Author: Automotive News Breaking News Feed

General Motors CEO Dan Akerson was blown away by a recent test drive in a GM prototype. It wasn’t the torque or the ride or the handling. It was the high-speed wireless Internet coursing through the car’s cabin.

For a dealership to change dealer management system vendors, it typically takes at least a year of preparation, staff training and testing.

The familiar toothed rubber belt is driving fewer mechanical components as electricity takes over more functions under the hood.

Subaru dealers have been clamoring for an updated seven-seat vehicle to replace the slow-selling Tribeca — and they will get one, says Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, president of Subaru-brand parent Fuji Heavy Industries.

Automotive suppliers have been content to let their plants run around the clock rather than build new factories or assembly lines to meet high demand.

Honda Motor Co. President Takanobu Ito, aiming to diversify operations away from Japan, wants North America and other regional hubs to export 20 to 30 percent of their output to other markets.

For Kris MacDonald and for most auto dealerships in Utah, the most productive source of sales prospects is a local Internet shopping site owned by the Mormon Church.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has yet to put out any auto lending regulations or sue any auto lenders, but last week, it gave the clearest picture yet of how it thinks auto lending should change.

These are boom times in North America, but it’s also crunch time — as in capacity crunch. Production last month hit a level not reached since 2000, and there’s no end in sight. Carmakers are squeezing more units out of existing plants.

Noise cancellation technology is spreading to mass-market models as automakers introduce energy-efficient — and sometimes noisy — powertrains.