The average new vehicle price continues to climb, Dodge unveils a special Challenger, Daniel Ricciardo to split from McLaren. All this and more in today’s issue of The Morning Dump.
Welcome to The Morning Dump, bite-sized stories corralled into a single article for your morning perusal. If your morning coffee’s working a little too well, pull up a throne and have a gander at the best of the rest of yesterday.
Record Average New Vehicle Price Expected For August
Consumers really do keep on consuming. Reuters reports that August’s average new vehicle transaction price is expected to soar higher than giraffe nostrils despite interest rate hikes.
Average transaction prices are set to reach a record $46,259, an 11.5% increase from a year earlier, according to the report from auto industry consultants J.D. Power and LMC Automotive.
However, an inventory shortage continues to shackle new vehicle sales. Retail sales of new vehicles are expected to reach 980,400 units in August, a 2.6% decrease from a year earlier, the consultants added.
“In September, the constraints are expected to continue with sales being hampered by available inventory. In the near term, prices and per-unit profitability will remain strong,” said Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Power.
Wow, that’s a ton of money right there. $46,259 could buy any number of amazing cars, so it’s staggering to think of it as an average transaction price. While it’s worth noting that Kelley Blue Book previously reported an average new vehicle transaction price of $48,043 in June, J.D. Power and LMC Automotive use different methods to reach an average transaction price, and this latest figure represents records using their methodology. Kelley Blue Book also reported another average price increase for July, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it reports yet another increase for August.
A year-over-year sales decline isn’t good news either; it indicates that new vehicle supply is still tight, fueling dealer markup and high transaction prices. While it’s entirely possible that rising interest rates dissuaded some drivers from entering the new car market, it’s going to take far more than the Federal Reserve hiking its benchmark overnight interest rate to cool down this crazy car market.
High Energy Prices Threaten UK Auto Manufacturing Recovery
While supply chain shortages may be the hot topic of the moment, it certainly isn’t the only thing putting pressure on automakers. Bloomberg reports that rising energy costs threaten to derail the U.K. automotive industry’s pandemic recovery plans.
Wholesale UK gas and power prices are at near-record levels, with gas futures currently a staggering 10 times their normal level for this time of year — a development SMMT called “alarming.”
The energy market has been rocked by Russia cutting supplies to mainland Europe and fears about shortages this winter.
“If we are to attract much needed investment to drive the production of zero-emission vehicles, urgent action is needed to mitigate these costs to make the UK more competitive for manufacturing,” Mike Hawes, SMMT’s CEO, said in a statement.
“This must be a priority for the next Prime Minister else we will fall further behind our global rivals, risking jobs and economic growth,” Hawes said.
Between supply chain disruptions and rising energy prices, costs of operations are rising across the UK’s automotive sector. While getting a leash on energy prices isn’t a silver bullet, it should give automakers and consumers alike some breathing room.
The Dodge Challenger Shakedown Is A Limited-Edition Nod To A Very Special Project
To commemorate the end of Dodge’s full-size muscle cars, the American company announced earlier this month that seven special edition models will slowly be unveiled over the next few months. Here’s the first one, the Dodge Challenger Shakedown. Why Shakedown? Because these special edition Challengers pair the Goldilocks 6.4-liter naturally-aspirated V8 with a throwback shaker hood, along with other aesthetic embellishments.
If you’re getting a sense of déjà vu from the Shakedown name, cast your mind back to 2016. At that year’s SEMA show, Dodge pulled the wraps off a gnarly Challenger restomod called the Shakedown. Classic body, modern running gear, job done at the time. To create this new Shakedown, Dodge has transplanted some ideas from the one-off project into brand new Challengers.
As expected, the Challenger Shakedown isn’t a stripped-out bare-knuckle brawler. Dodge takes a standard Challenger R/T Scat Pack and piles on the Plus Group, Technology Group, Dynamics Package, suede upholstery, carbon fiber interior trim, and navigation to create a reasonably fast personal luxury coupe. From there, a special stripe package, unique badges, black wheels, red interior accents, and red six-piston Brembo front calipers are added, along with the aforementioned shaker hood.
