GW Blog

Sergio Marchionne, self proclaimed fixer who built Fiat Chrysler dies at 66.

Marchionne, a brilliant mind was lost this past week. He has been credited with engineering one of the biggest audibles in the automative realm to save both Fiat and Chrysler. His charisma and drive certainly were displayed often throughout his career. Sergio started out as a young Italian immigrant to then sky-rocket to success seemingly out of no where. 

 

Ride-Sharing: Is It Really the Future of Transportation?

Ride-Sharing: Is It Really the Future of Transportation?

 

Don’t believe everything you see on the news folks! There is an overwhelmingly common misconception that consumers (Millennials especially) are ditching their own ride and hopping into someone else’s! This simply is not true! As Millennials age into the next phase of their life they progress into the same structure people before them always have… owning their own home AND owning a vehicle (which is most likely a crossover or SUV). 

 

When Washington Pulls the Plug on EVs: Is There a Market Beyond Federal Incentives?

Government money paves the road beneath EV sales

Edmunds has published an analysis of the eventual end of the Federal $7500 incentive program (200,000 vehicles sold per manufacturer). As great as EVs are, it's a good question whether consumers will buy them in enough volume without the costly government incentives.

New England: The New Frontier for Dealer Consolidation

New England: The New Frontier for Dealer Consolidation

The New England states (MA, CT, NH, ME, VT, RI) are ripe for consolidation after resisting the national trend for the past two decades. A combination of current trends indicate that the New England opportunity is happening NOW:

Autonomous Vehicles: On the Horizon? Or In Your Store Now!

Sit back and let your car drive itself.

Whether autonomous vehicles (AVs) are a good thing or bad won't be decided until public has the product. But their technology is already blowing like a Nor'easter into the dealer community, promising a blizzard of legal issues that may affect the nature of the OEM franchise. I'm concerned that the next great disruptor - the autonomous vehicle - may "jump the franchise," and decimate the distribution system that has served car buyers squarely for more th

Big changes to Cadillac's Pinnacle Program - Threatens Trunk Money

Cadillac has proposed big changes to its Pinnacle or "trunk money" program, announced at the recent NADA convention, The changes include opportunities for dealers to earn partial bonuses for coming close to their monthly sales targets, plans to make some payments sooner and the relaxing of some standards. Cadillac also said it has created an appeals process for dealers who are ruled to be short of brand standards. Yet Cadillac has not finalized the program, even though it is scheduled to become effective April 1st.

Can GM replicate their 2016 results?

Last week we mentioned that GM had sold over 10M vehicles, based on huge sales in China.   However, big inventories, huge incentives, and a flat domestic market are leading experts to wonder whethet GM can replicate 2016 results.

Automotive Super Bowl LI Commercial Performance

super bowl LI commercials

At the beginning of the week, we listed all of the automobile Super Bowl commercials. Weren't they enjoyable?  Almost as fun as the game?  Well, you're not alone.  The great data analytics experts from Experian have analyzed the performance of the  automotive SB LI commercials with the target audience.  Here are some of the key findings:

 

GM Sells 10M cars worldwide

Despite slowing sales at home, GM sells 10 million cars worldwide in 2017 for the first time, lifting it to record profits thanks to China.  Strong sales in China more than made up for slower sales in the United States. The milestone led GM, the largest American automaker, to record profit. General Motors Co. said Thursday its sales in China rose 7.1 percent last year to set a new annual sales record in the country, its largest sales market.

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