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“Car Pros Cares,” the charitable arm of the Car Pros Automotive Group, hosted Back-to-School supply drives in August at its retail locations, collecting hundreds of backpacks and nearly 9,000 school supply items for students in the communities that Car Pros serves. The school supplies – including binders, rulers, calculators, pens, markers, water bottles, and more – were donated directly to schools and other organizations in Western Washington and Southern California and delivered by Car Pros managers and staff. Each of the nine Car Pros dealerships participated in the school supply drive, including: Car Pros Kia Glendale, Car Pros Kia Moreno Valley, Car Pros Kia Huntington Beach, Car Pros Kia Tacoma, Car Pros Kia Renton, Car Pros Hyundai Renton, Car Pros Honda El Monte, as well as BMW and MINI of Downtown Los Angeles. Donors included Car Pros employees, customers, as well as business partners and vendors. Click here for the full story.
Dealerships Urge State and Federal Officials to Relax Emissions Regulations in Open Letter
More than 5,000 dealerships across the U.S. signed an open letter urging federal and state officials to relax emissions regulations and electric vehicle mandates. The dealerships are concerned about the EPA’s emissions rules and certain states’ EV sales requirements. The flattening of EV sales growth has left the vehicles piling up on their lots, they wrote. If officials do not adjust the regulations, customers could end up competing for a smaller inventory of gasoline-powered vehicles, the dealerships added. It is the third in a series of letters signed by thousands of dealerships. They addressed the original letter to President Joe Biden in November 2023 and wrote a follow-up letter in early 2024, reports Automotive News. The stores are now calling on officials from both parties to amend EV policy following the election this November. The regulations “are out of touch with the state of EV technology, charging infrastructure, and most of all, the American consumer,” the letter said. American consumers today are less likely to buy an EV than they were last year, according to the EY Mobility Consumer Index released Sept. 9. Click here for the full story.
September, Q3 Sales Impacted By ‘Calendar Quirk,’ Affordability Challenges
Analysts expect new-vehicle sales in September and in the third quarter to drop compared with last year partially because of differences in the number of selling days. September has 23 selling days, three fewer than last September and five fewer than August.”It’s very unique to this year. For selling purposes, Labor Day fell into August, which was a calendar quirk,” Chris Hopson, principal analyst at S&P Global Mobility, told Automotive News.Affordability challenges, including high prices and still-elevated interest rates, also continue to stifle growth, analysts said.Most automakers will report September or third-quarter sales on Oct. 1. Ford and Volvo will likely report on Oct. 2, with Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover and Porsche reporting the following week. Estimates from Cox Automotive, S&P Global Mobility and Edmunds put September sales volume at around 1.18 million, a decrease of 11 percent from a year earlier. A joint forecast from J.D. Power and GlobalData has September ending at 1.16 million sales, a 13 percent fall from a year earlier and an 18 percent drop from August. “What’s notable about the third quarter is the lack of any real momentum,” Hopson said. Click here for the full story.
New Bentley CEO Talks about the Marque’s Changed EV Strategy
Back in the optimistic pre-pandemic days of January 2020, Bentley announced a new strategy. Intended to take the 101 year-old British sporting ultraluxury brand into its second century, this program, titled Beyond 100, outlined a number of core initiatives the marque would pursue to maintain its corporate mission of separating high-net-worth individuals from several hundred thousand to several million dollars of their money. Key in this centenary proclamation was a sustainability promise to “only offer PHEV or BEV vehicles by 2026, switching the entire range to full electrification by 2030.” The brand promised five new BEVs starting in 2025. Bentley has since walked back this statement, noting inadequate rates of consumer EV adoption and an unwillingness to place all of its proverbial lithium-ions in one proverbial cell. Its CEO, Adrian Hallmark, left for a job leading archrival Aston Martin. Newly appointed CEO Frank-Steffen Walliser arrived on July 1 from within the VW Group, having worked at Porsche for 29 years. As it happens, we were in Switzerland for an event related to the Continental GT plug-in hybrid, where we were able to talk to Walliser in detail about this reversal, reports Car and Driver. Click here for the full interview.
Harris Tiptoes Away from Electric Vehicle Stance as Trump Seizes an Opening in Michigan
When Vice President Kamala Harris first sought the presidency in 2019, she called for tough emissions standards for automakers that would have required all new vehicles to emit zero emissions by 2035. In recent weeks, she has quietly walked back that stance as consumer demand for electric cars cools and pressure on the issue from Donald Trump heats up, reports The Wall Street Journal.Harris’s history of promoting electric-vehicle mandates and the Biden administration’s push to bring more EVs into the nation’s fleet despite sluggish sales has put Democrats on the defensive. Trump has bashed so-called “EV mandates,” casting the zero-emission cars as vehicles of the elite and warned of the prospects of China overtaking the U.S. industry. The competing pitches to members of the United Auto Workers, their retirees and communities throughout Michigan are at the forefront of Trump and Harris’s fight for the state’s 15 electoral votes. Polls show Harris with a slight edge in Michigan but the race remains tight in the state and throughout the Great Lakes’ battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Click here for the full story.
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Best Hybrid Crossover Models of 2024 [Carbuzz]
MIT Study Suggests that EV Charging Stations Boost Nearby Businesses [Car and Driver]
Biden Administration fuels EV Transition with $1B Fund for Small Auto Manufacturers [Autoblog]