Prospecting - Auto: More Incentives Boost Ram Sales.

Stellantis NV’s Ram sales are rebounding in October, Bloomberg reports. The automaker is raising incentives to clear bloated inventories, said Chris Feuell, the chief executive officer of the Ram and Chrysler brands. Ram brand sales are up 35% to 40% so far in October, Feuell said at a Reuters automotive conference in Detroit this week.

Volvo Cars topped Q3 operating profit expectations on Wednesday, but the Swedish automaker slashed its full-year sales growth outlook as an industry slowdown spreads to higher-end cars, Reuters reports. Demand for EVs has weakened in the last year partly due to a lack of affordable models and the slow roll-out of charging points.

For Toyota dealers, the most important change coming to the 2025 Sienna minivan may be that there will be more of them to sell. According to Automotive News, the Japanese automaker plans to boost production of its hybrid-only minivan for the coming model year by about 20% to an estimated 85,000, up from the current year’s 71,000.

The Honda Accord, Honda Civic, and Honda CR-V Hybrid are all potential fire hazards, according to a new recall notice. Honda has notified the NHTSA that it’s recalling over 720,000 vehicles in North America due to a faulty high-pressure fuel pump. The Honda recall says that the fuel pump can crack and cause a fuel leak, which the automaker states “can increase the risk of fire.” The Honda fuel pump recall covers the following vehicles: 2023-2024 Honda Accord; 2023-2024 Honda Accord Hybrid; 2025 Honda Civic; 2025 Honda Civic Hybrid; and 2023-2025 Honda CR-V Hybrid.

Hyundai Motor North America is recalling 1,568 hybrid electric SUVs due to a hydrogen gas leak that could increase the risk of fire if exposed to an ignition source. The recall affects 2019–24 Hyundai Nexo models, one of the first hydrogen-powered SUVs on the mass market. Hydrogen vehicles remain rare in the U.S.; only about 17,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles were on U.S. roads by mid-2022, according to data from Car and Driver.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said this week that the Department of Energy is moving to complete $1.7 billion in grants to convert automotive plants for electric vehicle production. CBT News says the funding is intended to help major automakers like General Motors and Stellantis transition existing facilities to EV production.

According to data from Recurrent, nearly a quarter of EVs in the U.S. may become eligible for a $4,000 tax credit in January — but they are not all created equal. The EV model year must be at least 2 years older than the current calendar year, among other requirements, to be eligible for the federal tax credit of up to $4,000. Automotive News says that means on Jan. 1, 2025, 2023 model-year vehicles may qualify, and the percentage of potentially eligible used EVs will jump to 89% from 65%.