Marketing

Ford Motor Co. reached outside the auto industry for its next global chief marketing officer, installing former eBay North American CMO Suzy Deering into the position.  Deering left eBay in mid-October after five years. She joined the online marketplace after serving as CEO of Atlanta ad agency Moxie, after logging time in marketing roles at

McLaren Automotive will call its upcoming plug-in hybrid the Artura, the latest detail to be revealed about the supercar. The electrified vehicle was previously referred to as the P16, its code-name. A McLaren spokesman said Artura is a newly created name that “represents the art of design and future technology.” McLaren released an image of

Tara Rush will take over the chief marketing officer role at Audi of America, moving up from her current position as chief communications officer. She assumes many of the duties performed by vice president of marketing Loren Angelo, who is departing the automaker after a 12-year stint in which he held various marketing roles. Rush,

LOS ANGELES — Honda plans to present a prototype version of the 11th-generation Civic compact sedan on the streaming platform Twitch next week, prior to its arrival in U.S. showrooms in late spring 2021 as a 2022 model, the automaker said Thursday. Honda said in a press release that it will give a first glimpse

LOS ANGELES — Honda plans to present a prototype version of the 11th-generation Civic compact sedan on the streaming platform Twitch next week, prior to its arrival in U.S. showrooms in late spring 2021 as a 2022 model, the automaker said Thursday. Honda said in a press release that it will give a first glimpse

Volkswagen of America has hired industry veteran Kimberley Gardiner away from Mitsubishi to be its new head of marketing. Gardiner, 52, will become senior vice president for brand marketing at Volkswagen effective Nov. 16, the automaker said. She replaces Saad Chehab, 53, who left Volkswagen in May after nine months on the job. Gardiner has

PARIS — A trademark dispute over its logo has left Polestar, the electric-vehicle brand owned by Volvo Cars and Geely, temporarily unable to launch its cars in France.  Ruling in a case that dates back to 2017, a French has court found that Polestar’s logo is similar enough to Citroen’s “double chevron” design as well

Thayer Family Dealerships in Bowling Green, Ohio, typically hosts a handful of events per year. The activities — including a back-to-school event, a few classic car shows and a military appreciation event — are meant to bring existing customers back as well as draw in new community members and potential customers. This year, Thayer was

To get their products in front of consumers’ eyeballs, auto dealers often look to TV. And not just traditional broadcast and cable. Auto marketers are vying for a growing number of consumers watching content on streaming services such as Hulu, including on so-called smart TVs and via connected devices such as Apple TV and Amazon’s

It’s not often that a car gets involved in a boat race. But the Vision 2030 Hyper SUV from Italian designer Fabrizio Giugiaro managed to snag a prominent role in last month’s Venice Hospitality Challenge regatta. The electric concept car was set on a barge in the Giudecca canal to serve as a buoy marking

The GMC Yukon is a big SUV that got even bigger with its latest redesign. So to promote its arrival, GMC created what it describes as the “world’s biggest tweet.” The brand sent a couple of Yukons into the Nevada desert to carve out a giant sand billboard that could only be seen by helicopter.

Even a pandemic can’t stop the Wienermobile. Oscar Mayer briefly sidelined its 300-hp frankfurters in the spring, but the company “decided that being a source of frivolity during trying times is part of its DNA,” The New York Times reported last week. So all six Wienermobiles, most of which ride on a Chevrolet chassis with

J.D. Power’s 2020 Q3 Mobility Confidence Index found that North American vehicle owners have not changed their opinions on battery-electric vehicles or self-driving technologies. The study, fueled by SurveyMonkey and released Tuesday, said “consumers remain skeptical because of their lack of firsthand experience with these technologies and lack of education about how and why these

The Nissan brand scored at the top among non-luxury brands in the 2020 Automotive Reputation Report. Subaru, Toyota, Ford and Mini rounded out the top five for 2020, the second year for the report. Reputation.com ranks 18,000 automotive brands and dealerships in the U.S. on a scale of 0 to 1,000 based on visibility, sentiment

Mercedes-Benz’s Alabama plant is committed to delivering the most expensive mass-production passenger vehicle made in America on time. The Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC arrives in stores in December and starts at $161,550, including shipping. Fully loaded, the SUV will top out at nearly $200,000. The plant in Vance, which builds the GLE, GLE Coupe and

