March 20, 2026 | Ford bets on giant castings; Service Manager Micah Morton

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Welcome to Daily Drive.

For Friday, March 20th, 2026,

I'm Kellan Walker in Las Vegas.

Today on the show,

Ford's betting big on giant aluminum castings

for its next electric pickup.

Europe could face chip shortages

if the Iran conflict drags on

and new data reveals a big gap

between advertised prices

and what buyers actually pay.

Plus, we'll hear from a service manager

about how his service department

is recruiting new techs and keeping them around.

They are great technicians,

they do a good job,

can always rely on these guys.

So the guys that are coming through the program

are top notch.

Let's run through all the news you need to know

to keep up in the auto industry.

Ford's planning what CEO Jim Farley calls

the most radical change to assembly since the Model T,

swapping hundreds of parts

for two giant aluminum castings

on its upcoming electric pickup.

Tesla does something similar on the Model Y,

but will repair costs skyrocket?

Actually, the opposite might be true.

Research from Thatchum found the Model Y

costs less to fix than traditionally built vehicles.

Ford says its design includes predefined cut zones,

literally dotted lines showing

where to section and repair damaged castings.

We'll have more on this story

on our weekend drive edition of the show

available Saturday morning.

Europe's automakers could face serious shortages

of semiconductors and battery cells

if the Iran conflict drags on beyond two months.

That's according to a new study

from the Supply Chain Intelligence Institute, Austria.

The concern, about a third of the helium needed

for chip production comes from cutter.

And the conflict has effectively shut down

the Strait of Hormuz.

Study author Peter Klemick says

if there's a chip shortage,

automakers would likely take the biggest hit

as priority goes to sectors like medical applications.

And new data shows just how widespread

those pricing practices that the FTC called illegal really are.

Car Edge analyzed thousands of vehicle deals

and found the average car is listed

for seven to 8% less than what buyers

actually pay out the door,

not counting taxes and titles.

Almost every dealership adds a dock fee,

averaging more than $400 per deal.

And about half of stores charge for add-ons

like window tent and wheel locks,

averaging over $2,000.

Neither shows up in the advertised price.

Our own John Hutter is covering the story

for us at Automotive News.

He joins me now to talk about the latest data.

John, thanks for joining us.

Hey, good to be here.

All right, John, so Car Edge says vehicles are advertised

at seven to 8% less than what customers actually pay.

Now, what's driving that gap?

They kind of broke their statistics down

in a couple of different ways,

but so they didn't really elaborate on the overall tally,

but what they do show is basically almost every dealer

is not putting their document fees

in the actual listing price.

And then about half the stores have additional add-ons

and that might be like wheel locks or tint

or something like that.

They're also not putting in their listing price.

So I would imagine between those two,

that's probably the kind of discrepancy we're talking about

because the average add-on that they found

was like more than $2,000 tacked onto a car

that you weren't seeing in the actual price.

Wow, and what do these new findings mean

after the FTC's warning letters last week?

When it was funny, the timing was a riot

because I got the press release on this thing

about March 3rd and then March 13th,

the FTC drops the bomb that basically everything,

Car Edge had just found dealers doing was illegal,

which I mean, the FTC is taking the position

that's always been illegal,

but you had it kind of in writing.

So clearly that's a big problem.

When I talked to the Car Edge CEO, Zach Shevska,

he did mention dealers will have,

a lot of times they do have a disclaimer about the dock fee.

And some of them do also do one on it

that we're gonna add add-ons to it,

like the price you see is not the real price,

but based on kind of what the FTC's going for,

that's not gonna cut it.

You're gonna need to have the price be the all-in price,

like me, Joe, customer goes into you,

writes a check and then leave the door,

go out the door with that price

minus government fees like taxes.

Gotcha.

John Hutter, good stuff, my friend.

Thank you so much for joining me.

Hey, thanks.

Coming up next, why service departments

need to step their marketing game up

when sales slow down.

That's next on Daily Drive.

NVIDIA is betting on cars.

