Automotive News - July 6, 2020 - 27

JULY 6, 2020 * 27

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U.S. light-vehicle sales - continued
Model 3................................................
Model S ...............................................
Total Tesla car .............................
Tesla Model X truck .......................
TESLA* ......................................
ES (D) .................................................
ES (I) ..................................................
Total ES ................................................
GS (I) ...................................................
IS (I) ....................................................
LC (I) ...................................................
LFA (I) ..................................................
LS (I) ...................................................
RC (I) ...................................................
Total Lexus car (D/I) ......................
GX (I) ...................................................
LX (I) ...................................................
NX (I) ...................................................
RX (D).................................................
RX (I) ..................................................
Total RX ...............................................
UX (I) ...................................................
Total Lexus truck (D/I) ....................
Lexus (D) ...................................
Lexus (I) ....................................
Total Lexus .................................
86 (Incl. FR-S) (I) ................................
Avalon ..................................................
Camry (D) ...........................................
Camry (I) ............................................
Total Camry..........................................
Corolla (D) ..........................................
Corolla/IM (I) ......................................
Total Corolla .........................................
Mirai (I)................................................
Prius (I) ...............................................
Supra (I) ..............................................
Venza ...................................................
Yaris (D)..............................................
Yaris Liftback (I) .................................
Total Yaris ............................................
Total Toyota car (D/I) .....................
4Runner (I) ..........................................
C-HR (I) ...............................................
FJ Cruiser (I) ........................................
Highlander (D) ....................................
Highlander (I) .....................................
Total Highlander ...................................
Land Cruiser (I) ...................................
RAV4 (D).............................................
RAV4 (I) ..............................................
Total RAV4 ...........................................
Sequoia ................................................
Sienna ..................................................
Tacoma ................................................
Tundra..................................................
Total Toyota truck (D/I) ...................
Toyota (D) ..................................
Toyota (I) ...................................
Total Toyota ................................
Toyota Motor N.A. car ....................
Toyota Motor N.A. truck ..................
Toyota Motor N.A. (D) ....................
Toyota Motor N.A. (I) .....................
TOYOTA MOTOR N.A. .....................
A3 (I) ...................................................
A4/S4 (I) ..............................................
A5/S5 (I) ..............................................
A6/S6 (I) ..............................................
A7/S7 (I) ..............................................
A8/S8 (I) ..............................................
R8 (I) ...................................................
TT (I) ....................................................
Total Audi car (I) ..........................
e-tron (I) ..............................................
Q3 (I) ...................................................
Q5 (I) ...................................................
Q7 (I) ...................................................
Q8 (I) ...................................................
Total Audi truck (I) ........................
Total Audi (I) ...............................
Bentley car (I) ......................................
Bentley truck (I) ...................................
Total Bentley (I)* ..........................
Lamborghini car (I)..............................
Lamborghini truck (I) ..........................
Total Lamborghini (I)* ...................
718 (I)..................................................
911 (I)..................................................
Panamera (I) ........................................
Taycan (I) .............................................
Total Porsche car (I) ......................
Cayenne (I) ..........................................
Macan (I) .............................................
Total Porsche truck (I) ....................
Total Porsche (I)...........................
Arteon (I) .............................................
Beetle ...................................................
CC (I) ...................................................
Golf (D) ...............................................
Golf/Golf R/GTI (I) ..............................
Total Golf/Golf R/GTI............................
Jetta .....................................................
Passat ..................................................
Total VW car (D/I) .........................
Atlas .....................................................
Tiguan (D)...........................................
Tiguan (I) ............................................
Total Tiguan .........................................
Touareg (I) ...........................................
Total VW truck (D/I) .......................
VW (D) ......................................
VW (I) .......................................
Total VW ....................................
VW Group of America car ................
VW Group of America truck..............
VW Group of America (D) ................
VW Group of America (I) .................
VW GROUP OF AMERICA .................
60 series (I) .........................................
90 series (I) .........................................
Total Volvo car (I) .........................
XC40 (I) ...............................................
XC60 (I) ...............................................
XC90 (I) ...............................................
Total Volvo truck (I) .......................
VOLVO CAR USA ..........................

Q2
2020

Q2
2019

6 mos.
2020

6 mos.
2019

30,000
3,200
33,200
3,600
36,800
7,711
51
7,762
679
2,380
175
0
625
780
12,401
6,194
968
11,416
13,392
2,574
15,966
3,511
38,055
21,103
29,353
50,456
645
3,483
48,710
1
48,711
15,488
24,899
40,387
62
9,000
1,281
0
1,307
6
1,313
104,882
29,356
11,052
0
31,181
0
31,181
636
47,195
38,534
85,729
1,120
5,332
51,063
27,222
242,691
232,101
115,472
347,573
117,283
280,746
253,204
144,825
398,029
1,902
4,415
4,991
2,076
595
463
102
251
14,795
1,161
4,411
8,072
4,418
1,986
20,048
34,843
90
110
200
115
130
245
472
2,245
871
818
4,406
3,822
3,964
7,786
12,192
797
722
3
124
6,553
6,677
15,971
4,120
28,290
16,321
25,318
4
25,322
0
41,643
62,576
7,357
69,933
47,696
69,717
62,576
54,837
117,413
3,233
532
3,765
5,550
6,643
7,812
20,005
23,770

