The Auto World

Detroit lost tens of billions on EVs while its top executives took home raises. GM booked a $7.9 billion EV write-down as Mary Barra’s pay climbed to $29.9M. Ford rewrote its bonus rules to count hybrids before paying Jim Farley $27.5M. Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis have all taken multi-billion-dollar hits tied to EV strategy shifts and related write-downs. With this in mind, you’d perhaps have expected to see the pay packages of company executives slashed for these costly missteps and investments. Think again. First is General Motors. While it hasn’t pulled back from battery-electric vehicles to the same extent as Ford and Stellantis , it expects to take a roughly $7.9 billion hit related to its scaled-back EV spending. Despite this, regulatory filings show that chief executive Mary Barra earned a staggering $29.9 million last year, a 1.4 percent increase over the prior year. Read: Barra’s Playing Both Sides On EVs, Just In Case The White House Changes Barra, w...

Jack Schlossberg calls for a formal probe into Hertz AI damage charges. Federal Trade Commission pushes back and will not confirm any investigations. Automated scans promise accuracy but customers disputes remain frustrating. Last year, Hertz rolled out a tool called UVEye . It scans cars as they leave the rental center and then once more at the return. Artificial intelligence then compares the images and cites the customer for damages that it believes happened during the rental period. Plenty of customers have complained about the system and still others have brought up concerns over the way disputes go down. Now, one congressional candidate related to JFK is calling on the FTC to do something. He might be barking up the wrong tree. Read: No Scratch Or Ding Escapes Hertz’s New Secret Weapon For Your Rental That candidate is Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former President John F. Kennedy. In a recent video highlighting his congressional campaign, he claims that Hert...

A new generation Toyota HiAce is expected to make its debut by early 2027. It will switch to the TNGA platform and drop its long-used cab-over layout. Multiple body styles are expected, along with an available hybrid powertrain. After more than two decades of soldiering on through countless updates, Japan’s most familiar workhorse is finally getting a proper rethink. The Toyota HiAce remains one of the world’s most popular commercial vehicles, but the current H200 generation has been on sale in Japan since 2004, making a strong case for a successor. A new model is rumored to debut by early next year, marking the biggest change in the nameplate’s history. More: This Van Should Be Dead By Now, But Toyota Keeps Updating It After 22 Years In 2019, Toyota introduced the H300 generation of the HiAce, though Japan stuck to the older cabover H200 van. The latter has received countless model year updates over the past 22 years, but it is inevitably getting closer to retirement....

Almost 1.62 million used vehicles were sold by retailers last month. Used vehicle inventories at retailers have dropped to a multi-year low. March ended with just 37 days’ worth of used vehicle inventory. With new cars slipping further out of reach for many Americans these days, buyers are leaning harder on the used market. March delivered a sharp uptick in activity, and inventories across the country took a noticeable hit. Last month, an estimated 1.62 million used vehicles changed hands through retailers in the US, up significantly from the 1.37 million recorded in February, according to Cox Automotive. March typically sets the pace for the year, so a strong showing is hardly unusual, though this figure still landed 2.9 percent below the same month last year. Even so, the daily sales rate climbed 7 percent month over month, reaching its highest point in the past year. Read: FTC Wants Car Dealers To Rat Out Rivals Over Misleading Prices None of this arrived out of no...

Ford reportedly paid around $800 for every Mustang wearing the Shelby name. Dropping Shelby from the new Dark Horse SC could save Ford millions in royalties. Shelby says the badge could still return someday because these things are cyclical. The name “Shelby Mustang” is synonymous with performance, tradition, and history. For the 2026 model year, it’s not on the menu. Now, a new report might shed a little light on the reason for its absence. Evidently, Ford was paying around $800 in royalties for every Mustang that left the factory with the Shelby named attached. In other words, the Blue Oval brand is saving millions simply by skipping Shelby for now. Read: People Laughed At The Mustang GTD’s Price, Then Bought Hundreds Anyway That per-car royalty figure comes from sources cited by Ford Authority . Neither Ford nor Shelby American has officially confirmed the exact number, but multiple reports suggest the figure is close enough to reality to explain why the new 2026 Mu...

Hertz says EV reservation requests rose sharply in March. Turo also saw bookings spike when gas cruised past $4. US sales of new EVs still lag despite rental curiosity surge. Americans may not be rushing to buy electric cars, but they are increasingly happy to borrow them. With gasoline prices climbing above $4 per gallon , rental firms are seeing a noticeable jump in demand for EVs. At Hertz, which de-fleeted 30,000 electric cars after repair costs ballooned , requests for EV reservations in March were up nearly 25 percent compared with February, Reuters reports. The strongest gains reportedly came from the West Coast, where fuel prices are usually painful even before geopolitics joins the conversation, and drivers are more open to EVs than those in some other states. Related: Trump’s Energy Chief Put Gas Below $3 Next Year. President Says He’s Totally Wrong For drivers covering serious miles, especially rideshare operators, cheaper charging can suddenly look very att...