Monthly Archive: October 2019

Porsche launches online car sales pilot program in U.S.

Porsche is launching a pilot program to offer online sales of new and used cars for the first time in the U.S., reflecting changing consumer preferences and taking digital retailing about as far as it can go under current dealer franchise laws.

Porsche says it has already launched the program as a joint pilot with 25 of its 191 U.S. Porsche dealers, with a wider rollout possible if all goes well. It will allow customers to move beyond using the web merely for researching vehicle specs and prices and let them view inventories, calculate payments and trade-in value, get approved for credit and sign up for financing and insurance options through Porsche Financial Services. They can also upload photos of their personal documents for ID verification and of their car for trade-in valuation. Dealers will then prepare final paperwork for customers to come in and sign before taking delivery.

The program means buyers need visit the dealer only once to collect their Porsche, with the ability to do all the other paperwork from their computer or mobile device. “For our dealerships, who are at the core of our strategic initiatives, we think this blend of digital and physical interaction with customers will only strengthen their business,” Klaus Zellmer, president and CEO of Porsche Cars North America, said in a statement.

A Porsche spokesperson said the participating dealers have installed and launched the service on their dealership websites over the past month, so the program is already live. Porsche is also launching a similar program in Germany.

Automakers have been exploring new ways to overhaul the car-buying experience as customers express dissatisfaction with the traditional automotive dealership model. Tesla most notably employs a direct retail model, bypassing dealer franchises altogether in favor of company-owned stores and online retailing, but that leaves it unable to sell its vehicles in many states with strict franchise laws. Porsche also offers a subscription service called Porsche Passport in select markets that starts at $2,000 a month and includes unlimited ability to switch models.

“We do not benchmark but instead develop new programs based on how we can best exceed customer expectations,” a Porsche spokesperson told Autoblog.

The new pilot covers all new and pre-owned vehicles in a dealership’s inventory.

Michigan dealer turns a Jeep Gladiator into a Scrambler tribute

Motor1 discovered this gem buried on YouTube, a Jeep Gladiator made over into a tribute to the Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler. Built by Preferred Jeep in Grand Haven, Michigan — and still for sale at the time of writing — the Scrambler look-back just about nails one of the iconic Scrambler liveries from 1982. The only things missing are the brown hardtop and brown wheel cover for the bed-mounted spare tire.

The truck's based on a Gladiator S with the eight-speed auto. We'd prefer the six-speed manual, but the transmission isn't a misstep — the original offered a three-speed automatic. White wagon-wheel rims wear 35-inch tires under a two-inch Mopar lift, the custom roll bar is lined with enough lights to spook everything in the hills, and the spare tire gets a period-correct Y-shaped retaining bar. There's a basic infotainment system inside, and plenty of other features the Scrambler never offered like climate control, heated front seats, and Bluetooth.

Anyone who wants to take the dealer version home will start the negotiating at $52,270 before incentives. Sure, that's not far off Gladiator Rubicon asking prices, but frankly, it's also not far off some original Scrambler asking prices. In 2010 you could find OG Jeep pickups in the fancier Laredo trim under $10K. Dealers and private sellers are now asking anywhere from the mid-$20,000s to more than $40,000 for good examples of the one-time ugly duckling. Models with LS engine swaps have gone for close to $50,000 at auction this year.

Jeep created a Scrambler concept for this year's Easter Jeep Safari and "didn't rule [it] out ... for production one day." Until one day comes, Grand Haven's work might do the trick.  

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The Subaru Outback is pretty much the entire wagon market

Last year in the United States, Subaru dealers sold a new Outback wagon every 2.94 minutes. Sales were brisker the year before, when dealers sold a new Outback every 2.78 minutes. It cracked the 50,000-units-per-year barrier every year but one starting in 1997, and has shifted more than 100,000 units annually in the United States every year since 2011. From 2013-2015, Kelley Blue Book said the Outback sat on dealer lots for less time than any other car on sale. Here's a starker set of numbers: J.D. Power, as quoted in a CNBC video, put the U.S. station wagon market at 1.4% of the total U.S. car market in 2018. However, the Outback alone was 1.2%, meaning the sales of every other wagon amounted to a minuscule 0.2% of the total car market. Or, as Road & Track put it, "Out of every 20 wagons sold here, 17 are Subaru Outbacks. Damn."

