The Grammy’s Get Serious, LIFO On The Ropes, Lithia Looks For #1

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Welcome to Monday, Troublemakers! Today we talk about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Grammy Appearance last night, a potential light at the end of the LIFO tunnel thanks to a Michigan Congressman, and a potential new seat atop the Automotive News Top 150 list. So grab some coffee and your sales reports, because it’s a good morning to make some TROUBLE. 

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a pre-recorded message at last night’s Grammy Awards before John Legend’s performance of ‘Free’.  
  • “Our musicians wear body armor instead of tuxedos,” he said. “They sing to the wounded in hospitals. Even to those who can’t hear them. But the music will break through anyway.”
  • Here is a summary of other notable moments including quite a few jokes from presenters about not getting slapped
• Finally, a bill to provide Dealers relief from the unintended consequences of LIFO accounting in the midst of the inventory shortage
  • “U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee(D - Michigan) on Monday plans to introduce legislation that would provide tax relief to dealerships that use the "last in, first out" inventory accounting method and have struggled to maintain inventory levels because of the global semiconductor chip shortage.
  • “would allow dealerships to wait until as late as 2025 for their inventories to be replaced to determine the income attributable to the sale of inventory during 2020 or 2021”
• Lithia could potentially become the largest Dealer in the US per Automotive News Top 150 list due to acquisition and growth strategy
  • “Lithia added 69 dealerships last year and retailed 260,738 new vehicles, a 52 percent sales gain from the year before and less than 2,000 new vehicles behind AutoNation, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center, which compiles the list.”
  • Over the last 10 years: 
    • From 9th to 2nd 
    • 56,960 sales to 260,738 (+458%
    • 87 to 278 dealerships (+320%)
    • Sales 35x what they were in 1997
    • Current CEO Bryan DeBoer joined LIthia in 1989 and world through the ranks

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