Trade News

Pickups, a small light-vehicle segment in the Chinese market, are poised for robust growth as more governments relax rules over their use, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers predicts. 

Annual pickup sales in China could reach 840,000 in 2025, more than double 2021 levels, if Beijing keeps pushing provincial governments to allow pickups to be operated in local cities, according to a new forecast from the industry trade group.

Annual volume could further expand to 1.67 million by 2030, CAAM added. Pickups, along with other light trucks such as crossovers and SUVS, have become some of the auto industry's most profitable models, especially in markets such as the U.S. In China, they are still mostly a basic, utilitarian vehicle used in rural areas.

Chinese provinces in 2000 started to ban pickups in urban areas in a bid to ease traffic congestion and control air pollution. 

To boost the slowing economy, Beijing in 2016 began to…

Volkswagen Group underperformed in the Chinese market in the first nine months with local production severely contained by the global semiconductor chip crunch.

The group’s China deliveries dropped 4.1 percent from a year earlier to some 2.55 million units through September, the German auto giant said.

By contrast, the overall Chinese market for light vehicles including sedans, crossovers, SUVs, multipurpose vehicles and minibuses advanced 11 percent to approach 14.86 million vehicles over the same period.

In the first three quarters, gains at the German group’s luxury brands offset declines at its volume marques.

Audi sales rose 9.9 percent to 563,600 while Porsche deliveries jumped 11 percent to 69,800. 

But volume of the flagship Volkswagen brand declined 5 percent to below 1.86 million, while deliveries at Skoda tumbled 58 percent to 52,700.

Despite the latest declines, VW remained the top carmaker in China by sales in the f…

CarSaver CEO Chad Collier explains how the company's technology is powering Nissan's digital-retailing efforts and why the auto industry still trails other sectors in online sales.

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Despite a dip in new-vehicle sales in the third quarter, Sonic Automotive Inc. still reached record third-quarter revenue thanks to higher gross profits per unit on new and used vehicles and increased sales from its expanding EchoPark network of used-only stores.

The company said third-quarter net income surged 41 percent to $84.5 million. Shares in Sonic fell 1.2 percent to $49.03 in early trading.

Sonic's franchised dealerships ended the quarter with a new-vehicle inventory of 2,400 vehicles, just a 10-day supply, and a used-vehicle inventory of 8,200 vehicles, a 27-day supply. Used-vehicle inventory at its EchoPark stores was slightly higher at 9,800 vehicles, a 41-day supply, Sonic said.

Sonic's EchoPark stores generated all-time-high quarterly revenue of $663.3 million, soaring 72 percent. The used-only unit did post a pretax loss of $32.9 million, up from a loss a $14.4 million in the second quarter, which Sonic again pinned on expansion-related co…

Fuji Oozx Inc. is one of hundreds of automotive-parts suppliers in Japan whose very existence is being threatened by the world's shift toward electric vehicles.

For almost 70 years, the company has been making intake valves, essential components of any gasoline car. They control the flow of gasoline in and out of an engine's cylinder. Typically made of copper, they're light and highly heat resistant and use a decades-old technology not needed in any EV.

"We have to start looking for a new business," President Satoshi Tsujimoto said from his office adjacent to Fuji Oozx's factory in Shizuoka prefecture, an elongated region that traces the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Fuji Oozx supplies automakers including Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co.

Valves for boat engines are one option, but the company's board is also looking further afield, such as branching into med…

BERLIN -- Mercedes-Benz is given the famed SL an AMG badge after upgrading the roadster with all-wheel drive, a stiffer body structure and powerful engines.

The latest generation of the Porsche 911 fighter, unveiled Thursday, is the first SL created by the brand's AMG performance division. It will be sold exclusively as a Mercedes-AMG model and go on sale in the U.S. in the first half of 2022.

In a major change, the Mercedes-AMG SL also gets a soft top roof, replacing the previous generation's hard top, and a 2+2 seating configuration.

The roadster is underpinned by Mercedes' lightweight composite aluminum Modular Sports Architecture. The torsional rigidity of the body shell structure is increased 18 percent and, together with the low center of gravity, the construction gives the car outstanding driving dynamics, Mercedes said in a statement.

The SL will be launched with AMG's 4.0-liter V-8 twin-turbocharged engine with power outputs of 585 hp an…

Pop quiz: What counts as more than $10,000 in cash in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service and must be reported on Form 8300?

Those in dealership F&I offices are often confused on this point, according to Shannon Robertson, executive director of the Association of Finance and Insurance Professionals.

"This is a common area that we find in AFIP that is misunderstood, misapplied," he told the Ethical F&I Managers Conference last month.

Robertson said that it's possible for one of his training classes to spend as much as 45 minutes on the topic "just because of the amount of questions that get asked."

Form 8300 is a joint IRS-Financial Crimes Enforcement Network requirement meant to alert officials to criminals and tax evaders. Businesses receiving more than $10,000 in cash often must fill out the document, the agency said.

"Although the cash reporting requirements apply to many types of businesses, auto dealerships frequently rece…

BERLIN -- A cyberattack on German supplier Eberspaecher has led to an emergency short-time work schedule at the company's headquarters in Esslingen, Germany.

The supplier has agreed to the plan with the IG Metall trade union, a company spokeswoman told the dpa press agency on Wednesday.

Production is still at a standstill at many of the supplier's factories, including its large plant in Neunkirchen, Germany, where employees stood in front of closed doors, Automotive News Europe's sister publication Automobilwoche reported.

So far, no customers in Europe or the U.S. -- including BMW, Stellantis, VW and Audi -- have reported production cuts related to the episode.

For security reasons, Eberspaecher is not currently releasing any information about the extent or possible duration of the cyberattack, Automobilwoche said.

The Stuttgart public prosecutor's office is investigating on suspicion of computer sabotage and attempted extortion, reports …

Exro CEO Sue Ozdemir discusses how the Canadian motor technology firm is boosting speed and torque in electric vehicles.

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Indirect auto lending giant Ally Financial expects inventory shortages to persist in 2022 but predicted another strong year of auto loan applications received and amounts borrowed, CFO Jenn LaClair said Oct. 21.

Ally plans to issue more detailed predictions later, LaClair told analysts, but "we're still expecting to see really robust application flow and robust origination."

LaClair said originations would likely be in the $40 billion range next year.

Ally posted $12.3 billion in auto loans in the third quarter and $35.4 billion in auto loan originations through September. In just nine months, Ally already is $300 million ahead of 2020's full-year result and close to the $36.3 billion worth of originations in all of 2019.

"Auto continues to perform exceptionally well," LaClair said. "We don't see any sign of that stopping."

Market trends favored Ally, and the company continued to grow share, LaClair said.

CEO Jeffrey Brown said Ally…