GM held the US sales crown with 670,974 units but was down 5.5%, and its EV volume fell roughly 62% — a full year after the federal credit went away. Toyota's electrified surge is closing the gap, Stellantis and Honda posted gains on hybrids and workhorse models, Tesla slipped again, and Volvo tossed its full-year guidance entirely while Rivian jumped 45% on R2. Read it as a mix story, not a demand story: buyers keep voting for hybrids and trucks. That's the new-car funnel feeding your two-to-four-year-old trade pipeline, so stock accordingly and expect gas-electric compacts to keep carrying the strongest front-end gross on your lot.

Edmunds has the average used vehicle at $32,461 in Q2 — more than a base new RAV4 — while Q3 auto finance data set fresh records as consumers stretch to make the math work. Meanwhile Toyota raised the price on its cheapest hybrid SUV without adding content, and VW is dumping up to $12,500 on leftover ID.4s it no longer builds. Your customer isn't shopping a car, they're shopping a payment, and the gap between a clean $18k retail unit and anything new is now the whole ballgame. Price the front end like you know that.

Franchise stores are quoting up to $12,000 to replace a Toyota hybrid battery; independent specialists are doing the same job for around $2,000. If you've been passing on high-mile Priuses and Camry hybrids at the sale because of battery exposure, that spread is your margin — and a credible battery story is a closing tool when the customer's cousin told them hybrids are a money pit. Pair it with the tech-pay data coming out of 13.5 million repair orders: the people who can do this work know exactly what they're worth, and so should your shop rate.

Recall volume surged again through the first half, electrical faults leading the pack, and a KBB walkthrough makes the uncomfortable point that a clean NHTSA VIN check still misses emissions and service campaigns. Separately, the FTC and two state AGs sued Lens.com over a hidden 'taxes & fees' charge that allegedly doubled the advertised price — a different industry, same theory regulators have been testing on car ads. Both are worth a read this weekend: one for your recon checklist, one for whatever's printing below your online price.