CBT automotive newscast: September 8, 2022

Inside Automotive:

Experian automotive finance data underscores consumer shift to used cars — Melinda Zabritski
Experian has released its latest State of the Automotive Finance Market Report for Q2 2022, a quarterly report on the latest trends and analysis of the US automotive finance market. Today on Inside Automotive, we’re pleased to welcome back Melinda Zabritski, Senior Director of Automotive Financial Solutions for Experian, to take a closer look at the key findings. Watch the complete segment here.

Headlines:

The Federal Reserve is scheduled for an upcoming policy meeting on September 20 or 21, during which officials will have to decide if they will raise interest rates by another 0.75 percentage point to reduce inflation. Chairman Jerome Powell made a public pledge during a speech on August 26 saying the Central Bank is committed to boosting interest rates enough to lower inflation from its current 40-year highs, even if it increases unemployment. The interest rate has risen at the fastest pace since the 1980s, increasing from near-zero in the spring to between 2.25% and 2.5% in July. Some officials expect the interest rate to rise to around 4% by the end of the year. Read More

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to speak at Ford Motor Company’s Rouge EV Center in Dearborn, Michigan, today. Yellen is expected to discuss President Joe Biden’s current economic growth strategy and the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yellen will also highlight the new Inflation Reduction Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law, and the Chips and Science Act as “a historic investment in making our economy more productive, more resilient, and fairer for workers and businesses,” according to a press release from the agency. The Secretary will also meet with local leaders and business owners in the Detroit area. President Biden is also expected to visit the Detroit Auto Show next week. Read More

Attorneys for Elon Musk say the trial over his bid to end the $44 billion Twitter deal should be delayed by several weeks due to new claims from a whistleblower about security issues on the social media platform. The whistleblower claims come from Twitter’s former Head of Security, Peter Zatko, who said in a complaint that the company falsely represented the robustness of its data security plan. Twitter has dismissed the allegations as a “false narrative.” Lawyers for Twitter urged the judge in the case to prevent the whistleblower’s claims from being added to the suit. However, the judge has allowed Musk to use the whistleblower’s claims as new evidence. Read More

EV maker Polestar has brought in over $1 billion in revenue in the first half of 2022, according to new financial reports released by the company. That represents a 95% year-over-year increase compared to the first half of 2021 when the company brought in just over $534 million. However, Polestar spent nearly $988 million on sales during the first half, bringing its gross profit down to $53.4 million. Even with such a large amount of expenditures, the company still logged almost 50% growth compared to 2021. Polestar has only two EVs on the market this year. Still, it has several more in the pipeline, including the new Roadster and the Polestar 3, which will debut in Copenhagen sometime in October. Read More

News & Opinion

How to learn any new skill you want in just 20 hours
Josh Kaufman’s 20 hour rule is a beneficial system capable of assisting auto retail professionals in developing their professional skills. In this article, we will review the overall benefits and provide a detailed overview of his system. Kaufman’s 20 hour rule goes a little like this: A person can learn any new skill by dedicating 20 hours of planned practice time to that skill. Breaking down practice sessions into 45 minutes of practice a day can lead you to learn a new skill in as little as a month! This may seem difficult to accomplish, but with proper planning and personal dedication, you could have a newly developed auto retail skill in an extremely short period. Read More

Four strategies for creating lifetime customers at the dealership
Of new car buyers, it remains true that roughly 70% defect within the first three years of ownership. For used car buyers, it’s even more difficult to keep them as loyal service customers and repeat buyers, especially if it’s an off-brand they’ve purchased. What’s also indisputable is that it costs far less to retain a customer than to attract a new one, which Cox Automotive says is by a factor of ten. It’s simply unrealistic to think you’ll keep every customer for life, but if you’re able to establish a base that keeps coming back for their servicing and vehicle purchasing time and time again, it maximizes your ad spend. As well, a loyal customer’s power for referrals is exponentially greater than that of a one-time client who doesn’t stick around longer than a few years. Read More

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