Sunbit’s Post

Last week’s #FixedOps #WeeklyWin goes out to Cavender Toyota. In 2023 they helped 1,061 customers Service Now, Pay-over-time with an incredible 91% approval rate leading to an additional $543,237 in CP Sales. Way to go! #FixedOps #Automotive #Dealerships #PartsandService #WeeklyWin #PayOverTime

***Operational ALERT**** If you’re a dealer operator, this post is for YOU. If you’re struggling with aging or PVR in this market, keep reading. The union and the manufacturers are dug in. We know markets are not going to get any easier for sometime. Right NOW you must have a proven buy-plan BUT, you must also have a solid vehicle buy team to execute that plan. WE NOW HAVE BOTH! We HAVE a proven buy-plan program that tracks sales rates and market conditions to set a dealer’s acquisition strategy monthly and weekly for your buy team to execute. BUT NOW we also have a BUYING TEAM of buyers having 20+ years of experience with industry leaders like CarMax that can supplement your current buying efforts. NOW we can set up a proven buy plan for you and execute that plan by delivering those vehicles with the best chances of turn and profitability to your lot. This allows operators to do what they do best and that is to sell cars and increase consumer-purchased vehicles. This market demands nothing less. Let’s talk. Reach out to me here to dominate this market!! https://lnkd.in/gtr9dBYu The Automotive Advisor Team Frank Knox #buyolan #usedcars #buycars #sellcars #automotive Automotive News CBT News Brian Kramer David Long Larry Feldman Jasen Rice https://lnkd.in/gGS4Rucs

Mark Fields, former Ford CEO, Sept. 1, 2023: “You have to make over $100,000 per year to afford a new car right now.” Henry Ford, circa 1903: “I will build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be so low in price that no man will be unable to own one.” The national median household income is $70,784, meaning a big swath of America can no longer afford a new car. Alarmingly, Fields said the average new car loan is $760 a month, up 30 to 35% from 2020. Fields noted that the Big 3 automakers make most of their money from selling SUVs and full-sized pickup trucks, which he said, “have quite nice profit margins.” GM and Ford are heavily subsidized by U.S. and Michigan taxpayers, including their money losing, problem plagued, EVs. Many of GM’s and Ford’s most profitable vehicles are assembled in Mexico. U.S. taxpayers should be asking why their money is being diverted to profitable companies paying their CEOs tens of millions of dollars to manufacture foreign-made vehicles that most Americans can’t afford. Especially galling is that GM and Ford pay billions in dividends to their shareholders and spend billions on stock buybacks to bolster their lagging share prices. U.S. taxpayers effectively are subsidizing GM and Ford shareholders, and in turn, the managements of these companies, whose rich compensations are typically tied to stock performance. GM CEO Mary Barra is an exception. She’s received more than $200 million in compensation in her more than 9 years as chief, while GM’s stock trades considerably lower than it did when she assumed command. Barra gets away with this because she is chair and CEO, which is poor corporate governance. GM’s lead independent director is Patricia Russo, architect of one of the worst tech mergers of all time who moonlights on several other boards. Henry Ford is best remembered for his assembly line prowess, but another great innovation was doubling Ford’s wages to $5 a day to attract better employees. According to John McElroy, host of the Autoline webcast who put himself through college working in auto factories, Ford’s $5 a day wage is the equivalent of $19 an hour today; McElroy said the automakers effectively pay their entry level workers less money than Ford paid his workers more than a century ago. “That ain’t right man,” McElroy said on a recent webcast (link provided). According to the AFL-CIO, CEO pay of S&P 500 companies in the past decade increased by more than $5 million to an average of $16.7 million, while the average worker saw an increase of $15,460 to $61,900. Barra’s 2022 pay was $29 million while Ford CEO Jim Farley was paid $21 million, so their pay is even more obscene than most CEOs given the billions they mooch from taxpayers. Labor Day was intended as a celebration of the American worker. The holiday should be renamed, “CEO Labor Exploitation Day.” https://lnkd.in/gfj7y-8a https://lnkd.in/gTMTRVrF #laborday2023 #ford #gm #ceo #labor

