No More Land Rovers?

News

Top Gear (Greece)?-?Quality photos "count" when choosing a car

AutoSuccess?-?How the Super Bowl Spawned New Video Creativity within the Automotive Industry

DealerElite?-?Industry Survey Finds Consumers Want More Online Videos When Car Shopping But Few Dealers Today Are Actually Offering Full-Motion Video

Auto Remarketing?-?10 findings from a survey about dealership video merchandising

Auto Dealer Today?-?Survey Finds Consumers Want More Online Videos When Car Shopping

Canadian Auto Dealer?-?Vehicle videos play an important role for consumers, survey shows

Used Car News?-?Survey Shows Dealers Fail to Leverage Video for Inventory

Monthly Dealership Highlight

Chico Volkswagen Mazda

Congrats to Chico Volkswagen Mazda for making our monthly highlight. They are a great example of a client who cares about their photos, trusts our process, and continues to take the feedback we give them - and it shows. Give their website a look and see how nice their photos look. We are glad to see them doing the work and getting it done. Thank you, Chico Volkswagen Mazda, for entrusting us!

?Chico Volkswagen Mazda?

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JUNE ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS

June Gloom

AI Dealerships

The Rotary Club

Heirloom Cars

It's China Again

Hybrids Over EVs

Land Rover No More

K9 DD

Window Stickers

How Do Yours Do With Weather?

Did you know our window stickers are vinyl, fully weatherproof, and attached to the exterior of the window? Fancy, huh? If you sell cars, you know the market is crowded. You want everything and anything that will give you an advantage over your competition just down the road. But who looks at window stickers? Everyone.

Nobody likes the traditional window sticker that attaches to the interior window and can't be seen through the tinted glass, and is probably torn from your salesperson rolling down the window over and over. What a cheap piece of paper.

Window stickers, buyer's guides, addendums, and even CPO stickers are all available from DIP and printable from your Photo Assistant? iPad or our Autoport? platform.

All at a price point that will make you say, “Holy Sh*t!”

Bonus! How important are VDPs to you?

This dealership got an extra 282 VDPs in the past month from 39 window stickers. That's an extra 7 VDPs per sticker!

Interested? Please reach out to your DIP Sales Rep or email our Support Team.

AI

Evolution of Auto Dealerships

AI is everywhere these days, but how will it relate to the auto dealership space? In the beginning, you will most likely see it processing your department's management tools. Imagine the efficiency you'd see with an AI operating system running data on sales leads or projecting future trends so your marketing team can be five steps ahead of the industry. With all new technology, it's hard to fully comprehend the possibilities and the difference something like this can actually make.

Full Path CEO Aharon Horwitz gives some great insight on this topic in the CarDealershipGuy podcast.

Engineering

Rotaries Are the Superior Engines

Engine/propulsion advancement is a never-ending race where engineers try to make motors that are cheaper, smaller, more fuel efficient, and faster, all at the same time, without blowing their own mental gasket. One company that caught our attention this month is LiquidPistion. The name sounds like a new high-octane energy drink, but don’t worry, the company has already gained the confidence (and money) of both the DOD and DARPA for their engine project.

The company promises an engine with only two moving parts that can be a fifth of the size of a diesel engine, yet output the same power. Additionally, the engine is capable of using gasoline, diesel, propane, kerosene, hydrogen, and even jet fuel, you know, in case you have any lying around. Those with a discerning eye will see a resemblance to the Wankel rotary engine, but LiquidPiston states that they have improved the design by turning it inside out. Instead of a triangular rotor in a trochoidal housing, the LiquidPiston design is a trochoidal rotor inside a tri-lobed housing. This change in geometry, along with other feats of engineering, results in an efficient and compact engine with minimal vibrations.?

Economy

If It Ain't Broke

Yes, it’s true; we are finally seeing a decline in the price of new cars. However, new vehicles are still 24% more expensive than they were a short three years ago at the beginning of the pandemic. While at one point it seemed like many Americans were going through new cars like dollar store bubble gum, the double whammy of higher interest rates and price increases have resulted in drivers holding on to their cars longer than ever before.?

