This week we tackle the unfortunate saga unfolding at First Brands. Since entering Chapter 11, the company's executives have been indicted, they’ve laid off hundreds and now an investor into the business has been sued. We also touch on Eaton’s trucking exit, unfortunate layoffs at CVG, insights from ASE’s Voice of the Technician survey and the aftermath of the IEEPA tariff ruling. Then we touch on tech integrations, what open positions cost you, congratulate International’s dealer of the year and tease the opening of our dealer award nomination periods next week.
Lucas: Hey everyone. Lucas here for today’s TPS weekly news roundup. We have to start with First Brands.
If you haven’t been following this story on TPS, let me catch you up. In January, First Brands, which is the owner of Trico wiper blades, Fram, Luber-finer, Cardone, Raybestos — a variety of products in the automotive and heavy-duty space — announced it was putting itself up for sale and undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. We found out not long after that two executives were indicted in a multi-year, billion-dollar fraud scheme. Then we found out this week that First Brands has closed multiple production facilities. More than 500 people have been laid off. And on Thursday, we found out that Jeffries Financial Group, an investment bank that had supported First Brands, is now being sued by investors over exposure to the First Brands’ [business]. So, just a ton of stuff happening as it relates to First Brands. All the stories up on the website, more stories coming next week and the week after as we continue to follow this company and find out if these brands and these product lines will continue into the future.
Other stories this week as it relates to manufacturers. Unfortunately, we found out Commercial Vehicle Group has laid off 76 associates at their facility in Alabama, moving production to Mexico and Tennessee. So, unfortunate news there. We had more information from Eaton about the sale its trucking business — through their Vehicle and eMobility group. We had a story there based on some information that Eaton put out in its earnings recall last month, so that’s available.
We had a story, the ASE Education Foundation and WrenchWay did their 2026 ‘Voice of the Technician’ survey. And it was really unfortunate how technicians are viewing this industry and viewing their careers. Automotive technicians are more frustrated about their job and their role and their career than heavy-duty technicians, but really some insightful data there on what techs really think of their careers, what they think of their employers, how willing they are promote their careers to other friends, associates and families, so some good stuff there.
We had a story about the cost of open positions and how much it really costs your business when you don't fill a role. Based information from SHRM, which is the Society of Human Resource Managers, the cost of not filling a non-executive role is $5,700 on average. It’s far more than that for an executive role. And, additionally, the cost for filling a technician role, if you are in a position where you need to hire technicians, can very well [go] beyond that because of the revenue that you’re losing when you don’t have a technician in a bay. Some really good stuff there on that story from the ASE survey and then the story on the cost of opens positions.
We also had a story on tech integrations, how your solutions providers perform tech integrations, how they determine an integration is valuable, how they train people and why it’s important to engage with your solutions providers about integrations and utilize them to maximize the performance of your business. So, check that out.
We had a story on truck tonnage. ATA truck tonnage was up 0.4% in January over December. That’s good. Unfortunately, September, October and December, were all down months, so we’re still down from the high point we saw last summer. We had news from International that Team Wieland Truck and Trailer was named their 2025 North American Dealer of the Year, so congratulations to the team from Wieland. Also, lastly tariffs. It seems like it was months ago, but it was actually just last week that President Trump, or that the Supreme Court announced that President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs were unconstitutional. President Trump immediately responding with a 10% tariff and then coming back the next day on Truth Social, upping that to 15%. We had some data this week, Monday and Tuesday, about the ending of the IEEPA tariffs, what’s to come with the 10% to 15% tariffs that President Trump has levied. Will there be exceptions? Will heavy-duty be part of the exemptions? We’re checking that out. We’re following that. There’ll be more stories on that next week, but please check those stories out.
And then lastly, on Monday, we will open the nomination period for the Successful Dealer Award and the Trailblazer Award. We want to hear from you, who are the best truck dealers and trailer dealers in North America? Spend some time this weekend thinking about it and make sure Monday morning you let us know who deserves to be nominated for those awards.
Have a great weekend. Keep up on everything that we’re doing. Check on social, check on YouTube, like and subscribe, go to the newsletters, a ton of great stuff out there. Have a great weekend. We’ll see you on Monday. Thanks, guys. Bye.
