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- #595 -📸💙📈 Worth 1000 Words
#595 -📸💙📈 Worth 1000 Words
Service Dips, F-Series, and Some Things To Watch
TOGETHER WITH
Service activity dips, trucks are easy and hard, and the salt race has already begun.
We hope you are looking forward to meeting up at NADA. The ASOTU Team is.
Pass this email along to your teammates who value staying ahead of the pack with information, insights, and a bit of fun. They’re also invited to the meet-up, even if they don’t know it yet.
Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi
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NADA 2024
Yo, Looking For A Party?
BUSINESS
Facts, News, and Data
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"Just the Oil, Please..." 🛢
Franchise dealers in the US experienced a dip in service activity through December despite an increase in November.
Year over Year, December's service lanes were 3.2% less active.
Compared to November, December 2023 dipped 5.1%.
Despite the decrease in volume, revenue increased about 3.5% YoY.
When compared to revenue numbers from December 2019, the last month shows a 36.4% jump driven largely by inflation.
Another interesting point: Franchise dealer service departments saw a 5% decrease in same-day sales last month. Training opportunity or Christmas + economic tension = hesitation?
Some Cox Automotive suggestions:
Digitize service approval processes: Use pictures and videos to send customers suggestions so they can take their time making choices. Nobody wants to be watched eating, sleeping, or thinking.
Offer flexible payment choice: "Drop a bunch of cash today or replace my car in six months? If only there was a third option..."
🛻 Sedans, SUVs, and Good Ol' Trucks
Despite the widespread trend toward SUVs, Cadillac's CT5 sedan was last year's best-seller globally. This got us curious: what else won the 2023 numbers game?
Toyota's RAV4 nearly matches Ram pickup sales.
F-series and Silverado pickups maintained their top spot. People never really get over trucks.
So, did we learn what the market or Cadillac buyers prefer? We learned truck people won't jump ship to cars or SUVs, but the right SUV or car can pull people from one preference to another sale.
Are there any cars that play the part of "more affordable but meets most SUV needs" lying around? Part of loving people more is matching them with the right ride. They trust you to make suggestions like one of those fancy wine menu guys in the movies.
Arrivals and (Possible) Departures 💸
It's a dangerous world out there for startups. High interest rates, inflation, supply chain issues, and production struggles that plague the whole industry from time to time can make or break a small business in a fraction of the time it would take to make a more established brand tap the breaks.
UK EV maker Arrival is getting close to joining Lordstown, Proterra, and Volta on the bankruptcy list. It was already announced earlier this month that it missed its Dec 1st interest payment.
While the company once had backing from brands like Hyundai, Kia, and UPS, its inability to comply with Nasdaq listing rules had investors wary and the company heading for insolvency.
Everybody wants to get in on the ground floor with the next Tesla, as long as they don't need to go to the basement to do it.
🤖 Full Self-driving: Future or Failure?
Speaking of investing in Tesla... Tesla's investors are a bit worried about profitability and delivery numbers following production pauses and a range of price cuts, including the 26.5% drop for Model Ys in the US.
Price cuts follow the increased cost of borrowing and the tax credit loss for the brand.
Production cuts follow shortages and shipping disruptions.
So, 2024 is looking rough for the most well-known EV brand? Not really. Analysts predict Tesla's growth target to be 2.19M units, a 21% increase from 2023.
Time to give up FSD and focus on production? Again, not really... FSD V12 beta just released. It updates the system to neural net-powered controls.
Before you even ask (because we had to look it up)- Neural Net-tech means the autonomous driving "brain" was taught to drive with videos of driving and not words on a screen. So, like, less DOS, more YouTube.
⚡️ Lightning in a Bottle or Noise Mistaken for Thunder? 💥
Back to Ford for a moment. Ford's total US sales increased 7.1% to nearly 2M units, with an 18% increase in their all-electric sales at just over 72K. Hybrids also saw a significant sales surge, with the top-ranking F-150's Hybrid model contributing to the 15% increase in F-Series sales, totaling about 750,789.
It was the F-Series’ 47th consecutive year at the top of the truck pile (like a dog pile but with more tailgates and fewer tails).
