
Polaris Inc. announced it is donating more than $120,000 to off-road vehicles (ORV), all-terrain vehicles (ATV) and snowmobile riding clubs, and organizations across the United States as a part of its TRAILS GRANTS program. For nearly twenty years, Polaris’ TRAILS GRANTS program has supported organizations and programs that promote safe and responsible riding, facilitate trail preservation, and help protect the environment and natural resources that are a part of the off-road trail systems.
“Local riding clubs and organizations are the heart of the riding community, many of them volunteering their time and resources to help maintain trails and promote responsible riding,” said Reid Wilson, President of Off-Road Vehicles, Polaris. “We are proud to support their efforts so riders of all types can continue to create memories outdoors with family and friends.”
Awarded twice annually, TRAILS GRANTS support the efforts of nonprofit organizations and local riding clubs who use the grant for trail development, maintenance projects, safety and responsible riding education initiatives and other projects.
“Support from Polaris is a huge help as we work to maintain off-highway vehicle access in the rugged rainforest of Southeast Alaska,” said Ben Hughey, Executive Director of Sitka Trail Works. “Renovating this multi-use trail system will allow more residents and visitors to enjoy the spectacular volcanic outer coast of Kruzof Island.”
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased 0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis in March, after rising 0.2% in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.4% before seasonal adjustment.
The index for energy fell 2.4% in March, as a 6.3-percent decline in the index for gasoline more than offset increases in the indexes for electricity and natural gas. The food index, in contrast, rose 0.4% in March as the food at home index increased 0.5% and the food away from home index rose 0.4% over the month.
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1% in March, following a 0.2-percent increase in February.
Indexes that increased over the month include personal care, medical care, education, apparel, and new vehicles. The indexes for airline fares, motor vehicle insurance, used cars and trucks, and recreation were among the major indexes that decreased in March.
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the goods and services deficit was $122.7 billion in February, down $8.0 billion from $130.7 billion in January, revised.
February exports were $278.5 billion, $8.0 billion more than January exports. February imports were $401.1 billion, less than $0.1 billion less than January imports.
The February decrease in the goods and services deficit reflected a decrease in the goods deficit of $8.8 billion to $147.0 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.8 billion to $24.3 billion.
Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $117.1 billion, or 86.0 percent, from the same period in 2024. Exports increased $24.0 billion or 4.6 percent. Imports increased $141.2 billion or 21.4 percent.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 228,000 in March, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.2%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Job gains occurred in health care, in social assistance, and in transportation and warehousing. Wall Street forecasters had projected. Employment also increased in retail trade, partially reflecting the return of workers from a strike. Federal government employment declined.
‘March’s incredibly strong jobs report reflects President Trump’s efforts to reshape and rebuild our economy to put the American Worker First, with over 13,000 construction jobs added, U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement. ‘Additionally, growth far exceeded expectations at 228,000 jobs created, demonstrating strong expansion that will only continue when jobs that were previously shipped overseas are brought back to the United States.’
The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that the goods and services deficit was $122.7 billion in February, down $8.0 billion from $130.7 billion in January, revised.
February exports were $278.5 billion, $8.0 billion more than January exports. February imports were $401.1 billion, less than $0.1 billion less than January imports.
The February decrease in the goods and services deficit reflected a decrease in the goods deficit of $8.8 billion to $147.0 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.8 billion to $24.3 billion.
Year-to-date, the goods and services deficit increased $117.1 billion, or 86.0 percent, from the same period in 2024. Exports increased $24.0 billion or 4.6 percent. Imports increased $141.2 billion or 21.4 percent.
Private sector employment increased by 155,000 jobs in March and annual pay was up 4.6% year-over-year, according to the March ADP National Employment Report produced by ADP Research in collaboration with the Stanford Digital Economy Lab.
The ADP National Employment Report is an independent measure and high-frequency view of the private-sector labor market based on actual, anonymized payroll data of more than 25 million U.S. employees. The jobs report and pay insights use ADP’s fine-grained anonymized and aggregated payroll data to provide a representative picture of the private-sector labor market. The report details the current month’s total private employment change, and weekly job data from the previous month. Because the underlying ADP payroll databases are continuously updated, the report provides a high-frequency, near real-time measure of U.S. employment. This measure reflects the number of employees on ADP client payrolls (Payroll Employment) to provide a richer understanding of the labor market. As of January 2025, ADP’s Pay Insights measure captures nearly 14.8 million individual pay change observations each month, up from nearly 10 million when it launched.
