Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
The California DMV Is Pissed Off At Tesla
I think we all saw something like this coming, right? Reuters reports that the California DMV has an ax to grind with Tesla over the Texas-based automaker’s advanced driver assist systems and potential penalties could be severe. You know what? Good. While Level 2 advanced driver assistance systems are interesting feats of engineering, Tesla has contributed massively to myths around advanced driver assistance systems, and the Full Self Driving Beta project has proven dangerous at best. We’ve already seen FSD attempt to go the wrong way down a one-way street and try to crash into a tram. Plus, Autopilot has been at the focal point of several fatal crash investigations. Here’s to hoping that the DMV’s complaints actually go somewhere and that Tesla will start to see consequences for misleading owners and the general public on the abilities of advanced driver assistance systems. Tesla “made or disseminated statements that are untrue or misleading, and not based on facts,” the DMV said in complaints dated July 28 and which it made public on Friday. Vehicles equipped with Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technology “could not at the time of those advertisements, and cannot now, operate as autonomous vehicles,” the DMV added. The DMV is seeking remedies that could include suspending Tesla’s license to sell vehicles in California and requiring the company to make restitution to drivers.
Used Car Wholesale Values Stayed Mostly Flat Through July
July recently ended, which means that it’s time for an updated from the Manheim Index. While used car wholesale values are a fairly selective view of the used car market, Manheim’s sheer scale as one of America’s biggest auction houses and the historical tendency for most private party used car prices to track along with wholesale values means that the index still offers useful data. Let’s see what the latest report has to say. Yep, no surprise to see not much change there. What’s unexpected is that wholesale value declines seem to be hitting most gas-guzzlers harder than sensible cars despite falling gasoline prices. On a month-over-month basis, full-size cars lost nine percent of their wholesale value, while vans, luxury cars, and sports cars saw wholesale values drop by between 1.5 and 1.6 percent. On the other hand, compact car wholesale values were up 0.9 percent, while midsize car wholesale values were up by 0.5 percent. Not bad news if you’re looking for a really, really, really ridiculously good-looking Volvo S90, but not great news if you’re in the market for a Toyota Corolla. The latest Manheim Index report also estimates a 31-day supply of wholesale cars, up from 26 in June and 22 in July 2021. More potential inventory is typically a good thing for easing used car prices, as is greater consumer leverage. The report estimates that used car retail sales dropped 13 percent month-over-month and 16 percent year-over-year, so consumers appear to possibly be weakening their stance on buying used cars. So what does this all mean? Well, there are two ways of looking at this latest Manheim Index report. The first is that we’re still in an absolute nightmare of a used car market. Wholesale prices are still up 12.5 percent year-over-year and wholesale value stagnation is unlikely to give buyers the relief they’re looking for. The second is that the chance of already having hit peak used car craziness is growing. Wholesale prices are still down from market peak earlier this year and an increase in wholesale vehicle supply tempers fears of a return to peak prices. Either way, don’t expect a crash in used car values. New car supply remains tight which should have an effect on used car values for years to come.
Carvana Goes Into Cost-Cutting Mode
Even an outsider could tell that Carvana’s business model wasn’t sustainable. With sky-high offers for buying used vehicles, big acquisitions, and aggressive hiring, Carvana really put “move fast and break stuff” into the automotive retail sector. Automotive News reports that Carvana is now working to cut costs as financial losses continue to mount. I feel quite sorry for the Carvana employees who have the dark specter of potential layoffs looming over their heads. It’s not nice to potentially be out of a job in an era of rampant inflation, and it seems like a shaky time for the automotive retail industry so finding a like job might not be easy. Carvana CFO Mark Jenkins last week said the company saw “meaningful” expense savings quarter over quarter, as it trimmed advertising costs by $24 million and payroll expense by $20 million. “As we’re looking out over the rest of the year, we really do see opportunities across all areas of the business to continue to drive” expense efficiency, Jenkins told analysts. While cost controls will happen across the business, payroll will be one “of the bigger buckets,” Jenkins said, as Carvana continues to work on better matching staffing levels to its sales volume.
Maserati Launches 10-Year Extended Warranty
Italian cars. They’re known for passion, flair, and style, but not necessarily reliability. For a little peace of mind, Maserati announced last week that customers will soon be able to purchase a ten-year extended powertrain warranty. Details on the new warranty are a bit sparse, so we’ve reached out to the Italian company for more information. In the meantime, here’s what the press release says: Aside from the fact that “gearbox” and “transmission” are generally interchangeable terms for the same thing, there are lots of asterisks in this chunk of body copy. Let’s see what’s really going on in the fine print. Ah, that’s certainly a big limitation. Fortunately, the ice-cool GranTurismo coupe ended production in late 2019, so there’s still some potential value here for enthusiasts rather than just real estate agents with Ghiblis. That old F136 naturally-aspirated V8 occupies the space between operatic and pornographic and is a wonderful shock to the senses in an age of turbocharged everything. Regardless, I’d love to know what the warranty actually covers and how much it will cost. There’s no way something like this could be cheap, right? ** Within nine years and six months from the registration date, with no mileage limit.
