TOYOTA CEO LENTZ TALKS TRUCKS, SUVS

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2015

SECTION B

AMERICAN EXPRESS

Chip credit cards ring in holidays, 3B

New Prius shouts practicality, 4B

DAVID DEWHURST

MONEYLINE

OPTIMISM BUOYS CONSUMER SENTIMENT Americans were more optimistic about their incomes and personal finances this month, particularly among lower- and middle-class households, lifting consumers' outlook. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to 91.3 in November from 90 in the previous month. That is close to the average for the past six months of 91.6.

TOYOTA CEO LENTZ TALKS TRUCKS, SUVS AND CARS

SIMON DAWSON, BLOOMBERG

HASBRO BEATS MATTEL WITH STOCK FORECASTERS In the battle for holiday toy spending, the empire has the upper hand. At least that's the view in the stock market. Before Black Friday, short interest on Mattel hovered near an all-time high, reflecting skepticism the toymaker will deliver this holiday season. After surging all year, bearish bets as a percentage of shares outstanding sat at about 21% for the El Segundo, Calif.based manufacturer, just below a record of almost 22% in October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Markit. In comparison, investors are sanguine on Mattel's biggest publicly traded competitor: Hasbro, which has a licensing agreement to sell merchandise related to the release of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" on Dec. 18.

USA SNAPSHOTS?

Black Friday shopping

Lovers

43%

Haters

57%

Source Rubicon Project survey of 1,003 consumers

JAE YANG AND PAUL TRAP, USA TODAY

Maria Bartiromo

@mariabartiromo Special for USA TODAY

ONE ON ONE

Q Can you characterize what

you're seeing right

now in the auto

business?

A: The industry is tracking about

17.4 million (units sold). To me,

what's most interesting about

that is the passenger car industry

is actually down a bit from last

year, and all this growth is in the

light truck side of the business. It

will be up over a million units,

and we've seen a lot of strength

on the pickup side of the market.

The big moves are still on the

sport-utility side.

Q Why? A: In the case of pickup trucks, it's the perfect storm for growth. After the recession, you saw a big drop in housing, an aging of the pickup truck fleet. The average pickup truck is over 12 years old today. So as we've seen housing come back, you saw this big move towards pickup trucks. You also have gasoline dropping.

The auto sector has been one of the shining lights of the economy throughout this recovery. In fact, we are witnessing a bit of a revolution for cars and trucks, given new technology, rock-bottom gasoline prices and a new focus on quality. I caught up with industry leader Jim Lentz, Toyota's CEO of the Americas, to find out how sustainable the good times are and what our cars will look like in the future. Our interview follows, edited for clarity and length.

I'm living in Texas, and I paid $1.87 a gallon this weekend for gasoline. So you've got low fuel prices, you've got an older fleet, you've got increase in housing. You have a lot of manufacturers that have introduced new trucks in the last couple years. Almost everyone in the full-size and the small truck arena has introduced a new truck. So it's the perfect storm for people to really be pushing that pickup truck market.

Q So when gasoline is cheaper, people don't care about spending too much on their tanks in bigger trucks? A: I think that's true. The interesting one is on the sport-utility side. Because you have small sport utilities that are now the No. 1 volume segment in the industry. That's never happened before. It's always been standard midsize cars. That segment's up almost 20% year over year. People are moving from standard midsize passenger cars towards these small SUVs. And the small SUVs today are probably midsized than they've ever been in the past. They have the ride and comfort of a sedan. They're as quiet as a sedan, the fuel e ciency of a sedan. And they're transacting at about the same price

"So imagine a vehicle that can react quicker, that can see better, can see distances better, it could see in fog, it could anticipate movement."

point. So I think that shift towards the SUV is being driven a little bit more than just gasoline price. I think that's going to be here to stay.

Q How does today's vehicle look different as a result of technology? A: It's changing drastically. Power trains are changing while hybrids have been hurt a little bit by low fuel prices. You're going to see more hybridization of cars. That's more technology, more fuel cells. We've just launched our fuel cell. Our entire first year of production, all of `16 is already sold out. So you're gonna see improve-

MORE ONLINE CEO'S OUTLOOK Toyota chief Jim Lentz looks to 2016 for the auto industry.

