Let’s Learn

Gen Z and Liquidity

Based on the properties of linear time, eventually, selling cars to Gen Z will be among the main games in town. A recent CARS report shows about 80% of Gen Z prefer in-person car buying despite their comfort with shopping online.

• 4,000 Gen Z adults (ages 18 - 28) were surveyed.
• Affordability is their primary concern as they deal with student loan debt and the high costs of housing/living.
• Test Drives and negotiating better deals were the top reasons for the in-person preference.
• Only 25% of Gen Z said they would use dealer financing, while many are urged to seek direct lending options so they are pre-approved before they shop.

And everybody else? Data shows auto credit access continued to decline in December, dropping by 0.9%.

• Improvements over the summer and fall of 2023 are reversed, and currently, access is at its lowest since May.  
• All loan-type access decreased, with Certified Pre-Owned dropping the most.
• However, Consumer Confidence and intent to buy within six months increased.

So, folks with a bit more liquidity are getting ready to buy, but financing options are slowing others down. Have any of you hosted Financial Fluency classes in your showroom before?

Batteries and Bird’s Eye Views

Some Tesla owners in Chicago are having 0 problems with charging in the horrible cold. By "0 problems," we mean their battery won't charge past 0, which is a big problem.

How did Tesla not think of this?! Well, actually, they did! Unfortunately, charging a Tesla in the cold isn't as plug-and-play as in summer. Drivers need only press the "precondition" button to warm the battery to a more hospitable charging temperature, says Mark Bilek of the Chicago Auto Trade Association.

Tesla's biggest competitor and the 2023 EV sales champion, BYD, has some other ideas for power (even when it is cold).

• Due to leaking concerns, the Chinese carmaker is abandoning pouch batteries in favor of prismatic batteries.
• The phaseout will see all the brand's hybrids converted by 2025.
• Such leaks could cause battery fires or even explosions and were the cause of a 60K unit recall in 2022.
• Of BYD's 3M sales in 2023, 48% were hybrids.

Fewer fires, more drones? The company also announced a partnership to slap aerial drones on their YangWang U8 e-SUVs. Looking to stay ahead as a tech company that also makes cars, BYD wants to give adventurous drivers an extra dimension to their exploration options.

Renault’s Return

France's Renault Group is celebrating a good 2023 and ending 4 years of decline. The core Renault brand sold 1,548,748 vehicles in 2023, a 9.4% year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, the Alpine and Dacia brands charted 22.1% and 17.4% growth, respectively.

• 40% of Renault's sales were electric, with 11% fully electric.
• The Alpine brand will bring its first fully electric vehicle to the global market later this year.

Get Out Of The Vay

Finally, we have a worthwhile reason to hope what happens in Vegas stays there. Vay, a European teledrive service, has started commercial operations of its remotely operated EVs in Las Vegas.

• Customers call, and a remote drive pilots the car to where the renter takes over.
• When the customer is done, the remote operator takes the car home.

Germany and Beyond. The company started operating in Hamburg, Germany, a year ago and announced its plan for Vegas in May 2023.

• Customers use a Vay app to pay $0.30 a minute while driving and $0.03 per minute while stopped.
• The company's goal is to reduce the need for parking in cities to enhance urban liveability and, we assume, make money.

We are far from Luddites, but why do they keep trying to make cars drive themselves when all we really want are driveways that shovel themselves?

. . .

If test drives are bringing people into the store as opposed to shopping online and affordability is a key decider when the time comes to buy, maybe the test drive is the best time to tell them about the incentives we know y’all are cooking up.

At least offer a free drone with every purchase, apparently.

‍