🧭 Rockets Get a Compass

TOGETHER WITH

You will want to open the email tomorrow...fun things in store.

For now, you will want to read today's email. Never a dull moment!

Keep Pushing Back-Paul, Kyle, & Chris

DEALERS

Jeeps and Baseball

Griffis Motors donated a whole 2023 Jeep Compass to be raffled in support of the Nashoba Central Rockets baseball team. The team will sell 1,000 raffle tickets with the goal of raising $100K that will go toward improvements and additions to the baseball facilities. ⚾️

⏳ 2022 Mississippi TIME Dealer of the Year Bill Griffis said they began putting $100 into a pot for every vehicle sold before they knew what they wanted to do for the community. They just knew they wanted to do something.

Bill says as a small dealership in a small town, what they can do for the community isn't as amazing as what the bigger groups can do, but giving is obviously an important part of the Griffis culture. 💚

🎒 They hire high school students to work at the dealership and have given each employee's child who goes to college a $1K scholarship for the last 25 years.

Telling it like it is - A small-town store caring for small-town people is by all our definitions “the good stuff,” and we are happy to share this story!

AUTOMOTIVE

US Treasury Makes Tax Announcement

Yesterday the US Treasury announced Volkswagen, BMW, Nissan, Rivian, Hyundai, and Volvo will lose access to a $7,500 tax credit under new battery sourcing rules. 👎

Ford, Stellantis, and one Tesla model, the Model 3 Standard Range Rear Wheel Drive, will lose half credit but still be eligible for $3,750. Other Tesla models will still be eligible for the full $7,500.

GM's Bolt and Bolt EUV will both still qualify for the full credit. 💳

👩‍💻 Early data from Q1 shows 65% of EV sales qualify under the price cap and North American assembly requirements, and 90% of those still qualify for at least $3,750 in credits.

Other vehicles still qualified for the full $7,500 include:

• Cadillac Lyriq

• Chevy Blazer EV

• Chevy Equinox EV

• Chevy Silverado EV

• Chrysler Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid EV

• Ford E-Transit

• Ford Escape Plug-In Hybrid EV

• Ford F-150 (Extended Range battery and Standard Range battery)

• Lincoln Aviator Grand Touring plug-in hybrid EV

• Tesla Model 3 (Performance Model only)

• Tesla Model Y (All-Wheel Drive, Long Range All-Wheel Drive, and Performance)

Telling it like it is - Alternatively, you could just have three children for every EV you want to buy and get your taxes back that way. #NotFinancialAdvice

TOGETHER WITH AUTOMOTIVE TITLING COMPANY

Life in the DMV Fast Lane

Patience may be a virtue, but speed wins trophies. Have you ever seen somebody with a trophy for being patient? Us neither.

ATC is the fastest and most reliable provider of processing and data for out-of-state tax, title, and registration. The service is fast for you and your customer, with a 48-hour turnaround time on file auditing, so you know that the customer's processing is in good hands quickly.

The correct title is guaranteed for a fixed passthrough fee since ATC will resolve any DMV errors and ship the plates directly to the dealer or customer.

Contact ATC today to experience the speed!

ASOUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

Word-Ro-Nymns

PMA

Primary Market Area

The geographical area in which the majority of a company's sales and distribution takes place. In automotive, this can be listed multiple acronyms based on the manufacturer. Typically, a dealer is responsible for the sales efficiency to zip codes in their PMA and their retention percentages to owned vehicles of the brand in that area.

AUTOMOTIVE

Price Cuts, Luxury Bounce, and GM’s Last ICE

💈✂️ Like a barber who gets paid by the job, Tesla announced another round of cuts Friday. This time the cuts are in the European market and have the competition, like Renault, weighing options. ✂️💇‍♂️

Renault CEO Fabrice Cambolive says they will reevaluate pricing strategy country-by-country to ensure they stay competitive and continue the upward sales trend of Q1 after four years of declining revenue. Sales have risen 9% for the brand so far in 2023. 📈😁

A little more off the top? Prices are not all Tesla is cutting. A social media protest erupted from the company's Shanghai plant following cuts to performance-related bonuses that the workers call unfair. 🤬

According to the outcry, the monthly bonus cuts are related to compensation being paid out related to a fatal accident at the plant. Workers say they are not liable for the accident and should not be on the hook to pay the compensation.  

