TOGETHER WITH

In no uncertain terms, end of months are the BEST! The energy and vibe around every showroom and service lane in the country is gearing up to run fast this morning!

May we recommend our Troublemaker playlist on Spotify for your pump up music this morning!?

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, & Chris

DEALERS

Landers Auto Supports Storm Victims

Several deadly tornadoes ripped through Arkansas at the end of March, leaving behind a trail of destruction across the state. 🆘

Landers Auto Group immediately went to work to help their struggling community and opened their dealerships as donation hubs, providing a convenient place for people to bring relief supplies. 🎒

They also raised $50K for the Arkansas Foodbank Disaster Relief, which is an organization that has been working tirelessly alongside the Red Cross and Salvation Army to help those affected by the severe storms. ⛑️

Landers Toyota GM Chris Chase was honored to support the cause, stating, “we are deeply committed to our community, and we know when faced with situations like this, it’s more important than ever to come together and support one another.” ❣️

Telling it like it is - Landers Auto is helping folks in Arkansas weather the storm with helping hands and open hearts.

AUTOMOTIVE

Spillin’ the Tea on EVs

We know that EVs aren’t everyone’s cup of tea for many possible reasons. And hey, we get it. People like different things, and that’s okay. A cup of tea isn’t even everyone’s cup of tea.

One of the reasons may be that there aren’t enough places to charge up in your area. A new study by Bumper found that only 63% of American counties have public EV charging stations available, making electric vehicle ownership unrealistic for many buyers. Not to mention that the stations are not evenly dispersed but rather commonly concentrated in specific areas based on economic and racial divides, with almost 95.6% of chargers located in counties with majority white populations.

Maybe it’s because the EPA still can’t quite figure out how to accurately measure the range of an EV. According to tests performed by Car and Driver and studied by SAE International, findings showed that the average range for an EV was 12.5% worse than what the sticker stated.

Or, maybe you’re just a poor, old woman, at least according to a new report by Berylls.

Based on their data, they found that EV early adopters tend to be younger men with higher incomes, while skeptics were more likely to be older women with lower household incomes.

Telling it like it is - While EV adoption may seem seamless to some, it’s more likely that members of your community are wrestling to figure out how EVs fit into their lives and need knowledgeable guidance. Kindness right now may look like keeping hot bitter tea next to the iced sweet stuff just to be sure your community knows that although the news may shift, their local dealer always has their back.

TOGETHER WITH DIGITAL DEALER x ASOTU

Smile for the Camera!

Celebrate with us in Tampa on May 2 at 6:30 pm for more than a docu-series premiere but the launch of a new genre in automotive!

ASOTU is turning the camera around and pointing at the people who keep this industry and nation rolling. "More Than Cars" is a peek behind the curtain of the showroom floor to the beating heart of retail auto. (psst. that you!)

Join us for a red carpet event, refreshments, and the live premiere of "More Than Cars" after the first full day of Digital Dealer in Tampa.

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

Tell A Friend, Win A Prize

We’re already in your inbox; now let us into your heart! Or, friend group...we meant to say, friend group! 💌

Use the unique referral link at the bottom of this email to invite others to join our Daily Pushback newsletter to share the positivity, spread the information, and pass out these gifs like free vouchers to a slushie shop on the 4th of July. #PureJoy

Whoever has the most referred contacts sign up for the daily email will win a ticket to Live Tonight with ASOTU in Atlanta, GA!

AUTOMOTIVE

Mercedes’ Subs, Tesla’s Cuts, and Toyota’s Ups

📡⚡️🐴

Mercedes-Benz announced a subscription-based performance upgrade last year and has released it to customers in the US and Canada. While heated seats make us drive better, we are talking about a 60-80 horsepower upgrade that owners can download over-the-air to shave a full second off their 0-60 time (think of how much faster you'll get to the office?!). The upgrade is available as a one-time purchase or through monthly/yearly payment options.

Based on our understanding of bytes and bits, this means you could have a 60-80 horsepower thumb drive in your pocket anytime you want!

✂️🛻🤷‍♀️

Tesla fired the first shot in the "price war" (which everybody else calls 'being in the market'), and things have been bouncing around ever since. While price drops have increased interest in some markets, the company is currently sitting on a record-high inventory in the US, pointing to the price cuts not sealing the deal for Americans.
Suboptimal levels of interested coupled with recent sideways glances at the Cybertruck's design may leave the brand's next battle plan equally anticlimactic.

"Ok, sure, but how would you feel about the Cybertruck's look if I told you you could pay an extra $250 for a Nintendo-looking yoke-style steering wheel?" -Elon, probably

🥇⚠️🗓️

Toyota set a global output record for its 2022 year (which ended in March) and slightly surpassed its 9.1M vehicle production goal. The company ended the year with 9.13M vehicles produced and 9.61M global sales, up from 2021's 8.57M built and 9.51M sales. Despite the impressive year, the company continues to urge caution regarding the uncertain supply of semiconductor chips.

A problem the US is trying to resolve. The massive CHIPS and Science Act dedicated $52B toward making the US self-sustaining chip economy. Recently, more specifics have shown that about $11B is reserved for R&D only, while the remaining funds will subsidize credit companies, like Bosch, building plants in the US.

Only Toyota can break a record and in the same moment issue a prophetic warning…

TL; DR - Mercedes is moving forward with rented horses, Tesla’s plans are still rolling (but maybe uphill), and Toyota broke its production record but doesn’t want y’all to get excited just yet.

ALL THINGS USED CARS

ATUC’s 3 Key Performance Indicators

As we’ve learned from past episodes of All Things Used Cars, you can’t know where you may be succeeding or failing if you aren’t measuring. Listen in on today’s talk to be sure you’re tracking all the right facets of your business to ensure you never have to guess what’s working.

CULTURE

YouTube? MeTube? WeTube!

Ah, YouTube. Devourer of hours and revealer of things to come. Some movie, TV, and video game trailers have dropped, and we figured we would sit and watch them all for you.

Dune: Part Two is picking up right where part one left off, which should delight fans and be of no consequence to those who fell asleep before House Atreides left their watery homeworld of Caladan.

Black Mirror season 6 has a trailer out. If you think the show is a bit disorientating, imagine scenes from a whole season crammed into 87 seconds. On the one hand, the trailer makes the show look like a cursed modern-day Twilight Zone, but on the other hand, it looks like a cursed. Modern-Day. Twilight Zone. Viewers beware.

Armored Core VI is a new game by Dark Souls creator, From Software, featuring the only thing better than dragons and swords - robots and rockets. The gameplay trailer shows off the customization of your playable battle-bot and the fast-paced combat style.

Telling it like it is - Remember when we had to watch people’s home videos on AFV? YouTube has given us so much, but at what cost?

Quick Hits

• Jobless claims fall again. 📉

• Snapchat has an AI chatbot now and it is concerning parents and teens. 📱

• The NLF draft is here. Which if you care, you already know, and if you don’t, you didn’t want to know, but we are just the messenger. 🏈

• Japan’s Lunar mission didn’t go as planned, but they got some good pictures on the way! 🌜

History

• 1788: Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.

• 1916: Ferruccio Lamborghini is born.

• 1973: The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.