Special Guest Elon Musk, What Inventory Level?, 20 Years of Gmail

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Happy April 1st as we roll into a fresh week, fresh month, and fresh quarter all at the same time. Today we’re talking about landing Elon Musk as a special guest. We also ask what we have learned as an industry about inventory levels, as well as looking back on 20 years of Gmail. 

• In a decisive stance against e-commerce giant Amazon and competing OEMs like Hyundai, Toyota President Jack Hollis voiced a resolute "no" to selling cars on the platform at the Automotive Forum New York. Here's why Toyota is charting its own digital path:
  • Hollis emphasizes the risk of bypassing Toyota's established dealership system, calling it “a completely divergent path”, advocating for direct engagement with consumers through traditional channels.
  • Introduced in 2019, these digital retailing tools developed for Toyota and Lexus are continually refined based on dealer feedback, ensuring a tailored, seamless customer experience.
  • Toyota commits to enhancing the digital buying experience within its ecosystem, prioritizing the integration with dealership management systems and safeguarding customer privacy.
  • Quote from Jack Hollis: "For us to take the dealer's input and provide it so they have a tool to make it seamless for you, the customer — that, to me, we're all in on."
    
    
    
• Inventory has been a hot topic in the industry and questions still loom whether OEMs can learn from more stringent inventory levels or whether flush inventory will return.
  • New-vehicle inventory last month reached 2.8 million vehicles, a 78-day supply, according to Cox Automotive, up about 1 million vehicles from where it had stood a year earlier.
  • Tight inventories during the pandemic led to a significant increase in industry profits, reaching $55 billion in annual dealer profits in 2022.
  • Despite the potential benefits of lean inventory management, factors like dealer competition and manufacturing overcapacity suggest this success may be hard to replicate.
  • J.D. Power analysis reveals a direct correlation between inventory levels and dealer margins, highlighting the profitability of operating with fewer vehicles to sell.
  • Automakers and dealers expressed intentions to maintain lower inventory levels, but the return to pre-pandemic inventory and incentive levels seems inevitable.
  • "We've learned [as an industry during the pandemic] that we can operate at lower inventory levels," said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data and analytics at J.D. Power.
• 20 years ago, Gmail burst onto the scene with an unbelievable offer: 1 gigabyte of free storage, revolutionizing email and quickly becoming a cornerstone of our digital lives. Now, with over 1.2 billion users, it's a staple, yet many wonder about its future role amidst evolving online communication tools.
  • Despite its success, Gmail's role in daily communication has shifted, with platforms like Slack and WhatsApp taking precedence.
  • Over the years, Google enhanced Gmai

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.

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