Automotive

Articles

Articles about the broad scope of the automotive industry, dealers, and innovative ways of doing business.

Automotive

Free Trade and EVs in Canada

We don’t talk a lot about Canada, but with the Inflation Reduction Act incentivizing any North American production, this free trade agreement will only become more important in the coming years.

November 28, 2022

Automotive

Mercedes Sells Speed Boosts

*Please send 25 cents to ASOTU to view this witty opinion of the news that we already wrote*

November 28, 2022

Automotive

Chinese Demand, Carvana Stocks, and Exotic Cars

TL; DR - Tesla says their Chinese sales are aok, and you should mind your business. Carvana should mind its business, but, like, in a ‘get things in order’ kinda way, and the used car business is seeing an influx of exotic cars as Crypto investors face a time “between prosperity.”

November 23, 2022

Automotive

Mazda Invests In Electrification

It would be super sage-like to say, “The longer you wait to accept change, the more expensive it will be,” but we aren’t sure Mazda would have saved any money if they did this last year. It's a weird world.

November 23, 2022

Automotive

A Little Auto Trivia

TL; DR - GM fixes Teslas, Ford builds a city, and Domino’s delivers electric pizza.

November 22, 2022

Automotive

Chinese EVS, European Drivers

At least in Europe, a 200-mile battery range can get you through 9 countries before needing a charge.

November 22, 2022

Automotive

Vans, Trucks, and Anti-Inflation Talks

TL; DR - GM sees profits in the electric delivery van game, but based on the President’s aims the electric big rig and bus game may soon be just as lucrative.

November 21, 2022

Automotive

Dale Pollack Inventory Discipline Tips

Usually, gross is higher than net, but 5 minutes of gross time with Dale Pollack is roughly 14 minutes of net insights. #Math

November 21, 2022

Automotive

Cox Data and Expert Projections

If the economy was an apple tree, automotive would be in the apples… and the leaves… also the roots and branches…

November 18, 2022

Automotive

VW’s New $2B Plant

Long story short: VW may hang on to some cash fluidity but delay the beginning of their electrification journey. Also, somehow the year 2030 STILL managed to find its way into this story.

November 18, 2022

Automotive

Hybrids, In-House Production, and Domestic Batteries

TL; DR- Toyota announces new Prius models, Ford announces new in-house production plans, and GM announces (even more) deals to keep battery production profitable.

November 17, 2022

Automotive

Carefree+ by Nissan

Carefree+ is a 🥬 great name and all, but have you considered 🍃 calling the program🍂 “Turn a new LEAF?” Maybe it is too late 🍁 to change it, just keep that name for the next 🍀 idea.

November 17, 2022

Automotive

Recalls, Reliability, and Reducing Expense

A trusted dealer is the only piece of the automotive industry the average consumer ever encounters. The story you tell them about what is happening in the rest of the industry will build or shake confidence in the whole ecosystem. #NoPressure

November 16, 2022

Automotive

Tesla Charging Tech For Everybody

Eventually, Tesla will not be the dominant name in EVs. Big legacy OEMs, once up to full speed, will overtake them. So the path to continued powerful relevance may be in collaboration (by standardizing charging tech) and control of resources (like the charging infrastructure.)

November 16, 2022

Automotive

2030, Air EV, and Bye Bye Blue Checks?

Some news and memes, you know the deal!

November 14, 2022

Automotive

Used Car Value Oddities

Feel free to pass our notes to your used car manager.

November 14, 2022

Automotive

News And Paraphrases

TL; DR - The EU bans ICE at home, but play your cards right, and they will sell you some. Germany is still business friends with China. Carvana is still learning how deep a down month goes.

November 10, 2022

Automotive

Training, Sales, and Prototypes

TL; DR- Jaguar Land Rover prepares for them newfangled electronic automobiles, EVs were nearly one-sixth of Porsche’s deliveries last year, and a student design prototype car eats carbon.

November 10, 2022

Automotive

Subaru Halts New North American Investments

Most of the McDonald's employees we've met would love to build cars for $25/hr. What's REALLY going on here, Subaru? You can tell us.

