The “Real & Complete” story behind the “AUTO-CHIP” shortage
The chip shortage began when the COVID-19 pandemic began spreading throughout the United States in March 2020. During the early phase of the pandemic, there was a massive shift of people who were required to work from home. As a result of the workplace shift and the need to set up at homework stations, sales of PC’s, printers, LED screens and cell phones soared and significantly increased the number of chips needed by the electronics manufacturers to keep up with demand. At the same time, auto manufacturers significantly reduced their production schedules as they forecasted that automobile sales would plummet. Auto manufacturing reduced to a trickle of normal output, production was cancelled and the electronics industry, which was surging, swallowed up the chips no longer needed by automobile manufacturers.
The chip deficit was further complicated by two other events. One of the largest chip suppliers in the world, Renesas Electronics in Japan had a fire at their chip manufacturing plant. Production was significantly affected and Renesas is still struggling to get capacity up to full production. On March 23, 2020, the cargo container ship Ever Given, was traveling through the Suez Canal carrying 17,600 containers, had a mechanical problem, and blocked the Suez Canal. It is estimated 20-25% of Ever Given’s containers carried supplies needed to make microchips, not to mention, blockading hundreds of additional container ships carrying much needed chip making materials.
With all of this going on, American consumers continued to purchase vehicles at a much higher level than forecasted by the auto makers. As the cars continued to move off dealers’ lots, the auto makers contacted their suppliers in order to jump start production. Unfortunately, the chips that would have been allocated to the car makers were already sold and promised to the electronics companies. Additionally, the chip manufacturing process takes 6 months from start to finish and the few global chip suppliers are simply unable to keep up with demand.
So, what started as a single issue impacting the chip shortage had rapidly become a sort of “Perfect Storm” for the chip Industry.
How many microchips do you think are in the average vehicle? It ranges from 1,500 to 5,000 microchips in every automobile. The average vehicle has 2,600 microchips in it.
The pandemic has also impacted the used vehicle market. When this pandemic hit, business travel came to a halt and crippled the car rental companies. As demand for rental cars hit rock bottom, the rental car companies were forced to sell off massive amounts of their rental fleets to generate enough cash to survive. In May of 2020 Hertz Rental Company went so far as to file for bankruptcy protection. Hertz sold off 180,000 of its 500,000 vehicle fleet in order to pay creditors and keep afloat. This was a common theme amongst all rental car companies.
In the summer of f 2020 leisure travel began to rebound to almost normal levels. This caused a significant demand for rental vehicles, and the rental companies, having sold down their fleets were in severe need of inventory. In normal times, the rental car companies receive new cars from the manufactures and dispose of older inventory at auto auctions. These cars are then purchased by dealers and sold as used cars. Because the rental car companies were not receiving new inventory from the auto makers, they were forced to purchase inventory from auto auctions in direct competition from dealerships, which caused used car prices to soar. The continued resurgence of both business and leisure travel will ensure that consumers will pay record prices for car rentals.
Yes, there is a shortage of new vehicles. Yes, there is a shortage of used vehicles. Yes, the price of new vehicles is higher. Yes, the price of used vehicles is higher. Here is the $64,000 question – When are things going to return to normal? And the next question: Is the market going to CRASH? I am constantly reading automotive articles and there are opinions on both sides. One says it should be back to normal in the next few months, and the next article says it won’t get back to normal until 2022. I have no clue. But it just seems that the automobile business is a very resilient industry that just keeps bouncing back. Here are a few examples of the industry bouncing back:
- 1973 – 74 – the first oil embargo causing mass havoc to the industry
- 1978 & 79 – the next oil embargo which was in the wake of the Iranian revolution
- 1979 – 82 – the Federal Reserve attempted to slow down the largest recession the US had experienced since the Great Depression. New car interest rates reached 18-20% while used car loans reached a whopping 25-27%
- 2008 – a global financial crisis hit – forcing GM & Chrysler the need to receive a “bailout” from the U S government. – TARP – Troubled Asset Relief Program – GM proceeds to file for bankruptcy protection later that year and Chrysler eventually sells a large portion of their stock to the Italian auto maker Fiat to help them rebound.
The industry has had large challenges in the past and bounced back, and I feel it will do the same as we just put another chapter in our history books.
Is Training a “Should” or a Must” in your Dealership?
You survived the banking issues, the unemployment, foreclosures and business bankruptcies. Are you ready to survive the next wave of challenges?