And this week, I got a closer look

at the company's strategy.

On this week's episode of the Automotive News Shift podcast,

I'm joined by Ali Kani,

NVIDIA's vice president of automotive.

We talk inside of a moving NVIDIA-powered level two vehicle

about the company's automotive goals

and how its chips are managing the complex tasks

required for automated driving.

The industry is at an inflection point.

Every car will wanna be autonomous.

Plus, I'll recap NVIDIA's GTC in San Jose,

including why CEO Jensen Huang says autonomous driving tech

is a solved problem.

It's definitely a solved problem.

The rest of this is engineering reclinement.

I'm Molly Boygon.

Join me on Shift, available this Sunday,

wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome back to Daily Drive.

I'm Kellan Walker.

It's fixed stops Friday, and today,

we're talking about how service departments

are adapting when sales slow down.

Micah Morton is service manager

at Healthman Fiat Alfa Romeo

and Maserati of Sugarland in Texas.

He spoke with automotive news senior retail editor,

Dan Shine, about recruiting younger technicians,

why paying technicians well is critical for retention,

and why getting customers in and out quickly

is the simplest way to keep them coming back.

Micah, thanks for joining me

on the fixed stops Friday edition of Daily Drive.

Thanks for having me.

So we're here at River Oaks CDJR in Houston.

Got 33 bays, looks like a busy morning.

A lot of trucks and jeeps coming in.

How has business been for you,

seeing the last, maybe from the start of the year?

Been a little slow.

Sales is definitely on the slow side.

Services, we try, during the slow times on sales,

that's what they go to to keep the revenue up.

So things have been a little slow

with everything that's going on,

but we're making it work.

Yeah, it's striking to me that people talk about the sales,

the sales are gonna be down this year.

And so again, once again, fixed stops

is maybe looked at to,

okay, you gotta carry the load a little bit here profit-wise.

Do you do anything differently?

Are you trying to do things to recruit more,

get some of those conquests back

or get folks maybe, do you do something different

knowing that, okay, maybe the burden's on me

a little bit here more, I've gotta do more?

We've definitely gotta do a lot more marketing

on the service side.

We've gotta bring in those customers.

We gotta get those customers coming in

and maintain the customers that we have and get more in.

Yeah, how do you do it?

Marketing, I mean, I'm probably not,

like some of you worry about, but direct mail or just...

We do direct mail, emails, texts, phone calls.

We have a BDC that does a really good job

in contacting customers and reaching out to customers.

Recalls are a good way to bring in revenue.

It's a low-hanging fruit,

so recalls are definitely something that we shoot out for.

Simply enough, if you do a good job at,

you get them in and out on time

at a price they find acceptable.

That's also just the simplest way to get people coming back.

That's exactly right.

Do you do training with the staff or do you,

how do you make sure everybody's on that message

and on that task?

Well, we have an online training

that everybody goes through.

We here at River have an accessible staff and techs

that have been with us for a very long time,

30, 40, 50 years.

So we've got a good avenue of techs that have been trained

and have seen the cars and a good way

to train new techs that's coming through.

We have those guys with experience,

bringing those new guys in

and getting them trained under these guys.

It's the best way to keep tech for all.

You talk about that great retention of tech.

How do you do that?

I mean, do you have special programs

and I don't know, what are you,

tool allowances, boot allowances?

How do you kind of treat the technicians well

to keep them where they are?

The pay scale is where it's at, really.

I mean, you got to pay your technicians.

If they're trained, they do a good job.

They're turning hours for you.

You have to pay them.

It's as simple as that to keep them here

because there's always another dealership looking.

So you've got to take care of your technicians.

We talk about recruitment.

There's always turnover and are you at full,

you have all the technicians that you need

or are you always kind of looking for more?

We're always looking for well-trained technicians always.

But we have a good retention

and we are fully staffed at the present,

but we're looking to bring these younger guys up through

to take over when these other guys tend to retire.

How do you, when you go look for technicians that,

how do you do that?

