Category Archives: economy

August Vehicle Sales to Drop as Prices Hit Record High

Reporting the same numbers without controlling for the number of selling days translates to a decrease of -16.8% from a year ago. While the decline vs. August 2019 is substantial and reflects the ongoing do nothing about COVID-19 attitude of the hapless Trump reign, August 2020 contains two fewer selling days than August 2019. It also has no help from promotions during the Labor Day weekend, which is after the August sales close. Continue reading

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Commercial Truck Market Upturn Is on The Road

“Pricing is solidifying, customers are buying more used trucks and new truck orders and deliveries are heading back in the right direction,” said Chris Visser, commercial truck senior analyst at Valuation Services. Continue reading

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Covid: Census Says Construction Better Off, More Optimistic Than Other Small Businesses

“These companies of one to 499 employees provided important new insights into the effects of the pandemic,” said Jane A. Callen of the Census Bureau. It doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the Trump Administration’s voter suppression efforts that us Federal Agencies such as Census to subvert our democracy. Continue reading

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COVID-19 Auto Related Closings, Openings, Closings

Updated from 16 March 2020 onward Continue reading

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RumbleOn Posts Q2 Profit of $8.5m, 10.0% of Revenue

“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought headwinds and tailwinds to this industry,” said Marshall Chesrown, Chief Executive Officer. “Thus far in the third quarter we are experiencing the highest online activity, strongest demand and highest valuations we have seen in our history.” Continue reading

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Michigan and Cavnue to Create Autonomous Vehicle Lanes Linking Ann Arbor and Detroit

The project will draw on an advisory committee of automotive and autonomous mobility companies, including Ford, GM, Argo AI, Arrival, BMW, Honda, Toyota, TuSimple, & Waymo. Notably absent is Fiat Chrysler. (See AutoInformed.com on “Bye Bye FCA and PSA. Hello Stellantis”) Continue reading

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J.D. Power to Buy ALG from TrueCar

The acquisition is predicted to augment offerings from the data & analytics division of J.D. Power. It is subject to the necessary regulatory approvals. Upon approval and close, all 40 ALG employees will join J.D. Power. Continue reading

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Federal Deficit for FY 2020 To Date – $2.8 Trillion or +$1.9 Trillion Year-over-Year

The cumulative federal budget deficit for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2020 reached $2.8 trillion, +$1.9 trillion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last year. Revenues were 1% lower and outlays were 51% higher through July 2020 than during the same 10-month period in fiscal year 2019. Continue reading

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Carvana Q2 Results – Sales, Revenue Up by Double Digits

“It is still hard to say exactly how powerful the effects of all of this will be in the long run, but based on the data we see, we believe the long-term opportunity of the business is even larger than we previously thought… Continue reading

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Auto Plant Downtime Looming as COVID-19 Thrives?

LMC notes that projected regional and export demand, along with inventory replenishment, has it forecast that US automakers will produce nearly 40,000 vehicles daily in the second half of 2020. Continue reading

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Ford Motor Q2- Sales Drop -53%. Debt Grows $10B

Analysts, a mysterious species to AutoInformed were surprised and delighted. AutoInformed noted an ongoing warranty cost disaster, which is a management failure not a Covid issue. It remains troubling as Ford is introducing increasingly complex vehicles. Continue reading

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Snapshot – The Trump Economic Depression

50.1% of American adults live in households which have experienced a loss in employment income. That’s making America gruesome again… Continue reading

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Daimler Reports Ugly Q2 2020 Results as Sales Drop -34%

The Group’s total sales decreased by -34% to 541,800 passenger cars and commercial vehicles (Q2 2019: 821,700). Revenue slipped significantly by -29% to €30.2 billion (Q2 2019: €42.7 billion). EBIT was minus -€1,682 million (Q2 2019: minus -€1,558 million). Adjusted EBIT, reflecting the underlying business, was minus -€708 million (Q2 2019: plus €2,447 million). Continue reading

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Census Bureau: Millions of Americans Who Get Health Coverage from Employers Could Lose It During COVID-19

The occupations among those affected during the pandemic and therefore most at risk of losing health coverage: food preparation and serving; building and grounds cleaning and maintenance; personal care and service; and retail sales. Collectively, 39.6 million people worked in these jobs in 2018, representing 23.6% of all workers. Continue reading

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MIT Research: Widespread Autonomous Driving is at Least One Decade Away. Maybe More.

The longer rollout time for Level 4 autonomy provides time for sustained investments in workforce training that can help drivers and other mobility workers transition into new careers that support mobility systems and technologies. Continue reading

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