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Welcome to The Weekly, a roundup of the top five auto industry headlines of the week.
Cox Automotive, VINCUE respond to terminated data agreement
Cox Automotive and VINCUE both issued statements to CDG News after dealers learned that MMR and KBB data would no longer be available natively in VINCUE after March 31.
Cox said it acts when terms of its data ecosystem are violated, while VINCUE said it has always operated in full compliance and remains open to direct dialogue.
Going forward: VINCUE is now launching a new AI-driven wholesale valuation tool on April 1 to replace MMR's functionality, though the situation has raised broader questions among dealers about how much control they actually have over the data they rely on day to day.
Doc fees, disclaimers, and third-party listings: What dealers need to fix before the FTC comes looking
Two dealer compliance attorneys joined Daily Dealer Live this week to break down what dealers should actually do after the FTC's warning letters.
When asked independently for their single most important fix, both landed on the same answer: Get your doc fee and freight into your advertised price.
Beyond that: Both warned that fine print disclaimers don't protect a store from FTC scrutiny, and that if a formal investigation opens, the agency will subpoena pricing data directly from third-party listing platforms.
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Ford recalls 250,000+ SUVs as mounting callbacks raise dealer concerns
Ford recalled more than 250,000 SUVs Tuesday over a software issue that can cause an unexpected reset of ADAS features, including pre-collision assist, lane-keeping, and blind-spot monitoring across the Explorer, Lincoln Navigator, Nautilus, and Aviator.
The fix will come via dealer visit or OTA update, but the recall adds to a notable volume given that Ford had already recalled more than 7.3 million vehicles in just the first 61 days of 2026, accounting for one-third of all recalls at that point.
Last year: Ford set a record with nearly 13 million vehicles recalled across 152 notices, almost double the previous record, and 2026 is trending in the same direction.
Rohrman's Jeremy Nowling on Amazon Autos: 'What do you have to lose?'
Rohrman Auto Group launched all 20 of its Illinois and Indiana rooftops on Amazon Autos over 60 to 90 days and already closed its first deal, a Chicago-area buyer who completed the transaction in the app and drove to the Schaumburg location for delivery.
Director Jeremy Nowling frames it less as Amazon vs. third-party listing sites and more as Amazon vs. Carvana, arguing that dealers who build storefronts and earn reviews now will have a head start as end-to-end digital purchasing becomes more mainstream.
His POV: "You keep all your profits on the financing, the products, and the vehicle. So what do you have to lose?"
Stronger March sales mask year-over-year decline amid distorted comparisons
March new-vehicle sales are projected to reach the highest monthly total of 2026 so far, but will still come in down 13.3% year over year, a gap that says more about last March than this one.
And that’s because the 2025 number was inflated by a tariff-driven rush that pushed the annualized sales pace to 18.1 million.
On the ground: The picture looks steadier, with retail profit per unit up modestly, days' supply ticking down, and incentive spend is rising.
