#Sales

Tesla's growth has cooled.

Ford told investors and analysts today that it expects its electric-vehicle unit to lose $3 billion this year, but that news isn't nearly as dire as it might sound at first glance.

France’s Renault has already announced that it has been considering how best to sell Alpine sports cars in North America and the latest plan appears to involve getting cozy with AutoNation. With no dealer base of its own on our market – and Alpine being an incredibly small brand – leveraging one of the largest used dealer networks in the United States could be an ideal way to get a foot in the door.

Have you ever thought about the resale value of electric vehicles? I admit I haven't thought about it as much as I probably should have. Apparently, I am not the only one who is a bit clueless about it -- it's a market mystery.

Ford has sent a bulletin to dealers telling them to offer customers who ordered a 2023 Bronco a $2,500 discount if they were willing to switch to another model. The reason has everything to do with the automaker’s inability to meet demand.

Axios, the news source for people who like bullet points, has a post out today examining how the pickup truck market has changed over the years, with an emphasis on the shift in consumer preferences from smaller trucks to big, honkin' full-size rigs.

Mr. Guy wrote this morning about Tesla and how it appears that the company's cars are being sold to rental fleets. As most of you know, large fleet sales are often seen as a negative mark on the health of a company and can also tank resale values.

Following up on our sales post from earlier, we look to The New York Times, which has listed several possible reasons for why the numbers are dire.

The reasons are predictable, but that doesn't mean they aren't true.

The Honda Accord and Toyota Camry are old rivals, but the Honda recently got an overhaul for 2023, giving it an edge over its aging competitor. Honda debuted the car late in 2022 and now says the new Accord is hitting dealers’ lots. 

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A line of pickup trucks from Dearborn is the best-selling vehicle in America. There’s a very good chance you have indeed heard this before; after all, it’s been happening for 41 years. 

Alert readers may recall a post just prior to New Year’s about Tesla putting $7,500 cash in the frunk of several models in an attempt to juice sales before year-end. Beyond the irony of that move in the first place, after years of the company and its fanbase raking legacy automakers over the coals for doing the same thing, reports are surfacing that numbers still failed to meet expectations.

“There is no choice but for them to improve. They have to find a way to meet customer expectations.” Those are the words uttered by Steve Center, Chief Operating Officer of Kia America, at this year’s L.A. Auto Show in response to questions about the brand scoring dead last in a sales satisfaction survey about its dealerships. 

Well, it seems Dan O’Brien Kia of New Hampshire either didn’t get the memo or is hell-bent on becoming the poster child for Center’s ire. After all, being told to pay $1.25 million in a deceptive practices settlement are unlikely to ingratiate the place to their brand’s COO.

Despite ongoing dealer markups, rising interest rates, and evidence suggesting that new vehicles are suffering from a lapse in quality control, the automotive market is allegedly improving – at least in terms of sales volume. U.S. light-vehicle deliveries increased last month from the abysmal levels witnessed in October 2021. But the entire issue basically comes down to the industry managing to produce more cars than it had been.

Toyota may be one of the largest automakers in the world, but it’s not immune to rising costs and rampant inflation. The Japanese giant is seeing higher costs and shrinking profits and now says that it needs to take action to stem the tide, including raising prices on its vehicles.

If recent global events have taught us anything about the auto industry, it’s that unpredictability is the new norm. Gone are the days when one could confidently muse about the fortunes of one brand over another, replaced by erratic parts shortages and inconsistent volume of supply.

Still, some are weathering the storm better than others.