Hurricane Ian Forces Mercedes, Volvo to Shutter S.C. Plants After Blasting Florida

First Up 09/30/22

Through our Dealers Do Good campaign, AIADA is recognizing dealers for the positive impact they have in the communities they serve. If you’re a dealer doing good, let us know here, tag us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, or join the conversation with the #DealersDoGood hashtag. 

Subaru of Rochester has partnered with the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester to further the Subaru Loves Learning initiative and promote healthy learning. Subaru of Rochester donated 10 bicycles to students of the Boys and Girls Club for making the summer program a priority and investing in their education. “We are so appreciative of Subarus contribution to the Boys and Girls Club,” said Andrea Chapman, Director of Resource Development. “One of our program pillars is a healthy lifestyle, so this goes a long way in helping our kids get around and get some exercise on beautiful days like today.” This was a team effort by Subaru. Technicians, service manager and director of parts assisted with putting the bicycles together while product specialists helped load and delivery bicycles to the students. Click here to watch a full recap of the event.

Hurricane Ian Forces Mercedes, Volvo to Shutter S.C. Plants After Blasting Florida

Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, heeding Hurricane Ian's potential impact, are idling their South Carolina plants ahead of the deadly storm's predicted return to landfall on Friday afternoon as a Category 1 hurricane. The Mercedes plant, near Charleston, S.C., employs about 1,600 workers who build the Mercedes Sprinter and Metris vans. It will idle operations on Friday, Automotive News reports. Volvo's plant near Charleston in Ridgeville, S.C., was idled at 11 a.m. EDT Thursday and will remain closed through Friday, Volvo Cars USA said in a statement. The 2.3 million-square-foot plant employs about 1,500 people and produces the Volvo S60 midsize sedan. Next year, the factory will begin building two electric crossovers. "Hurricane Ian has the potential to impact our U.S. operations," the statement said. "The safety of our employees and their families is our highest priority. Therefore, our Ridgeville plant halted operations at 11 a.m. and will remain closed through Friday." Click here for the full story.

Toyota CEO Says Moving to All EVs Would Leave Some Customers Behind

Toyota Motor Corp.’s Chief Executive Akio Toyoda said that pursuing all-electric vehicles exclusively would be too narrow an approach for an auto maker that sells to customers in disparate markets around the world. In a meeting with U.S. journalists Thursday, Mr. Toyoda defended Toyota’s strategy to invest in EVs for the long term while simultaneously promoting hybrids and plug-in hybrids, which combine batteries with gas engines to save fuel. He likened Toyota to a department store with the ability to cater to all types of customers through a diverse vehicle lineup. “We don’t want to leave anybody behind,” he said. The Wall Street Journal reports the CEO said there remain formidable challenges to mass-market adoption of fully electric models, including a shortage of battery materials and an undeveloped charging infrastructure. In many parts of the world, the electric grid is still lacking and roughly a billion people don’t have adequate access to electricity, he said. Click here for the full story.

Automatic Emergency Braking Systems Struggle and Fail Where They Would Be Most Useful

Most new vehicles sold in the United States these days are fitted with an Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) system as standard. In fact, 20 major carmakers representing “more than 99 percent” of the American auto market agreed to make AEB standard on all their cars from September 2022. And while the technology that utilizes radar, cameras, or LiDAR to spot threatening situations on the road has proven its worth in reducing rear-end collisions, the American Automobile Association (AAA) wanted to learn how these systems perform in higher-speed scenarios where they may be most useful. Carscoops reports what they found after a series of crash tests is that these systems struggle or fail to help in any but the most basic of circumstances. AAA tested the systems in four vehicles (from Ford, Honda, Chevrolet, and Toyota) at higher speeds to see if they could prevent a rear-end collision when it was likely to cause more damage, and also ran tests to determine whether the AEB systems could prevent a T-bone crash at an intersection. Click here to see the results of AAA’s testing.

Did You Hear? Advertising on Streaming Audio Works

Today’s younger car shoppers (millennials and Gen Z) don’t start their search on the showroom floor with a salesperson. In fact, it’s estimated that 90 percent of today’s auto-buying consumers begin their journey on smartphones, tablets, and computers. Most dealers align their media strategies to where shoppers consume media. This is nothing new. A high percentage of dealers even describe their strategy as “digital first.” However, it’s not uncommon to encounter stores that still spend an estimated 50 percent to 70 percent of their budget in traditional media, including radio. Due to its massive reach, streaming audio has become an increasingly popular advertising channel. Wards reports Spotify, one of today’s most popular streaming audio services, has 422 million users, including 240 million users on the ad-enabled free subscription plan. This level of reach is a significant reason why dealers should be considering digital audio ads. Spotify, in particular, is on a continuous and aggressive growth path, with plans to reach 1 billion listeners by 2030. Click here for the full story.

Around the Web

VW’s Greek Island EV Experiment Shows Promising Signs for the Future [Carscoops]

New York's Hochul Furthers Plan to Require Zero-Emission Cars By 2035 [The Week US]

Infiniti Ups Its Technology Game as New App Arrives [Carbuzz]

China's Geely Buys 7.6% Stake in Aston Martin [Autoblog]

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