Welcome to the first installment of Auto News Update from Service Drive Revolution! This week’s top stories in auto news– Auto show cancellations? Tesla email leaks? Inventories in crisis? Looters targeting dealerships?? All of that and more on the first installment of Auto News Update!
World Car Awards Winners
COVID-19 has changed the automotive industry in many ways… From retail sales to traffic, ride-sharing to financing.
One unfortunate victim: a number of car shows and auctions have been canceled.
One such show, the New York International Auto Show, was originally postponed from April to August but recently canceled because of the ongoing health crisis. But that didn’t stop them from announcing the World Car Awards online late last week.
Industry award shows are a highlight every year, and if there’s a silver lining in the lack of a live presentation, it’s the diversity of this year’s winners. Kia was the big winner; the Telluride SUV won Car of the Year, and the Soul EV won Urban Car of the Year. The new Porsche Taycan EV took home Best Luxury Car and the Best Performance Car. Mazda also had a strong year, with two of the three finalists for World Car of the Year, and Mazda 3 won World Car Design of the Year.
Dealers are choking on 2019 models with 2021 dropping soon
With the slowdown of car-buying and the recent stoppage of manufacturing plants, an odd dilemma has quickly developed in the automotive industry– The number of 2019 models in inventory has skyrocketed, with 2021s on their way.
Several Dodge dealers have at least 21 percent new inventory from the last two models years still available. Topping the list ….
- Dodge Grand Caravan, 66.3%
- Dodge Journey 45.8%
- Nissan Titan 43.7%
- Ford Ranger 41.9%
- Audi Q7 40.9%
Hertz Files For Bankruptcy
Massively reduced airport travel spelled disaster for the car rental business, and nowhere is that more obvious than this story… Hertz has recently declared bankruptcy, and is now selling their inventory of used cars from model years 2017 to 2019.
Deals are appealing, with impressive savings offered on luxury brands BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti, as well as economy vehicles like the Nissan Versa Note and Kia Forte.
The BMW 7 Series vehicles from Hertz are being offered at an average of 13.7% off their usual fair market price.
Makes me wonder about that fire that took out the used car lot in Florida a couple months ago … Does anyone else smell insurance fraud?
Tesla Model Y Production in Trouble– Leaked Emails Confirm
In a leaked email to Tesla staff, Elon Musk addressed some of the issues surrounding the production of the Tesla Model Y, stating:
“It is extremely important for us to ramp up Model Y production,” Musk said in his email to staff. “For those working in General Assembly Line 4, thank you for bearing with tough conditions. […] There are production and supply chain ramp challenges with Model Y, as is always the case with new products.”
According to tech publication Electrek, “If it wasn’t for the pandemic, it looked like Model Y was Tesla’s best production ramp ever.”
It is unknown whether this will affect Tesla’s stock price as much as Elon’s tweeting.
Are Looters Targeting Car Dealerships?
From St. Louis to Philadelphia, Chicago to Orlando, dealerships everywhere are reporting acts of vandalism and theft. Here in California, San Leandro Chrysler Dodge Jeep dealership near San Francisco had more than 70 premium muscle cars stolen from their inventory, with losses totaling over $5 million.
Dealership owner Carlos Hidalgo told Fox News that although security measures were in place at the time, the thieves “started ramming until they could get out. They took out chains and fence posts.”
No arrests have been made, but at least 20 cars have so far been recovered, most of them damaged and with parts missing. The dealership plans to hire armed guards in response to the thefts. Police say they don’t know whether the theft was a one-off crime, or it was premeditated.
What do you think? Are dealerships being targeted, or was this just a one-off crime? What are you doing to protect your business from crimes of opportunity? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on next week’s Auto News Update from Service Drive Revolution.
