#483 - 🔗 Connecting Connections

TOGETHER WITH

Like any motto, “Love people more than you love cars” can become background noise if we don’t occasionally say it slower.

“Love the person in front of you more than you love buying, selling, servicing, or profiting from cars.”

While everything inches closer to complete automation, love will always require effort.

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

TODAY’S LOT WALK

• Connecting connections for the other 75% of customers. 📡

• GM buys Hyundai’s India plant and invests in new battery tech. 🔋

• AI can hear your dreams. 😨

Reading time: 4 mins 25 secs

DATA & INSIGHT

Connecting the Dots for Connected Services

According to a recent study by S&P Global Mobility, one-in-four customers have zero clue about connected services.

The research underscores the potential for dealers to amplify customer loyalty and bolster profits by leveraging those lonely subscription services. Here’s how:

💃 Flaunt What Ya Got 🕺

Subscription services have emerged as a magnet for consumers who desire novel features and cutting-edge technology, with 82% saying they would definitely or likely consider subscription-based services on a future new vehicle purchase. So, be sure to flaunt your offerings!

🤓 Education Accelerates Exposure 🤓

Improving awareness and education at point-of-sale will be clutch for category growth. The largest demographic unaware of connected car services fell into the female and older segments, so there alone lies a massive opportunity for new adopters.

🪝 Exposure Accelerates Adoption 🪝

Customers who experience connected services in-vehicle during trials are hooked with 45% of users experiencing those services at the dealership for the first time. Activating these services within the dealership setting significantly increases the likelihood of converting first-time users into long-term subscribers.

🎶 Pitch Perfect 🎶

Remember, not all offerings are created equal. For example, you may not want to push your customer for heated seats in Florida. Tailoring your suggestions based on regional and personal preferences can help your customer feel connected and understood, but be careful not to make too many assumptions. When in doubt, offer it all and let them pick their pleasure!

🔒 Consumer Confidence 🔒

Customers want the perks but are cautious about their data and privacy, especially regarding features like driver-assist systems and car cams. Earning consumer trust will demand honesty, transparency, and meticulous data handling.

🆓 Everyone’s Favorite Price 🆓

Offering free trials is the ultimate secret sauce. An overwhelming 82% who underwent a complimentary trial expressed an openness to future subscription-based offerings. As is true for most products, “The best way to expose consumers to anything is to offer it for free."

TOGETHER WITH AUTO GENIUS

Every Marketer Needs Other Marketers

Whether on a team or beating the drum out somewhere in a forest, the marketing world can be lonely.

That’s where Auto Genius comes in.

Auto Genius is a 24/7 Slack community of the top automotive marketers in the country pushing back against the common trends in the industry and solving problems together.

If you are a marketer in retail automotive, join the community today!

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

Introductions Are In Order

If you’re new or a long-time partner-in-troublemaking, we want to share who we are, what we’re about, and how we support the industry’s move forward.

Check it out, and see if ASOTU CON is where you need to be this September (psst…it is).

BUSINESS

Lambo Electro💡

Lamborghini teases its first all-electric supercar concept ahead of its August 18th reveal during Monterey Car Week. Following its electrification plans two years ago, the Italian automaker aims to introduce hybrids by 2024 and an all-new electric model by 2030. Lamborghini's future vision emerges post-hybrid Revuelto's launch.

Just sayin' "Lampo" is one way to say "lightning" in Italian. #LampoLambo ⚡️

GM Exit, Hyundai Enters 🙋‍♀️

Hyundai Motor's Indian unit is set to acquire General Motors' Talegaon plant in Maharashtra. This strategic acquisition marks GM's exit from India and elevates Hyundai's production potential to a whopping one million units annually. Come 2025, Hyundai's aggressive EV strategy for India will take shape at the revamped plant.

Just sayin' India has surpassed China in terms of population. By 2030, who can even guess what the auto market will be like there? Not GM, apparently. 👋

New New-Batteries Dreams😴

General Motors leads a $60M investment in Mitra Chem, a California startup pushing the boundaries of EV battery tech. Born from the minds of ex-Tesla and Toyota experts, Mitra Chem's journey with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries could reshape EVs. GM vehicles might house these revolutionary batteries by 2030.

Just sayin' affordability and range anxiety are big adoption barriers right now; whoever breaks BOTH will be like that kid who pulled the sword from the stone. 🤴

CULTURE

AI Mindreading

🧠 Osaka University geniuses combined "Stable Diffusion" AI with nifty brain scans, creating almost-real images from what folks saw! These AI wizards took brain data, sprinkled in photo captions (think: "clock tower"), and BOOM! – out popped eerily accurate image recreations! Future tech might even decode our dreams! 😴✨

Meanwhile, using brain vibes, another squad brought Pink Floyd back in upstate New York. With the help of 29 groovy participants (and their unique implanted electrodes), they scanned brains grooving to Another Brick in the Wall. AI conjured up a (slightly muffled) brain-made version of the hit!

Some people are not impressed, but this jamming tech might soon help folks regain speech. 🗣️🎶

In short, AI's reading our minds and our playlist. We wonder how long before Radiohead releases an album directly from Thom Yorke’s weird little falsetto brain.

Quick Hits

• Tesla launches a universal wall connector for easy peasy home charging no matter the EV brand. 🏠

• VinFast hits Nasdaq with a higher value than Ford and GM. 🤑

• The fictional Ant-Man memoir “Look Out For The Little Guy” is now a real book you can buy and subject yourself to. 🐜

History

• 1896: Bridget Driscoll becomes the first pedestrian killed by a car when she is struck by an Anglo-French Motor Carriage traveling at “a reckless pace.” 🚒

• 1915: The electric starter is patented. 🎬

• 2008: American swimmer Michael Phelps is the first to win eight gold medals during one Olympic Games. 🥇