Kia & Hyundai in Mexico, Used Cars Ups and Downs, & Deleted Gmail Accounts

May 18, 2023
Thursday is for troublemakers, the ones that wear their sunglasses inside. We are talking about Kia and Hyundai making EV building plans in Mexico, used car demand despite slowing CPO sales, and how Gmail plans to say goodbye to your old spam account that is collecting dust.
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The Inflation Reduction Act is providing the impetus for Kia and Hyundai to invest a billion dollars in production in Mexico.

  • The Governor of New Nuevo León, Mexico, Samuel Garcia, revealed Kia’s plans on his Twitter this week, initially saying Kia once again bets on Nuevo Leon with a “billion dollar investment to expand its plant and produce two Kia car models” later editing out the billion.
  • The IRA makes it so that many of the automaker’s models no longer qualify for the $7500 tax credit.
  • This move, along with plans already in place for Georgia, make it possible for Hyundai Motor Group to continue their growth in EV production and sales.

Used car demand remains strong, despite caution from retailers on a waning shopper presence in the market.

  • Morgan Automotive, a 60 store group in Florida, noted that same store used volume was up in January and February.
  • Cox Automotive's Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index — a measurement of wholesale used-vehicle prices calculated by tracking vehicles sold at Manheim's U.S. auctions and applying statistical analysis to those figures — recorded four consecutive months of increases from December to March.
  • April saw a downturn in CPO sales volume, but Q1 sales have kept the YOY numbers up 6%, according to Cox Automotive.
  • “April CPO sales took it on the chin compared to March, but the pace was healthier than either January or February,” said Chris Frey, senior manager of Economic and Industry Insights at Cox Automotive.

Google is cracking down on storage as they look to remove old accounts from Gmail as early as December of this year.

  • The news comes over 2 years after Google removed unlimited storage from Google Photos
  • Deleted emails will not be available for use.
  • When the new policy starts, product manager Ruth Kricheli says the company will start with accounts that were created and never touched again and also send “multiple notifications over the months leading up to deletion” to the address and any attached recovery email.

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