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It's the first day of a new month and we’re kicking it off by diving into a new survey on the public’s perception of dealerships. Plus BYD and Uber are teaming up around the world and Ford just made its Mach-E go faster.

Urban Science and The Harris Poll have released the 2024 Urban Science Dealership Transformation Index™ (DTI), with the DTI score improving to 56, nearing the strong range (65-74).

• The DTI score is derived from an average of three key dimensions: dealer relevance, trend resistance, and actions. These dimensions capture how buyers perceive dealer roles, their openness to new automotive trends, and their behaviors regarding vehicle purchases.
• The dealer relevance score increased to 62, with 43% of auto buyers agreeing dealers are crucial, up 4 points, 42% finding current dealership tools effective, up 8 points and 38% feel dealerships are optimized for the future, up 11 points.
• Trend resistance decreased with 33% open to online vehicle purchases, up 3 points and 20% seeing personal vehicle ownership as less important, up 4 points.
• Actions saw slight improvement as 48% plan to submit online quotes and 91% being open to purchasing in person at the dealership. An incentive of as little as $35 caused a majority of auto buyers to be somewhat or extremely motivated to visit a dealership for service, test drives, etc.
• The survey was conducted among 3,005 U.S. adults aged 18+ and 250 U.S. OEM automotive dealers, Sales Managers, General Managers, or Principal/VP/Owners.
• Our writers Chris and Kristi did a write up of more of the findings, check out the LinkedIn Newsletter.

Tesla's rival, BYD, has announced a significant partnership with Uber, aiming to provide Uber drivers with discounted electric vehicles.

• BYD and Uber's partnership includes a discount on 100,000 electric vehicles for Uber drivers with an initial roll out in Europe and Latin America along with future expansion plans for the Middle East, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
• With a growing presence in North America, BYD has already established a footprint in Mexico with their hybrid truck and EV crossovers as well as a desire to open dealerships within Canada.

Ford has introduced a new performance upgrade for the 2024 Mustang Mach-E GT, with the upgrade enhancing acceleration, making the Mach-E GT faster than its rivals.

• The 2024 Mustang Mach-E GT now accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, faster than the Tesla Model Y Performance (3.5 seconds) and Porsche Macan 4 Electric (4.9 seconds).
• The upgrade, available through the FordPass App, adds 1

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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