🌎 Automotive Around the World

TOGETHER WITH

Recently, we have had a lot of people ask what it is ASOTU does and why we do it. Then they turn to describing it to us. Fact is, most people get it right, in their own way. Yes, it is community. Yes, it is some progressive thinking. Yes, it is a place to find the others that believe the same good you do. Yes, it is some regular content that can make you feel proud of the industry you are in. 

Yes, it is essential retail auto community (and a bit of laughs too 😜)

Keep Pushing Back-Paul, Kyle, & Chris

DEALERS

TommyCar Sends Love to Turkey

Halil Kuzo is a sales consultant at Northampton Volkswagen.

The devastating earthquakes in Turkey hit Halil's hometown and brought incredible difficulty to his family. His mom, dad, brother, four sisters, aunts, uncles, and many friends were all dealing daily with lives disrupted by the tragedy. 

The TommyCar Auto Group decided to help by accepting donations at the Northampton Volkswagen store. The turnout from the community and Hal's teammates was overwhelming. 

A truckload of needed things are on the way to Halil's family now, ensuring that while the damage cannot be undone, they will not face it alone. 

Telling it like it is - Helping people is dealers 101. Helping people help people is next level, and we are happy to see it.

AUTOMOTIVE

Automotive State of the World

🇺🇸 United States:

• The Department of Energy has proposed reducing EV mileage ratings to meet government fuel economy requirements; a move that could force automakers to produce more low-emissions cars.

• USDOE aims to update the Miles Per Gallon equivalent (MPGe) ratings for electric and plug-in electric hybrids by reexamining all of the contributing values such as national electricity, petroleum generation, distribution efficiency, and driving patterns. 

• The Alliance for Automotive Innovation issues concerns that lowering the values may discourage EV adoption.

🇨🇳 China: 

• In Q1, passenger vehicle sales fell a whopping 13.4%. 

• Of the vehicles that did sell, BEVs and plug-in hybrids rose 21.9% in March and accounted for 34% of the month's total sales.

• Price cuts and incentives by auto brands and local governments have been implemented to stimulate demand and support the auto industry.

🇲🇽 Mexico:

• Auto production rose 13.12% YoY in March to 346K vehicles.

• Auto exports increased 3.88% from the previous year, reaching 272K vehicles.

• Recently opened the doors to a $147M plant for Faurecia, a French car-parts maker serving clients like Volvo and Steallantis.

🇮🇩 Indonesia:

• Will soon propose a limited free trade agreement with the US for critical battery minerals to help the EV supply chain and allow the country to benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits.

• Hopes to leverage its nickel reserve, the largest one in the world, to attract US EV investors like Tesla and Ford.

• The FTA proposal will likely be similar to the one the United States recently signed with Japan for a similar mineral trade agreement.

Telling it like it is - The US is making more changes to the EV rules (shocking), Q1 car sales aren’t so hot in China, Q1 car sales are hot in Mexico, and Indonesia wants to exchange their nickel for US nickels (but like, a lot of them).

TOGETHER WITH IMPEL

Expand Your Team, Reclaim Your Time

Customers are going digital.Are you ready to meet them when they get there?

Mario Piccone with BMW of Sarasota is meeting his customers where they are using Impel’s Sales AI.

With increased trackable conversations, over 3600 monthly outgoing messages, and 154 labor hours per month saved, Impel’s AI has become more than a solution but part of Mario’s team.

Hear the rest of Mario's experience, and find out what Impel can do for you and your customers now!

ASOUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

Word-Ro-Nymns

IMSInventory Management SystemSoftware used to track inventory throughout its lifecycle prior to selling the vehicle. Most of these systems support things like pricing, descriptions, merchandising, reporting, valuations, comparisons, and reconditioning processes. Typically an IMS would be used mainly by a used car manager to manage inventory and increase profitability in the department. Think Zillow on steroids for your cars.

AUTOMOTIVE

Mini’s Robot, BYD’s Bumpy Road, and BMW’s Optimism

🤖➕📱➕🚗➕🐶=❓

While everybody else is spending time trying to shove robots into everything with a battery, Mini is working with a cartoon dog! It is still a robot, but at least it is fun to look at.

The Intelligent Personal Assistant, Spike the English Bulldog, will debut at the Shanghai auto show before rolling out to future Mini vehicles. The digital version of humanity's oldest friend will appear in Minis later this year, starting with the 2023 Mini Countryman and the 2024 Cooper. 🦴

📸➕🪨 ➕ 🎩=❓

BYD's new driver assistance tech is less self-driving and more self-soothing. The new tech will stabilize cars on rugged terrain, sharp turns, or shallow water.

Essentially, lidar-enhanced shock absorption will feature next week at the Shanghai Auto Show before becoming a feature in BYD's luxury brand, Yangwang. 💸🏎️🤵‍♀️

🤓The EV company's founder Wand Chuanfu said the technology surpasses anything available but did not mention the feature's price. 

🗓️➕📉➕🤷=❓

BMW says Q1's 1.5% sales dip was a fluke, and the year looks good! 

The company did see an 11.4% sales increase in the US market and a whopping 83% year-over-year increase in EV sales. Accounting for sales across all markets still totaled a 1.5% drop. 🔋📈

TL: DR - Mini got a dog, BYD’s planning an off-road trip, and BMW says Q1 ain’t in charge around here.

CULTURE

RIP Twitter? 🤔

Twitter is battling a slew of lawsuits from former employees and consultants. But, as we recently learned…

Twitter is dead. 

Okay, so maybe that’s overly dramatic. However, the corporation has technically been absorbed into Elon Musk’s privately held company, X Corp. According to recent court filings, “Twitter, Inc. hereby states that Twitter, Inc. no longer exists.”

In true Musk fashion, the tech mogul publicly addressed the merger with one cryptic tweet that simply read: “X.”

More Musk shenanigans from this month include swapping out Twitter's bird logo for Dogecoin's shiba inu and offending their landlord by removing the “w” from the building’s sign to spell something much more cheeky. 

Some have speculated that the merger will pave the way for Elon to introduce an “everything app,” much like China’s WeChat, but as we’ve all learned by now, it’s impossible to predict exactly what this wildcard has up his sleeves.

Telling it like it is - All going according to plan, eh Mr. Musk?

Quick Hits

• Cryptos are on the rise again. Bitcoin topped $30K for the first time since June, and Ether is nearly up to $2K. 🪙

• Tupperware can preserve a lot of things. Ironically, not its own stock value. 

• 💻 Online shopping inflation eases for seventh straight month. 

• Pentagon tracks classified document leak to video game chat tool, Discord 👾. Most of the documents show the grim reality of the invasion of Ukraine. 

• The trailer for The Marvels reveals the return of Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau. 🦸‍♀️

History

• 1955: Jonas Salk’s vaccine against Poliomyelitis (commonly known as Polio or Infantile Paralysis) was declared safe and effective. The vaccine works by inducing immunity by developing protective antibodies to Polio.

• 1961: The Soviet Union successfully launched the first man into space, taking the prize for "The First Man In Space". Yuri Gagarin, a 27-year-old air force major, orbited the Earth in 1 hour and 40 minutes.

• 1992: Euro Disney, a new $4 billion theme park, opened in Marne-La-Vallee, a new town on the outskirts of Paris, France.