Latest news with #MarkBarrott
Mint
06-07-2025
- Automotive
- Mint
Has there ever been a better time to buy an EV?
EV prices are low but U.S. consumers aren't that interested. Not even bargain-basement deals are enough to entice U.S. drivers to go all-in on electric vehicles. A Hyundai dealership in New Jersey is hyping a $169-a-month lease on its Ioniq 6 sedan, which carries a sticker price of about $38,000, making it far less expensive than a comparably priced lease on its gasoline-burning models. Kia will lease its small Niro EV SUV for as little as $129 a month. And a GMC dealership in Indiana touts the Hummer EV—with a $100,000 sticker price—for a monthly lease payment of $650, similar to the monthly payment for a gas-powered car that costs half as much to buy. The dealership in Kokomo, Ind., sells about one Hummer EV a month, sales manager Travis Shedron said. Curious shoppers will check it out, then opt for a gas-powered Cadillac Escalade or GMC Denali instead. 'They're doing well, but they're not selling as well" as gas-powered alternatives, he said of the Hummers. Across the industry, sales of battery-powered cars are falling despite financial incentives. Even as automakers pile on the financial incentives to entice buyers, EV sales are falling. In June they were lower by 6.2%, the third straight monthly decline for battery-powered cars, according to estimates from Motor Intelligence, an industry-research firm. Tesla, which accounts for roughly half the EV market in the U.S., said last week that its global sales dropped 13.5% during the second quarter. The plunge comes despite EV makers spending record amounts on customer discounts and incentives. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are phasing out the $7,500 EV tax credit that has been in place for years to help boost sales. Why are so many American drivers hesitant? 'It's [driving] range, it's cost and it's charging infrastructure," said Mark Barrott, automotive lead at consulting firm Plante Moran. 'They've always been the big three reasons." Despite EV skepticism, EV models have proliferated. There are 75 models on sale in the U.S. this year, up from fewer than 20 on offer in 2020. There are twice as many incentives offered to buy EVs as exist for gas-powered cars, said Stephanie Valdez Streaty, an analyst for Cox Automotive. Promotions covered more than 14% of the average transaction price in May, according to Cox's data. Vehicles were on display in May at a car expo in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Transportation Department. Tesla's price drops have driven the market, she added. During the most recent quarter, Tesla offered 0% financing for its Model 3 sedan, which starts at roughly $42,000, and the Cybertruck, which starts at $69,990. Last week, the Tesla showroom in Manhattan's Meatpacking District was busier than traditional car dealerships lining 11th Avenue in Hell's Kitchen, but tourists accounted for most of the foot traffic. Out-of-towners seemed more interested in snapping photos of Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot than taking a test drive. Vincent Darbouze of Quebec stopped to compare the latest Tesla models with the Swedish Polestar EV he owns. He said he has no plans to trade in his vehicle now, but could be convinced by the right financial incentives. 'I know the tax credits in the U.S. are kind of done," he said. The EV tax credits targeted by Republicans have been a key driver of electric-car sales, particularly among less-affluent buyers. For new cars, the credit amounts to as much as $7,500 off the price, while used-car costs can be cut by up to $4,000. President Trump's 'big, beautiful bill" puts an end to those credits as of Sept. 30. A Tesla car dealership in the Brooklyn, N.Y. Federal EV tax credits are set to end in September. Some drivers may be motivated to buy or lease an EV before fall, but analysts aren't expecting a groundswell of interest. That is because making the leap to an EV can be daunting because of the cost of home chargers and the lack of a robust charging infrastructure in many U.S. cities and along major highways. Many carmakers including Ford, BMW and Hyundai are trying to allay these worries with deals for free home-charger installation or offers to cover the cost of charging at a public station. Leasing has remained the primary way for dealers to move EVs off their lots. Wealthy customers and pricier EVs haven't been eligible for the EV credit that is expiring, but those restrictions haven't applied to leased vehicles. In the fall, both sales and leases will have to succeed or fail in an unsubsidized EV market. 'That gives us basically 60 days to figure out what our plan is," said David Christ, general manager of Toyota in North America. 'The ground under the transactional experience for the EV is about to change and we'll have to reset." Write to Ryan Felton at Sharon Terlep at and Imani Moise at
