Tesla Inc. looks to be coming under increasing pressure in China with two government entities firing off missives about the company’s behavior and treatment of its customers in a single day. The trouble started early on Tuesday when China’s state-run Xinhua news agency released a piece that said the quality of Tesla’s EVs must meet
Marketing
I wrote last week about how — or even whether — franchised dealerships should counter messaging that their business model is outdated in advertisements from online used-vehicle sellers such as Carvana and Vroom. One reason that images such as the one portrayed in Vroom’s Super Bowl commercial — a car salesman threatening a would-be customer
Filmmaker Chris Paine drove his EV1 for only about five years — that is, before General Motors hauled it away in a controversial mass takeback of all its leased EV1s that had been on the road. That’s when Paine and several other EV1 advocates and environmentalists who weren’t given the option to buy the EV1
The Nissan GT-R is renowned worldwide as the Japanese brand’s top-tier image car, a 600-hp mean machine with a hand-built engine, stratospheric sticker and legions of rabid fans. Now, Nissan’s fast car is also selling fast food. As of last week, McDonald’s Japan has been packing a toy version of the GT-R into its Happy
A little more than a year ago, Ken Garff Automotive Group in Utah was planning to highlight its brand values in a training campaign aimed at its 4,500 employees. Then the world changed. The COVID-19 pandemic led to the death of Chairman Bob Garff in March 2020 and gave staffers a different lens through which
The pandemic turned some automotive ads into real family affairs. Automakers have turned to a predictable blueprint over the years when pitching utility vehicles and minivans: bustling children in the back seat and happy parents up front taking them on an adventure. In normal times, those were all actors only pretending to be related, but
After pausing its long-running Civic Tour in 2019, Honda was set to bring it back last year with the kind of big-name music star that has headlined the multicity tour for years. But Honda had to cancel the 2020 event as the pandemic struck, robbing the automaker of a valuable marketing tool to reach young
A Vermont ski resort that planned to host one of four Ford Bronco Off-Roadeo driving schools around the U.S. backed out last week after an outcry from nearby residents. The Woodstock Inn & Resort had proposed adapting a 189-acre ski area known as Suicide Six into an off-road course during the summer. Ford Motor Co.
Gold Coast Cadillac in New Jersey provides customers with pickup and drop-off services, free loaner vehicles and an online service appointment scheduler. Through a customer retention program it calls its Gold Club, the Oakhurst, N.J., dealership is committing to being better at providing a convenient experience, said Bill Camastro, a dealer and partner in the
Out of an all-GT Final Four, the 1965 Mustang Shelby GT350 emerged as the winner of Ford Motor Co.’s version of March Madness. The Shelby GT350 topped the 2020 Mustang GT500 in the championship round of the Ford Frenzy tournament after three weeks of online voting. The other semifinalists were the 1965 GT40 MKI and
Toyota Motor Corp. had an updated minivan to market and a misconception to break. To advertise its 2021 Sienna, the automaker opted in early March to launch a campaign on Pinterest, the social media platform that lets users scroll through oodles of photos and videos featuring lavish weddings, elaborate cooking, automobiles and more — then
Cruise is sponsoring a blind man’s attempt to set a world speed record as a way to promote the potential for autonomous-vehicle technology to help visually impaired people get around more easily. Race car driver Dan Parker, who lost his sight in 2012, aims to break the Guinness World Record for “fastest speed for a
DETROIT — GMC plans to limit, and in many cases eliminate, floorplan costs for the electric 2022 Hummer pickup and 2024 Hummer SUV long term to help protect dealer profits and simplify the sales process, the brand told dealers Friday. “We’re going to take the risk on that now,” Duncan Aldred, vice president of global
Remember when Volkswagen got caught lying about the emissions of its supposedly “clean” diesel engines? Apparently not enough people at Volkswagen do, even after the tens of billions it paid in fines and legal settlements, because the company still seems to think lying to the public is an acceptable corporate strategy. The automaker claims its
Big Red has been found. The nearly 100-foot-long experimental gas-turbine semitruck created for the 1964 World’s Fair by Ford Motor Co. has been out of public view for nearly 40 years. Ford took the 13-foot-tall behemoth on a cross-country tour after the fair but couldn’t make the technology viable and lost track of the semitruck’s
