🚗 Decline Projected for Q3

🚙 Industry News, Economic Moves, and Dealer Care

September 27, 2024

TOGETHER WITH

Friday at last!

It’s been a good week here at ASOTU. We broke through a few barriers, held some hard-won ground, and set our sights on the next horizon.

What about this week will your remember for a long time?

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

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Today's Email

📉 Decline Projected for Q3

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U.S. new vehicle sales are projected to decline by about 2% in the third quarter, totaling around 3.9M units sold, down 5% from Q2 2024.

Elevated interest rates and high vehicle prices continue to challenge consumer confidence.

While electric vehicle sales are expected to rise by 8%, affordability remains a concern, with average transaction prices hitting $47,870. Honda and Ford are poised for growth, while Stellantis, Toyota, and BMW face declines.

Read more on this and several more stories from around the retail auto world here. (5 min 7 sec)

🎧️ How Unresolved Complaints Turn Into Compliance Nightmares with DealerResolve

Did you miss our latest webinar? 

No worries! You can catch the full replay of our enlightening session featuring industry pros Paul and Kyle, alongside our friends Shannon Robertson from the Association of Finance & Insurance Professionals and Stephen Fucile of DealerResolve.

In just 30 minutes, we check out the seemingly minor world of customer complaints and how they can spiral into major compliance headaches. You’ll discover critical signals that dealerships often overlook, the ripple effect of unresolved grievances, and best practices for proactive complaint management.

Don’t let unresolved issues put your dealership at risk! Check out the full reply here.

🔭 Scoping Out The Market

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The Fed's 0.5% interest rate cut last week has set the stage for a new chapter in the market, but don’t expect everything to be smooth sailing just yet. While lower borrowing costs should give both businesses and consumers a breather, there are still a few bumps ahead.

  • Cyclical Stocks Poised for Gains — With rates headed down, cyclical stocks like industrials and financials are starting to steal the spotlight from tech giants, whose moment in the spotlight is slowly beginning to fade.

  • Valuations High — Stocks are in a good place, but with valuations already elevated, don’t expect a meteoric rise. Think more of a steady climb.

  • Bond Yields Falling — As rates drop, bond yields are expected to follow, making this a great time to look at longer-term investments—before those returns shrink further.

Edward Jones / FactSet

The Fed's latest rate cut has the central bank working to balancing economic growth with rising unemployment and falling inflation. While GDP growth is expected to remain steady, the labor market shows signs of softening as inflation and interest rates continue to drop.

  • Jobless Claims Hold Steady — Continued unemployment claims remain elevated at 1.83M, down from July’s peak but still higher than earlier in the year.

  • Layoff Trends — Layoffs hit their highest point of 2023 in August, with 1.76M reported—though still within typical pre-pandemic levels.

  • Rising Unemployment — The Fed forecasts a gradual but minor rise, with rates hovering just over the 4% mark for the next three years.

Edward Jones / FactSet

🔧 Walser Automotive & WSU Tech are Tackling the Tech Shortage Together

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Walser Automotive Group and WSU Tech are joining forces to address the critical shortage of skilled technicians in the auto industry.

Through a multi-year grant, Walser is funding a major renovation of WSU Tech's automotive service lab, providing hands-on learning opportunities for students and supporting Walser techs with ASE certification training.

Read the full article here. (1 min 49 sec)

ROUND THE ASOTUVERSE

🗓️ Coming Soon

🤠 November 5-8th — Opening presenters at the 2024 ATAE PR & Communications Focus Group Meeting in Austin, Texas.

⚜️ January 23-26th, 2025 — NADA Show in New Orleans.

🦀 May 13-16th, 2025 — ASOTU CON in Baltimore, Maryland.

Quick Hits

  • Longshore workers from Maine to Texas plan to strike Tuesday, potentially disrupting cargo flow at East and Gulf Coast ports. 🎳 

  • Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto expresses a desire to avoid generative AI, stating the company aims to find what makes it unique instead of following industry trends. 🎮️ 

  • Apple TV+ will offer free streaming of classic Peanuts holiday specials this season, including "It's the Great Pumpkin," "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving," and "A Charlie Brown Christmas." 🥜 

Today in History

  • 1940: The Tripartite Pact was signed in Berlin, Germany, establishing the Axis powers of World War II. This agreement was a pivotal moment in history, as it solidified alliances between Germany, Italy, and Japan, ultimately shaping the course of the war. 🪖 

  • 1989: Sony buys Columbia Pictures for $3.4B. 🎥 

  • 1998: The Google internet search engine retroactively claims this date as its birthday. 🎂 

Thanks for reading, friend! AI is pretty helpful, but man-o-man, don’t trust it without verifying. We asked it for some interesting automotive history for September 27th, and it tried to tell us that today was the first day the Mustang went on sale. (It isn’t.)

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