Forbes
08-04-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Precise Positioning Could Accelerate Autonomy, Industry Panel Predicts
Ford Fusion equipped with Swift Navigation Skylark positioning system at the American Center for ... More Mobility, Ypsilanti, Michigan. On a closed course, as soon as the driver gets behind the wheel of a specially-equipped Ford Fusion all the windows are covered. With no physical view of the course, the driver will attempt to navigate its twists and turns using only an image on a tablet positioned above the steering wheel. After some period of adjustment and about a dozen crushed traffic cones, it's a clean crawl through a series of wide and tight turns and s-curves. It feels like a video game but the exercise at the American Center for Mobility near Ypsilanti, Michigan this week was a demonstration of Swift Navigation's Skylark Precision Positioning System. By using what's called global navigation satellite system, or GNSS, Swift's technology aims to provide vehicle location accuracy within one centimeter, by correcting any errors caused when satellite signals travel from space through the atmosphere to a series of thousands of ground reference stations around the world, according to the company. It's a cloud-based software solution that works in concert with properly-equipped vehicles. Swift Navigation image representing the difference in the accuracy of its system, from others. The ... More orange lines represent the correct driving course. The others show how far off other systems could be. Not to be confused with the more familiar global positioning system, or GPS, which is a U.S.-owned system, GNSS is actually the umbrella term for all global navigation systems. 'GNSS in the vehicle, is the only absolute position sensor that tells you where you are in the world, but it's part of the larger suite of sensors in the vehicle,' explained James Tidd, vice president, systems engineering at Swift during a panel discussion of the future of vehicle autonomy at the ACM on Tuesday, presented by the Society of Automotive Analysts. Panel discussing the future of vehicle autonomy at the American Center for Mobility, Ypsilanti, ... More Michigan, April 8, 2025. Seated left to right: Moderator Gary Vasilash; Mark Barrott, Plante Moran; Curtis Hay, General Motors; Daniela Steinbacher, Bosch; James Tidd, Swift Navigation. Indeed, as the auto industry looks to improve advance driver safety systems and increasing self-driving capabilities, the demand for more precise accuracy in vehicle positioning has become more acute. The challenges, however range from technology to budgets to competitive secrecy, panel members pointed out. 'We don't have a standardization, and I think this is a very crucial topic,' said Daniela Steinbacher, program manager at Bosch. 'Everybody's doing their own stuff.' Stuff costs money. Mark Barrott, a partner at management consultants Plante Moran warned with average vehicle transaction prices already around $50,000, adding cost for technology, as advantageous as it might be, is probably not a good business decision. 'I cannot put this technology into a vehicle to force another $2,000, $3,000 on top of that, the price of that vehicle,' said Barrott. 'It has to be affordable. It has to be useful, and my consumer has to understand how to use it, what benefit they're going to get. Self-driving systems such as General Motors's SuperCruise are becoming more popular, providing a break for drivers, as long as they keep their eyes on the road most of the time. However, the systems are only as safe and accurate as their programming, sensors and information ingested about the roads and environment on which the vehicles are traveling. Feedback from customers is they don't want SuperCruise to work in some environments, they want it to work everywhere, said technical fellow at GM, Curtis Hay. 'So as we expand automated driving to new environments, what happens? We see more trees. We see more buildings,' said Hay. 'We've got to solve those, they become more important problems to tackle the automated drive down highways.' About 70% of auto brands are currently using GNSS, according to Tidd and Swift is working with around 20 automakers. As both urgency and demand for more effective and accurate autonomy and ADAS technology increases, Tidd stresses it's imperative to look outward and upward. 'I think what's happened is people are now treating the intelligent transport system as a much larger system,' Tidd advised. 'You can no longer look at four wheels and a body of chassis and say, that's my system. You have to include the upper atmosphere, the surrounding environments, the road conditions.' Indeed it must at least be accurate enough for a driver to get though a course without crushing a dozen cones.
