Surprise! Everyone acts like going to a car dealer is approximately akin to being flayed alive like Marysas. A new survey of recent car buyers shows that this isn’t the case, with a lot of that positive growth coming from people buying used cars. People enjoy dealers! Cats and dogs living together! Mass hysteria!
In what will be less of a surprise, Maserati is going to delay yet more models as the company considers what it means to be a Maserati in the future. It was going to be an all-EV brand, and that’s probably still going to happen, but not without troubles. GM’s had issues with its EV production and that now extends to a recall for its Brightdrop delivery vans that you’ll have to see to believe.
And, finally, we now know what happened to Stellantis North American COO Mark Stewart. It’s good news!
People Like Buying Cars From Dealerships
If you’ve read this site for a while it’s probably obvious that our partner in this venture is the Galpin family of car dealerships based out of Southern California and run by our co-founder Beau. This is a great fit because we can do things like Trade-in-Tuesday and have access to an incredible amount of resources we otherwise wouldn’t have. That seems like an important disclosure for this morning’s Dump because the news about dealerships is quite positive.
Cox Automotive is out with its annual “2023 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study” and it includes a lot of the good intel you’d maybe expect for the present moment. For one, with prices so high, a record 68% of consumers were willing to consider new or used vehicles. Another big development that makes sense is that car buyers want an omnichannel buying approach with some mix of online and in-person shopping:
When it comes to car buying in America, the desired state is omnichannel, not entirely digital. According to the latest survey, only 7% of car buyers in 2023 completed 100% of the steps online, while 43% completed steps in a mix of online and in-person (at the dealership), and 50% completed all the steps in person. Used-vehicle buyers were more likely to cite in-person as the solution.
When asked about the desired state and how they’d likely complete their next purchase, 71% of consumers suggested that it would be an omnichannel approach, which seamlessly combines both online and in-person activity. Twenty-one percent of buyers suggested their ideal vehicle purchase process would be entirely online, while only 8% said they would do it entirely in person.
Given that both VinFast and Fisker have recently switched to an omnichannel approach this tracks. Even Lucid, which is purely online like Tesla, has undertaken roadshows and other events to get people in cars.
Ok, so all of this makes sense, but here’s the stat that will surprise y’all: 79% of new car buyers were happy with their new car buying experience. This is back to pre-pandemic highs, and a reflection that an improving car market makes everyone happier. Even more surprising is that a lot of this growth is led by used car buyers, who jumped from 70% to 73%. I’m assuming a lot of these people bought cars at a CarMax or Carvana and not a local buy-here/pay-here lot.
What’s the reasoning behind this improvement in consumer sentiment?
[I]mproved inventory levels, the return of discounting, and a further proliferation of an omnichannel approach to vehicle buying – seamlessly combining online and at-dealership activities – are delivering higher levels of satisfaction and reducing the time required to purchase a vehicle.
Dealers have managed to take about 80 minutes out of the car-buying process because, even though people are more satisfied with the dealers, the best satisfaction comes from getting the whole thing over as fast as possible.
Oh, Maserati
In theory, Maserati is going to be coming out with a new Quattroporte Folgore soon. The massive EV flagship sedan is going to be every bit a Maserati and every bit a big, fancy electric sedan.
Let’s check in on how that’s going, via Automotive News Europe:
The Stellantis premium brand has halted development of its Quattroporte Folgore battery-powered large sedan. Maserati did so because of “the need to take zero risks on the performance level of the new car,” a spokesperson told Automotive News Europe.
I think it’s important to make sure that anything Maserati does in the EV realm doesn’t blow up in its face given that, you know, Maserati can’t particularly afford a big hit to its already weak brand.
This is pretty much par for the course for Maserati. Remember the Maserati Gran Turismo Folgore that was supposed to be on sale last year? It’s apparently being delivered about now, to someone, somewhere, maybe.
Brightdrops Are Being Recalled For Fiery… Oil Leaks
GM will recall about 66 of its 2022 vintage of Brightdrop Zevo600 electric delivery vans over a risk of fires after two of the vans caught on fire. We drove one and really liked it, so this is a little bit of a bummer.
Let’s check in with NHTSA to see what the probable cause of this issue is:
The root cause of this condition is still under investigation, but GM’s initial
investigation indicates that these vehicles may contain a manufacturing defect
that, in heavy-duty cycle use conditions, can allow the drive pinion to cut its
way through the outboard side of the drive-unit case. If this occurs, it can
result in an oil leak that in heavy-duty cycle use conditions can lead to an
under-hood fire.
Having your electric van catch on fire because of an oil leak is a little funny, and demonstrates that, while people like to pretend like electric vehicles contain no fluid or complexity, the reality is that modern EVs still utilize a lot of parts!
What I’m Listening To While Writing This
Is “Black on Both Sides” my all-time favorite hip-hop album? Perhaps. Certainly, “Ms. Fat Booty” is my low-key favorite karaoke jam.
The Big Question
What was your last dealership experience? Were you satisfied?
I’ve never purchased new, but have purchased used many times, with quite a few transactions being at dealers. The e39 M5 I owned was sitting out on the front row of the local Cadillac/Audi dealership, it was a wonderful experience and I came in off the street and did it all in person. All of my other dealer purchases started either with winning an eBay auction for the car or seeing it for sale on Craigslist. I’ve purchased from a couple very small car lots and once even purchased a Mini from an exotic car dealer (Shout out to the awesome folks at STL motorcars in St. Louis).
I’ve not actually had a bad experience with a dealer where I was planning to purchase a car. I’ve had a few clueless dealers that didn’t understand the phrase, (I don’t want an automatic), but those places were quickly left and I moved on with life.
The trick is knowing what the price will be before showing up, online auctions and a quick phone call does wonders. Additionally seeking out dealers with great reviews helps. I recently purchased a Honda from RC motors in Villas, NC 500 miles from home because they had much better reviews than any other dealer that had a decent price on an 8th gen Civic Si.
We just bought a 24 Crosstrek earlier this year, my wife test drove one last year so she wasn’t worried about driving it again. we searched online for the options package we wanted, found one at a dealer close to us and emailed about it, but it had been sold a day before. We asked him if they wanted to dealer trade for one we did want and he said he would check and get back to me in the afternoon, no return call. Called the next day and kind of got non committal answers so I just emailed the dealer that *did* have the car.
They verified it was on hand so we checked out their financing and the rate was good, got all pre-qualified and then she emailed me back to tell me there was a stop delivery and it could be 4-6 weeks for parts and then we could take delivery, this was annoying because we already did all the credit so I mentioned that it would’ve been nice if they checked for a stop sale before we did that, she offered me 1k off the price and .5% off the interest for the next trim level up. I took that since it was adding a sunroof, heated seats, and a few other things for only like 1500 more at that point.
The most annoying part was that we made an appointment to sign paperwork and pick it up and it still took almost two hours since the finance guy was running behind. Kind of hoped to just pop in, sign, and be on the road.
“Man, I smashed it like a Idaho potato!”
Dealerships can kick rocks, I have used the car buying service that my credit union has and it is amazing. They found me a manual turbo hatchback from a dealership 70 miles away, I drove up to the bank in my old car, took a test drive by myself in the new car around the block, came back, signed paperwork for financing/trade, and I was out in an hour. No dealer installed accessories or four-square BS hard sell. I did pay a small ADM over MSRP but the broker was upfront about it I agreed to it beforehand.
They say build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.
I wonder if EVs build a better way to start a fire will work equally?