45,000
5,100
50,100
5,700
55,800
10,492
2,098
12,590
775
4,478
348
0
1,293
1,146
20,630
5,542
1,095
13,101
20,883
3,649
24,532
4,044
48,314
31,375
37,569
68,944
854
8,238
94,194
130
94,324
21,494
52,766
74,260
616
17,183
0
1
8,623
140
8,763
204,239
30,044
11,290
1
58,562
0
58,562
821
61,473
55,317
116,790
2,154
22,467
63,683
29,397
335,209
370,286
169,162
539,448
224,869
383,523
401,661
206,731
608,392
2,459
6,375
6,096
4,544
1,376
543
119
426
21,938
1,835
34
16,818
8,916
3,784
31,387
53,325
174
164
338
254
210
464
1,490
1,726
2,042
0
5,258
4,472
5,503
9,975
15,233
598
4,943
16
2,150
9,022
11,172
25,884
3,698
46,311
21,747
30,476
158
30,634
44
52,425
88,898
9,838
98,736
73,935
94,161
88,898
79,198
168,096
5,015
765
5,780
4,976
7,930
9,376
22,282
28,062

72,000
8,600
80,600
9,000
89,600
16,790
219
17,009
1,303
5,092
415
2
1,426
1,537
26,784
11,316
1,814
22,725
31,829
4,984
36,813
7,349
80,017
48,619
58,182
106,801
1,349
7,563
125,894
5
125,899
53,206
56,395
109,601
209
20,483
2,294
0
3,708
21
3,729
271,127
57,428
21,424
0
79,071
0
79,071
1,250
121,446
61,914
183,360
2,528
17,208
104,699
48,880
515,848
564,203
222,772
786,975
297,911
595,865
612,822
280,954
893,776
4,139
8,364
10,311
4,568
1,244
1,017
199
426
30,268
2,872
9,967
18,031
10,650
4,422
45,942
76,210
309
326
635
304
370
674
872
4,835
2,055
1,039
8,801
7,644
7,741
15,385
24,186
1,585
2,332
20
485
13,892
14,377
37,364
10,101
65,779
31,728
47,494
5
47,499
2
79,229
129,504
15,504
145,008
105,461
141,252
129,504
117,209
246,713
6,738
886
7,624
9,520
12,212
13,899
35,631
43,255

90,000
10,200
100,200
11,400
111,600
19,336
4,644
23,980
1,730
8,362
668
3
2,697
2,109
39,549
10,971
2,309
26,876
39,880
8,181
48,061
7,969
96,186
59,216
76,519
135,735
1,661
14,857
175,477
531
176,008
92,875
59,993
152,868
963
29,241
0
2
16,333
324
16,657
392,257
62,873
25,811
1
111,182
1
111,183
1,628
90,945
109,665
200,610
4,564
41,083
121,866
54,497
624,116
723,681
292,692
1,016,373
431,806
720,302
782,897
369,211
1,152,108
5,128
12,154
11,574
9,902
3,142
1,330
268
636
44,134
1,835
432
32,046
16,033
6,960
57,306
101,440
435
410
845
635
525
1,160
2,155
4,620
3,740
0
10,515
10,031
9,711
19,742
30,257
598
9,398
38
3,013
15,945
18,958
48,973
11,456
89,421
37,726
57,009
322
57,331
130
95,187
167,575
17,033
184,608
145,140
173,170
167,575
150,735
318,310
8,974
1,992
10,966
8,553
14,566
16,035
39,154
50,120

*Estimate
Note: (D) = produced in North America; (I) = imported to U.S.
Source: Automotive News Data Center

Dealers' spending
shifts during crisis
continued from Page 1

With the shift in approach comes
more experimentation. Several dealers said they supplemented paid
marketing efforts with their own organic social media content highlighting digital retailing tools or sanitizing protocols.
"This is how we should have operated all along," Carrasquillo said.
"How can we become more efficient
with our expenditure? And it's crazy
that it took a pandemic to finally
wake up, if you will, and say we have
not been doing a good job of that."
More than three-quarters of dealership leaders who responded to an
Automotive News survey in March
said they likely would cut marketing
budgets. Such cutbacks sidelined
advertising at a time when dealerships normally would have promoted spring sales events, according to
some dealership marketing vendors.
Those vendors say ad spending
could still be crimped in the near
term by uncertainty about the virus's
spread, the potential for more state
shutdowns and tight vehicle inventories.
Longer term, more dealerships will
look for advertising efficiencies -
better results at a lower cost - out of
necessity for the bottom line, some
consultants said.
"I've been trying to get our dealer
clients to do that for years, and it
took an unfortunate incident for
people to kind of embrace that
mindset," said Nick Brunotte, digital
solutions director for DHG Dealerships, who helps dealerships assess
their digital advertising spending.
"It's just a mental shift and a willingness to let go of the way things
used to be because it's no longer the
best way to do things," he added.

