CBT automotive newscast: July 27, 2022

Inside Automotive:

Buy/sell expert Alan Haig on buyer confidence and industry consolidation
Are you wondering if now is the time to sell your car dealership or even acquire an additional one? Today on Inside Automotive, we’re joined once again by Alan Haig, President and Founder of Haig Partners, to discuss buyer confidence and his firm’s latest transactions, including a deal that is expected to add over $850M in annualized revenue for Lithia Motors. Watch the complete segment here.

Headlines:

Despite revenue growth of 4.7% in the second quarter, General Motors on Tuesday announced a year-over-year decline in net income of almost 40% and stated that it anticipates better performance in the second half of the year. GM’s net income decreased to $1.7 billion as the manufacturer battled the global chip shortage. According to a statement from GM, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes decreased 43% to $2.3 billion while revenues increased to $35.8 billion. Read More

The Department of Energy‘s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Program is about to provide its first loan in more than ten years. The department intends to announce a $2.5 billion loan to a joint venture between General Motors and LG Energy Solution to assist in the development of a new lithium-ion battery production plant, reports Reuters. Under former President George W. Bush, Congress established the ATVM Program and allotted $25 billion “to provide low-cost debt capital for fuel-efficient vehicle and eligible component manufacturing in the United States.” Read More

In other GM news, the automaker recently established a second CAM (cathode active material) partnership with LG Chem. Under the agreement, LG will supply up to 950,000 tons of CAM through the year 2030. The CAM material from this venture will support the production of 5 million EVs and will be used in the ultium cells battery factories in Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan. Jeff Morrison, GM Vice President of Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, said in a statement, “This agreement builds on GM’s commitment to create a strong, sustainable battery raw material supply chain to support our fast-growing EV production needs.” Read More

The ID.4 electric crossover SUV is now being produced at Volkswagen‘s manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It’s the company’s first electric vehicle to be produced in the US and suggests that a more affordable ID.4 is soon to come. VW also plans to increase output at its Chattanooga site by 7,000 vehicles per month “later this year.” The first round of deliveries is expected in October 2022. Read More

News & Opinion:

6 car dealers committed to corporate social responsibility and community give back
Car dealers are widely known for their corporate social responsibility efforts, which can go a long way for car buyers looking for dealerships to trust. According to the Harvard Business Review, Fortune 500 companies spend an average of $20 billion yearly on corporate social responsibility activities. While $20 billion a year does sound steep, the benefits make up for the high cost of the charity events. The main benefits that a car dealership can achieve with a strong corporate social responsibility program are an increase in employee engagement, car sales, interested buyers, overall success, building strong leaders, and an increase in employee numbers. Read More

Process Deviation – Finding the kinks in your garden hose
The fundamental question:  How do we identify and fix bottlenecks in our recon process? Well, it starts with actually measuring the recon process.  Google defines Process Deviation as a measure of variance that tells 1) whether a given process differs from an agreed-upon requirement or course of action and 2) how much the variance is. It helps determine if the process’s performance is affected by the variance. Process Deviation is one of the most important numbers we look at when evaluating your Retail-Ready Time.  This number shows how streamlined your process is…or is not. To visualize this, think of a garden hose as your reconditioning process. Read More

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