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on today’s edition of The Morning Dump. August is shaping up to be a busy month here at The Autopian which means I should probably start thinking about a winter car. For anyone outside of the rust belt, a winter beater is a cheap banger for salty conditions that lets you tuck away cars that you actually care about. For those of you subject to road salt, brine, and other corrosive nastiness for roughly half the year, what’s been your favorite winter beater?
Lead photo credit: Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
It’s shocking to me that Ford never used that selling point of the Al bodies vs going all in on the “military grade” nonsense. As someone who has reluctantly parted with several well-running vehicles due to structural deficiencies, the nearly rust-proof body was a no brainer for me when buying.
A truck that doesn’t rust? Sign me up. I think the only reasons people get rid of old trucks are severe accidents and rust. Everything else gets fixed.
I don’t have a huge need for a truck, and don’t like the fuel economy penalty of a vehicle that large, so I’m still waiting for the used prices to come down just a little more. But while waiting, the Lightning came out, so I may end up with a new Lightning instead.
And if the car is supposed to be junk anyways, that just means a costly fix is now a perk.
In other news: water is wet, fire is hot, people are stupid. Call me when they actually do something about what has been false advertising from day one. False advertising that has gotten multiple people killed and has caused untold numbers of accidents because their “self-driving” still can’t fucking read things like railroad crossings, no left turn signs, or red lights.
“Even an outsider could tell that Carvana’s business model wasn’t sustainable. With sky-high offers for buying used vehicles, big acquisitions, and aggressive hiring, Carvana really put “move fast and break stuff” into the automotive retail sector.”
ProTip: if you ‘move fast, break stuff,’ the only thing you will ever accomplish is breaking stuff. Period. This is how it has always been and why actually serious companies don’t spout shit like that. But don’t worry, the C-suite of scumbags from BHPH and posterchild for predatory lending UglyDuckling (which is all Carvana has ever been) will be taking home very large bonuses for cutting costs by laying people off en masse.
“Maserati introduces the new Extra10 Warranty Program, to extend the coverage of powertrain components – engine, gearbox, transmission – until the car turns 10 years old. “
Calling it now. ‘Maserati declares bankruptcy’ as a Morning Dump headline by 2026.
“For those of you subject to road salt, brine, and other corrosive nastiness for roughly half the year, what’s been your favorite winter beater?”
Ford Escorts. They’re incredibly good in snow, especially if you have the Pony setup. And the rustproofing on third gens is actually insanely good. Even to this day you can find 1992-1996’s from the rust belt that are only starting to show rot through on the quarters. And P175/70R13’s on a 2200lbs car just laugh off the worst roads.
I wonder if its a good time to look at Carvana for deals? Think they’re in the offloading inventory phase, yet?
(Side note: The dealer I bought the new car from was only at $13,800 for a “counter” offer, and wouldn’t budge. They knew what was up, and also had no issue with me getting an extra $3k off Carvana.)
Tesla should have been slapped about their marketing long ago, I love my Tesla but Full Self Driving or Autopilot are terrible names because people believe what they say.
Downsides were the constant need for bushings and ball-joints: 5-link front and double wishbone rear suspension has (5x2x2)front-arm-ends+(3x2x2)rear-arm-ends+(2×6)sway-bar-bushings=1.8 trillion suspension bushings (Thus the name 1.8T, unrelated to the quite torquey cast-iron block 20V 1.8L turbocharged 4-cylinder heat generator). Also, the front lower valance panel and the aero undertray kept falling off in the absurdly steep Michigan parking lot entrances, the power steering system failed at every level except the low pressure line (My paracord and JB-weld patch is still holding on the high pressure line, according to the guy I sold the car to) and the headlights were unbearably dim (a broken level sensor arm on the front suspension pointing them at the ground certainly didn’t help).
Overall a solid car, hell of a ride for $3500 back in the magical land of 2018.
In short, the people I dealt with were great, but they are clearly either properly not vetting their cars or lying about their condition. Neither is good.
So they don’t know the sunroof doesn’t work until they try it, and may never know it was in an accident unless someone calls them on it.
I hate to call it my winter beater, but it kind of is. I’m trying to maintain this 83 Ramcharger and hopefully not completely kill it under my ownership.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CXo1-zsvBd6/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