💰💥💔 GM's Labor Deals: A Costly Affair or Just Another Day in the Auto Industry? 💔💥💰 🚗 Brace yourself for some shocking news! General Motors (GM) is about to face a staggering $9.3 billion increase in labor costs due to new union labor deals. 😱 This means that the cost per vehicle will go up by $575! Who knew the auto industry could be so costly? 💸 👨🔧 Most of these expenses come from GM's deal with the United Auto Workers (UAW), which is set to expire in 2028. This agreement involves hefty pay raises, enhanced profit-sharing payments, and even labor strikes! 🤯 It's quite a rollercoaster ride, isn't it? 📈 But fear not, GM has a few tricks up its sleeve to offset these expenses. They might make operational cuts, reduce headcount, or even pull a rabbit out of their hat! 🎩 Who doesn't love a good magic trick? ⏰ These labor cost increases are projected to happen over the next few years, with staggering amounts each year. 💸💸💸 Ah, the joys of budgeting! But wait, there's more! GM's rival Ford estimates additional costs per vehicle, and Chrysler-parent Stellantis is keeping us in suspense by not disclosing its expected costs. 🙈 📉 In the midst of all this financial turmoil, GM decided to initiate a $10 billion accelerated stock buyback, increase its dividend, and reinstate its full-year 2023 guidance. They're showing us that they're in control, but are they really? 🤔 🤝 It's safe to say that GM is in for a bumpy ride. Higher labor costs, potential price increases for consumers, and the need to find ways to offset these expenses. But hey, they've got it all figured out, right? 🚀 Let's see how they navigate these challenges with the grace and finesse of a bull in a china shop. Good luck, GM! You're going to need it. 🍀 🔗 Curious to know more about GM's labor deals and their impact on the auto industry? Click the in our bio to read the full article! 📖💡 #GM #AutoIndustry #LaborDeals #Expenses #CostIncreases #Chrysler #Ford #UnionDeals #FinancialTurmoil #StockBuyback #DividendIncrease #Budgeting article: https://buff.ly/414wPQr

The U.S. car industry is under pressure as the UAW is extending its strike at General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis. If the union requests (significant pay rises, reduction in weekly working hours, improvement of pension plans, and other costly items) were implemented, it would massive increase labor cost for the U.S. manufacturers, putting them at a structural competitive disadvantage against foreign players and Tesla who are mostly non-unionized. While GM's quarterly results (published yesterday) do not show a lot of financial impact yet, the company did have to withdraw its full-year profit guidance. And as the UAW is now starting to target the plants assembling the most profitable models, the financial pain will grow in the next few weeks. While I acknowledge the need of factory workers to be paid appropriately and getting a compensation for steeply increasing cost of living, I also believe that the UAW's requests are endangering the long-term competitiveness of the Detroit-based auto industry and with it the professional future of their own members.

American muscle isn't necessarily in the cars. The winners are obvious, but the losers aren't always who you think. With the UAW reaching deals with Ford, GM, and Stellantis, higher labor increases typically need to be absorbed somewhere or more accurately, passed on to someone else. In this case, that's likely to be car buyers who could see price increases of $1,000 to $1,500. Two main themes that emerged during the strikes are the pain inflicted on automakers and the union’s push for what it maintains are much-needed wage increases. The strikes have been costly to the tune of billions of dollars in lost production for the automakers. And the new deal will push up labor expenses by $850 to $900 for each vehicle produced. Keep in the mind, this isn't intended to disparage union workers who are entitled to get whatever they can in terms of wages and benefits especially when you have a CEO-to-worker pay ratio at nearly 400 to 1, But as with anything, there is fallout...with consumers on the receiving end. The other part of this has to do with all electric vehicles, which have received attention lately because of poor sales. The implications are wide-ranging given various mandates that eventually phase out the production of gas-engine vehicles. Ford, for example, will add electric vehicles to existing assembly plants in Louisville and Ohio and invest $1.2 billion at the Louisville assembly plant and $2.1 billion to build electric vans in Ohio. What's interesting is that Ford plants to ramp up production on hybrid models and scale back on fully electric vehicles. Why is this important? The poor sales of EVs are tied directly to high sticker prices averaging nearly $54,000 as well as concerns related to range anxiety related to batteries, the lack of accessibility to charging stations, and potential pressure of the electric grid. Hybrids, on the other hand, provide an alternative combining the environmental benefits of electricity with the flexibility of a gas engine. Hybrids are relatively cheaper than EVs, but that may change because of the new UAW contract. That's an important implication regardless of whether or not you're in the market for a car because of the impact on the environment. Ultimately, the deal between the UAW and automakers will impact many of us even for those who haven't been paying attention https://lnkd.in/gCK-Mn2W #uaw #unions #wages #automotiveindustry #consumers #hybridvehicles #electricvehicles

