Dealers Do Good Friday
AIADA continues to recognize dealers who are making a difference in their communities in 2021 through our Dealers Do Good campaign. If you’re a dealer doing good, or you know about one, let us know here. Or, tag us on Twitter or Facebook with the #DealersDoGood hashtag.
This week, Subaru of Keene in Keene, New Hampshire, joined the SwampBats game for its Chamber Night and to present The Community Kitchen of Keene with a check for $46,739. The funds were the result of the dealership’s 29th Annual Fenton Family Golf Tournament held in June. Check out pictures from the check presentation here.
Jim Ellis Mazda Marietta in Marietta, Georgia, announced the launch of its Essential Car Care program — an initiative that offers educators free standard oil changes at its service center now through August 31, for most makes and models. “We are proud to participate in this program to support the amazing teachers in the Marietta community,” said Tracie Maloney, vice president of Jim Ellis Mazda Marietta. “We are happy to have the opportunity to show how much we value and appreciate them.” In addition to the free standard oil change, teachers, teaching assistants, professors, administrators, coaches and school support staff can also receive a car wash with interior cleaning and a vehicle inspection. Read more here.
Three New Mexico nonprofits received a donation this week to help their organizations recover from the pandemic, thanks to Audi Albuquerque, Mercedes-Benz of Albuquerque, and Porsche Albuquerque's annual golf tournament fundraiser. On Tuesday, the dealerships divided more than $112,000 among Safe House New Mexico, Mandy’s Farm, and Community for Learning. CFL says this money is a lifeline for them. “We plan on using the money to help bring in small group tutoring and really help kids socially, emotionally with social and emotional skill-building but the majority is really going to help our kids academically,” Executive Director Anne Apodaca said. Read more here (Source: KRQE).
Volvo Reports Record First-Half Results, But Warns Chip Crisis Will Hit Hard
Volvo Cars said on Friday it had the best half-year sales and operating profit in the company's 94-year history, but the automaker warned the ongoing shortage of microchips would negatively affect its results in the second half. "The base scenario that we have is that the chip shortage will not improve, which means our sales and revenue growth in the second half will be flat compared with the second half of 2020," Volvo CFO Bjorn Annwall told Automotive News Europe. For the full year, however, Volvo expects to increase its vehicle sales and revenue, the automaker said. Volvo had to temporarily halt production for periods of time throughout its network, which includes plants in Sweden, Belgium, the U.S. and China, during the half to cope with the shortage. Annwall, however, declined to say how many units Volvo lost during the period. Read more here (Source: Automotive News).
Mercedes-Benz Hits Accelerator in E-Car Race with Tesla
Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler plans to invest more than 40 billion euros ($47 billion) by 2030 to be ready to take on Tesla in an all-electric car market, but warned the shift in technology would lead to job cuts. Outlining its strategy for an electric future, the inventor of the modern motor car said on Thursday it would, with partners, build eight battery plants as it ramps up electric vehicle (EV) production. From 2025, all new vehicle platforms will only make EVs, the German luxury automaker added. "We really want to go for it ... and be dominantly, if not all electric, by the end of the decade," Chief Executive Ola Källenius told Reuters, adding that spending on traditional combustion-engine technology would be "close to zero" by 2025. However, Daimler – to be renamed Mercedes-Benz as part of plans to spin off its trucks division later this year - stopped short of giving a hard deadline for ending sales of fossil-fuel cars. Read more here (Source: Reuters).
Hyundai Has Biggest Profit in Seven Years, Warns About Chips
Hyundai Motor Co. posted its biggest profit in seven years, helped by sales of luxury Genesis cars and Ioniq 5 electric vehicles, but warned the global chip shortage could impact third-quarter deliveries, reports Bloomberg. Operating profit rose to 1.89 trillion won ($1.64 billion) in the three months ended June 30 from 590 billion won a year earlier – the highest since the second quarter of 2014, the South Korean automaker said Thursday. The result was in line with the average analyst estimate of 1.9 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. As countries from the U.K. to France look to phase out fossil-fueled cars, Hyundai is joining global rivals such as Volkswagen AG in turning to low-emission vehicles for growth. It started selling the Ioniq 5 EV in Europe and the U.S. this year – the first vehicle produced on its dedicated EV platform – and plans to have more than 12 electric models by 2025. Read more here (Source: Bloomberg).
Electric-Vehicle Sales Growth Outpaces Broader Industry
The auto industry’s push into electric vehicles has gained traction this year with sales of these models growing at a faster clip than the broader U.S. car business, reports The Wall Street Journal. While still a sliver of the overall market, sales of plug-in vehicles more than doubled in the first half of 2021 compared with last year, when the pandemic sapped sales. That far outpaced the 29% rise for total vehicle sales, according to research firm Wards Intelligence. The biggest factor driving the gains was Tesla Inc.’s continued dominance in electrics. Tesla’s U.S. sales rose 78% through June this year, according to an estimate from research firm Motor Intelligence. The increase was helped by Tesla’s Model Y crossover SUV, which has quickly become the company’s top seller since being introduced last year. Tesla is scheduled to report second-quarter financial results Monday. Read more here (Source: The Wall Street Journal).
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