COOPER NEILL, GETTY IMAGES FOR TOYOTA

ments through technology in the types of fuels, whether they be battery, battery electrics or even internal combustion gas. You're going to see more and more telematics in cars. And you're going to see the advancement of autonomous cars that I think we're just seeing the beginning of that today from a number of di erent safety components that are now being integrated to kind of create what we're calling autonomous cars.

Q An autonomous car can be one where if I want to take the wheel of the manual I could drive but I also could press a button and it will drive for me? A: Yes, there are two really di erent schools of thought. One is what I would call the chau eurdriven car where it's a car that you literally would get into, you may or may not even have a steering wheel. And you would be taken from point A to point B. That's not the direction that we believe is going to dominate. I think the bigger area is the cars that can actually enhance the driving skills of the driver and in time reduce serious and fatal accidents. if you look at the Boomer generation, cars have been a symbol of freedom for them since they turned

v STORY CONTINUES ON 2B

Automakers look to cash in on Black Friday

It's being pitched as a chance to shop without mall crowds

Chris Woodyard

USA TODAY

Automakers hope shoppers will ditch the malls and head to car lots this Black Friday weekend.

Black Friday is becoming as important to the auto industry as it is to retailing -- and the result could cap a November sales bonanza that is predicted to be the highest since 2001.

"Black Friday deals on vehicles have grown in popularity in recent years and should be a big contributor to this month's sales results," Tim Fleming, analyst for Kelley Blue Book, says in a statement.

In fact, KBB predicts that the sales boost should propel November to the highest sales tally for the month since 2001, helped along by more discounting by automakers.

For automakers, it is chance to chalk up some extra sales as the end of the year approaches.

"This year, we have a lot of mo-

DANIEL ACKER, BLOOMBERG

Ford Motor Co. says buyers can get discounts similar to what the automaker o ers its own employees. It's called the "Friends and Neighbors" promotion.

mentum, and we want to keep it going," says Paul Beckett, director of sales operations for Buick and GMC. "It's a natural retail play for us."

It's also a chance to clear the lots of outgoing 2015 models, making way for the 2016 cars,

Shoppers have more time to focus on buying a car over a long weekend, says Erich Merkle,

Ford's sales analyst. It's a less crowded shopping ex-

perience than what people find in department or mass-market stores. "There are a number of people who won't go out to retailers on Black Friday because of the crowds," he says. For automakers, "it's a good time to connect with customers."

Buyers who wait may not be a

lot worse o . The deals will be about as good in December when car dealers will be under pressure to sell a few more cars to cash in on higher allotments and other incentives from automakers as the year comes to a close, says Eric Lyman, vice president of industry insights for TrueCar, a website for auto buyers.

Most of the best Black Friday deals are from Detroit's Big 3 automakers, Lyman says.

GM is running a month-long Black Friday promotion, including up to 20% o on selected models.

Fiat Chrysler o ers cut-rate financing. Ford says buyers can get discounts similar to what the automaker o ers its own employees. It's called the "Friends and Neighbors" promotion.

Lyman says buyers need to decide how the deals best fit their own needs.

The deals may vary by city. Markets such as New York and Los Angeles, Beckett says, are more tilted toward leasing than buying -- so there may be some sweet lease deals in those cities. He says GMC is promoting its Sierra full-size pickup while Buick is strong with crossovers such as the Enclave and Encore.

BIG 3 DEALS

Detroit's Big 3 automakers are taking full advantage of the Black Friday shopping phenomenon to try to lure in car buyers. Here's how some of the offers stack up:

u Ford is offering widespread discounts through its "Friends and Neighbors" pricing. Ford is offering "Black Friday Bonus cash" of $500 on the 2015 and 2016 Escape and Fusion and 2015 Edge and Focus. It's not available on electrics or hybrids. uFiat Chrysler is offering zero percent financing for 75 months plus discounts up to $1,500 depending on the model. For instance, Ram is offering $500 in cash back on a 2015 Ram 1500 pickup, while Dodge has the same offer on the Charge sedan and Grand Caravan minivan. uGeneral Motors is offering a Black Friday promotion that offers up to 20% off the sticker price of select models. They include 20% off 2015 Buick LaCrosse, Chevrolet Camaro and Malibu. GMC is offering 15% off Sierra pickups.

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