 order later this year," Katz said in a statement to Reuters.

GM announced the BrightDrop commercial van business in January.

"They just want to get them going," Mike Van Boekel, chairman of Unifor Local 88, which represents about 1,500 hourly workers at GM's CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, which …

JM&A President Dan Chait discusses how the F&I giant will benefit from its alliance with J.D. Power and what the companies have in the product pipeline.

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