According to data gathered by S&P Global Mobility, the average age of a passenger vehicle on the road is 12.5 years. This is now more in line with how long men hold on to their underwear. Sorry for the graphic visual, but we all know it’s true.

While it’s easy to see the doom and gloom of the situation, the silver lining is that it’s impressive that more cars can now last this long without any debilitating issues to their powertrains or electricals.

World News

Not Exactly a Tight Race

China’s lead in electric cars and their components has been evident for years now, but when it’s put into numbers, it really hammers home the gap that needs to be hurdled if Western counties want to catch up.

While the US only recently enacted policies to foster domestic battery and EV production, China set forward policies like this back in 2015, going so far as to ban any foreign EV auto sales, which is part of the reason Tesla built a factory in China. Using state funding, cheap labor, and a general lack of proper environmental and working conditions, China has become a battery juggernaut. The 21st-century equivalent of ‘all roads leading to Rome’ has become, ‘all batteries go through Beijing.’?

From top to bottom, China controls the battery production process. The country controls 41% and 28% of the world's cobalt and lithium supply. Even if you have your own supply, China’s cheap labor and lax environmental record make it the perfect place to process material. 95% of Manganese is refined there, 73% of the cobalt, 67% of lithium, and 63% of nickel. In addition,?even if?you mine and refine your own materials, China produces 77% of cathodes and 92% of the anodes required for batteries to work. Altogether, China makes 66% of the world’s battery cells.

Can the US and Europe eventually catch up? Probably. Will the areas around Chinese factories become toxic wastelands? Quite possibly. Is this another consequence of our extensive outsourcing of everything? You bet.

EV News

Toyota Is Betting On Their Hybrids

Toyota has been pretty famous lately for its reluctance to commit to electric cars. With the brand pioneering hybrids, Toyota seems poised to stay in its well-entrenched leading role in the hybrid world. While Toyota has recently made a few strides towards catching up with the rest of the automakers, the leadership has always made sure to remind us that “hybrids are actually better.”

Undoubtedly local dealers have been annoyed explaining to customers that “no, we actually don’t have any electric cars,” so Toyota Corporate has recently sent over a PDF to their dealers explaining their reasoning for the lack of EVs.

As we can all guess, the three basic points were mineral constraints, poor charging infrastructure, and lack of affordability. These problems are, of course, not limited to just Toyota; every other automaker has to navigate these hurdles, so at the end of the day, it’s still a business decision on Toyota’s part. Late to take the EV crown and unwilling to let go of its hybrid edge, Toyota seems hell-bent on doing everything in its power to try to figure out a way not to make EVs.

Toyota will definitely look like 4D masterminds if EVs?don’t?become the future. However, there is still the chance that all other OEMs will point and laugh if they lose their title as ‘the green car producer’ after decades of selling environmentally friendly Priuses.

OEM

The Brand Formerly Known As Land Rover

In a real headscratcher, Jaguar Land Rover (now officially known as just JLR) has seemingly shelved the Land Rover name. Coinciding with an announcement about massive investments towards electrification, JLR stated that they would be moving towards a “house of brands” approach.

The four brands would be Jaguar, Range Rover, Defender, and Discovery (meaning no more Land Rover.) The decision has baffled many, as few names in the automotive world are more iconic than Land Rover.?

One explanation given during the announcement was, “In luxury, you need absolute clarity. Land Rover Range Rover SV Autobiography doesn’t give it.”

After the initial announcement, JLR made a follow-up that the name is not retiring and is “crucial to their DNA.” It doesn’t sound like we’ll see the badge on future SUVs unless JLR plans to spread its DNA over future models.

Viral

Not So Fast Fido

Have you ever wondered if a cop would believe that your dog was driving you home?

A Colorado man doing 52 in a 30 mph zone was pulled over and, according to police, switched seats with his dog sitting next to him. To every reader’s surprise, the police officer was not fooled by this drunken mastermind.?

At the end of the day, the man was arrested, and his four-legged friend was free to drive the car straight home. Just kidding. I know all of?our?readers are hoping that this was our Viral Video, but unfortunately, the officer did not have his body camera on. So, for now, you’ll just have to make do with a really cute photo.