Summer Driving Tips 2021
For many of us, summertime usually means vacation travel. Even though pandemic precautions will undoubtedly affect your travel plans again this year, now is still a good time to review these summer driving safety tips. Prevention and planning may take a little time up front, but will spare you from dealing with the consequences of a breakdown—or worse yet, a highway crash—later.
Keep kids safe! Heatstroke can occur when a child is left unattended in a parked vehicle or gains unsupervised access. Never leave children alone in the car—not even for a few minutes. Vehicles heat up quickly. Even if the outside temperature is in the 70s and the windows are cracked, the temperature in a vehicle can rapidly reach deadly levels. A child’s body temperature rises 3 to 5 times faster than that of an adult.
Vehicle Safety Checklist - Have your mechanic check your battery, charging system, and belts, and have them make any necessary repairs or replacements. For hybrid-electric vehicles, keep gasoline in the tank to support the gasoline engine.
Read the article at NHTSA.
Lincoln to Introduce Four New Battery-Electric Vehicles Starting Next Year
Lincoln is following the buzz of Ford Motor Co.'s Capital Markets Day last month with plans to introduce four new battery-electric vehicles around its anchor products by the end of the decade — with the first coming next year.
"You typically see luxury clients more as tech adopters and certainly with the propulsion paired with that connectivity and that intelligence you get in the vehicle and those digital experiences, it makes sense we’re seeing that," Lincoln President Joy Falotico said during a virtual news conference this week. "It’s going to be a transition period, and we want to make sure we have what clients want."
The first fully electric vehicle, which brand leaders declined to specify, will come next year when Lincoln celebrates its 100th anniversary. Production of Cadillac's first EV, the Lyriq SUV that starts at $59,990, will begin in the first quarter of 2022. Lincoln's new architecture also will support derivatives.
Read the article at The Detroit News.
Some Used Vehicles Now Costing More Than Their Original Sticker Price
When it was new, the window sticker price on a typical 2019 Toyota Tacoma SR double cab pickup was just under $29,000. Two years later, dealers are paying almost $1,000 more than that to buy the same vehicle, even though it's used. Then they're selling it to consumers for more than $33,000.
In the past year, used vehicle prices on average have climbed 30%, according to Black Book, which tracks car and truck data. That's created many crazy situations where high-demand vehicles are selling for more than they did when they were new, said Alex Yurchenko, the company's senior vice president of data science.
“The market is very strange right now,” said Yurchenko. “Dealers need the inventory, so they are paying lots of money for their vehicles on the wholesale market.” Yurchenko has found 73 models of 1- to 3-year-old vehicles being sold at auctions (where dealers buy their vehicles) for prices above their original sticker, the manufacturer's suggested retail price.
Read the article at Autoblog.
Artful Leadership
We have eagerly looked forward to talking with one of the most adroit and engaging leaders in fleet, Tom Callahan, CEO of Donlen. Previously owned by Hertz, the venerable fleet management company has a new parent, Athene, a leading A Rated insurer with $200 billion of assets.
In the wide-ranging interview, Callahan told Ed Pierce that the major questions he heard last year were, “Is Donlen going to be around?” and “Is Donlen going to be able to grow with us?” Today, his response is an unequivocal “Yes!”
We appreciate our industry organizations! AFLA president Laura Jozwiak writes a delightful column about the benefits of AFLA membership.
She says “…what I love most about AFLA is the networking with my peers…whether someone I serve or compete against.” I don't know if our industry is unique or not, but it sure is nice the way we freely share knowledge with one another. We all grow as a result.
We already love NAFA I&E’s opening keynote: Creating a Complaint Free Environment! I hope that we see you in Pittsburgh!
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
NTEA Executive Leadership Summit
October 12, 2021 Hilton Columbus Downtown, Columbus Ohio
NTEA’s Executive Leadership Summit brings perspective to economic and business trends influencing companies in the work truck industry.
From global implications to individual company strategies, content is geared toward furthering industry knowledge, growth and profitability.
Commercial vehicle professionals in any capacity and their teams can come together to collaborate and get targeted information from economists, thought leaders and strategists.
