Record Sales and Electrification Growth: Doug Eroh on Longo Toyota’s Latest Milestones
In today’s episode of CBT News’ Inside Automotive, we’re catching up with Doug Eroh, the President and General Manager of Longo Toyota and the President of Penske Motor Group. Doug recently celebrated the grand opening of a stunning new showroom, and we’ll dive into the details. We’ll also explore how inventory levels are shaping up, discuss electrification, and look at used car prices for this year. Longo Toyota recently completed a 40,000-square-foot showroom renovation. Eroh emphasized the facility’s significance for employees and customers, enhancing transparency and fostering a welcoming environment for all. About 50 percent of Longo Toyota’s new vehicle sales are electrified models, primarily hybrids. This shift is driven by California’s high fuel prices and consumers’ need for better long-term vehicle affordability. Despite tight new car inventory, Longo Toyota is on track to sell 5,000 used cars, marking its best year yet. Eroh credits this to affordability concerns, as many consumers turn to used vehicles to manage rising costs. Click here for the full interview.
“Stop-In” Service Boosts Customer Scores, Technician Satisfaction and Service Profits for Pohanka Group
Tim Pohanka knows that all service customers want “express” service, just as they do at airports, rental car counters and other transportation services. Yet when they arrive at a dealership’s service department for a scheduled appointment and find bays clogged with cars and dozens of other cars awaiting service, frustration sinks in, customer satisfaction drops and loyalty fades. “When those appointments are being set by advisors, the advisor is looking at what their current schedule is,” Pohanka, vice president and executive manager of the 23-dealership Pohanka Auto Group, located in the Washington, DC, area, tells WardsAuto. “They’re not looking at what the shop load is. So, you need to look at what a technician is capable of producing versus what they’re being given.” If a technician is given five appointments, they are not motivated to work efficiently, he says. Instead, they will work to complete those five appointments in the hours they are scheduled to work so they don’t have downtime. The solution: Tell customers to bring their cars anytime without an appointment. Not only will customer loyalty and satisfaction rise, but profits will increase. The key is for service advisors to set expectations in the lane. Click here for the full story.
U.S. New-Vehicle Market ‘Stuck’ as Buyers Wait for Relief, Sellers Try to Hang on to Profits
There’s high drama playing out in the U.S. auto market — like an old spaghetti Western with armed men staring motionless and menacingly at each other across a dusty street. The question is: Will somebody flinch?”The market is stuck,” said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power. “It’s a standoff right now — between consumers, dealers, automakers and lenders — to see which one is going to blink.” What was expected to have been a robust August — albeit artificially inflated by a holiday weekend that usually falls completely in September — instead was rather flat, with a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of sales of just 15.1 million vehicles, according to Cox Automotive and J.D. Power. That’s the second-lowest selling rate so far this year, behind January’s 14.9 million, according to Motor Intelligence. Seven automakers reported their August sales Sept. 4 and 5, and all of them with the exception of Volvo reported increases over the previous August, reports Automotive News. Yet the jumps from a year earlier — when Asian automakers especially were struggling to restock depleted inventory — were underwhelming given expectations, analysts said. Click here for the full story.
47 States Fail to Meet the Ideal Ratio of Chargers to EVs, Report Says
Nearly every state fails to meet the optimal ratio of chargers to electric vehicles, according to a new report. While the optimal number of public electric vehicle chargers varies from one state to the next because of uneven EV adoption nationwide, 47 states fall short of their target ratios.Only the District of Columbia and three states — Vermont, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — have the prime ratio of EVs to public chargers, according to the report published Sept. 9 by Here Technologies, a location data and technology platform, and SBD Automotive, a global automotive research firm.The ideal ratio of registered EVs to public Level 2 and fast chargers across the U.S. is nine to 10 EVs per charging plug on average. But each state has its own target ratio based on road networks, population density, rate of EV adoption and the current fleet of EVs, reports Automotive News.Many believe that the number of EVs per public charger should decline as EV volume grows, the groups said. But the number of EVs per public charge point should actually increase as the market matures and chargers improve, they said. Click here for the full story.
Bank of America’s Weekly Rates Market Update
U.S. rates fell throughout the past week with the 2yr UST down roughly 27bps and the 10yr down 20bps, causing the 2yr and 10yr to dis-invert momentarily, as market participants prepare for and speculate on the magnitude and frequency of upcoming Fed cuts. August Nonfarm Payrolls printed at +142k (market exp. +165k, BofA exp. +200k) and included a -86k revision to July and June NFP figures while the Unemployment Rate fell to 4.20 percent (4.20 percent exp., 4.30 percent prev.)
BofA Global Economics Research revised their forecast following the softer-than-expected print and subsequent comments from Fed Governor Waller, which highlighted increased urgency for the Fed to get back to “neutral.” The team now expects the Fed to cut by 25bp per meeting through March 2025 and quarterly cuts for the rest of 2025 before reaching a terminal rate of 3.25-3.50 percent by YE25. Click here for the full report.
Around the Web
Meet the Aerospace Engineer Helping Guide Honda Racing Corp. USA’s Future [Automotive News]
Over 2.5M Volvos to Be Updated wiith Latest Infotainment System [Carscoops]