It had to happen. State highway maintenance programs are at least partially funded by gasoline taxes. But owners of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and other alternative-power vehicles pay less in taxes because the vehicles use less, ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | June 17

More entrepreneurs and businesspeople with no automotive retailing experience are interested in buying dealerships. And why not? A dealership business model is appealing, has good cash flow and typically offers a 20 percent return on ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | June 10

The industry faces a potential dilemma now that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has called for Chrysler to recall as many as 2.7 million Jeep Grand Cherokee and Liberty SUVs to address safety problems NHTSA says can ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | June 10

Congress must rein in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has overstepped its mandate by squeezing banks and finance companies to limit dealership profits, apparently based on questionable assumptions of widespread ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | June 3

As President Obama prepares to travel to Europe next month to start formal negotiations on a trans-Atlantic trade agreement, the opportunity exists for harmonizing auto industry rules across the pond. But would getting rid of ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 27

Smart USA's plan to allow customers who buy or lease the electric-powered ForTwo to lease the car's lithium ion battery is a worthy experiment. It removes another obstacle to EV acceptance by taking the heavy cost of the battery out of ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 27

Are General Motors and Chrysler Group playing hardball with suppliers again? The latest automaker-supplier relations study by the consultant firm Planning Perspectives Inc. was troubling. The big jump in their scores in last year's ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 20

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration needs to review its process for allowing automakers to introduce advances in lighting technology. At issue is a petition filed by Toyota asking NHTSA to update its headlight ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13

Dealers have long feared that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would find a way to wreak havoc in dealership F&I offices, even though it has no direct jurisdiction over dealerships except buy-here, pay-here stores. Now ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 13

It's time to stop the stair-step madness. Dealers report that some manufacturers have ramped up their use of stair-step incentives. Several major retailers, including some of the largest dealership groups in the country, say stair- ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 6

You have to go back decades to find a nominee for secretary of transportation with fewer apparent qualifications for the job than Anthony Foxx, mayor of Charlotte, N.C. The Charlotte Observer reported last week that while ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | May 6

It is alarming that some drivers engage in activities, such as texting while driving, that distract their attention and put themselves, their passengers and other motorists in harm's way. The problem is getting worse, even though ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 29

The strong recovery of new-vehicle sales in the United States has been a boost for a generally flaccid economy. The sales uptick and new-model introductions are welcome news for consumers, dealers, retail finance companies, automakers ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 22

Despite any issues about bottlenecks in the supply chain, there can be no doubt that the supplier community provides much of the torque that drives technological development in the auto industry. Automakers rely on suppliers to develop ... 12:01 am U.S. ET | April 22