Who Believes in Your Potential?
We always look forward to Laura Jozwiak’s quarterly Customer Driven column. In The Power of Customer-Driven Leadership Laura says, “A great leader doesn’t create followers – they create future leaders.” Who are the great leaders in your life who believed in you and saw your potential? I will start: Thank you, Peter Egan, for seeing mine!
Get Ready to Join Your Friends from Fleet Street on the Journey of a Lifetime -- Again! Steve Bender has a good deal to say about his two greatest passions: Remarketing end of lease corporate vehicles and hunting for lost treasure! Not so incidentally, we are thrilled to learn that Steve's son Sean is doing great after suffering a horrific, life-threatening accident!
AI and Fleets: Everything is About to Change Ian Gardner, Founder and CEO at EVAI, writes a fascinating column and answers the question: How do you prepare for what’s coming?
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
Schneider Electric and The Mobility House Partner to Deploy Smart Charging for EV Fleets
Schneider Electric and The Mobility House have partnered to provide turnkey solutions for large truck, car and bus fleets in Europe, North America and beyond.
Reprieve of a Month Will Likely Not Ease Impact of Tariffs on Auto Industry
Tariffs for Canada and Mexico may be temporarily delayed, but uncertainty remains. According to the latest S&P Global Mobility analysis, if these tariffs are implemented, a 25% duty on the average $25,000 landed cost of a vehicle from Mexico and Canada could add up to $6,250 to the price of a new vehicle.
"The automotive industry is at a critical juncture," said Michael Robinet, vice president of forecasting at S&P Global Mobility. "The proposed tariffs could not only inflate vehicle prices but also disrupt production schedules, with estimates suggesting a potential 30% decrease in production for high-exposure vehicles once tariffs are enacted, even if only for the short-term. This will lead to ripple effects across the supply chain, impacting OEMs, suppliers and, ultimately, consumers."
IIHS: Supersizing Vehicles Offers Minimal Safety Benefits — but Substantial Dangers
There’s a clear ceiling to the notion that bigger is safer, new research from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows.
For vehicles that weigh less than the fleet average, the risk that occupants will be killed in a crash decreases substantially for every 500 pounds of additional weight. But those benefits top out quickly. For vehicles that weigh more than the fleet average, there’s hardly any decrease in risk for occupants associated with additional poundage.
“For American drivers, the conventional wisdom is that if bigger is safer, even bigger must be safer still,” IIHS President David Harkey said. “These results show that isn’t true today. Not for people in other cars. And — this is important — not for the occupants of the large vehicles themselves.”
Which New Vehicles Could Be Affected by President Trump’s Tariffs
Some of America’s bestselling vehicles will see their manufacturing costs soar if President Trump follows through on his threat to slap 25% tariffs on goods made in Canada and Mexico. For the time being, tariffs remain merely a looming threat.
Of the top 25 bestselling vehicles in the U.S. market last year, nine were manufactured in Canada or Mexico, including the Ram 1500, Toyota RAV4, Honda Civic, Chevrolet Equinox, Toyota Tacoma, and Nissan Sentra, among others.
Even if your car is not made north or south of the border, parts of it, including engines, transmissions, and other components, are likely made there.