November 10, 2022

Automotive

Virtual Cars and Electric Deliveries

Google's digital test cars and Rivian's electric Amazon vans (with memes)

November 9, 2022

Automotive

Shipping Issues In Europe Delay New Inventory

The best way to prepare for the future is to embrace your present. New inventory levels will return to “normal” eventually. Let’s not wait till then to thrive.

November 9, 2022

Automotive

Wholesale Prices And Consumer Confidence Dips

Reminder - Data isn't good or bad. It's just data. How we adapt to it is what counts. 💪

November 8, 2022

Automotive

BMW, Audi, and Stellantis

TL; DR - BMW eyes the agency model, Audi puts video games in eye-wear, and Stellantis dries its eyes and says things are getting better.

November 7, 2022

Automotive

Dealer Associations Write A Letter To Ford

Unrelated Question- Y’all ever worked somewhere where the manager couldn’t fire somebody so they just kept trying to make them quit?

November 7, 2022

Automotive

New Car Demand Is Undeterred

Anybody can share an optimistic hunch at any time. Adjusting profit projections without really meaning it is called misleading shareholders, which means Subaru is placing its money (and reputation) firmly where its optimistic mouth is on this one.

November 3, 2022

Automotive

Hendrick, Get Set, Go!

Good call - if we drove that fast, we would make sure the world had more mechanics too, Mr. Larson.

November 3, 2022

Automotive

Carvana and Jams

Joke idea- Investors, dealers, and Michigan’s legal team walk into a bar... Carvana sneaks out the back before anything else get added to this piece of news.

November 3, 2022

Automotive

Drop It Like Its a Used Car

Don’t freak out. We still have story after story of growth last month in the hopper. Find the market share that is out there for the taking, even in market shifts like this.

November 1, 2022

Automotive

Mazda Setting Up for 2030 Push

Somewhere along the way we were hopeful every OEM on the planet wasn’t preparing their 2030 EV strategy…our hopes are quickly waning.

November 1, 2022

Automotive

Ford Pushes Back Decision Day

In our day, we sat around campfires on cool fall evenings in the mountains singing Disney songs at the top of our lungs and everything felt better. This is our best proposal for the next Ford dealer meeting. 😂

October 31, 2022

Automotive

Kia Groundbreaking Not Just For Factories

Will someone please tally the charitable contributions from Kia/Hyundai dealers across the US since 2014? We have a sneaking suspicion it would be a BIG number...

October 31, 2022

Automotive

EV Tax Credits Through Dealer Eyes

Whether it is government or dealer responsibility to clearly communicate and execute the used vehicle EV tax credits, rest assured that consumers will look to dealers to educate and inform them of their options and opportunities when purchasing used EVs.

October 31, 2022

Automotive

Touch Screen Nostalgia

Telling it like it is - This history lesson brought to you by the touch screen at the hotel gym that still to this day can’t figure out how to work when you need it most.

October 28, 2022

Automotive

Electric Bikes From The Metaverse

Every time we write about metaverse auto retail we double and triple check to be sure they mean vehicles people drive in the real world. This time they do. Tune in next week for another episode of “Ok, but can I touch it?” with Chris and ASOTU.

October 27, 2022

Automotive

A Little Update On The State Of US EV Charging

TL; DR - 80% of EV charging will be at home, but companies, cities, and the president are focusing hard on that other 20%

October 27, 2022

Automotive

Toyota, Tesla, and China

TL; DR - Toyota is getting serious about EVs, starting with some teamwork in China to compete against Tesla. Tesla is getting competitive in China too by dropping prices. China is also getting competitive but by exporting and potentially nationalizing all its corporate interests. Exciting stuff.

October 25, 2022

Automotive

Checking in on Chips

So to borrow a scientific term, only time will tell, but things currently look kinda sus, y’all.

October 19, 2022

Automotive

Fixing Engines, Tacos, and Cadillac’s New Vibe

TL; DR - Hyundai and Kia may have celebrated that powerful Q3 a bit early, Taco Bell opens its first EV charger, and Cadillac squares up against Rolls-Royce for the future of Electric ultra-luxury.

