Trade News

Volkswagen rode growing crossover demand to total U.S. sales of 90,853 -- up 21 percent -- in the first quarter. The addition of the Atlas Cross Sport and ID4 offset a 13 percent slide in car volume at the VW brand. Meanwhile, Audi sales rose 33 percent in the quarter to 54,840 on growth from its crossover lineup.

Brands: VW, up 21%; Audi, up 33%; Porsche, up 45%

Notable nameplates: VW Atlas, up 35%; Tiguan, up 23%; Jetta, up 6.2%; Audi Q5, up 48%; Q7, up 24%; A6, up 25%; E-tron, up 103%

Incentives (including Porsche): $4,100 per vehicle, down 8.9% from a year earlier, TrueCar says

Average transaction price (including Porsche): $44,496, up 8.5% from a year earlier, according to TrueCar

Quote: "You're going to see a retail market ahead of 2019 because that trend is baked in now, and it was accentuated in March. We got a particularly strong push on the back of some of the stimulus money and other effects that re…

American Honda set a sales record for the month of March, powered by surging deliveries of the freshened Ridgeline midsize pickup at the Honda brand and best-ever deliveries for the redesigned MDX midsize crossover at the Acura brand.

Combined sales at the two brands rose 93 percent in March, compared with a year earlier when the U.S. began the national coronavirus lockdown. Combined sales for the quarter rose 16 percent, with passenger-car deliveries down 6.8 percent and light trucks rising 34 percent, Honda said on Thursday.

Brands: Honda, up 86% in March and 14% in the first quarter; Acura, up 153% in March and 33% in the quarter

Notable nameplates: Honda Civic, up 34% in March; Honda Accord, up 45%; Honda Pilot, up 89%; Honda Ridgeline, up 232%; Acura TLX, up 109%; Acura MDX, up 310%; Acura RDX, up 76%

Incentives: $2,193 per vehicle, down 19% from a year earlier, TrueCar says

Average transaction price: $31…

Hyundai Motor Group's trio of brands set U.S. sales records across the board in March, with Hyundai and Kia posting their best month ever and luxury marque Genesis posting its best March ever.

The Korean brands benefited from a fresh influx of crossovers, including a record month for the Hyundai Palisade and the best March for the Kia Telluride. Both share a midsize crossover platform with three rows of seating.

Over at Genesis, the arrival of the GV80 midsize crossover has sharply boosted the fortunes of the upstart luxury brand that was held back by its sedan-only lineup before the GV80's U.S. launch late last year.

Hyundai and Kia have been able to keep U.S. factories running despite industry supply chain issues in recent weeks, as well as maintain a steady flow of vehicles from South Korea, where all Genesis vehicles are made.

At the three Hyundai group brands combined, U.S. sales rose 78 percent in March compared with a year earlier to 144,93…

Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales rose 26 percent in March, while creeping up 0.6 percent in the first quarter as the company bounces back from the pandemic that stung the industry a year earlier and continues to have lingering effects on the economy. Higher light-truck volume offset weaker car sales, the company reported.

The new Ford Bronco Sport and Mustang Mach-E provided reinforcements to help push Ford's first-quarter volume up.

Brands: Ford up 0.7%; Lincoln down 0.6%.

Notable nameplates: First quarter: F-series, up 9.2%; Mustang, down 4.4%; Escape, off 15%; Explorer, up 16%; Ranger, up 15%; Aviator, up 7.4%; Navigator, up 26%; Corsair, up 26%

Incentives: $3,144 per vehicle, down 21.9% from a year earlier, TrueCar says

Average transaction price: $44,293, up 3.6% from a year earlier, according to TrueCar

Quote: "Ford's retail sales exceeded 2020 and 2019 sales levels. Our customers are really embracing our new electrified vehicle…

Honda Motor Co. said on Thursday it will resume normal production April 5 at its automobile, engine and transmission plants in North America after production cuts impacted all of its U.S., Mexican and Canadian auto plants.

The Japanese automaker's production cuts began on March 22 stemming from COVID-19, congestion at various ports, the microchip shortage and severe winter weather.

