GM, Ford expand heavy duty truck production, more details about Polestar 3 revealed

Inside Automotive:

NJ Car Pres. Jim Appleton shares his concerns about the transition to EVs
OEMs and vendors are expanding their electric and alternative fuel technology rapidly, but how are dealers adapting to the new EV car shopping behaviors? Today on Inside Automotive, we’re pleased to welcome back the President of NJ Car, Jim Appleton, to tell us how dealers in his state are feeling about EVs and what they must focus on for a successful transition to electric. Watch the complete segment here.

Headlines:

Ford Motor Company has unveiled its latest version of the Super Duty Pickup at the Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. Ford announced it will make a $700 million investment to modernize its Kentucky plant and expects to hire another 500 workers to support production. Just a day earlier, Chevrolet released a list of improvements the company plans to make to its line of Silverado HD heavy pickups. Both companies are working to find solutions to modernize their large combustion pickups at a time when many companies are spending energy developing EV technology. The two trucks, along with Stellanits’ ram pickup, are among the most profitable vehicles sold today. Read More

Polestar unveiled more information about its new Polestar 3 SUV, which will debut on October 12 at an event in Copenhagen. The third vehicle from the Swedish EV company is an attempt to break into the highly competitive premium SUV market in the US, where it will compete with EVs like the Tesla Model X and the Mercedes-Benz EQE. The Polestar 3 will be assembled at Volvo’s factory in South Carolina, making it the first of the company’s EVs to be made in the US. The SUV will feature a dual-motor drivetrain and a battery with a range of over 372 miles, as well as a partially autonomous driving system for highway use. Read More

According to the 2022 J.D. Power U.S. Automotive Brand Loyalty Study, new vehicle owners have shown strong brand loyalty this past year, even amid supply chain issues and low production rates. This year’s report has been expanded to include data from J.D. Power’s information network to determine whether an owner purchased from the same brand after trading in their existing vehicle. The brands taking the top two spots for loyalty in the premium segment were Porsche and Genesis. Premium SUV honors went to BMW and Lexus. Toyota and Kia took first and second place for mass-market car brands, while Toyota and Subaru took those spots for mass-market SUVs. Ford ranked highest among truck brands with a 63.8% loyalty rate. Read More

The US Department of Transportation announced the approval of vehicle charging station plans for all 50 states, including Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. In total, the network will cover roughly 75,000 miles of highway. The funding to build the EV chargers comes from $5 billion allocated to states as part of the bipartisan infrastructure package passed earlier this year. Under the plan, states would present their own EV infrastructure deployment proposals for approval and will have access to more than $1.5 billion to help build the EV chargers. It is unclear how many chargers that amount of funding will provide. Read More

News & Opinion

The time is now for F&I transparency
Even before the pandemic, the auto industry was undergoing a transformation. Operations like CarMax and Carvana were delivering “no surprise” experiences to customers, while Tesla sought to skip the dealership process altogether. The onset of COVID-19 helped push things further online, removing many fluctuations that occur with person-to-person transactions. It all adds to a seismic shift in customer expectations for car buying, particularly when signing on the dotted line. And this trend will continue, notably as the FTC steps in to mandate how dealers market and price their cars. These situations offer ideal timing to ride the wave of transparency, especially on the F&I side. Read More

The auto industry is changing — so are technicians
Most dealers are experiencing relief from the past couple of years’ difficulties. So, admittedly, there’ll be no argument or complaint about the increased inventory and sales. But a new challenge of finding service technicians is becoming more prominent than ever. Dealerships have historically kept technicians on an hourly pay scale and haven’t been concerned with departmental promotions. Some of that had to do with a glut of service techs—supply and demand determining value. However, hiring hourly techs and not giving them a pathway to promotion is coming back on dealerships. Read More

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