Are you a presence in local community colleges

or trade schools or how do you kind of get your word out

that this is the place you want to come work?

We do go to local colleges and things like that

and recruit from them like Lone Star, San Jack,

things like that.

PetraCare, which is a good way

of getting younger guys in the door

and then get them through.

Speaking of PetraCare,

as usually we've got I think three young men here

working for you.

How did you come aware of the program

and how are they working out so far?

Well, they come up through here.

I think we had one of the guys that worked

for PetraCare that worked for us.

That's how we got involved with PetraCare.

The three guys that we've got, Michael Tolden,

Devante Mingo and Amani are three guys

that come through the PetraCare.

They are great technicians.

They do a good job.

We can always rely on these guys.

So the guys that are coming through the program

are top notch.

Was there anything on your end with onboarding them

that you did a little bit differently

or was it just kind of they're just another,

whether they're from San Jacinto or they're from,

you know.

Well, I mean, we did, we brought them in on the lubricant

because they've already been trained

and changing oil and things like that.

So we were able to bring them straight into Lubrack.

Sometimes we'll bring in from poorer physicians

that don't have any experience

and they'll pull them up through if need be.

But PetraCare, they've already got some training background.

They've already got some tools.

So they come in, they go into Lubrack

and they learn that system first.

Once they learn that system and they got a good grasp

on that and what to look for the cars,

then we'll put them under a mentor

and then go through that process.

And wherever they're the best at electrical suspension,

that's the avenue that they'll go in.

Okay.

And just training and just trying to get them certified

and get them up to where they can be the main line.

We've got a online training through Dealer Connect

or Stellantis that they'll go through.

It takes about about six months to get through that program

and they can be fully trained to do warranty work.

Okay.

And finally, looking into the rest of 2026,

do you see challenges ahead

or how do you kind of see if you have a little crystal ball

on how you think things will be for the rest of the year?

I mean, it's hard to tell, but the way it started,

if it stays like this,

I mean, we're definitely gonna have to do more marketing

and definitely take care of our customers

and get them in the door, but it's really hard to tell.

Yeah.

You know, since there are so many people holding onto

their vehicles longer, but just because of, you know,

and so it's, you know, going out and finding those people

who have the older vehicles

and to get them back in,

convince them that this is the place to do it,

it's just a challenge.

You gotta keep them happy.

That's the only way they're gonna come back.

If you do it just doing an old change,

if it's taking over an hour,

you're probably not gonna see them again.

So you've got to get it in, you've got to get it checked out.

You got to communicate

and then it's got to be right the first time.

Yeah.

Michael, thanks so much for your time.

Thank you.

That's Daily Drive for today.

I'm Kellan Walker.

Thanks to Automotive News executive producer Jake Neer,

as well as our own John Hutter

and Michael Martinez for their reporting

for today's podcast.

We also had reporting from Hans Everett

of our sibling publication, Automobile Volga.

You can get the latest news on service and parts,

manufacturing and everything happening

in the auto industry at AutoNews.com.

Come back over the weekend

for our weekend drive edition of the show.

Our own Larry Veliquette and Michael Martinez

break down the week's biggest stories,

including why Ford is making this big gamble

on giant castings.

Ford's doing it for a two word reason, the Chinese, right?

They are terrified that Chinese automakers

are light years ahead of them

in terms of speed and efficiency

when it comes to manufacturing.

And they're hoping that using these mega castings

will get them back in the game.

We'd love to hear from you.

Let us know what you think of the show

and the topics we covered today.

Send us an email at dailydrive at autonews.com

or leave us a voicemail at 313-444-2774.

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March 20, 2026 | Ford bets on giant castings; Service Manager Micah Morton

About this episode

Ford Model T

giant aluminum castings

Tesla Model Y

predefined cut zones

semiconductors

battery cells

Strait of Hormuz

dock fee

add-ons

NVIDIA

level two vehicle

autonomous driving

GTC

service department

Alfa Romeo

Fiat

technician retention

customer service efficiency

CDJR

Lubrack

electrical suspension

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