#653 - 🚗 Flying Planes

TOGETHER WITH

Sometimes, the speed limit feels too slow, and sometimes, the traffic feels too fast.

We do our best to keep pace with the way things gotta be, but it feels great when we get back to our own speed.

Chances are the people around you like their speed as much as you like yours, so let’s have some grace today. (except on the interstate, please get out of the passing lane if you ain’t passing)

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

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BUSINESS

It’s Wednesday (We Double Checked)

April means it’s time to look at Q1 and learn or judge. Hindsight is 20-20, so you really can do either pretty accurately.

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Anxious? Not-Us.

Cox Auto released a Q1 review with a collection of the top concerns among dealers. 

• Interest Rates: The leading concern, cited by 62% of dealers, indicating a significant impact on business operations, slightly down from 65% in the previous quarter.

• Economic Uncertainty: 55% of dealers expressed concerns over the economy, highlighting ongoing economic challenges and a noticeable decrease from 61% last quarter.

• Market Conditions: 40% of dealers are wary of current market conditions, a decline from 48% in Q4 2023, reflecting concerns about the selling environment.

• Other notable concerns include the political climate (33%), increasing expenses (32%), and limited inventory (31%), each contributing to the cautious outlook among dealers.

Canoo: Making Cars, Flying Planes.

In 2023, EV startup Canoo spent $1.7 million on its CEO's private jet, twice its annual revenue of $886,000, underscoring its fiscal challenges.

Despite delivering 22 vehicles and reducing operational losses to $267 million from $506 million the previous year, its net losses amounted to $302.6 million.

This extravagance in executive perks highlights the stark contrast between Canoo's spending and its revenue, even as it aims for a brighter financial forecast in 2024.

Q1, EVs, Summaries. 

• Ford:

  • Price reductions up to $8,100 on the Mustang Mach-E significantly boosted sales, with a 64% year-over-year increase in February and a tripling of EV market share to 13.3%.

  • Despite a $4.7 billion loss by Ford's Model e unit last year, these strategic price cuts attracted more buyers.

• Tesla:

  • Experienced an 8.5% drop in Q1 deliveries year-over-year to 386,810 vehicles, below analyst expectations.

  • Shares fell by approximately 6.5%, indicating a notable quarterly decline.

• Rivian:

  • Missed production estimates with 13,980 vehicles in Q1, leading to a slight 1% drop in premarket shares.

  • Plans to upgrade production lines and maintain its annual forecast despite a slight 3% sequential decline in deliveries.

• BYD:

  • Q1 sales fell 43% from the previous quarter to 300,114 units, passing the top EV seller title back to Tesla.

  • Overall vehicle sales were up 13.4% year-over-year but showed a significant drop from the previous quarter's peak. 

A Truckload of Friendship: Nissan and Mitsubishi

Nissan and Mitsubishi are enhancing their partnership by planning multiple vehicle launches for North America, including hybrid and electric models.

Among the possible offerings is a new pickup truck, potentially marking Mitsubishi's re-entry into the U.S. truck market since 2009. This collaboration is part of Nissan's broader strategy, "The Arc," aiming for 30 new vehicle launches by 2027 to transition towards electric vehicles. The partnership might leverage Nissan's EV technology, offering competitive advantages in the expanding electrified vehicle market.

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Tesla is back on top of the global EV pile, but Ford found the secret ingredient: Cars people can afford.

Every day, we report news that makes us think we should get into consulting.

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/MTCM

We talk a lot about “Unreasonable Hospitality” around here, and we are excited to hear more from Will Guidara at ASOTU CON about how we can learn from his experience.

Have you seen any stories of unreasonable hospitality in our industry? We call those More Than Car Moments, and we LOVE telling people about them.

Hit reply or the link below and let us help share your story!

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

ASOTU CON 2024!

Check out the agenda and grab your ticket today! Not sure ASOTU CON is for you? I, Chris, would love to talk to you about it. Hit reply, and ask me why you should come. I’ve got as many reasons as we’ve got readers.

CULTURE

SOLO Indeed

Ok so, a company called Xos, Inc. bought a company called ElectraMeccanica in March for about $48 million. That's what happened, but why it caught our attention is ElectraMeccanica's SOLO.

It's a three-wheeled EV, with the frame of a reverse tricycle and the body of a sedan pushed backward into a corner before the clay was dry.

The SOLO aimed to revolutionize urban mobility but faced production hiccups and a recall due to defects. With Xos' acquisition, there's potential for a new chapter for the SOLO, leveraging Xos' expertise in electric mobility.

More single-seat electric vehicles are coming to a crowded city street near you.

Quick Hits

• GE has split into three companies and will trade as such. ✂️

• Don’t want to give robots your personal info? That’s fine. You can use GPT now without an account. 🤖

• The average income needed to buy a home crossed $100K. 🤑

• Small underwater drones are helping explore 100-year-old shipwrecks for the first time. ⚓️

History

• 1885: The internal combustion engine is patented. 🔥

• 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Mountaintop" speech. 🏔

• 1981: The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco. 💾

• 1998: Dow Jones Over 9,000 First Time, it’s currently over 39K. 📈

• 2006: The last Lincoln LS. ✌️

Thanks for reading, friend! Let’s treat this day to a 9-course meal with dessert. Not everything should be for the sake of survival.