Shoppers are downsizing, buying used vehicles, taking on longer car loans and holding out for deals For years it has seemed no sticker price was too high for American car buyers. Even as average new car prices approached $50,000 this year, dealers fretted more over depleted inventories than losing customers to sticker shock. Those days […]

Republicans question value of automatic braking, rear-seat reminders Lawmakers will take aim at vehicle-safety mandates in a coming Senate hearing, targeting some auto-industry regulations once considered too sacrosanct to attack.  Senate Republicans in January plan to criticize requirements for safety technology, such as automatic emergency braking and alarms to remind drivers that a child is […]

For possibly a record sixth straight year, the number of software recalls will rise past last year’s record for futility. So far in 2025, 166 recalls have affected a variety of automakers. Looking at 2024-2025 together, Tesla has affected the most vehicles (5,777,605), Ford has the greatest number of recall actions (73), and Stellantis suffers […]

Weary of being captive to geopolitics, car companies are looking for ways to replace powerful rare-earth magnets in electric motors. Stunned by frequent shortages of essential materials from China, automakers in the United States and Europe are quietly trying to reduce or eliminate the need for materials that have become entangled in superpower rivalries. The […]

What’s worse for car insurers: a trade war or a price war? Consumers might like the answer, but investors probably won’t. Back in February, insurance groups began warning that stiff import levies could drive up the cost of car parts and repairs. That, in turn, would hit insurer underwriting profit margins, at least until they got regulatory […]

A new study challenges the notion that auto shows are relics of the past, indicating that in-person vehicle events drive purchase decisions and brand engagement in an increasingly digital market. According to the report by Clarify Group, visitors to North America’s three largest events in Toronto, New York and Los Angeles are nearly three times […]

Beijing used bare-knuckle tactics in multidecade effort to consolidate control over supplies When China tightened restrictions on rare-earth exports this month, stunning the White House, it was the latest reminder of Beijing’s control over an industry vital to the world economy. Its dominance was decades in the making. Since the 1990s, China has used aggressive tactics to […]

Canada, U.K. and European Union back off electric-vehicle targets as economic reality sets in and even China shows cracks The U.S. retreat from its electric-vehicle ambitions is spreading around the globe. In Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney paused an electric-vehicle sales mandate that was set to take effect next year. In the U.K., Prime Minister Keir Starmer has allowed […]

Delinquency rates on subprime auto loans are at records One of the cylinders in the U.S. economic engine is causing some sputtering.  Since the pandemic, buyers on auto-dealer lots have encountered surging sticker prices and smaller incentives from automakers to lessen the blow. To afford an automobile, more consumers, especially lower-income families, have resorted to […]

When Tesla Inc. designer Franz von Holzhausen announced that his team would reconfigure the signature pop-out electronic door handles that had been criticized as a safety hazard, it was a rare admission that the company needed to adjust and improve a long-standing product. “The idea of combining the electronic one and the manual one together […]