Front pageEditionsThursday, October 29
Money's still expensive, metal's still moving — and the EV discount just evaporated
The Fed stood pat with auto loan costs parked at the top, October new-car sales are tracking up 7.2%, and used EVs now cost more than comparable gas cars.
The Fed left its benchmark at 3.75%–4.00% with two dissents, which means nothing in your customer's payment math changed overnight — and affordability is still the word lenders keep repeating in their monthly credit reads. Meanwhile the underwriting side keeps moving: regional lenders are rolling out FICO Auto Score 10 for a sharper risk picture, and refi shops are circling borrowers who bought at peak rates. If your deals are dying in the payment, the fix this quarter is cleaner stips and faster funding, not waiting on a cut that didn't come.
Cox expects October new-vehicle sales near 1.38 million units, up 7.2% year over year, and Ford just posted $49.5 billion in quarterly revenue on buyers who apparently don't care what gas costs. That's good news upstream — strong new sales mean trade-ins, and trade-ins mean auction supply 60 to 90 days out. The asterisk: a Honda exec calls a jump to 50% Canadian tariffs on Jan. 1 "catastrophic," and anything that lifts new-car stickers lifts the floor under your 3-year-old inventory too.
Used EVs that used to sit thousands under comparable gas cars now carry a premium, with turn times and prices rising faster than hybrids or gas — the cheap-EV arbitrage a lot of lots were quietly enjoying is gone. On the other end, Volkswagen admitted out loud that EVs still earn less than gas cars, and GM is tooling up Michigan for hybrid Enclave, Traverse and Acadia because that's where the demand actually is. Translation for your lot: hybrids are the acquisition target, and if you've been passing on used EVs on price, re-run the numbers before you pass again.
Toyota is recalling roughly 228,000 2022–2026 Sienna Hybrids over seat backs that can unlock in a crash — run your VINs before a van hits the front line, because the fix is free and the alternative is a customer finding out on their own. Separately, there's a worthwhile piece on title integrity in an all-digital transaction world, where a faster deal can also mean a faster mistake. And the FTC's new inquiry into personalized pricing at airlines and ride-share apps isn't aimed at you, but the questions it's asking about how prices get set per-customer are worth a read.
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