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.
For the month of September, the Bob Ross Auto Group will donate $75 to the American Cancer Foundation for each vehicle purchased in the customer’s name. In October, they will donate $100 to the Norma J. Ross Foundation.
Fitzgerald Auto Malls holds free monthly child car seat inspections and installations on the third Thursday of each month from March through December. Fitzgerald has inspected more than 50,000 child safety seats since the inception of the program in 1999.
VinFast Aims to Be Profitable Within Three Years
Vietnamese automaker VinFast, which plans to start delivering electric vehicles to customers in Europe and the U.S before year-end, aims to be profitable within the next three years, Chief Financial Officer David Mansfield said. When asked whether getting there was tied to the EV maker’s goal of boosting sales to 1 million within the next five to six years, Mansfield said the volume would be "substantially less than that number." Automotive News reports he said he could not share more about VinFast’s sales targets ahead of its planned initial public offering. "Because of where we are in the potential listing process and the regulations we are under, I can’t share more details," Mansfield said. VinFast said in April that it had filed confidentially for a U.S. IPO. The share sale could raise about $2 billion, which would make it the biggest ever by a Vietnamese company. The automaker previously said it was looking for a fourth-quarter share sale. That timetable has changed due to volatile market conditions, Mansfield said. Click here for the full story.
Car Buyers Pay 10% Above the Sticker Price, on Average — or More if You Want a Jeep or Porsche
Forget getting a deal; these days, anyone in the market for a new car could pay thousands over the sticker price before they drive off the lot. Limited inventory due to a persistent shortage of computer chips, along with other supply-chain challenges, helped propel new car prices up 10 percent from a year ago, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For new cars, the average transaction price reached an estimated $46,259 in August — the highest on record, reports CNBC. And now, as demand continues to exceed supply, dealers are even charging a premium over the manufacturer’s suggested retail price on new vehicles, according to car shopping site iSeeCars. “Consumers are willing to pay well above sticker price for new cars because inventory is so scarce and because they know that new car pricing is not expected to improve until 2023 at the earliest,” said Karl Brauer, iSeeCars’ executive analyst. Click here for the five vehicles going most above MSRP.
Honda Begins Production of the 2023 CR-V in North America Starting from Canada
The second line at Honda Canada Manufacturing has started rolling, signaling the start of production for the new 2023 CR-V. The sixth generation of CR-V, production of America’s best-selling crossover of the last 25 years, will also begin at the automaker’s Indiana Auto Plant and East Liberty Auto Plant in Ohio in the coming days, reports Carscoops. “Becoming the global lead plant for the 2023 Honda CR-V was a big challenge, and I’m proud of our experienced team at Honda of Canada Manufacturing and the level of teamwork we had in North America to create this incredible new product for our customers,” said Clement D’Souza, senior vice president of HCM. “Next up is the CR-V hybrid that is more important than ever to the CR-V lineup and a model we are very excited to deliver to our Canadian customers for the first time.” Production of the standard CR-V will be followed by the Honda CR-V hybrid model next month. Again, it will kick off in Canada, to be followed by the automaker’s two American plants. For this generation, a full half of models will be hybrids, in line with Honda’s electrification efforts. Click here for the full story.
What Are the Top Concerns for Auto Dealers Heading into the Fourth Quarter? — Rebecca Rydzewski
Cox Automotive recently released its Q3 Dealer Sentiment Index, which analyzes the views auto dealerships have about the current market, economy, and 90-day future outlook. Today on CBT News’ Inside Automotive, Rebecca Rydzewski, Research Manager of Economic and Industry Insights for Cox Automotive joins to dive deeper into the findings. The Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index is a measure reported from a large quarterly survey of both franchised and independent dealers. Rydzewski says the index is similar to the Consumer Sentiment Index, only it focuses specifically on dealers. She says it is designed to gauge how dealers are viewing the market, and how they view the market they are in. Through a series of about 20 questions, Cox can gain insights into how dealers view the future and what the key drivers of that sentiment might be. According to this year’s Q3 Dealer Sentiment Index, franchised dealers are reporting a more positive outlook about the market, even though their numbers continue to decline. Rydzewski says the economy, inflation, rising interest rates, and ongoing low inventory issues are the most common factors affecting dealer sentiments. Click here for the full story.
Around the Web
New Brabus P 900 Rocket Edition Is an Insane G-Wagen Pickup Truck with 888 HP [Carscoops]
Porsche Vision Gran Turismo Spyder Coming to 'Gran Turismo 7' on Sept. 29 [Car and Driver]
NADA: 2022 Shaping Up to Be Another Good Year for Franchised Dealerships [Automotive News]
Bugatti Now has a CPO Program for the Veyron and Chiron [Carbuzz]
