January 31, 2012

Mungenast: Challenging Years Make Us Better Dealers
St. Louis native Ray Mungenast will take the helm as AIADA’s 2012 chairman at next week’s Annual Meeting and Luncheon. Along with his two brothers, he heads the Mungenast Automotive Family, which owns five auto dealerships and one motorsports store in the St. Louis and Alton, Ill., areas. His father, Dave Mungenast Sr., founded the dealership group in 1965 when he opened its first storefront, a Honda motorcycle dealership. Ray Mungenast got into the family business in 1985 working at the Honda motorcycle store and went to work at the family's Acura store in 1989. He got his first glimpse of Washington's policy world in 1992 when he traveled there with his father to attend an AIADA congress. Mungenast spoke with Automotive News recently about his goals as AIADA’s 2012 chairman and the challenges facing international-brand dealers. “So much of it is how you choose to look at it and deal with it, but I think we always become better dealers in the challenging years,” he said. “It's the challenging years that lean you down and make you better and make you tougher and stronger.” Read the rest of Automotive News’ interview with AIADA’s 2012 chairman, Ray Mungenast, here.

Future Perspectives on the Car Industry, By the Car Industry
Every year at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, you can't wave a stick without hitting auto company executives of all shapes and sizes, from CEOs to design directors to engineering aces. In an effort to gain more knowledge and glean a few tidbits to share with readers, Motor Trend chats them up about anything and everything that's going on with their company. This year, the publication took a different tack, asking them a couple of pointed questions about the future. Specifically, it asked them what they think their car of the year is thus far, what trends they see developing in the short run, their predictions for where the auto industry is headed sales-wise in 2012, and what they think the younger generation wants in a car. Gunther Fischer, Mercedes-Benz SL-Class engineer, says of 2012 sales figures: “I think the figure will be higher than the figure last year. I think everything will be higher.” When asked about today’s young generation of car buyers, Volvo Cars of North America president and CEO, John Maloney, said, “I don’t think kids have lost interest in cars or transportation, but I think the model will probably change.” What else did Motor Trend learn? Read on to find out by clicking here.

Industry Response to Uptick: We're Hiring!
As new-vehicle sales enter a third year of recovery, hiring in the auto industry has begun to accelerate at a brisk pace. According to Automotive News, the signs of expansion are everywhere. Nissan says it will build a new assembly plant in Aquascalientes, Mexico, but also needs 150 more engineers this year at its r&d center near Detroit. BMW is adding workers as it increases capacity at its assembly plant in Spartanburg, S.C. In fact, the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) in Ann Arbor, Mich., expects U.S. auto manufacturing hiring to outpace North American auto production this year. CAR estimates that the industry only added 26,000 auto factory jobs last year when U.S. vehicle production grew 11 percent. But it says new hires will jump to 58,000 this year even though production is expected to grow only half as much as it did in 2011. Automakers and suppliers can't continue to depend on heavy overtime and temporary workers and must hire more permanent employees. "There's less and less uncertainty about the economy, so more temps are moving to permanent employees," said Kristin Dziczek, CAR's director of labor and industry. Click here to read more about the jobs the auto industry is expected to create in the near future.

Do Women Really Ask Tougher Questions When Vehicle Shopping than Men?
Women are asking dealers some tough questions when hitting the lots and showrooms to shop for a new vehicle, reports Auto Remarketing. LeaseTrader.com even contends females are more thorough than males when in the market for a new car. The site analyzed customer transactions during 2011 when out-of-state lease transfers occurred and found that more women ordered third-party vehicle inspections compared with men. When women were on the “buyer” end of a lease transfer, they ordered a vehicle inspection 67.2 percent of the time, compared with 54.5 percent for that of men. The study also revealed that female buyers also seem to ask different and more thorough questions than male buyers. While reviewing customer correspondence patterns during 2011, the site found that female buyers inquired about specific areas in terms of safety performance, incident history, and a general sense of a vehicle’s overall functionality given certain circumstances. The majority of correspondence from male buyers primarily covered a vehicle’s overall driving and engine performance, aesthetics and vehicle technology, and some minor safety features, the company concluded. For more on the differences between male and female car buyers, click here.

The Best-Selling Cars of All Time
The most successful car in history may be the Ford Model T. While other models may have sold more vehicles, Ford managed to sell nearly 17 million cars from 1908 to 1927 – a period when car ownership was rare compared to today. The Model T was so successful that nearly every other best-selling car adopted its formula. The Model T was inexpensive to buy, inexpensive to operate, reliable and built by a large company that had hundreds of dealerships and trained mechanics. The other vehicles on 24/7 Wall St.’s list of the best-selling cars of all time, from the VW Passat to the Toyota Corolla, share all of the same characteristics. The best-selling cars through history have appealed to a broad buyer base because they are within the reach of the masses. The best-selling vehicles have several other notable features in common. For one, the majority were introduced just before or around the same time that gas prices began to rise rapidly in the early 1970s, primarily because of the Arab oil embargo. Many of these cars are also manufactured and sold around the world. Click here to read more and check out the list of the vehicle best-sellers from across the world.

Start off the New Year with the Best-In-Class
As an AIADA member, you are eligible to receive exclusive products, services, and unique discounts from our Affinity Partners. AIADA Affinity Partners provide an important contribution to the association, allowing us to better advocate on your behalf before the federal government. They also provide AIADA members with best-in-class products and services and are committed to serving the dealer market.Click here to learn more about how AIADA Affinity Partners support your business or visit AIADA.org/Member-Benefits. If you’ll be at the NADA Convention, check out our Affinity Partners: Federated Insurance: Booth 1216, Carfax: Booth 942, ADESA: Booth 1141, OfficeMax: Booth 1894, CNA National Warranty: Hospitality Suite at Vdara at City Center-Rafael Meeting Room 1 (Lobby Level). Don’t miss this opportunity to find out how AIADA’s Affinity Partners can help your business!

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Review: Honda CR-V [NY Times]
Acura Super Bowl Ad Taps Seinfeld, Leno, to Pitch NSX [Driver's Seat]