Axalta ANZ – Australia & New Zealand’s Post

American Honda Motor Company, Inc. will reduce dealership profit margins on new vehicles and make other changes designed to help support the company's costly transition to electric vehicles. The Japanese automaker's 0.5 percent profit margin reduction — affecting the amount between the invoice price that dealerships pay and the manufacturer's suggested retail price — comes with additional changes to marketing, advertising and service payments. https://lnkd.in/ecfYEb3u

What's Going On With EV Manufacturer Mullen Automotive Shares Today?: Mullen Automotive, Inc. MULN shares are trading … .2 million to Randy Marion Automotive Group. During the fiscal year … $652,200 to Randy Marion Automotive for resale. Price Action: MULN … #car #cars #awesome

A recent study on buying used cars by Capital One showed consumers put trust and transparency at the forefront of their journey. Continental Automotive Trading UK Ltd can help with SINDRI - our intuitive tool for professional car dealers. See more. Know more. Sell more. #carbuying #dealerships #digitisation

First batch of new Solaris cars delivered to dealers in St. Petersburg The price of Solaris HS cars will vary depending on the build, costing from 1.9 mln to 2.3 mln rubles ($20,700-25,000), the dealership informed ST. PETERSBURG/ The AGR automobile plant has started shipping the new Solaris car brand to dealers, the press service of the Alarm-Motors Group of companies told TASS. "The first batch of five-seat Solaris HS sedans in the Comfort + ADV build with 1.6-liter internal combustion engines and automatic gearboxes arrived at the Alarm-Motors Hyundai dealership in St. Petersburg," the press service said. The price of Solaris HS cars will vary depending on the build, costing from 1.9 mln to 2.3 mln rubles ($20,700-25,000), the dealership informed. Supplies of three other models of the make are expected soon: the Solaris HC crossover, the Solaris KRS sedan, and the Solaris KRX cross hatchback. Corporate accounts booked all the Solaris HS cars from the first batch. "We expect to sell over 400 cars of this make this year but clear production dynamics at the brand’s plant in St. Petersburg will help us clarify our plans," CEO of Alarm-Motors Group Roman Slutsky said. On February 22, AGR launched production on the Solaris at its plant in St. Petersburg. #business #finance #financialservices

GM is making big moves … but is it making the right ones? Buying out dealers who don’t want to retool for EV sales helps them to focus on transition (they bought out Cadillac dealers last) but as John Voelcker states, recent missteps with the Blazer are undermining the effort at Chevrolet. Furthermore, word is that Buick’s first EV will be an SUV launched into a market saturated with eSUVs at a time when forward-thinking design and capturing niches within the market are winning over customers (note other articles trumpeting Hyundai/Kia’s rise to #2 in EV sales in the USA despite being ineligible for the federal tax credit). The #Ultium battery system remains GM’s potential ace-in-the-hole. The design allows for partial battery replacement which could be more economical and therefore popular with owners. This *might* also lead into an aftermarket product and service that helps sustain dealerships. The vote is still out on their professed move away from Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, though I’ve said elsewhere they’d be wiser to build on top of the dominant platforms than try to build their own. If antitrust moves against Apple pan out, I could end up retracting my forecast … but I think this is unlikely and GM will eventually backtrack after another costly mistake. I very much wish to see GM and Ford survive the disruption (I have little enough hope for Stellantis, holding out for the sale of Jeep and other divisions to more competent executive leadership) but right now the future is murky.

