Inside Automotive
Why the electric vehicle market is taking forever to grow — Karl Brauer | iSeeCars.com
The electric vehicle market has faced a tough year in 2023, with the initial excitement among automakers, consumers and dealers giving way to frustration and disappointment. What are the factors that have prevented EVs from gaining market share and what should be done to overcome them? On this episode of Inside Automotive, host Jim Fitzpatrick is joined by Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars.com. Brauer has spent years analyzing the car business and helping industry insiders form their strategies with expert insights into consumer trends. Watch the full segment here.
Top Stories
The United Auto Workers union says 30% of Volkswagen employees at the company’s Tennessee plant have joined the nationwide effort to organize labor across the automotive industry. It took only a week from the UAW launching its latest unionization campaign for roughly a third of the German automaker’s U.S. manufacturing workers to sign union authorization cards, officially signaling their desire to organize at the plant. The facility, located in Chatanooga, is the only Volkswagen plant in the U.S. and employs several thousand automotive professionals. Read More
Dealer optimism dropped significantly in the fourth quarter as the retail automotive sector wrestled with a normalizing car market and an oppressive economic climate. According to Cox Automotive’s Q4 Dealer Sentiment Index, dealer optimism dropped five points from the July-through-September period to a score of 40, the lowest since the onset of the COVID pandemic. While independent storeowners have consistently expressed more pessimistic outlooks on the market than others, the current quarter represents the first time that franchised retailers’ confidence in their prospects dropped to a sub-50 score since early 2020. Dealers expect the next three months of business to be poor, reflecting ongoing trends of declining sales and profits since a comparatively stable summer and fall season. Read More
On December 7, Tesla lost a lawsuit against Sweden’s postal service, which refused to send license plates to the EV manufacturer. This further exacerbated Tesla’s problems with labor unions in the region. In a show of support for the mechanics striking in protest to the company’s reluctance to sign a collective bargaining agreement, postal workers blocked Tesla license plate deliveries late last month. Collective bargaining agreements, which guarantee employees the opportunity to negotiate wages, vacation time, overtime pay, and other conditions, are the cornerstone of Scandinavian economic models. Read More
Stellantis has revealed intentions to lay off thousands of workers at its Jeep operations in Detroit, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio, blaming California’s emissions restrictions for the company’s competitive disadvantage. The automaker has stated that 2,455 workers at the Detroit facility that produces the Jeep Grand Cherokee, as well as an additional 1,225 workers at the Toledo plant that produces the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator, may be impacted. Due to the Jeep brand’s declining sales, Stellantis intends to reduce output at both the 4,600-person Detroit plant and the Toledo facility by eliminating one of its three shifts and switching from an alternate work pattern to a standard two-shift operation. Read More
For Dealers
The truth about Goldilocks, AI and your dealership
Let’s face it: technology is no longer a luxury for most of the world; it’s a necessity. Every industry has experienced drastic changes due to rapidly evolving technology in the past few decades, and the automotive sector is no exception. At the forefront of recent advancements stands Artificial Intelligence (AI), a revolutionary tool that is actively changing the game for dealerships and customers alike. In this article, we will debunk some AI myths, explore its role in the dealership ecosystem, and discover why striking the right balance between AI and the human touch is essential. Read More
Is there a growing customer communication problem?
What happens when someone calls your dealership for a service appointment, a new car question, or a general dealership question? Do they have to leave a message? If they do, is the message returned within 24 hours or less? Talk to your customers or friends, and you’ll discover that poor communication and customer service are growing. Whether you believe that or not, the hard truth is that planting seeds of discontent with your customers will grow into something that you won’t want. So, what does poor seed planting look like with your customers? Read More
