Stellantis Strengthens Commercial Vehicle Business: Merchants Fleet to Purchase 12,500 all-new Ram ProMaster Electric Vans (EVs)
The Ram Truck brand has announced that Merchants Fleet will become a key commercial customer of the all-new Ram ProMaster Electric Van (EV) that debuts later this year. The agreement calls for the purchase of 12,500 Ram ProMaster EVs over the next several years.
“At Ram, we are laser-focused on offering our customers electrified solutions with disruptive, leading-edge advanced technology that meets real-world demands, and we are thrilled Merchants Fleet recognizes our all-new ProMaster EV will do exactly that,” said Mike Koval Jr., Ram brand CEO – Stellantis. “Our all-new ProMaster EV is Ram’s first EV offering in North America, and an integral step in our electrification journey that will offer more efficient options to all of our customers.”
Auto Market Weekly Summary: June 12
By Jonathan Smoke, Chief Economist, Cox Automotive
Used-vehicle sales volumes were stable in May relative to April, but they were off from the normal seasonal pattern, which is to see growth. Volumes were down 11% year-to-year, the worst performance so far this year.
As the retail market has slowed this spring, wholesale vehicle value trends turned down, according to the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index.
Consumer Reports Pressures Automakers to Make Life-Saving Feature Standard For no Extra Charge
More than 20,000 consumers signed a new Consumer Reports petition in its first three days. It’s aimed at the automakers General Motors, Stellantis, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, and Tesla, which do not offer free automatic crash notification in all their models.
“Automatic crash notification can save lives. It should come standard on all new cars, and remain active—and free—regardless of what happens with subscriptions for other connected services,” says William Wallace, CR’s associate director of safety policy.
Used Car Prices Are Falling Again… For Now
When wholesale used car prices go down, retail prices typically follow. It might take between six and eight weeks but we should see another drop in retail used car prices. However, don't expect pre-pandemic prices in the foreseeable future.
“Taking a longer view, May’s year-over-year decline accelerated from April and March; however, the rate of decline might slow over the next several months as we encounter the lower prices seen at auction from May through November last year. Two consecutive reads in either measure do not a trend make, as used retail inventory is still below last year, and that tends to keep buyers at the auction, supporting prices," said Chris Frey, senior manager of Economic and Industry insights for Cox Automotive.
V2Flex: How to Unlock the Power of Vehicle-to-Everything
Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) charging technology has emerged as a new potential generation source for utilities and an important resiliency tool for consumers, and the various components required to make it all work are finally coming together.
Progress toward enabling V2G has recently accelerated. In California, the largest utilities (PG&E, SCE and SDG&E) are all running V2G pilots, and the public utilities commission recently allowed EVs to get paid in its Emergency Load Reduction Program. Industry coalitions are also forming, such as ev.energy’s V2X-Flex project with Nissan, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Siemens, Wallbox and Indra.
