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Hey everyone,
Chris Hudson, General Manager at Mark Miller Subaru, joined us yesterday for a segment of Daily Dealer Live.
As you may recall, he was on the show a few weeks back, where he walked us through how he conducted one of the first agent-to-agent car sales. Yesterday’s segment offered another update, plus his thoughts on other AI news.
— CDG
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Stellantis recalls 1.5 million Ram 1500s as Mercedes-Benz, Ford launch safety campaigns
Stellantis topped last week's recall list, calling back 1.5 million Ram 1500 pickups globally, while Mercedes-Benz and Ford have also issued notable safety recalls recently.
First things first: Stellantis' voluntary recall, announced Friday, covers 2019-2026 Ram 1500 models that may have been built with a second-row center or second-row driver-side seat belt buckle anchor that was improperly attached to the vehicle body structure, according to Reuters.
The recall includes 1.27 million vehicles in the U.S., 156,000 in Canada, 15,000 in Mexico and about 75,000 outside North America.
Affected owners will be notified and instructed to contact their dealership, where technicians will inspect the seat belt buckle anchors and make repairs as needed.
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Severe delinquencies remain stable around 3%
The percentage of severe delinquencies, 90 days or more behind, on auto loans has remained stable around 3% for the past two years, but is still above 2019 levels as the amount financed has grown by nearly $12,000 in the past six years.
Driving the news: A report compiled by Morningstar shows severe delinquencies have settled at 3% at the end of the first quarter of 2026, nearly the same amount as at the close of 2024.
At the start of 2019, the 90-day delinquencies were at 2.4% and dropped to 1.6% in 2021. The much shorter 30-day delinquencies also have stayed within 1% since 2024, ending Q1 2026 at 7.7%.
Mark Nolan, CFA, Vice President of Global Non-Bank Financial Institutions at Morningstar, told CDG the stabilization is partially from the runoff of the loans from 2022 and 2023 that had higher losses and the subsequent tightening of underwriting scrutiny.
GM appears to reconsider Apple CarPlay, Android Auto phaseout
GM may be pulling back on its plan to eliminate Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from future models.
The details: After announcing it would phase out smartphone integration platforms—beginning with its electric vehicles—the automaker now appears to be reconsidering that strategy, according to a CarBuzz report.
After reviewing Cadillac's configurator for several 2027 models, CarBuzz found the Lyriq still lists Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard features.
The continued availability of the apps on the Lyriq is particularly notable given its status as an EV and Cadillac's positioning as a technology-focused brand, CarBuzz noted.
"I never took their money!" Why some manufacturers tried to blacklist this "Car Mom"
