Dealerships Hopeful EVs Will Bring Back That New Car Smell. When autos become obsolete more quickly, dealers see more return customers

Wall Street Journal ^ | July 12, 2024 | Jinjoo Lee

[karpov]

People get nostalgic about their first set of wheels, but those fond memories probably miss an important detail—they were often pieces of junk. Auto dealers didn’t mind.

Back in 1976, when cars on American roads were just 6.2 years old on average, new car sales accounted for nearly 10% of car registrations. As of 2019, when the average car age had doubled, more consumers were able to hold on to their cars longer or opt for used ones. By then, the share of new vehicle sales had fallen to 6.4% of registrations.

Could electric vehicles bring back those glory days of brisk sales and rapid obsolescence? In some ways, EVs resemble cellphones: Technology on them keeps improving rapidly and they are powered by batteries that degrade over time and depreciate quickly.

It is still early days. EVs make up 6.8% of U.S. auto sales but just over 1% of light-duty vehicles today. As they become a bigger part of the fleet, they could once again rev up dealers’ business—through not only faster replacement cycles but also more frequent repairs. While EVs have fewer mechanical parts, a recent study from J.D. Power showed that owners of battery EVs and plug-in hybrids took their new vehicles to the dealership for repairs at a rate three times higher than gas-powered vehicle owners did.

One reason to think EVs could accelerate replacement cycles: EV technology is improving a lot more quickly than technology for gasoline-fueled cars, which have been getting optimized for at least a century.

“The incremental improvement you see every year on [gas cars] is relatively small. When you look at incremental improvement on EV technology, that’s actually quite phenomenal, especially the battery but also the energy management in the vehicle,” said Philipp Kampshoff

[cpdiii]

Could electric vehicles bring back those glory days...

NO!

[GenXPolymath]

There will be a carbon tax in this next tern gasoline will be $10 plus like Europe that’s how they get people out of their ICE make it so only the upper class can afford them. Add in increasing EPA limits on gas station emissions of hydrocarbons so the retrofit cost is so high stations shut down or switch to hydrogen or electric just to stay open. Passive resistance is not going to work, they will crush that with the bureaucratic state. Chevron will be ignored why because no one will physically stop them. Good luck you are going to need it. I have an EV as a prepper thing they can never shut off the Sun and my solar systems now plural make more than my homestead can use if the grid is down I just throw power away. It amazes me that so called conservatives don’t embrace off grid energy as a pillar of the personal independence movement. Every one of my hardcore prepper friends has a full.off grid set up plus a lot of us also have battery and propane back ups AND not OR is the mindset.

[Adder]

I agree with most of what you say.

“I have an EV as a prepper thing they can never shut off the Sun”

But they can shut down the car at will. Without all the gizmos, gadgets and doodads, the car won’t run. And should the worst happen, the car won’t be able to be fixed should it break.

Other than that, yes, personal off grid power is a great thing to have.
Beyond my means, now and way beyond the millions who live in any highrise.
So as you say, good luck we will need it.

[ncalburt]

My nephew had a N Korean honey dew agent come after him .
She was Trained in China .

[minnesota_bound]

Return customers would be very very angry for the piece of junk that was sold to them at high prices. Not only would they still be paying on the junk car but would have to pay for another piece of junk.
Think broken cell phone you are still paying for plus the new phone bill.