DETROIT — General Motors' U.S. light-vehicle sales rose 3.7 percent in the first quarter on gains by all of its brands except Chevrolet. But the automaker ended the quarter with only half as much inventory as it had a year earlier.

GM delivered 639,406 vehicles from January through March, the automaker said Thursday. It ended the quarter with 334,628 on hand, compared with 668,443 a year earlier. Its supplies shrank by 76,247 during the first quarter, in part because of production shutdowns resulting from the industry's microchip shortage.

"Over the last year, our dealers, supply chain and manufacturing teams have gone above and beyond to satisfy customers as demand for GM products rose sharply," Steve Carlisle, president of GM North America, said in a statement. "The great teamwork continues. Sales are off to a strong start in 2021, we are operating our truck and full-size SUV plants at full capacity and we plan to recover lost car and crossover prod…

Yark Automotive Group has acquired Kistler Ford in Toledo as the group expands its footprint in the Ohio city to six stores.

Yark on Wednesday bought the store from Bobby Jorgensen. Terms were not disclosed, though the dealership's name has been changed to Yark Ford.

Yark's dealership portfolio in Toledo includes Yark BMW, Yark Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram-Fiat, Yark Mazda, Yark Nissan and Yark Subaru. The group also owns Yark Chevrolet in nearby Perrysburg, Ohio, and Yark Toyota in Maumee, Ohio.

In February 2020, Yark's Alfa Romeo dealership closed and was replaced with a Mazda franchise when Yark purchased Brown Mazda, The Toledo Blade reported at the time.

Toledo-based Yark ranks No. 143 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 6,660 new vehicles in 2019.

The Tim Lamb Group represented Jorgensen in the transaction.

Lawyers for former Reynolds and Reynolds Co. CEO Bob Brockman have asked a judge to delay a competency hearing in a federal tax fraud case after Brockman recently was hospitalized for an undisclosed medical condition.

Brockman's attorneys are seeking to move a June 29 hearing to determine whether he is competent to assist in his defense against federal charges of tax evasion and wire fraud to Aug. 16, according to a motion filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where the case is pending.

U.S. District Judge George Hanks Jr. had not yet decided on the motion as of Wednesday afternoon.

Prosecutors do not oppose the request, Brockman's attorneys noted in the filing.

Brockman, 79, was taken to the emergency room at Houston Methodist Hospital on March 14 and later admitted to a neurosensory center, his attorneys said in a court filing. He was released March 19. Details about the medical …

DETROIT — The UAW last year began to recoup strike funds lost in 2019's 40-day walkout at General Motors and also recovered tens of thousands of dollars improperly spent by a disgraced ex-president.

The union's net income rose more than 10 percent to $12.7 million last year, and overall net assets rose slightly to $1.13 billion, according to an annual financial report filed Wednesday with the Department of Labor.

The UAW said its strike fund rose to $790 million in 2020 following the GM strike, which cost it $80 million. The union said the coronavirus pandemic had some financial advantages, with travel expenses down $3 million and meeting expenses off $1.5 million.

Membership dipped slightly to 397,073 in 2020, from 398,829 in 2019.

"The UAW managed a very difficult pandemic year reporting steady membership numbers and weathering pandemic shutdowns," UAW President Rory L. Gamble said in a statement. "The membership r…

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is again cutting production of the nation's bestselling vehicle due to an ongoing shortage of semiconductors roiling the auto industry.

The automaker said Wednesday that F-150 production at its truck plant in Dearborn, Mich., will be down the weeks of April 5 and 12 and it will cancel overtime there the weeks of April 26, May 10, May 31 and June 21. The truck side of its other F-150 plant, Kansas City Assembly, will go down the week of April 5. Overtime for the truck side of the plant will be canceled the weeks of April 12, April 19, April 26, May 3, May 10, May 17, June 7 and June 14.

The van side of Kansas City Assembly, where workers build the Transit, will slash overtime the weeks of April 5, 12 and 19.

Additionally, Ford said its Louisville Assembly Plant, where workers make the Escape and Lincoln Corsair crossovers, will be down the weeks of April 12 and 19. Oakville Assembly in Ontario, Canada, home to the Edge and Lincoln…