April low point
Franchised dealerships spent an
average of $554,292 on advertising in
2019, or $640 for each new vehicle
retailed, according to the National
Automobile Dealers Association.
The average spend through the first
two months of 2020 outpaced the
same months in 2019, but the figure
dipped in March and slid even more
sharply in April, the most recent
month for which data has been reported. Through the first four
months, advertising expenses slid 14
percent, NADA reported.
The spending generally hit its lowest point in April before starting to
rebound in May and June, according
to data multiple dealership advertising vendors shared with Automotive
News. How dealers adjusted their
budgets depended in part on geography, since some parts of the country were hit harder by COVID-19
than others.
"They're in a very low-margin business, and they need to be efficient in
order to be able to turn a profit, so
dealers rarely will accelerate spend
before they feel like doing so will sell
cars," said Jeremy Anspach, CEO of
dealership digital advertising vendor
PureCars. "As they saw more and
more consumer confidence, more
and more people willing to do social
distancing but be released from their
stay-at-home orders, spend started
back up."
While spending through PureCars is

A look at ad spending

Dealership advertising spending generally hit its lowest point during
the coronavirus pandemic in April before starting to rebound. Below is
a snapshot of the trends observed by some dealership advertising
providers.
LotLinx
Direct dealership advertising revenue fell 48% in April from a peak in


February.
18% of the revenue lost as of April returned in May, followed by an


additional 10% in June.
PureCars
Average dealership advertising spending across all channels fell 35%


from the week of Feb. 23, when it peaked, to its lowest point during
the week of March 29.
Average spending across all channels rose 18% from the week of


March 29 to the week of June 21, the most recent for which data is
available.
Outsell
Average dealership media spending fell 47% in April from the prior


month, while spending in May rose 40% compared with April.
As of June 29, spending for the month increased compared with May


but was still nearly 10% below June 2019 levels.
Ansira
Dealership preapproval requests for automaker-sponsored Tier 3


advertising programs fell 68% for TV and 73% for radio in April
compared with March but rose 53% and 63%, respectively, in May
compared with April.
Sources: LotLinx, PureCars, Outsell, Ansira

Spending trends

Average dealership advertising
spending on Facebook by Dealers
United clients from January to June

Source: Dealers United

up in May and June compared with the
low point, it still lags February's pre-virus levels, the company reported.
Dwayne Lane's Auto Family in
Washington state turned off at least
70 percent of its paid advertising
starting in April after the state had
prohibited most vehicle sales, said
Sheila Countryman-Bean, the fivestore group's marketing and public
relations director.
Dwayne Lane kept up a minimal
spend to keep its name active online
but turned off paid-search campaigns, paid social media and traditional TV and radio spots, Countryman-Bean said.
The group today has resumed at
least 40 percent of its normal paid
advertising, including some TV and
digital video, she said. Still, the retailer has "drastically reduced" its TV
budget. Dwayne Lane routinely advertised during televised sports
events, but professional leagues suspended games for months.
"We're just waiting to see if they're
going to allow those things to start,"
she said.

'Smarter' spending
TV and print are more expensive
than digital media and harder to
measure, yet many dealers have long
advertised there, said DHG's
Brunotte. Dealers can track data
about digital ads to learn how customers interacted with the content
and whether the messages got in
front of shoppers likely to buy. That's
harder to gauge from TV or print
viewers, making it tougher to determine the value, he added.

Rob Sight Ford in Kansas City, Mo.,
maintained its paid Facebook advertising and plans to increase investment there, said Bobby Sight, the
dealership's operations director. He
also now cultivates an audience
through organic videos, which
showcase incentives and cleaning
practices. He also has paid for advertising campaigns on some of those
videos.
Sight said the store pulled back on
paid-search campaigns - possibly
forever for used vehicles. It slashed
its budget for paid new-vehicle
searches by at least 70 percent from
pre-pandemic levels because inventory was low.
Despite no paid-search spending
on used vehicles, June was the best
month for used vehicles in volume
and gross profit in the history of the
dealership, Sight said.
"We've all gotten a really good
chance to evaluate what we think we
really need and what we think works
and what we can cut," he said.
LotLinx CEO Len Short, whose
company targets likely buyers with
ads for specific vehicles in dealership inventory, said he estimates
some 20 percent of dealership advertising might never come back.
"If I'm smarter about this, more efficient, I can restore margins, and I
can do just fine in terms of volume,"
Short said. "And they will take margin over volume every day."
Search engine marketing, or payper-click, typically makes up about
half of Nielsen Automotive Group's
digital advertising budget, Carrasquillo said. While it's on hold, he
said, some of the group's stores sold
more vehicles in June than a year
earlier and at a higher gross profit
per vehicle.
Some of that may be the result of
pent-up demand. Even so, Carrasquillo said, he is now rethinking
search engine marketing in general.
If Nielsen decides to restart it, he
would buy fewer generic search
terms that deliver more eyeballs,
though at a higher cost per click, in
favor of specific keywords that cost
less and generate less traffic but may
attract serious shoppers.
"If I don't have to spend the money
to get those kind of results," he said,
"why would you?" a
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Automotive News - July 6, 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - July 6, 2020
