Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Tuesday, Feb. 25.
One of the most significant challenges in U.S. auto retailing since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic has been new-vehicle affordability. With interest rates remaining high, that challenge isn't going away anytime soon, as average U.S. transaction prices still hover in the mid-$40,000s.
But today, Consumer Reports shed some light on good new vehicles that still offer value prices in this story by Riley Hodder.
Salespeople should take note that five of Consumer Reports' top 10 picks offer entry-trim sticker prices below $30,000. Those vehicles are the Nissan Sentra compact sedan, Subaru Crosstrek subcompact crossover, Toyota Camry midsize car, Subaru Forester compact crossover and Ford Maverick compact pickup.
These might not be the flashiest vehicles on the market, but there's a significant chunk of buyers out there who just want good, reliable and affordable new vehicles. This is their list.
In other news today, management shake-ups at Toyota Motor Corp. and its North American unit made headlines again.
The good news for the world's largest automaker was that it nominated key U.S. executive Chris Reynolds to its board. The bad news is that Reynolds will make for another significant senior executive departure in the North American ranks after last month's surprising exit of Jack Hollis.
Meanwhile, Tesla Inc. made some unusual news today with its bailout of German automation systems supplier Manz. Bloomberg reported that Tesla Automation, which makes special purpose machines at three locations in Germany, will add Manz's Reutlingen site to its operations and take over more than 300 employees as well as movable tangible assets.
Finally, we have this story by Paige Hodder on the latest fraud threats to U.S. auto retail finance. A big worry is attacks on certain geographic areas by scammers.
"There are people coming and hitting a particular geography," said James Maguire, senior director at Experian Automotive, at a recent industry conference. "They move into town and suddenly there are 20, 30, 50 cars run out of that geography before they move on to the next one."
Looking ahead to Wednesday, we'll have coverage of the 2024 earnings report from Stellantis. This report is important because Stellantis files under French financial disclosure rules, so the company is only obligated to report full six-month and full-year results, unlike most other companies that file quarterly reports.
That's it for today. Have a great rest of your day.
If you want to view this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
Posts
