Corvette Track Record

The Chevrolet Corvette has become the fastest vehicle from an American manufacturer in recent history to take on Germany’s famed 12.9-mile (21-km) Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit. The Corvette ZR1X set a record lap time of less than 7 minutes, besting a recent run by Ford, says General Motors’ bowtie brand. “Corvette ZR1X vehicle dynamics engineer Drew Cattell completed a 6:49.275 lap in the electrified all-wheel-drive ZR1X and now has the fastest lap time of any non-professional racecar driver at the Nürburgring.

Source: WardsAuto

Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, Genesis, Kia, Mazda Generate Robust U.S. Sales in July; Sales Rate Rises to 16.9M

Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, Genesis, Kia and Mazda reported robust U.S. sales gains in July, a month that analysts said includes several unusual factors obscuring true market conditions. Subaru posted a modest gain while sales increased slightly at Honda. The seasonally adjusted annual sales rate for July rose to 16.9 million from 15.7 million in June, according to Motor Intelligence. Ford Motor Co. said total sales grew 9.4 percent to 188,374 vehicles. Ford brand sales improved 9.6 percent to 180,415 vehicles while Lincoln rose 4.7 percent to 7,959. Ford said hybrid vehicle deliveries rose 12 percent while electric vehicle sales fell 0.2 percent. F-Series pickup sales gained 6.6 percent to 73,538, and Lincoln was paced by Aviator sales nearly quadrupling to 1,470.

Source: Automotive News

After Trump Reaches Deals That Give Advantage to Overseas Exporters

An increasingly outspoken Ford Motor Co. is seeking tariff relief from the Trump administration after the White House reached trade agreements this past week with European and Asian trade partners but not Mexico and Canada. The United States' neighbors play a crucial role in the automotive supply chain. But Ford and other select voices for Michigan's signature industry are decrying continued uncertainty over regional trade relationships and claiming they now face a competitive disadvantage compared to overseas exporters. The F-150 maker has spent several days making the case to the public — and the White House — that the company is being penalized for its highly North American manufacturing process and described the situation as "urgent."

Source: The Detroit News

For quite some time, Tesla has enjoyed the highest (or near-highest) loyalty rates in the automotive industry, with its customers proving to be quite satisfied with their vehicles and the company, in general. In fact, Tesla even overtook Ford for the top spot in the 2023 S&P Global Mobility Automotive Loyalty Awards after The Blue Oval enjoyed a 12-year run atop that list. However, things have certainly changed in recent months, and a decision made by Tesla CEO Elon Musk last summer has had a profound effect on the company’s customer loyalty.

According to Reuters, new data from S&P Global Mobility shows that Tesla’s customer loyalty hit a high mark in June 2024 as 73 percent of existing U.S.-based owners opted to purchase another Tesla vehicle when the time came to do so. The very next month, Musk threw his public support behind now-President Donald Trump, which has since caused that same figure to dip to just 49.9 percent in March, below the industry average.

Tesla’s loyalty did improve by May, however, to 57.4 percent, which moved it back above the industry average – on par with Toyota, but also behind Ford and Chevrolet. Regardless, this dramatic fall that coincides with Musk’s decision to take a side in the last presidential election highlights just how risky such moves can be. Such a fall from a dominant position in customer loyalty is “unprecedented,” according to S&P analyst Tom Libby, who said “I’ve never seen this rapid of a decline in such a short period of time.”

At the same time, Ford has improved its consumer loyalty in a variety of recent studies. Previously, S&P loyalty data revealed that Ford owners are the least likely to be “one and done” when it comes to purchasing a vehicle from the brand, in fact. Additionally, Ford topped the truck rankings in the J.D. Power 2024 U.S. Automotive Brand Loyalty Study, while the Ford Expedition ranked first among all full-size SUVs in S&P’s 2024 Global Mobility Automotive Loyalty Awards.

Source: Ford Authority

Upside-down loans are becoming a big problem for new-car shoppers in the U.S. Research by shopping and editorial resource Edmunds found that more than 26% of all trade-ins on recent new-car purchases included negative equity on the loan, meaning its owner owes more on the vehicle than it's worth. And since that backwards cash flow gets rolled into the new car's financing – which then suffers severe depreciation the moment it's sold – the problem may only be compounding itself. Edmunds data for the second quarter of 2025 shows that this is becoming a growing problem for American car shoppers, when 45.7% of new car purchases were made with a trade-in vehicle, of which 26.6% had negative equity.

Source: CarBuzz

The Trump administration’s war on EVs will allow the auto industry to keep selling big, gas-powered vehicles for the foreseeable future. Detroit is thrilled. U.S. automakers are tearing up the playbooks they created when EVs were in high demand and government regulations forced them to pour resources into developing cleaner, more fuel-efficient engines. “This is a multibillion-dollar opportunity over the next couple of years,” Ford Motor Chief Executive Jim Farley said last week in a call with analysts. Ford already is changing its lineup, he said, scaling back EV plans and looking to leverage demand for its big SUVs and commercial vehicles. After the highly anticipated EV boom in the U.S. fizzled out, President Trump and Congress set out to eliminate state and federal regulations they argue were designed to mandate battery-powered vehicles for American consumers.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

General Motors and Hyundai Motor on Wednesday outlined plans to develop five vehicles together as they seek to lower costs amid growing competition from nimble Chinese rivals, although some analysts questioned whether the plan would work. Four of the vehicles — a compact SUV/car/pickup, and a mid-size pickup — are targeted for launch in Central and South America in 2028 and support both internal combustion and hybrid powertrains. GM and Hyundai did not say where the models would be produced, but said they expected to be rolling out at least 800,000 vehicles a year at full production. The partnership will help GM and Hyundai battle growing competition from Chinese EV manufacturers in Latin America. But some questioned whether it would create meaningful synergies.

Source: Reuters

President Trump’s tariff war has inflicted almost $12 billion of losses on global automakers, the biggest hit they have faced since the pandemic. The scary reality: This may be just the beginning. Beyond the continuing cost of tariffs, automakers in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Europe face years of retooling and supply-chain tweaks to adjust to the new realities. This comes after they spent heavily to reshape factories for electric vehicles. The obvious responses to tariffs are to raise prices and move production to the U.S. But both are hard for carmakers to do quickly, potentially saddling them for years to come. Skeptics say the tariffs will only change the industry at the margins, with global automakers investing in the U.S. because of its healthy consumer economy, not its politics.

Source: Wall Street Journal