Scott Keogh, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, spoke with Automotive News Publisher Jason Stein for the “Daily Drive” podcast after the Voltswagen prank. Here are edited excerpts. Q: A number of reporters came to your company after the release was posted briefly on your website and then taken down and story after story, including
The first production models of two high-profile trucks that join the market this year raised more than $3.5 million for charity. The 2021 Ford Bronco First Edition VIN 001, a Lightning Blue two-door version of the revived off-road SUV, garnered $1.1 million during a Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. The first 2022 GMC Hummer EV
Volkswagen’s ruse early last week, that it intended to adopt the name “Voltswagen” in the U.S. for its coming fleet of electric vehicles, was an elaborate plot spawned at its marketing agency and approved by top executives. While marketing experts and dealers admit that the phony pronouncement and subsequent fallout did generate buzz about VW’s
At Schomp Automotive Group’s three luxury-brand dealerships in Utah and Colorado, a handwritten letter isn’t a relic of a bygone era. Customers get personalized notes — complete with a general manager’s signature and, often, a direct phone number — multiple times a year, including after they purchase a vehicle, if they schedule a pickup and
Remember when Volkswagen got caught lying about the emissions of its supposedly “clean” diesel engines? Apparently not enough people at Volkswagen do, even after the tens of billions it paid in fines and legal settlements, because the company still seems to think lying to the public is an acceptable corporate strategy. The automaker claims its
DETROIT– General Motors CEO Mary Barra plans to meet with leaders of Black-owned media companies this week after the group took out a full-page ad in the Detroit Free Press on Sunday accusing Barra of ignoring multiple meeting requests, the automaker said. Even with the meeting scheduled, the group ran a nearly identical ad in
A press release leaked online Monday revealed that Volkswagen of America will use the brand name “Voltswagen” to differentiate its line of electric vehicles, which began deliveries to U.S. dealers this month. Automotive News has independently confirmed the authenticity of the planned change with a person familiar with the company’s plans, and that it is
Almost a year and a half after buying the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Roger Penske believes he’s close to being able to finally fulfill his dream of hosting a full house at the track. Penske last week said he aims to get the green flag to have the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May
China’s electric carmakers are paying top-dollar rents to open showrooms in luxury malls, as they seek to gain an edge in the hyper-competitive market. More than half the malls in Shanghai have at least one electric-vehicle showroom and more are planned, according to real-estate service provider Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. They are now part of
YOKOHAMA, Japan — Think of leading global brands, and they usually have the same image and impact from country to country, region to region. But for struggling premium player Infiniti, finding such consistency has been a challenge, no thanks to its fragmented marketing strategy. Nissan Motor Co.’s upmarket brand plans to tackle that problem by
The Scarlet Witch is one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She’s also a faithful Buick customer. The Disney+ series “WandaVision” begins with Wanda Maximoff and Vision riding through black-and-white sitcom suburbia in a 1956 Buick Special. In later episodes, which each take place about a decade apart, the car changes
Coronavirus vaccines are becoming more widely available, accelerating the timeline for restoring the health — and economic well-being — of the U.S. and the world. But the crisis is far from over, and automakers still have a key role to play: employee education. Ford ran its “#FinishStrong” ad campaign during the Super Bowl last month
If the point of the small inflatable blimp that has flown over a General Motors dealership in central Pennsylvania for years was to draw attention to the business, that certainly worked last week. Just not in the way that the store intended. The blimp broke free from its mooring behind Chevrolet-Cadillac of Bloomsburg, sparking a
Earlier this year I talked with a longtime vendor to traditional auto dealers. He had recently bought a Tesla. He raved about the car and the online sales process. It was fast and easy. Set price, no haggling. His story, no doubt, is echoed by thousands of happy Tesla owners out there. The electric vehicle
General Motors kept its status as the top manufacturer for customer loyalty for the sixth-straight year in IHS Markit’s Automotive Loyalty Awards program, while Ford Motor Co. again won major honors for loyalty to a specific make. The awards are based on 12.4 million new retail vehicle registrations in the U.S. in 2020. GM’s defense