Keep up with this important category — This automotive presentation is now available on demand

On Wednesday, RAB hosted Driven - Who and What is Moving the Auto Industry, a live presentation focused on the current trends and potential opportunities that lay ahead in the automotive industry. Dick Parrish, National Automobile Dealers Association, and Tyson Jominy, J.D. Power, joined us for this important presentation. Here are some of the key takeaways:

Profitability in the automotive industry has gone up, making 2022 the most profitable year ever. Even though new-vehicle retail sales were down 15% versus 2019, transaction prices were up 35%. Sales have decreased thanks to supply chain issues such as chip and parts shortages. Incentives per unit were also down 74% in that same time period, but consumer expenditure increased by 15%.

"My word of the year is 'competitive asymmetry' ... The way the industry is rebounding, who is rebounding, what segments are rebounding — It's very different from one automaker to the next," Tyson Jominy said. Asymmetric competition refers to business competition where some automakers are considered competitors in some markets but not necessarily in others.

Increased supply, paired with lower prices, can unleash pent-up demand in the auto industry. As of now, 2.4 million sales are still waiting on the right vehicle at the right price. Supply is expected to increase, but it remains volatile and unpredictable.