October 19, 2022

Automotive

www.asotu.com/push-back-emails/pickups-are-back-on-the-menu

If gas prices keep inching down, it may be time to move the pickups to the front of the showroom. 🛻🛻🛻

October 19, 2022

Automotive

Tesla On A Hiring Spree

Based on the news lately, it may also be true that Elon Musk is not actually hiring people, but making it look like he is hiring to throw people off the trail of his plans to buy a ski resort in Mongolia. The guy is playing 4D chess (or insane).

October 18, 2022

Automotive

Stellantis Calls Out The EU

Stellantis is just wondering how sure Europe is that it can support forcing all these OEMs to switch to EV.

October 18, 2022

Automotive

The Power Of One in Marysville

It turns out people actually don't enjoy being pressured into buying a car. Also, a free idea - hire more women.

October 18, 2022

Automotive

Startup News and New Motto Suggestions

New Mottos for Everyone!

October 17, 2022

Automotive

Buy Centers Part 2

The relationship between dealers and OEMs is changing in ways dealers cannot always control. However, the relationship between dealers and private sellers can improve in ways dealers can guide through planning, discipline, and care.

October 17, 2022

Automotive

Digital Dealer Las Vegas Is a Wrap!

Got pictures and takeaways from your time at Digital Dealer? Send them our way!

October 14, 2022

Automotive

Sony Honda Mobility Set 2025 Pre-Order Date

A few years ago, Sony started charging PlayStation owners a monthly fee to play online games. Something about turning off advanced safety features when people miss payments feels… different.

October 14, 2022

Automotive

Toyota Found, And Resolved, A Risk

Knowing this happened and is already fixed at the OEM level could ease a lot of… uh… tense calls from customers as the news spreads.

October 13, 2022

Automotive

Nissan Makes 1 Euro In Russia

It is almost winter, and we all know how disagreeing with Russia in the winter goes. Good idea getting out now.

October 13, 2022

Automotive

BMW Is Ready To Party

Yesterday they put cars in games. Now they are putting games in cars. Makes ya think.

October 13, 2022

Automotive

Honda Battery Plant Coming To Ohio

Despite some of the early rumors of fighting, many OEMs are making moves to stay within the Inflation Reduction Act’s EV tax credit guidelines. How they settled on Ohio is anybody’s guess.

October 12, 2022

Automotive

Segues and Segways

TL; DR - GM is branching into home energy, European auto production is threatened by high energy prices, Israel and Lebanon settled a beef that has opened both nations to more oil and gas extraction and exporting, and Biden says nobody is allowed to export US chips to China any more.

October 12, 2022

Automotive

Suspended in Michigan

How many strikes does it take to get kicked out of a whole state?

October 11, 2022

Automotive

Parks and Rec and OEMs

TL; DR: Honda wants part of that bonus back, Rivian wants all of its EVs back (but only for a moment), and Nissan may want some of itself back from Renault.

October 11, 2022

Automotive

Buy Centers with All Things Used Cars

And that’s just part 1… meet back on Clubhouse for part 2 this Friday.

October 10, 2022

Automotive

Tesla and Pepsi

#YouJustGotCharred - Pepsi?? Ew time to cancel Tesla

October 10, 2022

Automotive

Luxury EV Adoption

TL: DR - The things people buy make money, Mercedes isn’t jumping the ICE ship anytime soon, and they are selling luxury EVs as fast as they can make them.

October 10, 2022

Automotive

Ford’s F-150 Lightning Gets More Expensive

We are not mathematically gifted or anything, but it seems super suspect that all these chaotic factors perfectly added up to a cool $5K for customer’s to come up with. 🤓

October 7, 2022

Automotive

Porsche and VW

We could write a whole email every week just about VW. They are always making moves that, more often than not, seem to work out. They are not the biggest but they are putting in some real work with the leverage they can generate by leaving no option unexplored. We’re taking notes, are yall? 😉

October 7, 2022

Automotive

Trains, Haulers, and Electric Automobiles.

We asked 5,000 people who want to buy an EV if they prefer a Train or Truck and they all said “I don’t care at all, please just let me buy my car.”

