It Turns Out 79% Of New Car Buyers Are ‘Highly Satisfied’ With Their Dealership Experience

Surprise! Everyone acts like going to a car dealer is approximately akin to being flayed alive like Marysas. A new survey of recent car buyers shows that this isn’t the case, with a lot of that positive growth coming from people buying used cars. People enjoy dealers! Cats and dogs living together! Mass hysteria!

In what will be less of a surprise, Maserati is going to delay yet more models as the company considers what it means to be a Maserati in the future. It was going to be an all-EV brand, and that’s probably still going to happen, but not without troubles. GM’s had issues with its EV production and that now extends to a recall for its Brightdrop delivery vans that you’ll have to see to believe.

And, finally, we now know what happened to Stellantis North American COO Mark Stewart. It’s good news!

People Like Buying Cars From Dealerships

If you’ve read this site for a while it’s probably obvious that our partner in this venture is the Galpin family of car dealerships based out of Southern California and run by our co-founder Beau. This is a great fit because we can do things like Trade-in-Tuesday and have access to an incredible amount of resources we otherwise wouldn’t have. That seems like an important disclosure for this morning’s Dump because the news about dealerships is quite positive.

Cox Automotive is out with its annual “2023 Cox Automotive Car Buyer Journey Study” and it includes a lot of the good intel you’d maybe expect for the present moment. For one, with prices so high, a record 68% of consumers were willing to consider new or used vehicles. Another big development that makes sense is that car buyers want an omnichannel buying approach with some mix of online and in-person shopping:

When it comes to car buying in America, the desired state is omnichannel, not entirely digital. According to the latest survey, only 7% of car buyers in 2023 completed 100% of the steps online, while 43% completed steps in a mix of online and in-person (at the dealership), and 50% completed all the steps in person. Used-vehicle buyers were more likely to cite in-person as the solution.

When asked about the desired state and how they’d likely complete their next purchase, 71% of consumers suggested that it would be an omnichannel approach, which seamlessly combines both online and in-person activity. Twenty-one percent of buyers suggested their ideal vehicle purchase process would be entirely online, while only 8% said they would do it entirely in person.

Given that both VinFast and Fisker have recently switched to an omnichannel approach this tracks. Even Lucid, which is purely online like Tesla, has undertaken roadshows and other events to get people in cars.

Ok, so all of this makes sense, but here’s the stat that will surprise y’all: 79% of new car buyers were happy with their new car buying experience. This is back to pre-pandemic highs, and a reflection that an improving car market makes everyone happier. Even more surprising is that a lot of this growth is led by used car buyers, who jumped from 70% to 73%. I’m assuming a lot of these people bought cars at a CarMax or Carvana and not a local buy-here/pay-here lot.

What’s the reasoning behind this improvement in consumer sentiment?

[I]mproved inventory levels, the return of discounting, and a further proliferation of an omnichannel approach to vehicle buying – seamlessly combining online and at-dealership activities – are delivering higher levels of satisfaction and reducing the time required to purchase a vehicle.

Dealers have managed to take about 80 minutes out of the car-buying process because, even though people are more satisfied with the dealers, the best satisfaction comes from getting the whole thing over as fast as possible.

Oh, Maserati

In theory, Maserati is going to be coming out with a new Quattroporte Folgore soon. The massive EV flagship sedan is going to be every bit a Maserati and every bit a big, fancy electric sedan.

Let’s check in on how that’s going, via Automotive News Europe:

The Stellantis premium brand has halted development of its Quattroporte Folgore battery-powered large sedan. Maserati did so because of “the need to take zero risks on the performance level of the new car,” a spokesperson told Automotive News Europe.

I think it’s important to make sure that anything Maserati does in the EV realm doesn’t blow up in its face given that, you know, Maserati can’t particularly afford a big hit to its already weak brand.

This is pretty much par for the course for Maserati. Remember the Maserati Gran Turismo Folgore that was supposed to be on sale last year? It’s apparently being delivered about now, to someone, somewhere, maybe.

Brightdrops Are Being Recalled For Fiery… Oil Leaks

GM will recall about 66 of its 2022 vintage of Brightdrop Zevo600 electric delivery vans over a risk of fires after two of the vans caught on fire. We drove one and really liked it, so this is a little bit of a bummer.

Let’s check in with NHTSA to see what the probable cause of this issue is:

The root cause of this condition is still under investigation, but GM’s initial
investigation indicates that these vehicles may contain a manufacturing defect
that, in heavy-duty cycle use conditions, can allow the drive pinion to cut its
way through the outboard side of the drive-unit case. If this occurs, it can
result in an oil leak that in heavy-duty cycle use conditions can lead to an
under-hood fire.

Having your electric van catch on fire because of an oil leak is a little funny, and demonstrates that, while people like to pretend like electric vehicles contain no fluid or complexity, the reality is that modern EVs still utilize a lot of parts!

What I’m Listening To While Writing This

Is “Black on Both Sides” my all-time favorite hip-hop album? Perhaps. Certainly, “Ms. Fat Booty” is my low-key favorite karaoke jam.

The Big Question

What was your last dealership experience? Were you satisfied?