Automakers and tech companies have sought to cultivate the trust of consumers as they’ve developed and launched driver-assist systems that many consider a prelude to self-driving vehicles. Those efforts may be misguided. Consumers often are confused by the performance capabilities and limitations of driver-assist systems, which can control some steering, acceleration and braking tasks. Motorists

As COVID-19 state mandates shut down dealership retail sales, more targeted marketing efforts with bigger budgets were shifted to fixed ops departments that remained open as essential services. “Many dealers made massive cuts to their marketing budgets, but they didn’t touch service,” says Alexi Venneri, CEO of marketing firm Digital Air Strike. The sudden importance

LOS ANGELES — Mazda North America has drawn hundreds of entries for its “Mazda Heroes” initiative that will gift a special edition of the MX-5 Miata sports car to 50 U.S. residents who have supported their communities during the coronavirus pandemic. As the Oct. 25 deadline approaches for nominations, the automaker has received tens of

DETROIT — The 2021 New York auto show is moving to August, four months later than planned, organizers announced Tuesday. The event, which was postponed and later canceled this year because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, will take place Aug. 20-29, with a press day Aug. 19, officials said. The 2021 event was originally slated

The service slowdown caused by the pandemic hit Woody Buick-GMC in Naperville, Ill., hard, says General Manager Jerry Roberts. Repair order counts were down about 35 percent, he says. “We had to go out and attract more business to keep people employed.” The dealership’s service marketing budget is still modest, but it grew by 70

Lordstown Motors says its upcoming electric pickup, the Endurance, is the perfect truck for a working Joe. So the Ohio startup has hired Joe Burrow, the Cincinnati Bengals’ rookie quarterback, to be the star of its first marketing campaign. Burrow, who was the No. 1 pick in this year’s NFL draft, is the ideal choice

During homecoming festivities at Prairie View A&M University in Texas and North Carolina Central University in Durham last fall, Ford Motor Co. invited football fans to check out a tailgate — and the rest of its F-150, too. Ford provided more than 500 F-150 test drives to fans at the two schools and at the

DETROIT — GMC’s goal with the debut of the Hummer electric pickup next week is broad awareness, not only of the vehicle itself, but also the GMC brand and General Motors’ electric future. GMC’s reveal campaign for the Hummer EV begins next week, with spots during Game 1 of the Major League Baseball World Series

LOS ANGELES — A year ago, the mantra being pushed by Honda executives was that “cars matter” — a compelling message for a brand that derived almost half its volume from sedans and hatchbacks at the time. But as the market continues its relentless shift toward crossovers and pickups, it turns out that trucks matter

DETROIT — General Motors plans to reveal its long-anticipated Hummer electric pickup during Game 1 of baseball’s World Series on Oct. 20. GM, after a nearly 10-year hiatus for the Hummer name, will start production of the EV under the GMC brand in fall 2021, according to a promotional video. “We cannot wait to finally

Tesla Inc. has dissolved its U.S. media relations team, website Electrek reported on Tuesday, in yet another unconventional move by the world’s most valuable automaker. Reuters could not immediately reach the EV maker to verify the development. Unlike its peers who splurge millions of dollars on advertising and marketing, Tesla has largely shunned traditional channels

Long before California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a 2035 ban on new gasoline-powered light vehicles in the state, the auto industry was working hard on electric vehicles. Their driving performance is now shockingly good. Their environmental benefits — while a function of how electricity is produced — are proven as well. Mainstream automakers as well

Last week, I did something I hadn’t done in seven months. I hopped on a plane and traveled for work, having been invited to the media introduction of the redesigned 2021 Rolls-Royce Ghost in Austin, Texas. Automotive News readers may recall a time when our pages were populated with seemingly random datelines from across the

From economic stresses to increased work-from-home numbers, byproducts of the COVID-19 pandemic are giving pause to car shoppers who might otherwise consider an electric vehicle to replace their internal-combustion-engine model. But this is just a short-lived bump in the road that will be followed by a rebound in consumer interest in EVs. There are compelling

Acura faces headwinds on multiple fronts as it tries to drum up interest in its new TLX sedan, which hits dealers Monday.  The luxury segment the car competes in remains mired in a pandemic-induced sales slump. And sedans continue to lose ground to SUVs and crossovers as buyers gravitate to higher-riding vehicles.  But those forces