Regular updates on issues important to the Auto Dealer industry
Despite existing operational headwinds and new economic headwinds in 2022, auto dealers continued to produce record profits. As we wind down the year and look towards next year, we look back to see what was popular with you—our loyal readers. Here are some of your favorite posts from 2022.
This week we compare the FIFA rankings of the world’s largest vehicle producing countries. Spoiler alert: there is no correlation. But in our research, we found plenty of interesting nuggets and talking points. We also discuss top vehicle producing nations that did not qualify for the World Cup, nations that did qualify but do not have a large presence in auto production. We also get into brand presence and Blue Sky multiples of these nations’ vehicle brands.
In each “Meet the Team” segment, we highlight a different professional on our Auto Dealer Industry team. This week we highlight Harrison Holt, Financial Analyst. We hope you enjoy getting to know us a bit better.
The October 2022 SAAR was 14.9 million units, up 12.7% from October 2021 and up 9.8% from last month. This month’s SAAR comes as a bit of a surprise, as the last three months’ sales pace settled at around 13.4 million units and seemed to have stabilized at a short-term equilibrium. However, meaningful improvements in inventory balances and other tailwinds like natural disaster-related demand contributed to the second-highest monthly SAAR total this year. For perspective, from 2014-2019, there were zero months where SAAR was below this recent high in the inventory-constrained 2022.
A few weeks ago, I sat down with Kevin Nill of Haig Partners to discuss the current state of the M&A market and other timely trends in the auto dealer industry. Specifically, we discussed some of the movements in Blue Sky multiples for various franchises and interpret the range of multiples that Haig Partners recently published with the release of their Second Quarter 2022 Haig Report.
We are pleased to release our latest edition of Value Focus: Auto Dealer Industry Newsletter. The newsletter features a commentary on industry data from mid-year 2022. Additionally, this issue includes two timely articles: “2022: How Is the Auto Industry Doing and What Does the Future Hold?” and “Earnings Calls: Executive Summary.”
NADA estimates that auto dealerships could face up-front costs of up to $294,000 per rooftop to comply with the FTC’s Safeguards Rule. If you are not familiar with the Safeguards Rule, this post discusses it and the amendments that must be complied with by early December 2022.
The September SAAR was 13.5 million units, up 2.3% from last month and up 9.6% from September 2021 when the industry had less than one million vehicles available for sale. While this month’s SAAR highlights a year-over-year improvement and gives us context around how low inventory managed to fall in 2021, this month’s data release does not indicate a “return to normal” by any means.
In this week’s blog, we continue our review of the book The Future of Automotive Retail by Steve Greenfield. It covers the changing trends of consumer behavior and technology that will likely continue to shape the automotive retailing experience for decades to come. In part one of the series, we discussed the “convenience economy,” including predictions of changes to power sources and vehicle production.
In Part two of this series we discuss vehicle ownership, autonomous vehicles, connected cars, service and repairs, and the proposed future of the auto dealership.
Over the next two blogs, we will review the book The Future of Automotive Retail by Steve Greenfield. This book discusses changes in trends of consumer behavior and technology that will likely continue to shape the auto dealer retailing experience for decades to come. In part one of this Blog series, we review the discussions and predictions caused by the “convenience economy,” including changes to power sources and vehicle production.