October 6, 2022

Automotive

Some Q3 Numbers Part 3

Ok, so yesterday, we found out assigning spirit animals to whole OEMs is harder than it looks. So today, we will give you the numbers and tell you which 80s/90s action movie star each brand is deep down.

October 6, 2022

Automotive

Auto Loan Rates Continue To Climb

Can somebody ask Jonathan Smoke how making everything more expensive helps people dealing with everything being more expensive? We want to know exactly how confused we should be at the Fed.

October 6, 2022

Automotive

Some Q3 Number Part 2

Quarterly/Monthly reports are important but kinda dull. So as we continue trying to bring you a jazzy version of this vital look at industry numbers, we will also pontificate on each brand's spirit animal.

October 4, 2022

Automotive

GM Grabs Top Tesla, Lyft Exec

TL;DR- A former Tesla leader is coming to help GM realize all its goals. Starting with selling more EV’s than Tesla as soon as humanly possible.

October 4, 2022

Automotive

Georgia Tells Rivian “Sorry, Try Again?”

Rivian - “Hey Georgia, we are going to bring you a bunch of jobs, but we DO need you to give us some money so we can pay the people who will do those jobs.” 😉

October 4, 2022

Automotive

Some Q3 Numbers Part 1

TL: DR- Everybody is trying to overcome the challenges of Q3 with varying success. Tesla overcame most of the challenges and is now just trying to convince people they overcame them enough. Weird times.

October 4, 2022

Automotive

Porsche Dips Below IPO

t seems when VW said nothing short of extreme geopolitical issues could stop them from launching the IPO, they considered a 2% drop in value within reasonable risk.

October 4, 2022

Automotive

West Herr Vs. Hurricane Ian

We cannot fight a storm, but we can weather it together. Do you have your own story of supporting your community? Reply and let us know.

October 4, 2022

Automotive

US Dealers Are Here To Stay, But Change Is Coming

Axios is owned by Cox Enterprises, which cannot see the future, but has been a trusted data-backed opinion for over 100 years. Whatever it looks like, the future is coming… Let's be ready!

October 3, 2022

Automotive

Toyota In The News

TL; DR - Toyota is still downshifting to deal with chip shortages but confident about finishing their personal race for this year and EV adoption… less so about staying relevant in zero-emission states.

October 3, 2022

Automotive

The Rise Of Microfactories?

Free idea - 1. Get this process down to a few hours. 2. Put it in a big transparent tube. 3. Make it like build-a-bear, but for electric cars. 4. Profit

October 3, 2022

Automotive

Talking Scout With Scott Keogh

We like Scott. Not only because the first 3 letters of his name are the same as the first 3 of the brand he represents, but also because he believes in the driver still, you know, driving the car!

September 30, 2022

Automotive

New York Follows California’s 2035 Zero Emission Push

December 31, 2034 is shaping up to be the month end to end all month ends…

September 30, 2022

Automotive

Used Car Sentiment Dips

TL:DR - Customers who can wait on buying a used car are waiting and customers who cannot wait are paying elevated prices. Both need to know dealers are in this weird season with them. Otherwise, somebody else will set the narrative.

September 30, 2022

Automotive

New Car Sales Up For The Month and Year

A “lower quarter” amid a higher month and year to date feels like fertile ground for recession noise. Don’t be confused, friends!

September 29, 2022

Automotive

Toyota EVs Coming To China

It is not unusual for OEMs to launch models outside the US at all, BUT we are curious to see how much more often it becomes in light of the US Tax Credit rules.

September 29, 2022

Automotive

GM Slows Its Return to Office

Shell games are great for between innings at 4 hour long baseball games. Work environments…not so much…

September 29, 2022

Automotive

Hertz and BP Team Up For EV Charging

Somebody is going to meet the needs of EV owners in your community. Why not you?

September 28, 2022

Automotive

Checking On Detroit’s Big Three

TL:DR - GM’s offices are lonely, Ford’s logo is AWOL, and Stellantis’ EVs are practicing their “bonjour.”

