Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas made "big" cuts to his US auto industry sales forecast, reducing his 2017 US SAAR forecast to 17.3M units from 18.3M units, 2018 to 16.4M units from 18.9M units, 2019 to 15M units from 19.2M units, and 2020 to 15M units from 18.7M units. Jonas believes the auto cycle may be hitting a point of diminishing returns following 8 years into the biggest cycle on record as used car values erode, pressuring conditions for selling new vehicles, and said new vehicle inventory levels continue to rise. Additionally, the analyst expects electrical margins to face increasing competition from new entrants and higher development costs. As a result, Jonas cut estimates across the board and downgraded Lear (LEA) to Underweight from Equal Weight.

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Ford is recalling over 456,000 Bronco Sport and Maverick vehicles due to a battery detection issue that can result in loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash, Wyatte Grantham-Philips of The Associated Press reports, citing documents published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall covers about 403,000 model year 2021-2024 Bronco Sports produced between February 2020 and March 2024, as well as more than 53,000 model year 2022-2023 Mavericks manufactured from February 2021 to October 2022, according to the report. A Ford spokesperson confirmed to The Associated Press Wednesday, that the software update should arrive by later in the second quarter, commenting that "safety is a top priority, and we are taking proactive measures to address this issue promptly and effectively." Reference Link