GM/Ford/Chrysler vs. United Auto Workers For the first time in the post-Covid-19 world, we are counting down to a general strike as the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Detroit 3 are at a standstill over several major areas. Growing up next door to the mammoth GM Oshawa plant (which once employed over 20,000 people but now only has 3,200), I know these are stressful times for everyone involved. There will be ebbs and flows, and ultimately an agreement, but what are the key issues being negotiated today? Cost of Living Adjustments: Nowhere in America has the inflation wave of the past two years hit harder than the US Rust Belt. The recent rise in inflation has put employees in a difficult position where wage increases and adjustments have not kept up with inflation in goods and services, leading to a decline in real income and standard of living. This is the single largest sticking point in the negotiations, as the UAW is pushing for cost of living adjustments to be reintroduced into the contracts (they were removed in 2008-2009 during GM's bankruptcy) along with other ancillary benefits. Under the current UAW proposal, these requests amount to $80 billion in additional compensation, which translates to a 40% pay bump over the four-year term of the contract. A compromise has yet to be reached. Golden Era: It's not an exaggeration to say the past few years have been spectacular for profitability for the Detroit 3. Profits have skyrocketed due to record sales, low inventories, and record cash flow and capital returns for shareholders. The UAW has taken notice of these financial results and is looking to recover some of the ground lost during the recent difficult decade for the automotive industry. Electric Vehicle JVs: A recent trend is the focus on the electric vehicle (EV) market as more players attempt to catch up with Tesla's success. The current EV manufacturing process requires 30% less labor than traditional combustion engines, and on top of that, there is no clear roadmap for the EV joint ventures that exist for the Detroit 3. The lack of inclusion in the UAW labor pool and the lower labor input per vehicle may not be critical issues today, but they will likely become bigger areas of friction in the future. As investors, we are watching these negotiations from a distance to get a better sense of where the discussions will conclude. The UAW & Detroit 3 negotiations, which represent 150,000 employees, give us a public and detailed look into the millions of individual discussions between employees and employers that are taking place every day in this current labor market. This insight helps us better understand cost structures and margin resiliency across all US industrial companies. Have a great weekend!

How UAW drive to 'end tiers' will change GM; details out today: Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing,UAW/Unions,GM Continue reading How UAW drive to 'end tiers' will change GM; details out today How UAW drive to 'end tiers' will change GM; details out today originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 4 Nov 2023 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Email this |  Comments #car #cars #awesome

With the UAW Stike against the Big 3 automakers how will this affect the looming pent up demand of chassis shortages? How is your company aligning itself to prepare for extended delays? How will this affect the current backlog of orders already in house? #chassis #big3 #demandplanning #utilization #creativefinancing #rentalsolutions #trucks #cranes

UAW Presses On, Automakers Plan Cuts Contract approvals follow record results achieved by “Stand-Up” strikes, but automakers warn cost cuts are on the horizon to pay the tab. http://spr.ly/6042uNAWw #Automotive #AutomotiveTechnology #IndustryNews