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- #713 - 🚗 Cars + People
#713 - 🚗 Cars + People
Dramatic Data, Webinar, and AI Marches On
TOGETHER WITH
Welcome back to Monday!
Summer officially begins this week, but we’ve been enjoying the sunshine the last few weeks.
Hit reply and tell us your favorite thing about Summer in the cars + people biz.
Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi
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Reading time: 3 mins 41 secs
BUSINESS
News: Drama and Data
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Today, we have a double dose of automotive drama and data. Volkswagen is flexing at home but struggling to keep pace with Tesla and BYD abroad. Hyundai has suddenly gone from mountain to valley, and Chinese automakers are not only making gains across the globe, but some are still raking in bank despite the tariffs everybody keeps talking about.
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Volkswagen: At Home and Abroad
Germany
In May, Germany saw a significant decline in EV sales, with new plug-in electric car registrations down 23% year-over-year to 43,746 units, making up 18.5% of the market. Battery-electric vehicle sales fell by 31% to 29,708 units, whereas plug-in hybrid slightly increased by 2% to 14,038 units.
VW vs. Tesla
Volkswagen led in all-electric sales with 5,174 units, surpassing Tesla's 1,896 units. Volkswagen is also entering the energy storage market, repurposing old EV batteries for renewable energy storage. This move could nearly double Germany's storage capacity and challenge Tesla's market dominance.
China
In other markets, VW is having less luck. Volkswagen is falling behind in China and the U.S. In 2023, Volkswagen sold fewer than half of Tesla's 1.31 million EVs and held only 3.3% of China's EV market, compared to BYD's 25% and Tesla's 15%. Volkswagen's sales in China are expected to shrink by 7% while the market grows by over 25%.
Hyundai: Dip, Drop, and Dodge
Hyundai Motor Company's global EV sales declined in May 2024, marking the seventh consecutive month of year-over-year decreases.
Total plug-in car shipments fell 20% to 22,740 units, representing 6.4% of the company's sales.
BEV sales dropped 20% to 18,830 units, with Hyundai's BEVs down 16% and Genesis' down 62%.
PHEV sales also declined 20% to 3,910 units. Despite this, Hyundai's Indian arm is planning a record-breaking $3B IPO to boost expansion, leveraging the popularity of models like the Ioniq 5, which saw a 59% sales increase in the U.S.
Chinese Brands Advancing Despite Tariffs
In 2023, Chinese automakers outpaced U.S. rivals in sales for the first time, selling 13.4M vehicles compared to the U.S.'s 11.9M.
Led by BYD, China's sales were driven by high global demand and growth in emerging markets. Despite trade tensions and high tariffs, Chinese brands gained market share in Europe and Latin America.
New EU tariffs of up to 38% and U.S. tariffs of 100% on Chinese EVs pose challenges, but BYD continues to profit significantly from European sales, sometimes earning 10 times more per car than in China. This marks a significant shift in the global automotive landscape.
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How big of a threat does a company like BYD pose to the U.S. retail auto industry? |
TOGETHER WITH ACTIVATOR
Webinar: June 26th!
Click the image to register now!
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Join us for an exclusive webinar, "Reawakening Your Dealership: Overcoming Industry Challenges from the Covid Coma," to learn how to successfully adapt to new consumer behaviors.
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This is your opportunity to realign your dealership's approach, regain lost ground, and foster stronger, more trusting relationships with your customers.
/MTCM
How was your weekend? Do anything extraordinary? Hit us up with your stories of kindness, compassion, community, and loving people more than cars!
CULTURE
Artificial Intelligence, Real Progress
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Recent advancements in AI by Apple, Yahoo, and Google are revolutionizing user experiences and making interactions more personalized, efficient, and intuitive. These developments are not just about technology. They are about enhancing the way we live and work.
Apple:
Apple is integrating ChatGPT with Siri and iPhone apps, offering advanced conversational AI. This partnership democratizes AI technology, making it accessible to a broader audience. Users benefit from improved interaction and productivity, shifting their reliance from traditional search methods to voice-activated AI.
Yahoo:
Yahoo's new AI-powered news app personalizes content based on user interests, providing tailored news feeds and article summaries. Features like content filtering and flagging enhance user control over their news consumption, reducing information overload and improving engagement by delivering relevant and concise information.
Google:
Google is overhauling its search engine with AI Overviews and AI-powered Lens search. These features offer summarized answers and multimedia search capabilities, enhancing precision and usability. Automated planning tools simplify complex queries, making information retrieval more efficient and personalized for users.
Despite the wary words of many a science sort, AI marches on. Eventually, the AI-makers may make AI so legit that it helps the science folks calm down. What do you think? Will AI make or break us in the end?
Quick Hits
History
1885: France gifts the Statue of Liberty to the United States. 🗽
1928: E.L. Cord founds the Cord Corporation. 🆕
1939: Last public guillotining in France — Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is executed in Versailles. ☠️
Thanks for reading, friend! If you know somebody who needs somebody thinking kind things about them, send them our way. That’s step one in writing these emails: thinking about this community and hoping for joyful things.