Key Industry Stat(s)

There was a 34% week-over-week national increase in retail registrations for the second week of May (Source: IHS Markit Automotive Rapid Response Report).

Several key states also saw a massive week-over-week jump in sales:

• New York, 66% increase
• Texas, 40% increase
• California, 28% increase

April car sales beat expectations by only declining by ~50% compared to the projected 80% decline. (Source: CBT News, Vehicle Sales Especially Trucks Stronger than Expected)

Truck sales surpassed those of passenger cars for the first time ever in April, helped along by attractive incentives and low gas prices. (Source: Car and Driver, For the First Month Ever, More People Bought Pickups than Cars)

‍

The Rental Car Industry is in BIG Trouble – and that Trouble Could Spill Over to Dealerships

While Hertz filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy (Source: CNN Business, Hertz Files for Bankruptcy), the entire rental car industry is facing extremely tough times (Source: CNN Business):

• Rental car companies usually account for 10%+ of US new car sales during normal times
• Two-thirds of rental car revenue comes from airport locations, but air travel was down 94% in April and May
• Much of the remaining revenue for rental car companies comes from consumers who were involved in car accidents, and those have been down due to people not commuting nearly as much to work in their cars.
• Due to all of this, rental car companies are trying to dump their inventory, but are even struggling at that due to dealerships not being able to buy as many cars, if any at all, from rental car companies.
• This will then lead to the gluttony of near market used cars that are offered at lower prices than usual, which will then make these near market used cars much more attractive to car buyers vs. new vehicles since the near market used cars will be cheaper than usual compared to the new models

Related Article: CBT News, Disposing of Wholesale Inventory an Escalating Problem

10 Years of Electric Vehicle Sales Growth are Projected to Come to an End in 2020, but Tesla Just Cut Prices by up to $5K

• Analysts can’t agree on how much of a hit EV sales will take this year, but it does look like 10 years of continuous growth will end this year with demand weakening. (Source: Axios, Cononavirus Shatters Electric Vehicles’ Crystal Ball).
• Tesla just dropped their prices up to $5K to try to stimulate sales. (Source: The Verge, Tesla Cuts Car Prices by up to $5,000)

Aftermarket Parts Retailers Are Seeing their Stocks Rise as Americans are Doing More Work on their Cars

• Americans who either can’t wait for repairs or have extra time on their hands for DIY projects are flocking to auto parts retailers like AutoZone and Advanced Auto Parts.  This indicates that there is still a huge market for dealerships to increase their aftermarket parts sales and repair/service appointments.
• (Sources: Automotive News, Advanced Auto Parts Boosted by Bored Americans Works on Cars; Barron’s, AutoZone Stock is Rising Because Car Repairs Usually Can’t Wait)

CPMs are Down Significantly Across Programmatic Display Campaigns; Down on Social as Well 

• Programmatic display CPMs are down as much as 40% (below $2). (Source: AdExchanger, Programmatic and Social CPMs are Down, but Fixed Pricing on Video Creates a Glut)
• Social CPMs are also down but not as much, decreasing between 10-40% depending on the platform and type of campaign

How COVID-19 Could Permanently Change Agencies

• ‍‍Increased automation, a distributed workforce, fewer expenses tied to real estate, and less travel for agency employees all leads to potential permanent changes to advertising agencies. (Source: AdExchanger, Agency Life: COVID-19 Will Cause 4 Permanent Changes)

‍

Source: Oracle