Merchants Fleet 2021 Outlook
By Brendan P. Keegan, Chief Executive Officer
While many will reflect on 2020 as a challenging year, for Merchants 2020 was a year of OPPORTUNITY.
As the nation grappled with a multitude of unknowns, fears, uncertainties, and doubts, Merchants Kept America Moving by providing essential businesses with the vehicles they needed to deliver crucial goods and services to Americans at a time when they needed them most.
Our goals were clear – to ACCELER8 our growth, to ELEV8 our performance and to INNOV8 our service to our clients – and to do it faster and more efficiently than ever!
Read the article at Merchants Fleet
Cox Automotive: Auto Industry ‘In Much Better Place’
The auto industry appears ready to get off to a good start for the New Year — and could gain even more momentum if the Biden administration moves forward with new stimulus and infrastructure programs, a panel of industry analysts forecast.
In line with several other forecasts, Cox’s official forecast calls for sales to reach 15.7 million for all of 2021, a 9% year-over-year increase. That’s still well below the 17.1 million number from 2019, but the primary reason for the gap is the sharp slump in fleet sales.
Those – especially when it comes to daily rentals – likely won’t recover until 2023, Cox Senior Economist Charlie Chesbrough cautioned, requiring time for business, as well as tourist, travel to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read the article in The Detroit Bureau
Study: Rear Automatic Emergency Brakes Substantially Reduce Collision Claims
"We haven’t seen that kind of reduction in claims for vehicle and other property damage from any other advanced driver assistance system” ~ HLDI Senior Vice President Matt Moore.
By Mike Sheldrick, Senior Editor
Famously, Americans like to look forward not backward, to liberally paraphrase philosopher George Santayana. So it is no surprise that the Highway Loss Data Institute (HDLI) has just released a report finding that rear automatic emergency braking (AEB) provides the biggest reduction in collision costs. "
There’s an even bigger reduction for property damage claims for rear AEB: 28 percent vs 14 percent for front AEB.
Rear-to-front collision claims of less than $2,000 -- more likely to be fender benders than many front-to-rear collisions -- accounted for 17 percent of all collision claims and $8 billion in estimated damage between 2010 and 2017.
7 Daily Productivity Hacks to Help You Work Smarter in 2021
Juggle email like a pro, type a lot less, maximize your screen real estate, and more
If, like me, you’ve been wandering around the house muttering, “New year, new me” without really being sure what’s going to change, might I suggest you use this year to get more productive?
That does not mean working harder, mind you—especially if you’ll still be working from home for the foreseeable future. It simply means working smarter so you can get more done in less time and, in turn, maintain (or regain) a proper work-life balance.
Take it from me: a lazy but productive homebody who’s been working remotely for years.
Read the article at Fast Company
The Next Normal Arrives: Trends That will Define 2021—and Beyond
2021 will be the year of transition. Barring any unexpected catastrophes, individuals, businesses, and society can start to look forward to shaping their futures rather than just grinding through the present. The next normal is going to be different.
As consumer confidence returns, so will spending, with “revenge shopping” sweeping through sectors as pent-up demand is unleashed. Services have been particularly hard hit this time. The bounce back will therefore likely emphasize those businesses, particularly the ones that have a communal element, such as restaurants and entertainment venues.
Think of it as “just in time plus.” The “plus” stands for “just in case,” meaning more sophisticated risk management. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed vulnerabilities in the long, complicated supply chains of many companies. When a single country or even a single factory went dark, the lack of critical components shut down production. Never again, executives vowed.
Read the article at McKinsey & Company.
