July 2014 - Greater Cincinnati Automobile Dealers Association

Kids and Cars

As we continue to move into the hotter portion of the summer, it is important for us to remember our kids in cars.  “An average of 38 children die each year in the United States from vehicular heatstroke.” Automobiles now a days seem to come with so many different safety precautions that keep us from putting our vehicles, ourselves, and others in hazardous situations.  Yet, when it comes to a child being left in the backseat of a hot car, there is no built in warning sign to remind parents/caregivers.  Consequently, Kids and Cars, a nonprofit organization that advocates for children’s traffic safety, is trying to change that.

The organization has filed a petition with the White House to get the federal government to provide funds for research and development of technology needed to remind people of children in the backseat.  So far in 2014, there have been 17 such deaths in the U.S. and Kids and Cars is taking a stand against this epidemic.  “In the petition, Kids and Cars asks the Obama administration to provide funding for researching new technology, to identify feasible and effective solutions and to require installation of the technology in all vehicles, or alternatively, all child safety seats. The petition must collect 100,000 signatures by August 13 to ensure the White House staff will review it and send it to the Department of Transportation.”  Click here to view source.

Economic Impact Study

The automotive industry is a major industrial and economic force worldwide.  Even locally, new vehicle dealerships are making a huge economic impact.  With results calculated from surveys by both the GCADA and the Ohio Auto Dealers Association, an “Economic Impact Study” was created for franchised new vehicle dealerships in the Cincinnati Region (Hamilton, Butler, Warren, and Clermont Counties).  The study shows economic highlights for the region’s new vehicle dealers.

Total dealership employees for the region was just over 5,300, with an annual payroll of $234 million.  The tax contribution of dealerships was abundant, as they collected $122 million from sales tax and paid a total of $52 million for CAT, payroll and real estate taxes put together.

Think it’s time that we give our dealers a round of applause for their positive economic impact! 

Summertime must be the right time

Summer has heated up and gotten off to a great start for the auto industry!  New car sales in the U.S. rose during the month of June, even after analysts had predicted otherwise.  Many figured that carmakers wouldn’t get off to a good start for the summer, since June had fewer selling days than May, but that wasn’t the case.   In all, Chrysler, Toyota, and Nissan sales rose, as did GM’s by a slight amount; luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz and Audi continued a record-setting pace.  Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting at LMC Automotive said, that the US auto market is arguably in the best position and health it has been in since well before the great recession (Padgett).

Now that we’re into July, it’ll be exciting to see what happens in the auto market!  Dealers continue to remain optimistic, and hope to continuously see sales rise throughout the rest of the summer.  To view the article, or get more details on June auto sales, click here.

 

 

Padgett, Marty. “June auto sales: Chrysler, Toyota, and Nissan rise, while Ford slips.” The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 2 July 2014. Web. 3 July 2014.