What Toyota's Next Evs Will Look Like – And Why
Toyota had an electric vehicle plan. And now it has the cars. Japan's biggest carmaker, seeking to shed its image as an EV laggard, has pulled the veil on six edgy concepts that foreshadow a wave of battery-powered Toyota vehicles arriving before 2025, reports Automotive News. Key elements of Toyota's new EV family look, called EV-e, include long wheelbases, spacious interiors, camera mirrors, and ventilated front corners with automated driving sensors. Designers have been working on this visual language since 2016, global design chief Simon Humphries told Automotive News on the sidelines of the company's EV strategy briefing this month. "These are new ways to try to find an identity for this," Humphries said of the EV lineup's look. The display of life-sized clay concepts, in earthy gold and bronze hues, is the clearest sign yet of what Toyota envisions for the more than 10 EVs it plans to launch in the early 2020s. Read more here.
Number of Motor Vehicle Fatalities Down Slightly in 2018
An estimated 36,760 people died in motor vehicle crashes last year, about a 1% decrease from the year before, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Early Estimates of Motor Vehicle Fatalities in 2018. The Detroit News reports that to be included in the NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, a crash must involve a motor vehicle traveling on a road and must result in the death of at least one person (occupant of a vehicle or a nonoccupant) within 30 days of the crash. The reporting system includes data from the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The data used in the analysis comes from the NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, FastFARS, and Monthly Fatality Counts; and from the Federal Highway Administration’s vehicle miles traveled estimates. The final report will be available later this year. Read more here.
Car Companies Sharpen Focus on Curbing Distracted Driving
Car companies are stepping up efforts to tackle the longtime problem of distracted driving by installing cameras and other monitoring technology in vehicles to detect when a driver’s attention wanders from the road, reports The Wall Street Journal. Volvo Cars said it would start rolling out new eye-tracking devices across its lineup over the next few years, featuring cameras in cockpits to monitor motorists’ gazes. The system would send an alert or even limit a car’s speed whenever its driver’s eyes are averted for too long. Subaru Corp. installed a driver-monitoring system on its Forester crossover last year that beeps if drivers’ eyelids droop or their focus drifts from the road for extended periods. The Japanese car company plans to add the feature on two more new models next year, the Legacy sedan and Outback sport-utility. BMW AG also has introduced similar eye trackers in a limited number of models. Read more here.
Car Dealership Service Departments Deserve Digital Spotlight Too
The new-car retail market has plateaued after a decade of growth. Sales and profits per vehicle are on the decline. As such, dealers need to focus their efforts on where else they can turn a profit. One potential area is the service department, according to WardsAuto. Fixed operations now drive roughly half of dealers’ gross profits, according to the National Automobile Dealers Assn. Given that fixed operations play such a vital role, and that digital influenced nearly 80% of all parts and service sales, it stands to reason that service offerings would be highlighted and emphasized across digital channels. Unfortunately, many dealership websites and marketing efforts still focus exclusively on promoting vehicle inventory, leaving crucial service revenue on the table. The relative lack of a digital emphasis on fixed operations is even more significant when you consider the impact of service on long-term customer connections. Seventy four percent of customers who returned to the dealership for a service operation within 12 months of purchasing their vehicle also are likely to return to purchase their next vehicle, according to Cox Automotive’s 2018 Service Industry Study. Read more here.
Cars That Depreciate the Most in Three Years
It's a sinking feeling many new car buyers are well aware of: the knowledge that your brand-new car just lost a bunch of money, just because you drove it off the lot. Autoblog reports that according to iSeeCars.com, the average vehicle loses just over 38 percent of its value after three years of ownership. Some models, though, depreciate at a far faster rate. While that's bad news for owners who paid full asking price for a brand-new car, it does mean deals can be found on the second-hand market. According to iSeeCars CEO Phong Ly, “Some of these bargains present good opportunities for consumers as reliable vehicles that are discounted because they simply aren’t as popular in their segments.” Find out which models depreciate fastest by clicking here.
Last Chance to Join Today's Webinar: Beware of Auto Dealership Fraud Schemes
Laramie Sandquist of Federated Insurance joins AutoTalk on Tuesday, June 18th at 2:00 p.m. EST to discuss how dealers are getting schemed on both cars and money, including some of the latest trends. He will offer some practical advice on how to prevent dealers from being a victim of fraud. To register, click here.
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