Unscheduled Maintenance

What makes a vehicle American Made? Is it where it is assembled, the percentage of parts that come from the US, or the share of the vehicle's manufacturing workforce based in the USA? The answer is D - all of the above! 

Now in its 15th year, Cars.com's American Made Index helps consumers understand which vehicles are truly born in the USA. Senior Consumer Affairs Editor Kelsey Mays sat down with Unscheduled Maintenance to walk us through the 2020 list and discuss why a vehicle's impact on the US economy matters so much to car shoppers right now.

What do you get when the first half of your sales year consists of two record breaking high months and two pandemic induced low ones? A very messy set of projection models for the second half of the year! Luckily, CARS Senior Marketing Data Strategist David Greene is here to help us make sense of it all. David sits down with us this week to talk about the impending impact of the lease returns, why crossover shoppers might start considering wagons, and what Google search query findings can tell us about consumer intent moving forward. 

On a special edition of Unscheduled Maintenance, CARS CEO Alex Vetter reclaims the host mic to sit down with U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, who represents Michigan’s fifth district. 

In this episode, the congressman highlights some of the strong bipartisan wins that have emerged in response to COVID-19, what discussions are happening in Washington about public transportation safety and how future government assistance may help ease supply chain challenges. Alex and Congressman Kildee provide listeners a crucial look inside the government conversations that are impacting our industry, so this is an episode you won't want to miss.

And the big new car winner of 2020 is... subcompacts? While much is still to be seen, buying behavior has definetely seen some interesting shifts this year. And Cars.com Executive Editor Joe Wiesenfelder has been keeping a close pulse on both the consumer and dealer impacts. Joe joins the pod to talk about how the current lease and incentive deals varys greatly from what he saw in 2008, how gas prices will influence both vehicle sales and trade-ins, and why major metro commuters moving away from public transportation may not cause the future highway gridlock some are predicting.

The former president of a coffee importer and a PHD in physics find themselves at a new company on the same team. Are they working to get a cup of french roast to the moon? No; they're looking to connect as many in-market shoppers to qualified car dealers as possible. This is the team that John Thornton, CARS VP of Growth, has built.

John is obsessed with building teams that solve complex problems. He is the first to tell you that it's not hard to get your hands on a bunch of data, but you need more than a fair share of creativity and ingenuity to follow the right data to the right conclusions. In this episode, John shares his advice on how to separate qualified shoppers from "Looky Loos," why reducing resources sometimes leads to invaluable data insights, and what steps dealers should be taking to win the local market SEO game. It's an episode that no automotive marketer should miss.

Welcome to season two of Unscheduled Maintenance, where we will widen the scope of our discussion to talk about all things related to automotive innovation, insights and leadership.

In this episode, we talk about what we may expect to see across the industry in the second half of 2020. What models will we see rolling out with virtual launch parties? How will auto shows adapt to the new climate? And which manufacturers are shifting focus or doubling down on initiatives like electric and autonomous vehicles? 

While no one has all the answers to these questions, we thought a good place to start would be Cars.com's own Detroit Bureau Chief Aaron Bragman. A 25-year veteran of covering the automotive industry, Aaron sits down with us to give his take on what we should be keeping our eyes on as auto continues evolving in the wake of COVID.

"You know what would have made this even better... is if they had just brought the car to us." That was the thought that ran through Colton Ray's head after taking off his dealer hat, and experiencing the car buying process first-hand.

Colton is an automotive lifer, having started his career in the dealership as a teenager and working his way all the way up to CMO of the Walser Group. As an early adopter of the one-price model, Walser has often stood at the forefront of automotive marketing. And that paid off big this year: the team's work in enabling virtual appointment and home delievery capabilities before COVID-19 swept onto the national stage put them in a great position to weather this storm. 

Joining Colton is Cars EVP Dean Evans, who has held marketing leadership roles at the dealership, OEM and vendor levels within automotive. We could not have asked for a better ending to season one of Unscheduled Maintenance than to have these two futurists talk through where dealerships go from here to craft their own "Walser Way" approach.

JD Dantzler, General Manager of Manly Honda, has a simple formula for success: total action, complete focus, and a whole lot of grace. It's these types of philosophies that have helped JD overcome a year of challenges: from the California wildfires that threatened the lives of his employees, to the recent forced shutdowns from COVID-19. 

But as concerned as he is for everyone's well being on a human level, he can't help but be a bit excited on a business level. JD sees so many positive forces in motion - how much the idea of home delivery is going to excite car shoppers to buy more cars, how better outreach and inclusion for the Latino community can help spur the industry forward. His conversation with CARS Chief Revenue Officer is all about finding the positive forces at play in the toughest of times. Because as JD likes to put it: "without challenge, without problems, we don't grow... this is what we're made for."

Hyundai Motors America entered 2020 in the midst of a multi-year transformation of their brand and model line, and their much-talked about "Smaht Pahk" Super Bowl spot had CMO Angela Zepeda feeling the wind at their back. And then... COVID. The crisis hit home quickly with Hyundai as one of their own at a Montgomery, Alabama factory contracted the disease, leading to the temporary closure of the plant. As Angela tells us, the nature of the crisis pushed Hyundai to challenge themselves on how they could help. 

The OEM and their dealer operators, with the help of their charitable partners from the Hope on Wheels program, turned their eyes towards doing all they could to improve COVID testing availability. The results were mindblowing: 4.3 million dollars in relief to help set up drive-through testing facilities at 22 hospitals, as well as the donation of 16K test kits to regions hit hardest by the crisis. Angela's conversation with CARS Chief Experience Officer Brooke Skinner Ricketts is a true testament to just how much good OEMs and their local dealer operators can deliver to communities in crisis. 

Steve Stasi has faced these types of challenges before. He remembers what it was like working the Chicago Auto Show as the reality of 08 economic collapse was setting in, with so many dealers closing up shop and failing to weather the storm. That experience taught him what changes were necessary to survive when crisis strikes. Steve talks with CARS CTO Fred Lee about tactics the Taylor Automotive Group has been leveraging to combat COVID-19. From the OEM incentives they are leaning into, to the mobile service van they've set up to serve the community, Steve has a roadmap for dealers looking to keep operations flowing.