Bengaluru: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) on Monday elevated two of its senior officials, Tadashi Asazuma, and Swapnesh R. Maru, to its board with effect from January 19, 2023.

Tadashi Asazuma is an Executive Vice President and heads the Sales, Service, and Used Car functions at TKM. He has extensive global automobile industry experience from working for Toyota in Japan and in regions such as the Middle East.

Swapnesh R. Maru is an Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer and oversees Finance, Human Resources and Administration, Information Technology, Legal, and Corporate Planning at TKM. His experience includes a stint at Toyota Daihatsu Engineering and Manufacturing Co., Thailand.

As a people-centric organization, TKM ensures continuous efforts to strengthen its leadership and reinforce its commitment to producing “mass happiness for all,” the company said.

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Tesla’s move last week to slash prices globally on its EVs by as much as 20% could draw new buyers to electric cars in the industry, but also will force other automakers to respond with lower prices or risk getting left behind, analysts and investors said.

In August, Sky News reported that Lithia presented “a board-approved nonbinding offer” for Pendragon, but noted the proposal was contingent on receiving “irrevocable commitments” from each of the company’s five major shareholders. However, Pendragon said it was unable to engage with one of the shareholders on the offer.

At the time, Pendragon was Europe’s ninth-largest dealership group by revenue, according to Automotive News Europe‘s 2021 Guide to Europe’s biggest dealers, when it had 142 new-vehicle franchise points in the U.K. Pendragon also has its own dealership management system.

Lithia CEO Bryan DeBoer has hinted at the company entering other international markets beyond Canada, including the U.K. Lithia entered Canada in August 2021.

During Lithia’s third-quarter earnings call in October, DeBoer again voiced his interest in Lithia entering Europe and specifically the U.K., noting Western European businesses typically trade at lower multiples than what dealerships trade for in the U.S.

“If we can find the right team because of the strong value of the dollar, it seems like it’s a good time to be able to do that,” DeBoer said at the time.

Lithia, of Medford, Ore., ranks No. 2 on Automotive News‘ most recent list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 260,738 new vehicles in 2021. Through the third quarter of 2022, Lithia is tracking ahead of rival AutoNation Inc. for new-vehicle sales in 2022. AutoNation has long held the No. 1 spot in the annual ranking.

The Motor Enclave has entered into a multi-year alliance with The Morgan Auto Group to be “The Official Automotive Retailer” of the 200-acre experiential motorsports venue, located at the corner of I-4 and I-75, in Tampa.

“When we learned about The Motor Enclave coming to Tampa, we knew we had to be involved in some manner,” said Brett Morgan, chief executive officer of Morgan Auto Group, in a statement.

The deal provides Morgan with special access to use the facility for a variety of team and customer events, including the exclusive ability to provide customers who purchase select performance vehicles with trackside delivery, and driving experiences, the statement said.

The Morgan Auto Group will receive exposure in key locations throughout the development, most notably having its brand integrated into the name of the 100-acre off-road experience and being the inaugural year presenting sponsor of a quarterly “Enclave Cars and Coffee.”

Morgan Auto Group will provide its technicians to operate in an on-site maintenance/performance shop called “The Enclave Speed Shop powered by Morgan Auto Group” where Enclave private garage owners, and members of the Enclave Motorsports Club, can have maintenance performed on their vehicles including oil/tire changes, track safety inspections, after-market performance parts installation and more.

“We are thrilled to have Morgan Auto Group as our first official partner at The Motor Enclave. The diversity of brands represented in Morgan’s portfolio of retail stores aligns perfectly with our goal to deliver engaging experiences to owners/members, corporate clients and the general public, each of whom may have a personal affinity for a particular brand,” said Brad Oleshansky, founder and CEO of The Motor Enclave, in the statement.

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Stellantis is “completely refreshing and rebuilding” its software systems, focusing on what kind of experiences customers are seeking because there is “too much friction between our customers and the tech in cars today,” Tavares said.

“Software is enabling us to push past the expected and render the status quo obsolete,” Tavares said. “We need to create innovation that addresses our human aspirations.”

The Synthesis cockpit embodies Stellantis’ goal of presenting technology that is useful. It uses three upcoming Stellantis tech platforms — STLA Smart Cockpit, STLA Brain and STLA AutoDrive — which the company calls “advanced technology for real life.”

Stellantis Chief Software Officer Yves Bonne- font said the CES floor was packed with ideas that are great individually, but he was wary of the potential for motorists to become overwhelmed with features that take awhile to learn.

Bonnefont said the Stellantis mission to simplify is not easy, so the company is making a concerted effort to understand consumers and get their feedback earlier in development.

Mark Hollmer has joined Automotive News as a reporter covering dealers and retail technology.

Hollmer, 53, most recently wrote about insurance and mortgage industry technology for Insurance Business America and Mortgage Professional America, publications owned by Key Media in Sydney, Australia.

Before that, Hollmer spent more than seven years writing and editing at Wells Media’s Carrier Management publication, where he covered the property/casualty insurance industry with a focus on insurance technology startups.

He began his career as a reporter at The St. Albans Messenger in Vermont. Hollmer is an alumnus of Canisius College and Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.