Automotive Part Search

Car dealers got creative and efficient in face of low stock, NADA says

By Michael J. Moody 2 months ago

“That really has, I think, just forced more innovation, more calling around or scouring Facebook Marketplace,” Manzi said. “Dealers are really having to get creative with how they’re sourcing right now.”

Dealerships also are selling more efficiently with fewer employees, Manzi said. Dealership head count dipped slightly in 2021 after tumbling more steeply in 2020 when the pandemic started. Total dealership employment slid 2.1 percent to an estimated 1,055,400 people last year, down from 1,078,000 for 2020 and 1,134,400 for 2019, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data cited by NADA.

The average dealership had 63 employees in 2021, generally flat from 64 in 2020 but down more significantly from 68 in 2019. The average number of new vehicles sold per salesperson last year rose to 113 from 104 in both 2019 and 2020, Manzi said.

“We still haven’t seen nationwide dealership employment recover completely,” he said. “A lot of

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We’ll Sell 25% Of Cars Online In 3 Years

By Michael J. Moody 2 months ago

As one of the luxury car brands hit hard by the emergence of Tesla as an emerging volume car brand, BMW is cranking up the volume on EVs, automotive leadership, and going digital. That means releasing new gas-free cars, announcing goals of doubling electric car sales this year, and declaring that the time of Tesla’s unique selling proposition is over. And it means significant changes are coming to the 100-year-old car brand.

Think online sales, or buying a car in an app.

Even when you have thousands of dealerships in the real, physical, actual world.

“A third of all buyers can very clearly imagine to buy a car online,” BMW VP Jens Thiemer told me recently on the TechFirst podcast. “And we have to prepare ourselves together with our retail partners to make that possible.”

The goal: sell 25% of all BMWs online by 2025.

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Ukraine war slams brakes on European car sales

By Michael J. Moody 2 months ago
Russia's invasion of its neighbour has added to the woes of European car manufacturers as Ukraine is a supplier of key parts
Russia’s invasion of its neighbour has added to the woes of European car manufacturers as Ukraine is a supplier of key parts.

European car sales sank in March as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine added more problems to a sector already struggling with shortages of semiconductors, industry data showed Wednesday.

Passenger car registrations fell 20.5 percent compared to the same period last year, with 844,187 units sold, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

Excluding 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic paralysed the global economy, it was the worst performance for a month of March since statistics began in 1990.

Car production has been hampered worldwide since last year by a severe shortage of semiconductors, a key component for modern cars as they power everything from anti-lock braking systems to airbags to parking assistance technology.

The war has led to shortages of other parts, such as the cables used in car

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How buying a car or truck on an auction site works

By Michael J. Moody 2 months ago

(ISeeCars) – The concept of an online, or digital, car auction site is not new. Fleet managers and wholesalers have been using the auction marketplace to locate and purchase inventory for dealership lots since the early-2000s. And even retail bidders have had access to auto auction sites like eBay Motors for over 20 years, though back then the thought of buying a vehicle through an online car auction, without seeing it in person or performing a pre-purchase inspection, was considered risky at best.

The automotive world has evolved over the past two decades, and in that time eBay Motors has sold millions of cars, most of them to first time online car buyers willing to take a chance on the digital marketplace. But we now live in a world where online car buying isn’t just common, it’s dominant, helped along in recent years by everything from a global pandemic to

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