September 28, 2022

Automotive

Customers Prefer Dealerships

At the end of the day, what the consumer wants is the tie-breaking vote. 100 years of trust and loyalty have customer favor on dealers. Now, what needs to be done to deserve it 100, 10, and even 1 year in the future?

September 27, 2022

Automotive

GM Invests In Battery Recycling

Sure, when GM recycles batteries it’s cool, but when we do it it’s all “Who took the batteries out of the TV remote?”

September 27, 2022

Automotive

VW Secures Canadian Battery Material

VW is closer to their “Overtake Tesla by 2030” goal, yes, but they are also better friends with Canada…which is its own reward.

September 27, 2022

Automotive

Ford’s New Plant

Welcome to Tennessee, Jim! Home of notable people like Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, and two members of the ASOTU Crew.

September 26, 2022

Automotive

European Automotive News And Memes

TL;DR - Renault is helping employees with inflation, Mercedes has nothing to say, and Toyota is leaving Russia for real real.

September 26, 2022

Automotive

NASA’s Poppin’ New Tech

Confidence boost - It’s pretty cool this is exactly how all us non-scientists would have tested the strength of balloon houses too.

September 26, 2022

Automotive

Ford’s Plan for Restructuring

It’s not the first time we’ve seen a company call a significant crisis an “acceleration” of their original plan.

September 23, 2022

Automotive

Reserve Now by OEMs

200,000 reservations from Ford + 90,000 reservations from GMC…it's almost like consumers have some kind of weird backlog of demand for vehicles. Wonder why?

September 23, 2022

Automotive

Windows Giving the Squeeze

It seems like power-operated window operations are more complicated than rocket science…right, Elon?

September 23, 2022

Automotive

Beaver Toyota Charity Golf Event

From now on, when I think about golf, I’ll think about Beaver Toyota before Happy Gilmore. -Chris

September 20, 2022

Automotive

Uber Drives People Toward Electric

The question - How ready are you to help an Uber driver (or ex-Uber customer) switch to Comfort Electric?

September 20, 2022

Automotive

Porsche’s IPO

Porsche could be the #3 IPO in Europe after this. With OEMs looking to close the gap between now and their ambitious electric futures, will we see more of this brand launching?

September 20, 2022

Automotive

Mercedes Captures The Wind

In the long history of profit-protecting ideas, Self-owned renewable energy production seems like it would have happened sooner. Now that the technology is becoming more financially viable, it will be cool to see how it is adopted across the industry.

September 20, 2022

Automotive

China Also Does Not Approve 👎

TL:DR — “If you can’t handle me at my sell-batteries-in-your-country, you don’t deserve me at my create-most-of-the-world-automotive-parts.” -China, maybe

September 19, 2022

Automotive

Chip Shortage In Spain

Not to disregard the challenge, but each week we see fewer mentions of a chip shortage, each with a smaller impact.

September 19, 2022

Automotive

Post ASOTU CON Run Down

Listen to the whole brake down on Clubhouse, or ask a friend what sort of time they had at ASOTU CON.

September 19, 2022

Automotive

Beaver Toyota Knows How To Party

There are many things to say here, but ultimately they all boil down to uncontainable gratitude for Austin and each person who made this happen for him. #WhoDealersAre 🥳

September 16, 2022

Automotive

Investments and Announcements

Seriously though, in the last few months, we have covered a lot of GM investments, and it is beginning to feel like a jack-in-the-box about to pop. Any second. Any. Second. Now.

September 16, 2022

Automotive

Lincoln Prepares To Pivot

Yeah, you can volunteer to meet our EV standards, or you can volunteer to sell some other brand.”

September 16, 2022

Automotive

Ford’s New Rules

Hey Jim, is the plan to work with dealers or limit them? "Yes."

September 15, 2022

Automotive

Volvo’s Big EV Plans

The news is alive today with stories of companies looking into diversifying further. Energy source, model, regional adaptation. In biology and business, diversity leads to survival!

September 15, 2022

Automotive

Toyota Drags Its Feet?

Ok, past success is no fool-proof indication of future success, sure. But maybe if the biggest automaker in the world thinks we need more baskets for all these eggs we should consider that across the industry?

September 15, 2022