Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Monday, June 2.
President Donald Trump's executive order on "disparate impact" discrimination policy issued April 23 is starting to take root in the regulatory structure that presides over automotive retail. The Federal Trade Commission's ongoing case against Asbury Automotive Inc. could signal what's in store.
John Huetter's story explains how the FTC has petitioned to drop a discrimination allegation on Asbury based on the order, which said disparate impact "holds that a near insurmountable presumption of unlawful discrimination exists where there are any differences in outcomes in certain circumstances among different races, sexes, or similar groups, even if there is no facially discriminatory policy or practice or discriminatory intent involved, and even if everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed."
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The concept of disparate impact draws a conclusion of discrimination based upon a statistical analysis of how a business treated different demographics, regardless of whether any bias was intended by the company, Huetter wrote.
The FTC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have been litigating auto retail-related disparate impact cases for years. Our story says the FTC in August 2024 alleged three Asbury David McDavid stores in Texas engaged in payment packing, added finance and insurance products to deals without consumer knowledge, and misled customers about products being required.
Asbury denied the allegations and pushed back, asking a U.S. District Court to block the FTC's case, which was filed in an internal legal system Asbury calls unconstitutional.
Trump in April said U.S. policy was to end disparate impact cases "to the maximum degree possible," and he ordered the director of the CFPB and chairman of the FTC to "take appropriate action."
Meanwhile, it was no secret former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares fought with his board about the automaker's strategic direction. In a story today, Tavares said Antonio Filosa was the logical choice to succeed him, but he still managed to take a shot at the board.
"I think it's a logical, credible choice," Tavares said in the story from Bloomberg. "Hopefully he will be properly supported by the board. So let's see."
By the way, Filosa today promoted Stellantis insider Sebastien Jacquet to become quality chief, taking over Filosa's previous position, Vince Bond Jr. reported.
That's it for now. If you want to view this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