Porsche AG had a record 18% sales increase in 2022 compared to 2021. The brand saw 21% growth in the Chinese market. 🇨🇳

Luxury Bounce! Premium brands are rebounding as demand returns in China, the world's biggest auto and luxury product market. Porsche isn't alone. Already in 2023, peer Mercedes has delivered 191K vehicles in China, 3% higher than in Q1 2022. 🎩

Buzzin'. Mercedes also showed an 88% increase in EV sales in Q1. Of over 503K global sales, nearly 52K are BEVs. 10% of total sales is impressive, but compared to 6% just last year, the growth's growth is also something to behold with a nod of respect. ⚡️ 

⛽️ General Motors revealed its final gas-powered vehicle, the 2024 Buick Envista. The crossover Encore replacement will start at just over $24K, with the top-end running nearly $30K. Buick's marketing director says the price point represents an enormous opportunity that GM will champion. 🧊

Quit Tattling... The US Supreme Court has turned away GM's bit to revive a racketeering suit against Fiat Chrysler (FCA). The suit started in 2019 when GM accused Fiat Chrysler, now part of Stellantis, of bribing UAW reps to undermine GM and pressure the company into a merger with FCA. GM said FCA's actions corrupted the bargaining process and cost GM an estimated $6B, which it sought in damages. 🧑‍⚖️👨‍⚖️

👊 The suit was dismissed in 2020 when a federal judge in Michigan said the alleged injuries were not caused by FCA's actions. This week, a judge reviewing the appeal request agreed.

TL; DR - Tesla’s cutting prices and folk are concerned, China’s car buyers are dusting off their fancy pants, and GM ain’t forgot what Fiat Chrysler did before they changed their name!

CULTURE

Netflix is Blind, New Soundgarden, and Harry Potter Reboots

😭❤️‍🩹📺 Love is Blind, a dating show about people getting engaged before seeing one another, had a big live reunion schedule on Netflix over the weekend, but nobody saw it (we aren't even trying to make a pun).

The live broadcast hit a glitch that frustrated fans and led to a wave of fury on social media. Netflix said sorry and aired the pre-recorded reunion Monday.

Love is blind, even love at first sight if you can believe it. We don’t make the rules.  

📼🎤🎶 Following the tragic death of frontman and grunge diety Chris Cornell in 2017, a legal battle erupted regarding seven unreleased Soundgarden songs. The band and Cornell's estate announced they reached an amicable out-of-court resolution that will at last release the songs to the artist's adoring fans.

Please, hold your applause. While the music is heading to our ears, no details about the timeline or release have been announced. Nobody tell the Spoonman.

For grunge fans, the only thing better than Chris Cornell is more Chris Cornell.  

📖🧙‍♂️📺 Good news! Unless you have had your fill of Harry Potter and Harry Potter accessories... then this is gonna be quite a blow, actually.

Warner Bros. Discovery announced the wizarding world will be revived as a multi-season series for its new streaming platform, Max, previously called "HBO Max." We suppose making the “HBO” disappear was pretty easy with all that wiazrd magic.

Each season of the decade-long show will cover the events of one book, featuring an entirely new cast and much more breathing room for the book's story.

Looking forward to “Harry Potter and the Additional Streaming Service Password We Don’t Feel Like Remembering Pt.1”

Quick Hits

• Cybertruck’s big ol’ windshield wipers need a witness. 👀 

• Peugeot voyages into luggage. . 🧳 

• Gucci gets into gaming. 🎲 

• Lamborghini releases new headphones. 🎧 

History

• 1906: San Francisco was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.9 that destroys 75% of the city.

• 1924: First crossword puzzle book published by Simon and Schuster.

• 1936: Pan-Am began regular passenger flights from California to Honolulu.

• 1975: John Lennon gave what became his final live performance.

• 1986: IBM produced the first megabit-chip.