“Despite policy uncertainty and downbeat consumers, the bottom line is this: The March topline number was a good one for the economy and employers of all sizes, if not necessarily all sectors,” said Nela Richardson, chief economist, ADP.
Personal income increased $194.7 billion (0.8% at a monthly rate) in February, according to estimates released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Disposable personal income (DPI) – personal income less personal current taxes – increased $191.6 billion (0.9%) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $87.8 billion (0.4%).
Personal outlays – the sum of PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments – increased $118.4 billion in February. Personal saving was $1.02 trillion in February and the personal saving rate –personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income – was 4.6%.
From the preceding month, the PCE price index – which the Fed uses to track inflation – for February increased 0.3%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.4%.
The Automotive Hall of Fame is proud to announce Chrissy Taylor, President and CEO of Enterprise Mobility, as the recipient of its 2025 Industry Leader Award. This recognition honors individuals who have made a lasting impact on the automotive and mobility industries through exceptional leadership and innovation.
Taylor will be presented with the award on April 15 at the Javits Center in New York City during the Auto Forum, an exclusive industry event jointly hosted by NADA, J.D. Power, and the New York Auto Show. The award will be presented by Cox Automotive, followed by a fireside chat between Taylor and Steve Rowley, president of Cox Automotive and a member of the Automotive Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors, where they will discuss leadership, innovation, and the future of mobility.
“Cox Automotive is proud to be the presenting sponsor of the prestigious Industry Leader Award,” said Rowley. “Throughout her illustrious 25-year career at Enterprise Mobility, Chrissy has built a tremendous culture with a continued focus on her team members that has made her organization the success it is today. It is a pleasure to celebrate her as this year’s winner.”
As the third-generation leader of Enterprise Mobility, Taylor has guided the company through significant transformation, expanding its global reach while staying committed to customer-centric mobility solutions.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award,” said Taylor. “Our growth and success at Enterprise Mobility is thanks to the invaluable support of our industry partners and our organization’s more than 90,000 global team members. Together, we can continue to meet all kinds of mobility needs for customers, helping them on every journey.”
Amy Marentic, a veteran marketing executive, has been named Genesis Motor America’s chief marketing officer. In this position, Marentic will oversee all Genesis marketing strategy and activities across the United States, driving brand awareness while contributing to increased sales and market share expansion. Marentic will report to Tedros Mengiste, chief operating officer of Genesis Motor North America.
“Amy has a proven track record of driving transformation and growth in her experience leading marketing initiatives in automotive, mobility, and technology sectors,” Mengiste said. “As we continue on our path of rapid growth, I look forward to working with Amy to strengthen our brand’s visibility across every consumer touchpoint and welcome more customers to the Genesis family.”
As CMO, Marentic will be responsible for leading the United States marketing division in the development, implementation, and management of marketing messages directed at consumers. Marentic will develop and manage the strategic business plan for all national and regional advertising, multicultural, experiential, and digital marketing, CRM, and the brand’s online presence. Additionally, Marentic will support the brand’s current and growing network of standalone retail facilities through local marketing efforts.
Marentic joins Genesis with over 25 years of global automotive and mobility experience, excelling in marketing, sales, product and brand strategy, management, and technology. Marentic held the role of global automotive director at Google, supporting and accelerating the brand’s digital transformation, delivering billions in ad revenue growth.
Prior to Google, Marentic held multiple leadership roles during an over 25-year tenure at Ford Motor Company, including as general manager for the Ford Icons business, encompassing the Bronco, Mustang, and Raptor brands, and President of Lincoln Asia Pacific. Marentic was recognized industry-wide for excellence and innovation in end-to-end product development and marketing strategies.
Marentic holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and a master’s degree in industrial and manufacturing engineering from the University of Michigan.
The University of Michigan’s Index of Consumer Sentiment dipped to 57.9 in March from 64.7 last month.
“Consumer sentiment slid another 11% this month, with declines seen consistently across all groups by age, education, income, wealth, political affiliations, and geographic regions,” Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu said. “Sentiment has now fallen for three consecutive months and is currently down 22% from December 2024. While current economic conditions were little changed, expectations for the future deteriorated across multiple facets of the economy, including personal finances, labor markets, inflation, business conditions, and stock markets.
“Many consumers cited the high level of uncertainty around policy and other economic factors; frequent gyrations in economic policies make it very difficult for consumers to plan for the future, regardless of one’s policy preferences.
