Yahoo Autos 2.5 Million New Cars Are Just Sitting On Dealer Lots
Good morning! It’s Monday, December 11, 2023, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Dealer Can’t Move Cars Right Now
Dealer inventories for new vehicles in the U.S. rose by another 100,000 units in November. That means there are around 2.5 million vehicles just sitting on dealer lots right now, according to data from Cox Automotive.
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All seven automakers that report monthly U.S. sales saw their days’ supply increase in the previous month, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center. Among them, Ford Motor Co. had the highest days’ supply, while Subaru of America had the lowest.
You can color me absolutely shocked that new cars, as unaffordable as ever, aren’t selling quickly right now. I just cannot believe that in a time where everything costs a lot more than it used to, new car sales are being hurt.
2nd Gear: Telsa Says CA Is Cool With “Autopilot”
Tesla is defending its use of “Autopilot and “self-driving” for its driver assistance programs by arguing California has already investigated the naming schemes of the two systems in 2014 and 2017 and didn’t do anything about them then. It’s a bold strategy.
“The DMV chose not to take any action against Tesla or otherwise communicate to Tesla that its advertising or use of these brand names was or might be problematic,” Tesla said. From Reuters:
The electric car company run by billionaire Elon Musk was accused last year by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles of falsely advertising its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features as providing autonomous vehicle control.
The DMV is seeking remedies that could include suspending Tesla’s license to sell vehicles in California, Tesla’s largest U.S. market, and requiring the company to make restitution to drivers.
[...]
The DMV also in 2016 decided not to prohibit the use of “self-driving” and similar language, when drawing up regulation about statements on autonomous technology, Tesla said. Legislation on the topic also removed a prohibition on the terms that was in an earlier DMV draft, Tesla said.
“Tesla relied upon Claimant’s (the DMV’s) implicit approval of these brand names,” the company said.
In the 2022 complaints, the DMV said Tesla was misleading prospective customers with advertising that was exaggerating how much its ADAS system could really do.
According to Tesla’s website, the technologies “require active driver supervision,” with a “fully attentive” driver whose hands are on the wheel, “and do not make the vehicle autonomous.”
The DMV has said Tesla’s disclaimer “contradicts the original untrue or misleading labels and claims, which is misleading, and does not cure the violation.”
Based solely on how badly every Tesla I’ve ever been in has held up, I do not have much faith that its ADAS systems would pass muster, either. If you can’t get a rear suspension to not be a bouncy mess, then what hope does your super advanced driver assist software have?
3rd Gear: Russian Airline With Stuck Plane Sues Canada
Remember that Russian cargo plane stuck in Canada? Well, it’s still there, and now a court battle could determine exactly what’ll happen to it. From The Wall Street Journal:
Russian airline Volga-Dnepr has sued the Canadian government, asking a federal court to declare that Canada’s sanctions against it are invalid. The court could determine what happens to the airline’s massive Antonov An-124 cargo plane, one of only 26 in the world, which has been stuck in Toronto since Canada closed its airspace to Russian planes in February 2022.
The Canadian government sanctioned Volga-Dnepr in April and ordered the plane to be seized in June. Canada said taking the aircraft would “put additional pressure on Russia to stop its illegal war against Ukraine by straining its economic system and limiting resources that fuel the war.”
In its lawsuit, filed last month, Volga argued that it was wrongly put on the sanctions list because, contrary to Canada’s assertions, it isn’t involved in Russia’s invasion and didn’t provide any aviation service to Wagner Group, the Russian paramilitary organization.
[...]
The plane, which is large enough to carry satellites, train engines and wind turbines, landed in Toronto the day before Canada closed its airspace to Russian aircraft in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The plane had arrived from China to deliver personal protective equipment, but it couldn’t take off again.