Without taking anything away from Subaru, we need to thank Audi again for bringing the RS 6 Avant and A6 Allroad here, even if the best the Ingolstadt brand can do is bleed marketing dollars to scrap it out with every other automaker for, well, scraps.

The CNBC vid doesn't get into how the Outback became the wagon heavyweight save for a mention about it being "part wagon, part crossover" and saying it has "evolved to incorporate more attributes of SUVs and crossovers" like all-wheel drive. That take overlooks the fact that Subaru debuted the jacked-up, bold-faced Legacy Outback at the end of 1994 as a 1995-model-year offering. Subaru designed the Legacy Outback to be a wagon/SUV tweener, well after Subaru was already known for its AWD chops, and before anyone had coined the word "crossover." The Toyota RAV4, now credited as being the first crossover, didn't show until early 1996. A Subaru exec said in 2014, "We could see the sales explode in SUVs and nobody else really produced a car-based SUV." That quote, by the way, came in a nifty article about the death of the station wagon, shortly after the author wrote, "The real culprit behind the disappearance of the middle class wagon in America (besides the entire American car-buying public) is, in my opinion, the Subaru Outback."   

It helped that Subaru knew its niche and built just the car its customers wanted, which is why Car and Driver named the Outback the best wagon for an active, outdoor lifestyle, why Autotrader calls it "the best of a few different worlds," and why CarMax has averaged more than two used Outbacks sold every day for 13 years.

But the marketing campaigns sealed it. Practically picking up where Subaru left off with irreverent DL wagon marketing in the 1970s - that was the wagon that "climbed like a goat, worked like a horse and ate like a bird" - Subaru has put Crocodile Dundee, Lance Armstrong, shaming the Germans, animals who want Ricky, honeymooners, and the "Love" of oh so many dogs to work in the wild, mountainous, rainy outdoors flogging its wares. Any CMOs looking for a case study in ROI, the Outback is that, too. Anyone looking for another sad story about the dim future for wagons, check out the video above.

Build your own robot on wheels with this awesome kit

Transcript: Build your own robot on wheels. The mBot kit from Makeblock teaches how to build and program robots. This educational kit uses block-based programing. It aims to make learning about robotics and programming simple and fun. mBot has 4 expansion ports with more than 100 electronic modules, and a large variety of add-ons. mBot has 3 modes: obstacle avoidance, line-follow, and manual control. Makeblock’s mBot is currently 40% off at $60.00.

You can check it out here.

Autoblog is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. These deals are available through our affiliate partnership with Amazon.com. Deals are subject to Amazon's schedule and availability.

World’s first esports racing arena could find a home in Miami

Miami is experiencing a sort of sports venue boom right now. Just a few years ago, the Miami Dolphins unveiled a renovated Hard Rock Stadium, David Beckham is in the process of bringing a new MLS soccer arena to the city (supposedly), and now Millennial Esports says it's building what it claims to be the world's first dedicated esports racing arena in South Beach.

Esports have been exploding in popularity over the past 10 years, but any time there's been a massive event like the Fortnite World Cup or the FIA Gran Turismo Championship, it takes place in a preexisting event space or sports venue. The 2019 League of Legends World Championship, for example, takes place at at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France. Millennial Esports wants to shift that trend.

In partnership with Florida-based racing simulator company Allinsports, Millennial Esports Corporation will build a 12,000-square-foot arena in the Wynwood entertainment district in Miami. For reference, a football field is roughly 57,000 square feet, so it's not huge. Based on the photos, it sort of looks like a live set for a TV show with massive screens up front.

The company plans to use the space for local and global esports racing leagues and competitions as well as general esports events. Furthermore, the building will also serve as a training academy facility for digital drivers. The space will feature 30 racing simulators, and professional drivers will have the option to install full-size simulators. 

Millennial Esports has plans to build numerous dedicated facilities around the globe as the sport and industry continues to expand. The Miami facility is scheduled to open in 2020.

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