Trade News

Enforcement actions from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under its new director are likely, according to senior executives at the American Financial Services Association.

Danielle Fagre Arlowe and Celia Winslow, senior vice presidents at AFSA, said state and federal scrutiny in the automotive finance industry will sharpen under Democratic leadership. Their remarks were made during a Tuesday presentation at the organization's virtual conference.

"The CFPB is going to pick up exactly where it left off with [former director Richard] Cordray," Winslow said. "There's going to be a renewed determination to get back to its roots, but possibly, [there will] be a little bit more of a focus on enforcement."

Winslow highlighted areas of fair lending and voluntary protection products as targets for the new administration at the federal agency, which she said will have familiar faces from the Obama administration at the highest levels.

There's been a…

The push for a single federal credit reporting agency would be futile, according to an executive at the American Financial Services Association.

The logistical and financial challenges of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launching and maintaining such an agency would be unrealistic, said Celia Winslow, AFSA senior vice president.

Proponents of a single national agency believe the methods used by the three credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax and TransUnion — to collect consumer data and create scores harm consumers.

"The best credit reporting agencies in the world are in the United States. But nonetheless, there's been this look at the problems with our system, and the thought is, if the CFPB did its own database, that would fix it," Winslow said.

"The CFPB, even with all its resources, it's still limited in what it can do."

Credit scores remain the primary system to determine if a consumer is capable of repaying an auto loan, though …

In another quarterly earnings cycle studded with record gains amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, finance-and-insurance profits at all six public new-car retailers stood out as a leading driver in 2020's fourth quarter.

Despite dwindling new- and used-vehicle inventory, virus constraints and an increase in digital transactions, F&I profits continued to climb at the industry's largest public new-car retailers. Robust profits in the back half of the year were enough for half the publics to eke out stronger full-year profits over 2019.

AutoNation Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., boosted fourth-quarter F&I profit per vehicle retailed 11 percent to a record $2,209. Sonic Automotive Inc.'s record finance and insurance gross profits were most improved over the previous year's quarter, surging 12 percent to $1,855 on a same-store basis. In total, the Charlotte, N.C., company's F&I profit per vehicle eclipsed $2,000 for the first time in…

The Boss met the Man in Newark on Wednesday.

The Garden State’s favorite son, Bruce Springsteen, appeared before a federal judge on drunk driving charges after police stopped him in mid-November on his motorcycle at the Jersey Shore. He pleaded not guilty to all three misdemeanor charges against him, then admitted to one of them as the U.S. moved to drop two.

The judge fined Springsteen $500 and asked the affluent rock star how long he needed to pay.

“I can pay that immediately, your honor,” Springsteen replied.

Springsteen was arrested on Nov. 14 at Sandy Hook, a six-mile peninsula that forms the northern end of New Jersey’s Atlantic coast and is a popular destination for beachgoers and a recreational haven. He was charged with driving while intoxicated, reckless driving and possession of alcohol in a closed area, and admitted to the last charge.

Each violation is a class B misdemeanor that carries up to a $5,000 fine and six months in ja…

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Postal Service said on Tuesday it will award a multibillion-dollar, 10-year contract to Oshkosh Defense to manufacture a new generation of postal delivery vehicles.

Under the initial $482 million investment, Oshkosh Defense, a unit of Oshkosh Corp, will finalize the production design, testing and vehicle tooling necessary prior to vehicle production.

The contract, which could be worth more than $6 billion in total, allows for delivery of between 50,000 to 165,000 of the vehicles over 10 years that will be a mix of internal combustion-powered and battery-electric vehicles. Oshkosh had teamed up with Ford Motor Co. on its proposal based on a Transit van.

Current USPS delivery vehicles are nearly 30 years old on average. An audit report last year said USPS spent $5,000 alone per delivery vehicle annually on maintenance costs.

Oshkosh shares rose about 6.1 percent to $109.62 on the news.

USPS, which began planning to repl…

LOS ANGELES — Kia's replacement for the Sedona minivan has a fun new name — Carnival — and styling that is supposed to make U.S. shoppers think of a boxy SUV.

Kia describes it as a "multipurpose vehicle," or MPV, which is synonymous with the minivan segment in markets outside the U.S. Carnival is the vehicle's global name.

On sale in the second quarter of the year as a 2022 model, the Carnival also breaks with the "minivan" moniker in terms of size.

The three-row vehicle can seat up to eight people and has 168 cubic feet of passenger room and 145 cubic feet of cargo room, accessed from sliding doors on each side, the company said during a presentation Tuesday.

"Carnival is here to disrupt a staid segment and proves once again what is possible when conventions are shattered," said Sean Yoon, CEO of Kia Motors America. "With its SUV-like character, our new multipurpose vehicle delivers a combination of premium design, intelligent packaging and an a…

The complete reinvention of Jaguar is perhaps the toughest assignment of Gerry McGovern's career.

McGovern, Jaguar Land Rover's chief creative officer, will oversee the team charged with one of the biggest jobs in the industry: developing a completely new design language for a luxury brand. And Jaguar is not just any luxury brand.

It's a marque whose key appeal has always been about melding extraordinarily handsome design with advanced technology in an attainable package. Jaguar's sexy sports cars and sensuous sedans from the late 1940s to the mid-'80s were some of the industry's most admired vehicles new and remain some of the hottest classics today. Style never goes out of style.

If you are familiar with McGovern's large body of work, you know he's not going to spend much time looking in Jaguar's rearview mirror for inspiration, especially not now when he's got a blank canvas on which to work.

Jaguar will cease to exist as we know it in four ye…

On Feb. 23, 1892, Rudolf Diesel obtained German patent RP 67207 for an internal combustion engine that required no ignition source and proved over time far more mechanically efficient than contemporary steam engines. The diesel engine also became widely adaptable.

Diesel was born in Paris and became fascinated with engine design at an early age. He later graduated from Munich Polytechnic.

He once marveled at the pneumatic cigarette lighter: small pieces of tinder packed in a little glass tube. With a piston, air was compressed in the tube, and the tinder would glow.

He began development on a new engine concept as early as 1885 and wanted to create an engine that was far more efficient than the steam- and gasoline-fueled engines of the time.

Diesel, inspired by French physicist Nicolas Leonard Sadi Carnot and Munich professor Carl von Linde, calculated he could produce an internal combustion engine capable of converting …