CBT automotive newscast: October 9, 2020

Today’s Featured Interview:

The Libertyville Mile of Cars helps a community get back on track
The 2009 economic crisis put tremendous stress on businesses across the country. Many people lost their jobs and many companies closed their doors. The northern Chicago suburb of Libertyville, IL took economic recovery into their own hands. Auto dealers and the Libertyville Mayor’s Office came together to develop a plan that would bring more shoppers to the area. The two sides came up with ‘The Libertyville Mile of Cars’. The program enticed car shoppers to buy a car at one of the Libertyville dealerships which is incentivized by gift certificates to businesses in the area. Watch the full segment here.

Top Headlines:

The first and only vice-presidential debate took place Wednesday night. Both nominees had very different takes in regard to the state of manufacturing jobs. Vice President Mike Pence boasted that the Trump administration had created 500,000 manufacturing jobs in the first three years. However, Pence ignored the 164,000 jobs in manufacturing that have been lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Senator Kamala Harris focused on President Trump’s trade war with China. Harris made the claim that the trade war had cost 300,000 manufacturing jobs, when in fact the U.S. gained 146,000 factory jobs during the first 18 months after the tariffs took effect.

Group 1 Automotive is expecting big earnings from the third quarter. The company told Automotive News that it expects its earnings per share to triple to between $6.25 and $6.65 for the quarter. The dealership group believes that new and used-vehicle gross margins in the U.S. have more than offset lower sales volumes during the ongoing inventory constraint. Group 1 will announce its full third-quarter earnings report on October 29.

David Smith, CEO of Sonic Automotive, was arrested and charged with assault and strangulation this week. Smith was arrested by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department after a woman claimed that Smith assaulted and unlawfully restrained her without her consent. Smith was released after he posted a $30,000 bond according to the Mecklenburg County sheriff’s office.

General Motors has set the stage for the unveiling of the new GMC Hummer EV. The new electric truck will make its debut on the grand stage of the 2020 world series. Nearly a decade after the original Hummer was discontinued, GM is reintroducing the world to the Hummer in a commercial slot during game one of baseball’s fall classic. The unveiling is set for October 20 and will also air during a commercial break on NBC’s The Voice.

News Stories & Opinion:

Five best practices in handling online leads
In this age of online marketing, automation, lead capture, and CRM response databases, we often lose the basics of handling online leads. Leads are people, and we need to get back to the basics of a timely, thoughtful, and warm response, which will lead to sales. Since we’ve become so addicted to technology and the time-saving advantages thereof, this is an area that’s ready for a lot of improvement. Read More

Roadster CMO weighs in on COVID-19 recovery with dealer survey results
Dealers have had to adapt at an incredible rate in the past seven months or so. Roadster partnered with NADA in May to perform a study about the effect COVID-19 has had on their dealership and the impact it has had particularly on the sales aspect of business. A second survey was performed more than three months later to see how business was faring. While Roadster’s second study is due to be released in mid-October, CBT News had an opportunity to ask Roadster’s Chief Marketing Officer, Michelle Denogean, a few questions about the data and the overall state of the auto retail industry. Read More