Inside Automotive
The profit and inventory trends dealers will see in the New Year — Kevin Tynan | Bloomberg Intelligence
After a tumultuous year, dealers are speculating over what the New Year has in store for the retail automotive sector. Will the industry continue to see pre-pandemic conditions return, or are there still surprises in store for the car market? On this episode of Inside Automotive, host Jim Fitzpatrick is joined by Kevin Tynan, senior automotive analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Watch the full segment here.
Top stories
November was a predominantly stable month for the used vehicle market, even though sales volumes, pricing and inventory levels trended in unsatisfactory directions. According to Cox Automotive, dealers sold an estimated 1.4 million used vehicles over the course of November, a sharp decline of 12.8% from October’s 1.6 million. Read More
While electric vehicle sales are still on track to grow in 2024, analysts have grown more cautious toward the segment following a disappointing year of unexpectedly timid demand and disillusionment among car industry executives. Last week, BloombergNEF (BNEF), an economic data analysis firm managed by Bloomberg, revised its expectations for electric vehicle sales in the new year from roughly 17.5 million units, originally projected this June, to 16.7 million units. Read More
On December 15, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration‘s (NHTSA) interim director, Ann Carlson, announced that she was resigning, effective December 26. Before her departure, she oversaw the agency’s investigations into Tesla’s Autopilot and initiatives to tighten fuel economy standards. Carlson also headed probes into airbag ruptures, efforts to lower road fatalities, and the advancement of over 50 safety regulations. Read More
With vehicle prices on the rise, affordability has become a growing concern for several buyers. To help address this issue, American Honda believes it found a solution by launching a program to provide lease terms on used vehicles. The program is being marketed as a more cost-effective method to purchase a new vehicle and will be available on both Honda and Acura vehicles in the U.S. Read More
For Dealers
7 key ingredients for dealership-wide accountability
One of the most difficult yet important tasks for business leaders is finding ways to hold their staff accountable. From employees who have worked at a dealership for decades to those just starting out, it is imperative to make sure they are all efficiently completing their assigned tasks and contributing to the team as much as possible. The following list includes seven key ingredients for dealership-wide accountability. Read More
More showing, less selling leads to a better F&I experience
When it comes to the F&I experience, no car buyer wants to be given the fast-talking, hard sales pitch to get them to buy a VSC or appearance protection for a car or truck that is already expensive enough without adding all that. Add to that the sometimes less-than-perfect reputation among some F&I managers and you have quite a task ahead of you when it comes to being able to present your menu of products and protections with any chance of it being added. Read More
