The Ford Model T is an old car made by Ford a long time ago. It was one of the first cars many people could buy because it was made in a new, faster way that saved money.
Giant aluminum castings are big parts made from melted aluminum shaped into one piece. Car makers use them to build cars with fewer parts, which can make the car stronger and easier to put together.
Add-ons are extra things dealers try to sell you with a car, like special window covers or locks for the wheels, which can make the car more expensive.
A level two vehicle is a car that can help with driving by steering and speeding up or slowing down, but the driver still needs to pay attention and be ready to take control.
Autonomous driving means a car can drive itself without a person needing to steer or press the pedals, using special computers and cameras to see the road and other cars.
Lubrack is a computer program that helps car service shops keep track of all the work they do on cars, like oil changes and repairs, so nothing gets missed.
Electrical suspension is a type of car setup that uses computers and sensors to make the ride smoother and the car handle better by changing how the car's springs and shocks work while you drive.
LIVE
Are you a dealer creating a workplace culture
your employees are proud to be part of?
Applications are now open for the 2026 Automotive News
best dealerships to work for program.
This isn't just an award,
it's a chance to get real insight
into what's working at your dealership
and where you can improve.
And we've expanded the categories this year,
recognizing everything from technician experience
and leadership development,
to AI enablement and employee retention.
The registration deadline is April 17th,
find out more and apply at autonews.com.
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.
And if you enjoy the podcast, remember to like,
leave a review and subscribe
so you never miss an episode.
About this episode
Ford is revolutionizing electric pickup production by using giant aluminum castings to reduce parts and improve efficiency, aiming to compete with fast-moving Chinese automakers. The episode also highlights potential chip shortages in Europe due to the Iran conflict and reveals how dealer pricing often hides substantial fees and add-ons. Service manager Micah Morton shares insights on recruiting and retaining skilled technicians, emphasizing fair pay, training, and marketing to keep service departments thriving amid slower sales. Additionally, NVIDIA's push into automotive autonomous tech is discussed, signaling a shift toward more advanced vehicle automation.
Ford is planning to replace hundreds of parts with giant aluminum castings on its upcoming electric pickup. New data shows dealership pricing practices the FTC warned about are widespread. Plus, service manager Micah Morton talks about recruiting younger technicians and stepping up service marketing.
