#630 - 💵🔥🗺 Volunteers, Vandals, and Ventures

TOGETHER WITH

We can tell you what we have planned and who will be attending ASOTU CON 2024 in May. To really understand how it feels, you’d have to ask the folks who participated in previous years.

But, we will do our best; imagine standing in an idea tornado with a butterfly net and 20 of your friends.

Does that make sense?

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

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BUSINESS

Full News Day

Toyota is offering buyouts, Tesla is dealing with a fire, Dodge is going electric but still tough, BYD is cutting prices and breaking into a new market, and VW is chatting up farmers and, somehow, ALSO dealing with a fire… Small world. Let's take a look. 

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Toyota: Buy and Bye

Toyota Motor North America announced a voluntary separation package that significantly eclipses those offered by Detroit's Big Three, positioning the company at the forefront of strategic workforce management amid the auto industry's shift towards electrification.

• Severance Offer: Up to two years of pay for eligible employees, compared to up to one year from competitors.

• Eligibility: Certain leadership roles with a minimum of five years of service.

• Operations Affected: Sales, product support, corporate resources, and research and development.

• Investment in Electrification: Over $16 billion has been announced since 2021, including a new battery plant in North Carolina.

• Global Workforce: Approximately 49,000 employees in the US.

This move sets a new benchmark for severance packages within the industry. It signals Toyota's robust positioning for future shifts in the automotive landscape, particularly for auto dealers monitoring these developments.

Tesla: Arson and AI

Tesla's Gigafactory Berlin halted production due to a suspected sabotage-caused power outage amidst supply chain issues and local opposition to its expansion. Unknown individuals reportedly set fire to a high-voltage pylon, impacting the facility and 2,000 locals, with environmental activists suspected. 

Concurrently, OpenAI revealed contradictory emails from co-founder Elon Musk, advocating for substantial fundraising and reduced transparency, conflicting with his recent critique of OpenAI's profit-driven, secretive model. These developments underscore challenges at Tesla and highlight Musk's complex relationship with OpenAI amidst legal disputes over its mission and practices.

📉 At the time of writing, Tesla Inc. is down 2.16% in the market. 

Dodge: Chargers and Commercials

Have you seen the new Dodge Charger Daytona? More importantly, have you seen the video ABOUT the Dodge Charger Daytona? 

The company is showing off its new EV but almost seems... ashamed of it? You'll need to watch the video and let us know your thoughts.

The car features a 100.5kWh battery, dual electric motors producing up to 670 horsepower, and a 3.3-second acceleration from 0 to 60 mph. It offers up to 317 miles of range, supports DC fast charging at 183kW, and is built on the STLA Large platform.

📈 At the time of writing, Stellantis NV is up 1.42% in the market.

BYD: Discounts and Distance Lands

BYD intensifies the EV price competition in China by reducing the price of its most affordable model, the Seagull, by 5%, setting the starting price at 69,800 yuan ($9,700). This move is part of a broader strategy, placing BYD ahead of Tesla as the top EV seller globally, mainly through sales in China. Alongside, BYD is expanding its international presence, notably in Australia, where it's leveraging government incentives and high gasoline prices to grow its market share. BYD's aggressive pricing and overseas expansion reflect its commitment to leading the electric vehicle revolution despite the potential impact on gross margins.

📈 At the time of writing, BYD Co Ltd is up 1.29% in the market. 

VW: Farmers and Fires

Volkswagen is catering to the agricultural sector with the Polo Robust, a rugged version of its popular hatchback explicitly designed for farmers. This variant features increased ground clearance, vinyl seats for easy cleaning, rubber floor mats, and a trailer hitch, though its 1.0-liter engine offers modest power with 84 horsepower. Positioned as an alternative to traditional trucks, the Polo Robust blends practicality with the versatility needed for farm life.

Oh yeah, remember the cargo ship that burned up? Volkswagen is facing lawsuits over the 2022 Felicity Ace car carrier fire, with claims pointing to the lithium-ion battery of a Porsche model as the fire's origin. The incident, which resulted in the loss of around 4,000 vehicles, including Porsche, Audi, VW, Bentley, and Lamborghini models, has sparked debate over the safety of transporting electric cars. 

📉 At the time of writing, Volkswagen AG is down 1.13% in the market.

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Well, that's that. A bunch of Toyota folks are about to have the option to take a full year away from the workforce and still have another year of wages sitting around. What would you do with a paid year off?

TOGETHER WITH CLIENT COMMAND

Crafting Digital Connections

Turning online browsers into real-life buyers is an art and a science.

Client Command is doubling down on the efficacy of their Active Shopper Network audiences to provide dealers with both strengths.

Client Command's Audience Builder, powered by the Active Shopper Network, keeps an eye on 90% of connected devices, spotting potential car buyers the moment they start looking online.

They combine online and offline data to understand consumers at a personal level. They generate 23M Active Shopper profiles a month, revealing real-time customer data like name, address, behavior, and intensity enabling you to deliver 1:1 marketing and ensuring the right message meets the right browsers at the right time.

Or, if you like your current marketing setup, you don’t have to change anything — Audience Builder will only make it stronger. This tool empowers dealers to build customized audiences from the Active Shopper Network to identify consumers who are shopping in their market. 

Ready to master your online presence? Connect with Client Command today.

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

Coming Soon

Join us on March 20th at 1 PM EST for a 30-minute webinar with our friend Ron Bouchard from Upstart. Register now!

Quick Hits

• Footlocker shares drop 20% following holiday-quarter loss report. 👟 

• Telling kids bedtime stories just got easier. OpenAI is adding a voice-over to its generated text feature. So, it will write it for you and then read it to you. 📢

• THAT booth from The Soprano’s final scene just sold on eBay for $82K. 💸

• Harvard scientists say they are researching things that could eventually become progress toward regrowing human limbs. 🌱

History

• 1876: Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for his revolutionary new invention the telephone. ☎️

• 1929: GM buys Opel. 🧾

• 2011: Charlie Sheen fired from the sitcom Two and a Half Men (after telling us all he had tiger blood). 🐯