QCan you char-acterize what

you’re seeing rightnow in the autobusiness?

A: The industry is tracking about17.4 million (units sold). To me,what’s most interesting aboutthat is the passenger car industryis actually down a bit from lastyear, and all this growth is in thelight truck side of the business. Itwill be up over a million units,and we’ve seen a lot of strengthon the pickup side of the market.The big moves are still on thesport-utility side.

QWhy?A: In the case of pickup

trucks, it’s the perfect storm forgrowth. After the recession, yousaw a big drop in housing, an ag-ing of the pickup truck fleet. Theaverage pickup truck is over 12years old today. So as we’ve seenhousing come back, you saw thisbig move towards pickup trucks.You also have gasoline dropping.

I’m living in Texas, and I paid$1.87 a gallon this weekend forgasoline. So you’ve got low fuelprices, you’ve got an older fleet,you’ve got increase in housing.You have a lot of manufacturersthat have introduced new trucksin the last couple years. Almosteveryone in the full-size and thesmall truck arena has introduceda new truck. So it’s the perfectstorm for people to really bepushing that pickup truckmarket.

QSo when gasoline is cheap-er, people don’t care about

spending too much on theirtanks in bigger trucks?A: I think that’s true. The inter-esting one is on the sport-utilityside. Because you have smallsport utilities that are now theNo. 1 volume segment in the in-dustry. That’s never happened be-fore. It’s always been standardmidsize cars. That segment’s upalmost 20% year over year. Peo-ple are moving from standardmidsize passenger cars towardsthese small SUVs. And the smallSUVs today are probably mid-sized than they’ve ever been inthe past. They have the ride andcomfort of a sedan. They’re asquiet as a sedan, the fuel e�cien-cy of a sedan. And they’re trans-acting at about the same price

point. So I think that shift to-wards the SUV is being driven alittle bit more than just gasolineprice. I think that’s going to behere to stay.

QHow does today’s vehiclelook different as a result of

technology?A: It’s changing drastically. Powertrains are changing while hybridshave been hurt a little bit by lowfuel prices. You’re going to seemore hybridization of cars. That’smore technology, more fuel cells.We’ve just launched our fuel cell.Our entire first year of produc-tion, all of ‘16 is already sold out.So you’re gonna see improve-

ments through technology in thetypes of fuels, whether they bebattery, battery electrics or eveninternal combustion gas. You’regoing to see more and more tele-matics in cars. And you’re goingto see the advancement of auton-omous cars that I think we’re justseeing the beginning of that todayfrom a number of di�erent safetycomponents that are now beingintegrated to kind of create whatwe’re calling autonomous cars.

QAn autonomous car can beone where if I want to take

the wheel of the manual I coulddrive but I also could press abutton and it will drive for me?A: Yes, there are two really di�er-ent schools of thought. One iswhat I would call the chau�eur-driven car where it’s a car thatyou literally would get into, youmay or may not even have a steer-ing wheel. And you would be tak-en from point A to point B. That’snot the direction that we believeis going to dominate. I think thebigger area is the cars that can ac-tually enhance the driving skillsof the driver and in time reduceserious and fatal accidents. if youlook at the Boomer generation,cars have been a symbol of free-dom for them since they turned

COOPER NEILL, GETTY IMAGES FOR TOYOTA

TOYOTA CEOLENTZ TALKSTRUCKS, SUVSAND CARSThe auto sector has been one of the shining lights of the economy throughout this recovery. In fact, we arewitnessing a bit of a revolution for cars and trucks, givennew technology, rock-bottom gasoline prices and a newfocus on quality. I caught up with industry leader Jim Lentz, Toyota’s CEO of the Americas, to find outhow sustainable the good times are and what our cars will look like in the future. Our interview follows, editedfor clarity and length.

Maria Bartiromo@mariabartiromo Special for USA TODAY

“So imagine avehicle that canreact quicker, thatcan see better,can see distancesbetter, it could seein fog, it couldanticipatemovement.”

ONE ON ONE

v STORY CONTINUES ON 2B

MORE ONLINECEO’S OUTLOOK

Toyota chief Jim Lentz looksto 2016 for the auto industry.

OPTIMISM BUOYS CONSUMER SENTIMENTAmericans were more optimisticabout their incomes and per-sonal finances this month, partic-ularly among lower- andmiddle-class households, liftingconsumers’ outlook. The Univer-sity of Michigan’s consumersentiment index rose to 91.3 inNovember from 90 in the previ-ous month. That is close to theaverage for the past six monthsof 91.6.

