(BroBible.com)
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Some Sensible Advice
27 Unwritten Rules Every Man Should Live By
4. Don’t throw a friend under the bus to impress someone. Ever.
11. When offered a beer, accept even if it’s not “your brand”. Your favorite brand of beer is “free”. Your second favorite is “cold”.
12. Shotgun is a responsibility, not a privilege. If you are sitting up front, you’re not a passenger, you’re the copilot, responsible for the radio, navigation and responding to calls and texts on my phone.
13. There must always be a one urinal buffer between men in a restroom
14. If your friend with a truck assists you with moving, you shall reciprocate with a full tank of gas
Complete list (BroBilble.com)
4. Don’t throw a friend under the bus to impress someone. Ever.
11. When offered a beer, accept even if it’s not “your brand”. Your favorite brand of beer is “free”. Your second favorite is “cold”.
12. Shotgun is a responsibility, not a privilege. If you are sitting up front, you’re not a passenger, you’re the copilot, responsible for the radio, navigation and responding to calls and texts on my phone.
13. There must always be a one urinal buffer between men in a restroom
14. If your friend with a truck assists you with moving, you shall reciprocate with a full tank of gas
Complete list (BroBilble.com)
It's Good To Be Queen
Stat of the Day
$97 million
That’s how much tax-free income Queen Elizabeth II will receive this year. It’s a 78% raise from the $54.6 million she was paid last year.
(BroBible.com)
$97 million
That’s how much tax-free income Queen Elizabeth II will receive this year. It’s a 78% raise from the $54.6 million she was paid last year.
(BroBible.com)
BMW's Recent Business Decisions Have Been, Interesting
Can Kuhnt get BMW back on track?
BMW's new U.S. chief tasked with taking the brand to the next level
With sales in decline and dealers clamoring for more balanced inventory, including more hot crossovers, BMW's new U.S. chief faces a big test: Can he get the brand growing again?
Dealers say they need fresher products, a better car-truck mix, competitive lease rates and a return to the days when BMW's "Ultimate Driving Machine" tag line resonated wholeheartedly with consumers. They're looking at Bernhard Kuhnt, CEO of BMW of North America as of March 1, for help.
Some dealers and analysts say BMW and Kuhnt should look at how customer perception of the brand has changed. For example, in Kelley Blue Book studies and surveys, 29 percent of respondents say they will consider buying a BMW, higher than for any other luxury brand. But in new-vehicle shopping activity tracked by KBB, BMW trails Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, in that order.
In 2016, as its U.S. volume tumbled 9.5 percent to 313,174 vehicles, the BMW brand lost the U.S. luxury sales crown it had held for four of the five prior years, falling to third behind Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. It was the biggest decline among luxury brands for the year — as BMW's incentives soared 26 percent, according to Autodata.
Even the brand's most recent sales title, in 2015, was marred by reports of BMW "punching" vehicles, a practice in which automakers ask dealers to self-register vehicles as loaners. Even though BMW finished No. 1 in reported sales among luxury brands in 2015, it came in No. 3 in U.S. vehicle registrations that year, behind Lexus and Mercedes.
One U.S. dealer wants Kuhnt to reconcile the reality of what he calls "punchgate" and BMW's production-driven culture against the market's natural demand for BMWs and the state of the dealer network. That will better position him to strengthen the brand, said Steve Kalafer, owner of Flemington BMW in Flemington, N.J.
"It went from the car company of the ultimate driving machine to the company of the ultimate check-the-boxes-and-let-us-report-what-makes-Munich-happy," said Kalafer, a BMW dealer for 40 years. "They've all been subordinated to the need to report a number, no matter how unreal that number is, and the customers have found out. Now they come in and say: 'Is this a punched loaner car?'"
(AutoNews.com)
BMW's new U.S. chief tasked with taking the brand to the next level
With sales in decline and dealers clamoring for more balanced inventory, including more hot crossovers, BMW's new U.S. chief faces a big test: Can he get the brand growing again?
Dealers say they need fresher products, a better car-truck mix, competitive lease rates and a return to the days when BMW's "Ultimate Driving Machine" tag line resonated wholeheartedly with consumers. They're looking at Bernhard Kuhnt, CEO of BMW of North America as of March 1, for help.
Some dealers and analysts say BMW and Kuhnt should look at how customer perception of the brand has changed. For example, in Kelley Blue Book studies and surveys, 29 percent of respondents say they will consider buying a BMW, higher than for any other luxury brand. But in new-vehicle shopping activity tracked by KBB, BMW trails Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, in that order.
In 2016, as its U.S. volume tumbled 9.5 percent to 313,174 vehicles, the BMW brand lost the U.S. luxury sales crown it had held for four of the five prior years, falling to third behind Mercedes-Benz and Lexus. It was the biggest decline among luxury brands for the year — as BMW's incentives soared 26 percent, according to Autodata.
Even the brand's most recent sales title, in 2015, was marred by reports of BMW "punching" vehicles, a practice in which automakers ask dealers to self-register vehicles as loaners. Even though BMW finished No. 1 in reported sales among luxury brands in 2015, it came in No. 3 in U.S. vehicle registrations that year, behind Lexus and Mercedes.
One U.S. dealer wants Kuhnt to reconcile the reality of what he calls "punchgate" and BMW's production-driven culture against the market's natural demand for BMWs and the state of the dealer network. That will better position him to strengthen the brand, said Steve Kalafer, owner of Flemington BMW in Flemington, N.J.
"It went from the car company of the ultimate driving machine to the company of the ultimate check-the-boxes-and-let-us-report-what-makes-Munich-happy," said Kalafer, a BMW dealer for 40 years. "They've all been subordinated to the need to report a number, no matter how unreal that number is, and the customers have found out. Now they come in and say: 'Is this a punched loaner car?'"
(AutoNews.com)
Duh!
New cars unaffordable for most Americans, study points out
"The main point of this research is to illustrate how Americans are having to overextend themselves to pay for a new car at today's prices," says Bankrate analyst Claes Bell. "Low- and middle-income households are having to stretch loan terms to six or more years and/or spend huge percentages of their paychecks to afford reliable transportation, and it's very difficult to get off that hamster wheel of debt once you're on it."
(AutoBlog.com)
"The main point of this research is to illustrate how Americans are having to overextend themselves to pay for a new car at today's prices," says Bankrate analyst Claes Bell. "Low- and middle-income households are having to stretch loan terms to six or more years and/or spend huge percentages of their paychecks to afford reliable transportation, and it's very difficult to get off that hamster wheel of debt once you're on it."
Even today's average used-car price of around $19,200 would be hard for households in eight of the biggest metro areas.
"In the past 35 years, the cost of a new car has gone up 35 percent, a used car is up 25 percent, and at the same time, the median household income is only up 3 percent," Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst for Autotrader, told Bankrate.
As Bankrate's Bell pointed out, one way consumers bridge the affordability gap is with longer-term car loans. These days, three quarters of new-car loans are written for longer than five years, and the number of loans with terms as long eight years is on the rise, according to Experian. And of course, there's leasing."In the past 35 years, the cost of a new car has gone up 35 percent, a used car is up 25 percent, and at the same time, the median household income is only up 3 percent," Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst for Autotrader, told Bankrate.
(AutoBlog.com)
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