CBT automotive newscast: December 17, 2021

Featured Show:

How the power of networking creates more opportunities for women in automotive – Diana Kennedy, General Manager
We all want to keep and retain top talent in our organizations, but are we also doing the work required to attract that top talent? To be attractive to many employees, experts say fostering a company culture of inclusiveness is key. And that’s exactly what Diana Kennedy, General Manager of Volvo Cars Marin, is doing. Kennedy co-founded Price Simms Women’s Circle, a networking and resource group for women in the group, and she joins us now to discuss the group and to give us her perspective on what else can be done as an industry. Watch the complete segment here.

Headlines:

Nissan aims to build a new battery recycling plant in the U.S. and Europe by the end of 2025. The automaker hopes that recycling EV batteries will reduce production costs as the price of rare metals rises. The factories would be the company’s first battery recycling facility built outside of Japan.

Ford commercial vehicle arm, Ford Pro, prepares to launch its first EV, aimed at business owners. The automaker hopes a number of its charging initiatives gets more than $1 billion in revenue by 2030. The company is pitching ford pro charging as “end-to-end” solutions for owners that would involve both one-time payments and recurring subscription fees. This comes ahead of the launch of the E-transit van, expected to hit dealerships in early 2022.

Manager Magazin reports that Volkswagen expects to produce even fewer cars in 2022, due to the ongoing chip shortage. The automaker lowered its forecast for 2021 vehicle deliveries last week to 9 million from 9.3 million and is preparing for the current chip shortage to last until early 2023. In the worst-case scenario, deliveries could drop to 8 million cars next year, with deliveries slightly below this year.

Delta Airlines has named General Motors’ Pamela Fletcher as the airline’s second chief sustainability officer. Fletcher has served as General Motors’ VP of Global Innovation as well as the Vice President of EVs, where she helped create the car maker’s electric and autonomous vehicles. She will join the company on February 1.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending December 11, totaled 206,000 above the 195,000 Dow Jones estimated with a gain of 18,000 from the previous week’s uptick of 188,00. The four-week average fell to its lowest level since November 1969. Continuing claims dropped to a pandemic era-low.

News & Opinion:

Expect strong new and used car sales in 2022 due to ‘pent-up consumer demand’
Industry experts are predicting that dealer activity in the new year will be easily sustained courtesy of above-normal consumer demand for vehicles. The effects of inventory shortages have developed a backlog of consumers looking for vehicles, both new and used. Entering the new year, the industry should expect a similar sales climate with prices that will continue to reach new records. Edmunds’ experts are forecasting that 15.2 million new vehicles will be sold in 2022, according to a press release on Thursday. That estimate exceeds the total sales volume in the US for 2020 by a half-million units and is likely to surpass 2021 total sales by around to million vehicles Read more

How the right automotive CRM can help during the inventory crunch
In a time where a chip shortage has led to a decline in inventory available and an increase in vehicle acquisition costs, having a well-rounded CRM can boost efficiency in dealerships and enhance the sales process. Sales professionals can monitor prospects with great efficiency and keep better track of where consumers are in the sales process, and more when tedious and time-consuming tasks are taken over by smart automation in automotive CRM. An automotive CRM is designed to help dealerships build relationships with customers, manage leads, and sell more vehicles. Read more