CBT automotive newscast: October 12, 2020

Today’s Featured Interview:

Tim Jackson, President of CADA, on the biggest challenges facing Colorado dealers
Rejoining the show for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Tim Jackson, President of the Colorado Auto Dealers Association, or CADA, sits down with anchor Jim Fitzpatrick on CBT News to share an update on the industry and how dealers are doing in the state of Colorado. Jackson is widely respected around the industry for the time, energy, and effort he has put towards the automotive industry. Watch the full segment here.

Top Headlines:

U.S. Auto suppliers are scrambling to fill factory jobs. In an interview with Reuters, Brian Collie head of Boston Consulting Group’s global auto practice, said that many suppliers are dealing with absenteeism rates of 10-15%. This has led the UAW to give Detroit automakers a longer leash on using temporary workers to cover for absent full-time employees. Like all companies in the auto sector, suppliers’ profits were hurt during the shutdowns caused by the pandemic. Now they are experiencing more hits and are they are forced to raise pay to attract workers and run more overtime to meet demand.

To keep up with the growing demand, Porsche Cars North America is opening its first service-only facilities. The automaker will add two fully service-focused facilities in Atlanta, Georgia, and in the Dallas-Fort Worth area to meet an urgent need to build service capacity. In two of the fastest-growing markets in the country, the new service-only locations are expected to provide economic efficiency for dealers and convenience for customers.

BMW is on track to meet its 2020 financial targets. The automaker’s CFO Nicolas Peter said that the German carmaker will meet both its full-year forecasts and the European Union-mandated CO2 targets this year. Peter also credited a strong third quarter that propelled the company forward to meet its goals. The automaker is also trying to ramp up sales of electric cars to meet emissions regulations that are expected to get stricter in 2021.

While Jeeps and pickups are great for off-roading, they can only take you so far. Hyundai Motors is working to take off-roaders even further. The Korean automaker has been approved to develop a walking car. The concept was originally created with first-responders in mind. The four-legged vehicle would allow better access to natural disaster zones. Now Hyundai is looking at the potential of the vehicle operating on uneven terrain in the great outdoors.

News Stories & Opinion:

3 ways data analytics can help your F&I staff
As the markets start waking up from their COVID-19 slowdown, F&I departments are also trying to get back in the groove they were in before all of this started in March. It’s a challenge, especially for the stores that may have had to lay off staff to save money. Part of the ramp-up challenge is getting F&I processes back on track. Making sure your department is ready for how F&I has changed in a digital selling environment and offering the right products in a world changed by COVID-19. Read More

Yanfeng develops in-car UV sanitizer that kills COVID-19
Automotive interior design and manufacturing specialists Yanfeng have developed an in-car sanitizer that is capable of killing the novel coronavirus on vehicle surfaces. Yanfeng calls it the Experience in Motion 2021 Shared concept (XiM21S), and the system offers two ways in which technology integrated into the vehicle can fight germs, bacterial or viral. CEO of Yanfeng Automotive Interiors, Hans Hendriks, said of XiM21S, “We have launched a technology that uses UVC (ultraviolet-C) light, which has the spectrum that can actually kill 99.9% of all bacteria and viruses, including the COVID-19 virus, within a matter of minutes.” Read More