JD Power Automotive Forum 2026

This year’s JD Power Automotive Forum, which preceded the New York International Auto Show last week, was once again an opportunity to catch up on the retail side of the business (which is always educational for me) as well as emerging industry trends.

The up-front global economic outlook and U.S. automotive outlook set the stage, with the expected array of less-than-encouraging numbers: labor market challenges, the retail sales shift from discretionary to essential goods, GDP growth slowdown, monthly payment sticker shock, and reduced retailer profitability. After a better-than-expected 2025, 2026 looks to be overall fairly flat, with higher transaction prices and higher incentives combining to reduce total retailer profit.

A few common themes emerged throughout the day, including the importance of the dealer franchise model to this audience. That model is being challenged by VW’s new Scout brand, as well as the existing direct-sale EV brands (with Rivian winning a recent victory in Washington state). There was also a fair amount of interest in the increasing demand for hybrids as EV sales appear to level off (but no one was writing EVs’ obituary). 

Executives from Nissan, Ford, Honda, and General Motors were on hand to share their thoughts as well – although some were more forthright about their future plans than others. Nissan is currently facing multiple business challenges, and their Chairman of the Americas noted they were about 60% of the way toward reaching their turnaround goals. Their new e-Power series hybrid and upcoming V6 hybrid (in a new body-on-frame architecture) will broaden their electrification portfolio, and they now have a goal of building 80% of their U.S.-sold vehicles in the U.S. (versus 44% a year ago). Infiniti is also getting ready for two significant new products over the next two years: a new Q50 sedan (with an available manual transmission) and a Rogue-based QX50 SUV. Not mentioned at all, however, were future opportunities in the EV space.

Honda, recently took a substantial loss with the cancellation of their 0 Series EV architecture, hasn’t written off EVs completely yet. However, their future plans with this technology remain a mystery, at least in the U.S.; they continue to see opportunities in other markets (and are aggressively expanding their EV lineup in China). In the short term, they see an opportunity to expand their hybrid portfolio upmarket, with a new two-motor hybrid due in the D segment (think Pilot, Passport, and Odyssey) by 2030.

All in all, this was a great opportunity to set the stage prior to the auto show, as well as catch up with industry colleagues, and I look forward to next year’s event.

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