DEALERS
3.75 Miles An Hour With West Herr
In case you missed it, it is cold outside.
Like, really, really cold.
A 27-hour power outage at the Vive Shelter in Buffalo, NY, was resolved by our friends at West Herr Auto Group and a payloader they found.
They used the sizable tractor-type machine and succeeded where pickups and other 4-wheel drives failed. They dragged generators and fuel for 4 hours through 15 miles of blizzard to get power back to the shelter.
By Monday, main power was restored for the shelter's 150 residents and additional families who found refuge in the building during the worst of the storm.
Telling it like it is - Tragically, 27 people perished in the blizzard. Thanks to people like the team at West Herr looking out for one another, that number isn’t much larger.
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AUTOMOTIVE
Audi Off ICE By 2033
Audi announced it will phase out ICE engines by 2033. The German company is retooling factories worldwide for the switch by 2029. By 2026, the company will only introduce electric vehicles.
Telling it like it is - Honestly, we had to check the date on this announcement because we forgot there were still brands holding out.
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AUTOMOTIVE
Backpedaling in 2022
The year is coming to a close, and the ASOTU team has taken some time to reflect. 2022 had a lot to talk about, but now we want to look at some of the more impressive feats of backpedaling we had the luxury of watching unfold in real time.
BMW was going to charge people for heated seats back in July. Everybody wrote an article about it- including us - and then, and then it vanished as if it never happened. Some people even said it must have been a hoax, but let's face it…when you make a mistake, and people say it was a hoax, are you going out of the way to set that record straight?
Rivian may have set a record for "just kidding" moments this year (we didn't count them and aren't going to now).
- First, they would be an affordable EV but dropped the cheapest SUV and truck options due to "lack of demand."
- Later, they would increase the price of existing reservations by 20%. Then they were just kidding about that.
- Then, they would sell directly to consumers in Georgia.... but Georgia said no.
It's been a weird one.
Tesla once said they would not discount their vehicles in the US. That was 2 discounts ago. On December 1st, they set a discount, and not even a month later, they doubled the discount in the US to $7,500. The discount is not in place of a tax credit since the Department of Treasury has pushed back the stricter criteria to March. (Which also feels like a backpedal. Enjoy this two-for-one special. You deserve it!)
Volkswagen has been moving toward its own electric future quite aggressively this year... Then suddenly, they said, "new plan: electrification is kinda hard. Let's just focus on building cars." Like, y'all... we thought you were already doing that!
Telling it like it is - Obviously, there is nothing wrong with adjusting course based on new information. It’s just funny when “never” and “always” become “sometimes.”
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TOGETHER WITH TIRETUTOR
No Better Time To Start…
In the short list of business rules, "Sell something for more than it costs you" has to be pretty high? Top 3?
Tiretutor's new Starter Package makes tire shopping at your store easy. A digital retail plugin, an e-commerce website, and low-funnel tire leads are yours for $0 upfront cost.
Now is the perfect time to stay ahead of the slow season by increasing service and tire sales!
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AUTOMOTIVE
Stellantis: Slowing Down, Acquiring Tech, and Making Demands
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Slowing down. Stellantis is slowing down in China and idling a plant in Illinois. Both are decisions by the CEO to focus on efforts to become the world's largest automaker by sales amid rising EV costs. The company says it will make every effort to place laid-off workers, but expects them to be out for at least 6 months.
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Self Driving. Changing plans and priorities left the room to acquire one of the world's leading autonomous driving software developers. AiMotive has been developing AI tech for the automotive industry since 2015 and will help Stellantis reach its Dare Forward 2030 goals. No financial details were disclosed.
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Pay now, drive later. Dealers in the UK have reported Stellantis is forcing them to register new cars despite the vehicles being stuck in ports. The registration would force customers to pay up to 3 months of installments on vehicles they cannot drive. Stellantis seems set in the decision. UK Senior VP, Paul Wilcox, admitted the carmaker has caused friction and acknowledged it did ask dealers to register vehicles.
Some reports say dealers have been asked to retrieve cars from the ports on their own, with threats to bonuses and allocations if Stellantis demands are not met.
Threats like these are usually listed in the first paragraph when researching why the US has auto dealer laws.
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CULTURE
The Whale Breaks Box Office
Not all box office records are set by blockbusters.
Brendan Frasier's comeback, "The Whale," finished wowing people at festivals and has broken the record for highest-grossing limited release. The movie made about $60K per screen over its opening weekend. It is expected to continue doing well in a full release and when award season comes around.
All we know is it's based on a play about a man trying to reconnect with his daughter, and every still image from the movie makes us sad. Even just that description sounds like an award-winning movie.
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