A close friend had a noise coming from the brakes of her Hyundai I10 car, so she called a family friend to organise for her car to be checked at a well-known brand that have centres nationally across the UK for whom he worked for. She was expecting to be told that it would need new pads and possibly some discs. What she was not expecting was the following list that included up sells:   1.   Front driver’s side tyre £87.99 2.   Front passenger’s side tyre £87.99 3.   New car battery £130.66 4.   Front brake pads £61.70 5.   Front discs £162.94 6.   Rear discs £153.20 7.   Rear brake pads £64.59 8.   Right rear brake caliper £203.70 9.   Left rear brake caliper £184.54 10. Brake fluid £49.99 This came to a total of £1,187.30   She rang me to tell me and get my thoughts, as having been in the trade I know how much things costs, and this was a blatant rip off. So, I gave her the number of my local auto factors and told her just to get a price for the brakes, also I would take a look at her car and see what was really needed.   She rang the auto factors, and this is what she was quoted:   1.   Front brake discs £27.31 each 2.   Set of front brake pads £24.41 3.   Rear brake discs £18.36 each 4.   Set of rear brake pads £17.37 5.   Nearside brake caliper £80.40 6.   Offside brake caliper £80.40 7.   Brake fluid £10 A total of £303.92   If we look at just the cost of the brakes the original quote would come to £818.96 which means that it was still £515.04 more expensive than the auto factors. It turns out that all that was needed were the front discs and pads.   Having been in the trade, I know quite a number of people that work for this organisation, so I started to make some discrete enquiries of what was going on. The sales targets at the centres are unrealistic due to having to claw money back as they had to downgrade their forecast in the market which in turn affected their share price, but the shareholders still wanted their money. The reason for this was that they had made an acquisition where they had not done a thorough due diligence, so they had paid over the odds only to find out afterwards that things were not what they were led to believe.   The people that I spoke to were in fear that layoffs were on the cards, so there is an expectation of an announcement about it. They also mentioned that the leaders at the top still got their bonuses but everyone else lost theirs to save money.   The organisation has put profit before customers and their own people, the leaders have created a culture of fear and stress because they had made incorrect decisions before having all the facts. There is no respect for people at any level both internally and externally. Because of unrealistic workshop targets and up sells they will lose customers which will in turn affect the revenue. This will end up in a downward spiral if they continue in this vein.   Is it right to put profit before people?       #quality #business #change #respect #culture

Half of Buick's dealers clearly see little future for the brand in EVs. (Recent awful news on Ultium + Blazer #EV launch haven't helped.) This suggests to me GM may peddle Buick to one of its Chinese partners, since it continues to sell the vast majority of Buicks in China. U.S. sales in 2022: a pathetic 103K. It's simply irrelevant to GM's future in N. America. (Michael Dunne had the same idea in a recent 'predictions' post, to give credit where credit is due.) DISCUSS. #electriccars #electricvehicles #GM #generalmotors #automotive #autoindustry https://lnkd.in/eR2hzvVZ

Buy-sell experts say the refusal right has the potential to harm dealer-factory relationships, strips the dealer's ability to choose his or her own successor and spooks would-be buyers over concerns automakers will snatch away the store. An exemplary Toyota dealer, as one dealership broker described him, was close to buying his first Honda dealership and initial California store last year when shortly before closing, the automaker intervened. Jessica Fini, a spokesperson for American Honda, did not comment on the Honda deal but said in an email that the automaker "finds first right of refusal an important and fair tool to ensure a quality and diverse dealer body that benefits the community and consumers.” Automakers not only can use the right as a tool to boost minority dealership ownership but also to assign deals to operators vetted by the company and weed out those whom they may see as unsuitable, experts say. Read more: https://ow.ly/sHjX50PRbr7 #automotivenews #rofr #buysell #honda #dealerships #dealers

Ford Dealers Don’t Trust Ford Automotive News reports that a dealer survey conducted by automotive sales side advisor firm Kerrigan Advisors shows that Ford dealers have very little trust in a company that makes the brand they sell. Meanwhile, Toyota North America dealers have the most trust in their brand. From June to October 2023, 650 dealers across the country were anonymously surveyed in the fifth edition of Kerrigan’s annual dealer survey. The trust question made its debut this year, something Erin Kerrigan, the firm’s managing director told Auto News came about after the recent EV push. Full Story here: https://lnkd.in/ghShW5it #oem #ford #manufacturer #car #carsales #autodealers #automotive

Buy-sell experts say the refusal right has the potential to harm dealer-factory relationships, strips the dealer's ability to choose his or her own successor and spooks would-be buyers over concerns automakers will snatch away the store. An exemplary Toyota dealer, as one dealership broker described him, was close to buying his first Honda dealership and initial California store last year when shortly before closing, the automaker intervened. Jessica Fini, a spokesperson for American Honda, did not comment on the Honda deal but said in an email that the automaker "finds first right of refusal an important and fair tool to ensure a quality and diverse dealer body that benefits the community and consumers.” Automakers not only can use the right as a tool to boost minority dealership ownership but also to assign deals to operators vetted by the company and weed out those whom they may see as unsuitable, experts say. Read more: https://ow.ly/sHjX50PRbr7 #automotivenews #rofr #buysell #honda #dealerships #dealers