We need to be swinging harder than ever these days. Abraham Lincoln said, “Give me 6 hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” How sharp are the “axes” in your store. Is training something you have a mindset of we “should” do, or is the mindset in your store we “must” do it?
Technology is swinging fast. Social media is swinging fast. Google changed the entire Review process the 1st of June. I-Phone Apps, Droid Apps, customer’s shopping habits are changing, this list just runs at what seems like an “out of control” pace but it is what it is. The dealerships that have training as an on-going process are going to be light years ahead of the competition.
The question that always come up however is: “Where do we find the time and who does it?” Your managers have to do it. Sure you can bring someone in like me to excite them, expose them to new or better techniques, overall just “fire them up”. But the real training is done AFTER I leave. Daily. It becomes a process. Having a customer sign an odometer statement is not a “should”, it is a “must”. Giving the customer a copy of the RO when they pick their car up is not a “should”, it is a “must”. Training should be a “must”. It should be a process like ordering cars, or checking cars in from the auction. Black and white – planned and 100% adhered to.
Take out a 12 month calendar and write out 4 topics for each month. Believe me you will have enough topics. For example how many times per year do you handle phone-ups? 3 or 4 in my opinion so write that out on the 12 month calendar. Write all of these out and then start putting together the material, assign a manager who is “best” at that topic, start assigning people and you have started the process. It will improve and be adjusted as you go but get started. And by the way, if you need help I am available and would love to be a “part of it”. Someone like me can only be one side of the triangle, their are still two sides that have to be filled in within your dealership.
I would love to hear your comments and experience area.
A Dealerships MOST VALUABLE Asset
It’s not your building – your parts – your cars – it is your customers! I have been in the car business for a long time and I cannot tell you how long ago I heard this. The PROBLEM is everyone agrees this is important, but do we really treat it as your “Most Valuable Asset?”
Let me start by sharing a recent experience I had in a dealership that I feel is very normal. I was working with a salesperson and we will call him Abe. I asked Abe how many units he had delivered the previous month – he responded 11. I asked him how many he was forecasting for the upcoming month – he responded 12. I then asked him how long he had been selling cars? He responded 10 years. That is when I almost lost it. The national average is around 10 units per month and this salesperson has been selling for 10 years and he is selling 1 more car than the average. What has he done with the past 10 years of owners?
He has done with them the same as what most other automotive salespeople have done – very little. No – let me change that answer – he is “WAITING” for them to come in and ask him to sell them another vehicle. I see two issues that cause this in today’s business model and I will address one of them in this issue – the other in an upcoming issue.
The first thing I see is this person has never been trained how to develop a “book of business” and capture all the opportunities it offers.
Let me start by sharing some data. I asked Abe how many units he had sold in the previous 3 years, he said 330. I shared with him that 1/3, or 110 of those people will either replace a vehicle in their driveway, add a vehicle, a relative or close friend will replace a vehicle, the problem is – Abe doesn’t know any of that information. If he does do follow up with his customers it is usually just checking in on the car he sold them. He doesn’t have any clue: “How many vehicles they own, who the drivers are, were they purchased new or used and when, and most importantly when they plan to replace them”. He has NO CLUE – HE JUST LEAVES IT TO CHANCE. Abe has 9 people EACH MONTH he has done business with that are going to be purchasing a vehicle or someone very close to them will be purchasing something – he basically lives by the floor. And here is the bigger problem, multiply that by the number of salespeople in your dealership and think of that amount of business you are leaving to “chance” each month. Think of how much you could reduce your advertising if you had control of these opportunities?
The first step in fixing it is at the TOP. You have to provide time and resources to go after this business. Take away the “loss” of not standing by the door or you will miss a good UP. Have a rotation system. Require people to contact so many previous owners or bonus or spiff money isn’t earned. Train them. Train manager’s to manage these opportunities. Build “Controlled Repeat Business” into the pay plan.
With as fast as the Internet and everything else is changing in the car business – this has not changed and will not change. People want to be appreciated and “building a book of business” creates fantastic owner loyalty.
Just an FYI – I write this version of my newsletter for managers – I also write another one specifically for salespeople. In the one for salespeople I got more into the specifics of what and how they could build their “Book of Business”. If you would like a copy of that newsletter let me know and I will forward it to you.
I would love to hear your comments or successes with “building a book of business”.
Automotive Training that WORKS