“Consumers from all three political affiliations are in agreement that the outlook has weakened since February. Despite their greater confidence following the election, Republicans posted a sizable 10% decline in their expectations index in March. For Independents and Democrats, the expectations index declined an even steeper 12 and 24%, respectively.”
RumbleOn Inc. released financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024.
Key Fourth Quarter 2024 Highlights (Compared to Fourth Quarter 2023):
"Despite the macroeconomic challenges of 2024, we remained focused on disciplined execution, operational efficiency, and building a strong foundation for long-term value creation," stated Michael Quartieri, RumbleOn's chairman and chief executive officer. “While our powersports segment faced headwinds, we exceeded our goal of reducing new inventory levels and generated positive free cash flow for the year.”
Matt Winings has been named senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at Polaris. Winings joins the company’s executive leadership team and will report to Polaris CEO Mike Speetzen, effective immediately. In this leadership role, Winings will oversee all of Polaris’ legal, compliance, regulatory, government affairs and governance practices across its global businesses. He joined Polaris in 2023 as vice president and assistant general counsel.
“As a highly skilled attorney, Matt has been an incredible asset to Polaris over the last two years with a proven track record of providing strategic and business-focused counsel,” said Speetzen. “His deep legal acumen and understanding of our industry’s complex matters, along with the already strong relationships he’s built across our businesses, will be invaluable as he transitions into the role of general counsel for Polaris.”
Winings brings nearly two decades of legal expertise to his role as general counsel. Prior to joining Polaris, Winings spent more than 10 years with Cummins Inc. serving in various senior legal roles, including internationally in the company’s London office. Prior to that, he practiced in the litigation group at Barnes & Thornburg LLP. Winings holds a J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 151,000 in February, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1 %, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment trended up in health care, financial activities, transportation and warehousing, and social assistance.
Federal government employment declined.
Both the unemployment rate, at 4.1%, and the number of unemployed people, at 7.1 million, changed little in February. The unemployment rate has remained in a narrow range of 4.0%. to 4.2 % since May 2024.
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Whites (3.8 %) increased in February. The jobless rates for adult men (3.8 %), adult women (3.8 %), teenagers (12.9 %), Blacks (6.0 %), Asians (3.2 %), and Hispanics (5.2 %) showed little change over the month.
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), at 1.5 million, changed little in February. The long-term unemployed accounted for 20.9% of all unemployed people.
Dodge//SRT and the Tony Stewart Racing team announced today a new multi-year extension in its long-standing partnership to field entries in the two nitro-burning divisions – Top Fuel and Funny Car – in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mission Drag Racing Series. The announcement was made during a press conference at the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals race in Gainesville, Fla.
“Working with an elite, championship-caliber team like Tony Stewart Racing brings Dodge and Direct Connection to the forefront at each of the NHRA’s 20 national events, especially with legendary drivers like Tony Stewart and Matt Hagan behind the wheel of our Dodge//SRT Direct Connection Top Fuel dragster and Funny Car, respectively,” said Matt McAlear, Dodge CEO. “Dodge’s celebrated legacy in NHRA competition dates back more than 60 years and, as a result of this new multi-year partnership, our brand and our fans are looking forward to celebrating in the winner’s circle with Tony, Matt, Leah and the entire TSR organization for years to come.”
The Dodge brand began its partnership with TSR in 2022, and the Indiana-based squad has recorded 16 NHRA national event wins, as well as the 2023 NHRA Mission World Funny Car Championship by driver Matt Hagan in the TSR Direct Connection Dodge/SRT Hellcat. Hagan, a 52-time NHRA national event winner and four-time NHRA World Champion, has scored 13 victories in his three years with the TSR organization, while 2022-2023 TSR teammate Leah Pruett has won three NHRA trophies.
Last year, Stewart, a former champion in NASCAR, IndyCar and USAC, took over the driving chores from Pruett, his wife, in the TSR Direct Connection Dodge/SRT Top Fuel car, as she stepped away from the driver’s seat to start a family. Their son, Dominic, was born on Nov. 18, 2024.
Stewart, the NASCAR Hall of Fame racer with 49 Cup Series wins, was named NHRA Rookie of the Year in his first season at the wheel of the TSR Direct Connection Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster and placed ninth in the final NHRA Mission Top Fuel point standings. The driver known as “Smoke” finished runner-up in two events in 2024, and he also scored the North Central Division Top Alcohol Dragster class championship.