By: Bob Glose – Senior Vice President, Operations & Enterprise Resources
Fleet managers are constantly pressed for ways to control costs, and saving money on collision repairs is one legitimate way to do it.
But repairs are more than simply putting the vehicle back into service. The key objective is to make the vehicle safe to drive. That’s why the prudent fleet manager shouldn’t compromise on repair costs when it comes to safety. The goal should always be to make the vehicle safe again, in the most cost-effective ways.
So, how can you cut repair costs without compromising safety?
Unlike self-driving cars, trucks spend a lot of time heading straight on desolate highways which makes the trucking industry a perfect target for autonomous driving.
Trucking is a $700 billion industry that touches every aspect of the economy, and logistics companies will upgrade their fleets the moment it makes financial sense. How soon, is the question.
“We are trying to get self-driving technology out on the road as fast as possible,” said Alex Rodrigues, Embark’s chief executive. “Trucking needs self-driving and self-driving needs trucking.”
Read more of the original article at The New York Times.
UPS hopes that by 2022, one in four of its diesel-fueled delivery vehicles will be electric, hybrid or alternate-fuel and is collaborating with The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority towards that goal.
To help develop the technology, the NYSERDA will contribute $500,000 with the expectation of converting up to 1,500 trucks, or 66 percent of the fleet operating in the city.
"The company also says that it presently uses “more than 770 electric or hybrid electric vehicles,” as well as more than 8,500 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles worldwide.”
Read more of the original article at The Verge.
Getting quality right is expected to be a critical challenge for the California-based automaker despite intense efforts to resolve what CEO Elon Musk has referred to as “production hell.”
“Our inspection revealed widespread shortcomings in fit and finish ,” wrote Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi, after taking the Model 3 for a test drive out of Tesla’s showroom in Brooklyn. “Tesla representatives acknowledged some of the fit issues, but stated that they believed that Model 3 was much further ahead than where Model X and S had been at this point in production.”
Consumer Reports removed the Tesla Model 3 from its Recommended Buy list because of quality issues even though the basic features were enough to win rave reviews.
Read more of the original article at The Detroit Bureau.
By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer
As a marketing manager for a provider of B2B products or services, you know that the first question your executives will ask is “Where’s the value?” of each of your marketing tactics. Even though we are in the digital age, you can’t justify marketing value based on Facebook “likes,” Twitter “follows,” and LinkedIn connections. As it was unlikely that management would appreciate the value of traditional print advertising measures like cost-per-thousand, impressions, awareness and perceptions, the digital metrics provided by internet services are lacking.
Still, digital marketing offers value, as evidenced by its growing share of the overall marketing budget. The key to showing value is to do the additional hard work to translate and extend superficial facts with meaningful business results.
Start with the undeniable ability to own the channel. In the digital world, you can have total control over direct interactions with your target audience. You can control both the timing and content of your messages.