00:09 Josh
Consumers rushed to get their hands on electric vehicles before the expiration of the EV tax credit. Automakers Ford and GM getting a boost, seeing records for EV sales in the third quarter. But now, that tax credit is in their rear view mirror and we’re looking at the road ahead for the auto industry and dealers.
00:25 Josh
Cox Automotive Executive Analyst Aaron Keting, joining us now to discuss. Aaron, it’s good to see you. So, not surprising, right Aaron?
00:33 Josh
We we expected and we got strong EV sales from from Ford and GM. But let’s look ahead now, Erin. You look at that EV market, you take out your crystal ball, Erin, post subsidies.
00:43 Josh
What do you think that EV market looks like here in the US?
00:48 Erin
Well, thanks for having me, Josh. I always enjoy talking with you about the car industry. and to be honest with you, we don’t see that things are going to fall off a cliff. Look, we’re going to see a speed bump here with demand. We already heard today even in some of the sales release calls from the manufacturers. And from articles that came out yesterday that GM, Ford, Hyundai, they’re all still holding on to some really decent incentives to continue to juice the market for the EVs. So until inventory really draws down towards the end of the year, I think that we’re still going to see some really good deals on EVs.
01:21 Erin
Um, just because the EV credit went away, yes, that might hurt it, but we’re now going to get to see the EV in the wild, if you will, see what the market really shows. And we’ve got a lot of EVs hitting them in hitting the streets over those last couple months, which means that attention is now more on them and we might start seeing more and more people getting used to seeing EVs and wanting to buy more. So I’m not I’m a little more bullish than maybe others are on how EVs are going to do in the future.
01:43 Josh
Let me get your take on this, Aaron, because I saw reports, you know, Ford’s Jim Farley was talking about this yesterday, and it sounds like Farley expecting demand for EVs to be cut in half next month following the end of these tax incentives. and I’m just curious what what you made of that statement.
02:00 Erin
You know, it’s funny. I was listening to then Randy Parker this morning on his monthly sales call and uh he said quite the opposite. And so I think it depends on which manufacturer you are, what is your plan for electric vehicles and how um strongly do you sit in that portfolio line? We know that Hende is an example has really invested. They’re very EV forward, very electrified forward and they’re going to be invested and continuing to make sure that they make sure that that power train gets adopted at a larger scale in the US. and I think there’s quite a few other manufacturers that are going to do the same.
02:40 Erin
Now, some we’re going to we’ve already heard of some cancelllations or slowing in production and that will sort of help us see what demand looks like versus sales and supply, but I don’t think that the 5%, you know, cutting it in half over the next month is is terribly realistic.
02:59 Josh
So we’re talking Ford, we’re talking at GM Aaron. What about Tesla? Cuz Tesla deliveries, they’re on deck as well. I’m curious what your expectations would be there and ahead.
03:10 Erin
Yeah, I mean, I think Tesla’s going to continue to compete, right? They’re they are the one brand that’s easiest for them to adjust their pricing up or down based on what they’re seeing in the market. and the only shop they have in the market is an electric vehicle, right? So they’re, I don’t know that they’re the most natural competitor to look at because by the very virtue of what their portfolio of vehicles are, they have to juice the sales, so to speak on EVs if they want to continue to get their sales numbers in.
03:41 Erin
Uh but they have been quietly losing share based on the fact that there are a lot of other alternatives in the market and those alternatives are hot sellers right now, even right up until the deadline as of yesterday. and I think we’ll continue to see that, um, that trend move on.