HASBRO BEATS MATTEL WITH STOCK FORECASTERSIn the battle for holiday toyspending, the empire has theupper hand. At least that’s theview in the stock market. BeforeBlack Friday, short interest onMattel hovered near an all-timehigh, reflecting skepticism thetoymaker will deliver this holidayseason. After surging all year,bearish bets as a percentage ofshares outstanding sat at about21% for the El Segundo, Calif.-based manufacturer, just belowa record of almost 22% in Octo-ber, according to data compiledby Bloomberg and Markit. Incomparison, investors are san-guine on Mattel’s biggest pub-licly traded competitor: Hasbro,which has a licensing agreementto sell merchandise related tothe release of “Star Wars: TheForce Awakens” on Dec. 18.

MONEYLINE

SIMON DAWSON, BLOOMBERG

USA SNAPSHOTS©

Black Friday shopping

Source Rubicon Project survey of 1,003 consumers

57%

43%Lovers

Haters

JAE YANG AND PAUL TRAP, USA TODAY

Automakers hope shopperswill ditch the malls and head tocar lots this Black Fridayweekend.

Black Friday is becoming asimportant to the auto industry asit is to retailing — and the resultcould cap a November sales bo-nanza that is predicted to be thehighest since 2001.

“Black Friday deals on vehicleshave grown in popularity in re-cent years and should be a bigcontributor to this month’s salesresults,” Tim Fleming, analyst forKelley Blue Book, says in astatement.

In fact, KBB predicts that thesales boost should propel Novem-ber to the highest sales tally forthe month since 2001, helpedalong by more discounting byautomakers.

For automakers, it is chance tochalk up some extra sales as theend of the year approaches.

“This year, we have a lot of mo-

mentum, and we want to keep itgoing,” says Paul Beckett, directorof sales operations for Buick andGMC. “It’s a natural retail play forus.”

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

Shoppers have more time tofocus on buying a car over a longweekend, says Erich Merkle,

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

perience than what people find indepartment or mass-marketstores. “There are a number ofpeople who won’t go out to retail-ers on Black Friday because of thecrowds,” he says. For automakers,“it’s a good time to connect withcustomers.”

Buyers who wait may not be a

lot worse o�. The deals will beabout as good in December whencar dealers will be under pressureto sell a few more cars to cash inon higher allotments and otherincentives from automakers asthe year comes to a close, says Er-ic Lyman, vice president of indus-try insights for TrueCar, awebsite for auto buyers.

Most of the best Black Fridaydeals are from Detroit’s Big 3automakers, Lyman says.

GM is running a month-longBlack Friday promotion, includ-ing up to 20% o� on selectedmodels.

Fiat Chrysler o�ers cut-rate fi-nancing. Ford says buyers can getdiscounts similar to what theautomaker o�ers its own employ-ees. It’s called the “Friends andNeighbors” promotion.

Lyman says buyers need to de-cide how the deals best fit theirown needs.

The deals may vary by city.Markets such as New York andLos Angeles, Beckett says, aremore tilted toward leasing thanbuying — so there may be somesweet lease deals in those cities.He says GMC is promoting its Si-erra full-size pickup while Buickis strong with crossovers such asthe Enclave and Encore.

Automakers look to cash in on Black FridayIt’s being pitched as a chance to shopwithout mall crowdsChris WoodyardUSA TODAY

DANIEL ACKER, BLOOMBERG

Ford Motor Co. says buyers can get discounts similar to whatthe automaker o�ers its own employees. It’s called the“Friends and Neighbors” promotion.

Detroit’s Big 3 automakers aretaking full advantage of theBlack Friday shopping phenom-enon to try to lure in car buyers.Here’s how some of the offersstack up:

u Ford is offering widespreaddiscounts through its “Friendsand Neighbors” pricing. Ford isoffering “Black Friday Bonuscash” of $500 on the 2015 and2016 Escape and Fusion and2015 Edge and Focus. It’s notavailable on electrics or hybrids.uFiat Chrysler is offeringzero percent financing for 75months plus discounts up to$1,500 depending on the model.For instance, Ram is offering$500 in cash back on a 2015Ram 1500 pickup, while Dodgehas the same offer on theCharge sedan and GrandCaravan minivan.uGeneral Motors is offeringa Black Friday promotion thatoffers up to 20% off the stickerprice of select models. Theyinclude 20% off 2015 Buick La-Crosse, Chevrolet Camaro andMalibu. GMC is offering 15% offSierra pickups.

BIG 3 DEALS

DAVID DEWHURST

New Prius shoutspracticality, 4B

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2015 SECTION B

Chip creditcards ring inholidays, 3B

AMERICAN EXPRESS