Cars

Sellers Earn Profit on Used Cars With Broken Engines, Frames

By Betty C. Morrow 2 weeks ago
  • A lack of supply of new vehicles pushed used-car prices to record highs in May.
  • The CEO of an online marketplace told Forbes he was paying a premium price for damaged cars.
  • “We’re making money on these because auction pricing is so intense and high,” he said.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

It’s no secret that the used-car market has been bonkers lately, but demand has gotten so strong and supply so tight that one dealer said he was buying cars he previously never would have considered.

“We’ve been seeing things clear at 103%, 110% to MMR (Manheim Market Report)— cars that we bring in we would never sell that are damaged, like frame damage or need massive engine rebuild,” Toby Russell, a co-CEO of the used-vehicle marketplace Shift, said in an interview with Forbes published Tuesday.

“Normally we would lose a little money on

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Tesla Is Turning Cars Into Phones. Other Car Makers Better Catch On.

By Betty C. Morrow 2 weeks ago

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Courtesy Aptiv

Cars are slowly becoming less about hardware and more about software. That shift has the power to change the automotive industry as much as any other trend, including vehicle electrification and autonomous driving. Automotive investors should start paying more attention to software.

If a “software defined vehicle,” as the industry calls it, is difficult to grasp, all consumers need to do is look at their phones. Then, perhaps, visit their grandparents.

Phones used to be all about hardware. A rotary phone from Ma Bell didn’t have a lot of features constantly updating. Innovations were push-button numbers and extra long cords. But a new iPhone from

Apple

(AAPL) regularly has new apps and operating systems making it go a little bit better day by day.

Cars are still in the rotary phone stage—or perhaps the flip phone stage. But that is changing.

Tesla

(TSLA)

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Amelia Island Concours 2021 Results: Pre-War Cars Sales Beat Estimates

By Betty C. Morrow 3 weeks ago

After a year of online sales and virtual showings, car auctions are back for real—in a big way.

During the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance May 20–23, collectors paid a premium for the world’s rare automotive classics in the largest live auction weekend event since the coronavirus pandemic began. Many lots went for well over their high estimates.

Together the two auction houses that sold during the annual car show off the coast of Florida amassed sales of $61.3 million, up from $57.2 million in March of 2020. (The event is traditionally held at the Golf Club of Amelia Island in early March every year; for 2021 organizers pushed it to May).  

The top seller was a 1929 Duesenberg Model J Murphy Torpedo Convertible Coupe that RM Sotheby’s sold for $5,725,000, more than $1 million over its $4 million high estimate. It was the third-highest auction price ever paid for

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History Channel’s New Documentary Reveals the Badass Cars That Built the World

By Betty C. Morrow 3 weeks ago

Bloomberg

First Warning Sign in Global Commodity Boom Flashes in China

(Bloomberg) — One pillar of this year’s blistering commodities rally — Chinese demand — may be teetering.Beijing aced its economic recovery from the pandemic largely via an expansion in credit and a state-aided construction boom that sucked in raw materials from across the planet. Already the world’s biggest consumer, China spent $150 billion on crude oil, iron ore and copper ore alone in the first four months of 2021. Resurgent demand and rising prices mean that’s $36 billion more than the same period last year.With global commodities rising to record highs, Chinese government officials are trying to temper prices and reduce some of the speculative froth that’s driven markets. Wary of inflating asset bubbles, the People’s Bank of China has also been restricting the flow of money to the economy since last year, albeit gradually to avoid derailing growth.

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