#532 - ☀️ Cooking With Lightning

TOGETHER WITH

Did you hear that? It is the sound of much rejoicing that we announced the ASOTU CON 2024 dates! We are moving to May and headed back to the same incredible venue we had this year. Tix will be available as early as next week so mark your calendars now for May 14-17, 2024!

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

TODAY’S LOT WALK

• Culture: EV leasing offers a clever hack for tax credits. 🦊

• MTCM: Gary Barbera’s mission to keep Philly’s kiddos warm. 🧥 

• Business: Honda goes hybrid, Mitsubishi goes out of China, and food trucks go electric. 🚦

Reading time: 4 min and 25 secs

UAW UPDATE BY ASOTU

• GM withdrew its full-year guidance due to the soaring costs of the strike entering 6th week.

• Five thousand more workers join the strike at an Arlington, Texas GM plant where Cadillac Escalade and Escalade ESV, GMC Yukon, and Yukon XL, and Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban SUVs are produced.

• Stellantis released a statement following the Sterling Heights strike, saying they are “outraged.”

CULTURE

EV Leasing Loophole

The Inflation Reduction Act has reshaped EV tax credits, introducing stricter eligibility criteria while also attempting to expand overall accessibility. However, a recent IRS interpretation offers a crafty workaround for potential EV owners: leasing. 🤫

The loophole encourages a "1-day lease" strategy, where a customer leases an EV and then immediately buys it out. Businesses can easily claim the tax credit and pass the savings to consumers via lowered payments, essentially allowing consumers to capitalize on the $7,500 tax credit without the typical stipulations.

Is it legal? Yes. Is it ethical? Maybe.

Hit reply and let us know what you think! 📩📫

MORE THAN CARS MOMENTS

Warm Coats, Warmer Hearts

As you know by now, we love when someone in our community invites us to learn more about how they are loving people more than cars in their own ways, and we recently had the pleasure of hearing from Gary Barbera from the Gary Barbera Group in Philadelphia, PA.
📨

For more than three decades, Gary has proudly shared a commitment to serving others through numerous causes and charitable programs throughout his community as part of his Barbera Cares Program. 🧸💖

Said Barbera, “We have been very active in our community and try to do the same meaningful events and charity drives every year. We recently brought smiles to kids at Gilbert Spruance Elementary School by giving them new coats, and we are actually prepping as we speak for another coat drive at Mayfair Elementary. No kid should be left in the cold, especially going to school.” 📚🏫🧥

Through his commitment to helping others and consistent philanthropy, Gary Barbera is undoubtedly writing a legacy of love and warmth in the City of Brotherly Love. ❤️‍🔥

/Positivity

If we tried to tell all the wonderful, charitable, and creative stories happening in dealerships across our industry, we would need a bigger email. But we have just enough space in this email for YOUR story. Let us help show the community and world what you have going on in your store!

TOGETHER WITH AUTO GENIUS

Every Marketer Needs Other Marketers

Like keeping your best friends in your pocket! The Auto Genius community is by marketers, for marketers, and waiting for you on Slack!

Connect, collaborate, and create with top tier 3 automotive marketers nationwide. Come ready to share strategies, tackle challenges, and explore the industry’s evolving marketing landscape.

What Auto Genius Offers:

• Collaborative insights from leading automotive dealerships.

• Genius Files to help make marketing ops move more seamlessly.

• A whole lot of meme wars

Join the Auto Genius community today!

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

Coming Soon

• TODAY, October 25th @ 2:00 pm EST / 1:00 pm CST
  ASOTU EDGE 30-Minute Webinar in Partnership with Foureyes
  The Struggle is REAL, y’all. Find out how data is destroying the customer experience. 
  👉 Register here! 👈
  

• May 14-17, 2024
  ASOTU CON 2024 in Baltimore
  Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback, we’re heading back to the Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland in May next year for ASOTU CON 2024. Tickets will be released the first week of November.

  👉 Add it to your calendar now! 👈

BUSINESS

Half-Electric, All Civic

⛽️🔋 Honda's reintroducing the Civic Hybrid to Canada and the U.S. in 2024, with production in Ontario and Indiana.

📈🌎 Foreseeing hybrids making up 40% of Civic sales in North America, the 2025 model features a two-motor system and compatibility with the North American Charging Standard.

🏁⌛️ Honda's broader vision targets carbon neutrality by 2050.

GM Offers Cash For Diagnostics

💵👩‍💻 GM offers $1,400 Visa eRewards to '20-'22 Chevy Bolt owners as compensation for installing diagnostic software amid battery recall concerns.

🧰👨‍🔧 This follows battery defects in earlier Bolt models. The offer requires installation and a legal release by Dec 31, 2023.

⚖️💰 GM commits to covering differences if the class action settlement exceeds $1,400.

Mitsubishi Exits China, Doubles Down In EU

✌️🇨🇳 Mitsubishi Motors will cease car production in its Chinese joint venture, handing its stake to Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC).

👋🇫🇷 Concurrently, Mitsubishi plans to invest up to 200 million euros in Renault's new electric vehicle division, Ampere, aligning with Nissan's prior 600 million euro commitment to the unit.

Cooking With Lightning

🍔🚚 Seattle's Joule Case offers food trucks modular battery systems as a cleaner alternative to gas generators.

⚡️🥘 Adopted by over 100 trucks, the batteries power multiple appliances.

🤑✂️ While pricier upfront, they promise savings and qualify for a 30% federal tax credit, catering to events' growing preference for zero-emissions vendors. 

Quick Hits

• Amazon announces a 2024 release for its adaptation of the Fallout video game series. 🎮

• Economists report that the economy is off to a strong start for Q4. 💪

• Apparently, Hot Yoga makes people less depressed. We would have guessed the opposite. 🧘

History

• 1972: 3 millionth MINI leaves the factory. 🎉

• 1975: Evel Knievel lands his longest jump of one hundred thirty-three feet over 14 buses. 🚌🚌🚌🚌 🏍

• 2001: Microsoft releases Windows XP. 🖥