In addition, the F-150 Lightning was the best-selling full-size electric truck. But some dealers, markets, and consumers aren't convinced. Again, public infrastructure, charging times, and initial costs are keeping business and personal buyers away from even the top-selling EVs in some places.
🧂 China, Sodium, and Brave New Worlds
From a certain point of view, a transition to electric vehicles is a transition to being besties with China. With over 75% of lithium-ion battery production and more brands than a Walmart peanut butter aisle, the country is always on the precipice of becoming an automotive superpower, held at bay by existing brands and policymakers working to ensure the economic sovereignty of a nation has a fighting chance.
Danger? In 2023, China unseated Japan as the top car exporter, with over 5M vehicles shipped overseas, and the US declined to the 6th position. The growth comes from the proliferation of car companies exporting new tech and electric vehicles. This rapid expansion will explode if/when sodium-ion batteries become more widespread.
Sodium-Ion. Cheaper, more sustainable, great for smaller(cheaper) vehicles, which many in the US and beyond are hurting for right now. In 2021, the global market for such batteries was about $275M, with compound annual growth expected at around 15% through 2030. Somebody is gonna grab that market and taking it from them will be much harder than filling it while vacant.
The US. Not only does the US have about 375M EVs worth of lithium sitting under California's Salton Sea, but it also has enough sodium carbonate reserves to lead the world in sodium-ion batteries. Coupled with the extensive electrification investments at the corporate and policy levels, the US could beat China to the punch in the widespread adoption and application of sodium-ion.
TOGETHER WITH AUTOFI
Bottleneck Free!
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Over the past 5 years, digital retailing has been the buzz in the industry. But that hasn’t been enough, as most customers still transact in the showroom, and the process remains complex and time-consuming. In fact, it takes 3 hours to sell a car, and that’s only a 10-minute improvement in 5 years!
AutoFi solves the problems dealers have grappled with for years, like bottlenecks at the desk, customer distrust, and decision overload. This translates to faster sales, greater satisfaction, and higher profits.
Watch this video to see AutoFi’s new showroom solution, and pre-schedule a demo at NADA.
AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE
Coming Soon
Join us at the NADA Live Stage for the ASOTU Docu-series "More Than Cars" Preview and Community Meet-up!
📸 Wear your Love People More Than Cars T-shirt and join the ASOTU Crew for a group photo.
🥰 Get your free More Than Cars metal badge pin to show that you are part of the community that's pushing back on the negative dealer narrative.
👏 Support Paul and Kyle as they go on stage with Andrew Guelcher from Mohawk Chevrolet (Episode 4, sponsored by UVeye) to showcase how their dealership puts people first.
🤗 Meet other community members face-to-face.
In The Dirt at WANADA
“At the end of the day, the consumer has to want it. There has to be enough demand.” -John O’Donnell, “In The Dirt w/ ASOTU”
Check out our conversation with WANADA’s president from the show floor last week. We discussed the value of Public Policy Day and the work of auto dealer associations to ensure consumers are advocated for.
CULTURE
Whatcha Watching?
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Netflix Will Hit You With a Steel Chair
Beginning in January 2025, Netflix will pay $5B to become the new home of WWE's Raw. Wrestling may not be your thing, but if watching live sports is your thing, it seems streaming services are working to snatch them all up. Hungry Hungry Hippo style.
Hulu Hopes You Like Glam Rock
Hulu is dropping a Bon Jovi documentary in April, mistakenly not called "Living on a Prairie: Bon Jovi Buys a Farm." it will be called "Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story" and tell the story of his career, which seems untimely since he is still alive and may well make more music. I guess Hulu doesn't believe in comeback tours.
Spooky Apple-Nauts
Don't you hate it when you go to space only to come back home to a life jam-packed with mystery and unsettling vibes? The Astronaut main character of Apple's new show, Constellation, definitely does. The show's first trailer is out, with a Feb 21st release date. Enjoy?
Quick Hits
History
1908: The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell. ⛺️
1946: The United Nations General Assembly passes its first resolution to establish the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. 👍
1986: The Voyager 2 space probe makes its closest approach to Uranus. 🛰️
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