Toyota to buy back $1.8 billion in shares as profit tops estimates

Toyota Motor Corp.’s quarterly profit topped analysts’ estimates thanks to healthy sales of RAV4s in the U.S. and Corollas at home, keeping the Japanese automaker’s business on track amid sputtering global demand for cars. Operating income for the fiscal second quarter that ended in September was 662 billion yen, helped by cost controls that paved […]

• Bloomberg News
• November 7, 2019
• Earnings

Grim start to US auto sales stirs alarm that collapse is here

U.S. auto sales took a big step back in September, setting the stage for hefty incentive spending by carmakers struggling to clear old models from dealers’ inventory. Results were disastrous for leading Asian automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which both suffered double-digit declines that were worse than analysts anticipated. While a fuller […]

• Bloomberg News
• October 1, 2019
• Bloomberg, Sales & Marketing

Toyota to pilot autonomous vehicle program with Chinese startup [Video]

Toyota Motor Corp. has struck a deal with Chinese startup Pony.ai to launch an autonomous vehicle program next month in Beijing and Shanghai, the companies announced on Monday. Pony.ai will build its autonomous driving system into Toyota’s Lexus RX vehicles. The companies will start the pilot project as they “attempt to accelerate the development and […]

• Nicole Casperson
• August 26, 2019
• Innovation & Technology

DiDi doubles down on autonomous vehicles

DiDi Chuxing is splitting off its autonomous driving unit to a separate, independent company, according to a release issued today. The new company will “integrate the resources and technological advantages of DiDi’s platform, continue to increase investment in [research and development] of core innovative technologies, and deepen collaboration with upstream and downstream auto industry partners” […]

• Joey Pizzolato
• August 5, 2019
• Innovation & Technology

Auto issuance drives ABS growth

The auto finance sector is propping up the securitization market, with year-over-year growth climbing 18% through June, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency’s Midyear 2019 ABS Outlook published last week. Auto securitization volume hit $68.5 billion through June, according to KBRA. “Despite plateauing new-vehicle sales, there has been tremendous year over year growth in auto-related […]

• Bianca Chan
• July 2, 2019
• Capital Markets

Carvana stakeholder named richest person in Arizona

Ernest Garcia II, the largest shareholder of Carvana and founder of DriveTime Automotive, was named the richest person in Arizona with a net worth of $5.6 billion, according to an annual Forbes ranking. Garcia, through his wholly owned subsidiary Verde Investments, owns 89.3 million shares of Carvana’s class A and B common stock, giving him […]

• Joey Pizzolato
• June 26, 2019

New-Car Model Shifts as Short-Term Leasing Stocks CPO Programs

An emerging trend — where dealers use off-lease vehicles from short-term leases to stock certified pre-owned (CPO) programs — is shifting the way consumers purchase new cars. This trend is occurring across segments and price points, according to Matt DeLorenzo, senior managing editor of Kelley Blue Book. Kia and Toyota are two OEMS that are both “aggressive in it,” he said, […]

• Bianca Chan
• June 19, 2019
• Risk Management, Update

Fleet Sales to Hit Skids in 2019

While fleet sales grew 7% in 2018, volume will likely remain flat this year, a new Cox Automotive report shows.  "Will fleet sales increase again in 2019? We don’t believe so," Cox wrote in the report. Fleet sales totaled 2.7 million units last year. Commercial fleet volume, up 9% to 743,000 units, was a primary driver […]

• Bianca Chan
• February 8, 2019
• Capital Markets, Sales & Marketing