Choice of color comes with choice of body. If you’re in the camp that narrower tires lead to more fun, you’re locked into a Destroyer Grey paint job that looks like somebody shot clearcoat over primer. If you can foot a tire bill the size of a car payment, step right up to the widebody and Pitch Black paint that really makes the red accents pop. Production will be limited to 500 standard body and 500 widebody models, giving the Challenger Shakedown the potential for real collector cred.
While a shaker hood and some visual touches are likely to appease Mopar die-hards, I’m excited at the potential for six even cooler limited edition models to drop soon. After all, why start off with the strongest product? There’s a really good chance that Dodge will do some really special stuff to ensure its iconic Hellcat engine goes out with two middle fingers in the air, and I can’t wait to see what’s planned.
Daniel Ricciardo To Split From McLaren F1 Team
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) August 24, 2022
An important F1 silly season rumor has been confirmed. The Associated Press reports that Daniel Ricciardo will officially split from McLaren after the 2022 Formula 1 season.
“This will be my last year with McLaren. Obviously we put in a lot of effort on both sides, but it just hasn’t worked the way we wanted, so the team has decided to make a change for next year,” Ricciardo said in a video message posted to his social media platforms Wednesday.
“I think for the future, what lies ahead, I am not sure yet. I am not sure yet. But we’ll see. I look back on this time with McLaren, I look back with a smile. I learned a lot about myself, I think things that will help me for the next step in my career, but I think just in general in life.”
McLaren head Zak Brown in May acknowledged that Ricciardo’s seat was shaky and said there were “mechanisms” in which the driver and team could split ahead of the 2023 season. The mechanism turned out to be a buyout since Ricciardo held the option on next season.
It’s a shame to see Ricciardo out of McLaren, but not entirely surprising. Ricciardo is currently 12th in the driver standings with just 19 points on the board, not an especially strong showing for a household name. In addition, McLaren’s plans to fill Ricciardo’s seat aren’t looking especially certain. While Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri is widely believed to fill that position, he’s embroiled in a contract dispute that’s yet to be settled.
The Flush
Whelp, time to drop the lid on today’s edition of The Morning Dump. Happy Thursday, the weekend is just around the corner. With the march towards EVs ongoing, it’s only a matter of time before we lose the sound of tiny controlled explosions in new cars, which begs a good question. What’s your favorite automotive sound that isn’t internal combustion? For me, it’s a toss-up between the chattering protest of tires just approaching the limits of adhesion and the imperious thunk of old Mercedes-Benz doors. How about you?
Lead photo credit: JeepersMedia licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Noises – I’m going to have to go with chirping tires on shifts. Not much better than having an open stretch in front of you at a 4-way stop, and hearing reeev – CHIRP – reeeeeeev – CHIRP – reeeeeeeeev…
It’s the little things.
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People can’t afford new cars, stuck buying used.
GM will stop making the Spark next week, so order yours while you still can! YTou can even get a manual 2LT in a cool color such as orange or yellow, or even a cool shade of blue, with a sunroof and heated leather seats 🙂
They were premature in killing off the affordable new cars.
Best sound not related to the motor/exhaust? I love the rhythmic clicking of a nice indicator.
Just wondering is there an average new car price for Ice and EVs separate from average new car combined? Also the average price keeps rising because it’s mostly the rich buyers buying new cars.
I honestly thought I would be the first to mention the fuel system priming. In this group it’s hard to be an outlier. I like when the tires talk to me without screaming at me. I like the less loved sound of my short throw shifter notching in (but only after it got greased, as initially installed it was a pain). Oh: the sound system can be pretty good when it’s pretty good.
More important to me than sounds are smells.
Diesel exhaust while its got that cold-rainy smell? Instantly in a good place.
I like the sound of electric window motors. When I was young only the better cars had them. Most people avoided them because they were just “something to go wrong.” So I grew up equating that sound with class. Every clap trap shoebox has electric windows now. But when I hear that electric motor at work I think, “Good for you.”
My ideal car would be the most efficient EV. No electronics that aren’t vital. No electric windows, lock mechanism, dials, entertainment system, transmission, convertible top or sunroof, seat heaters just give AC, Radio, defrost and fuel pump, I need the exercise. I don’t get more electronics in EVs, you just hurt range.
Sound: The electric motor of my 90 Mustang GT ragtop pulling the roof open.
Favorite sound? A bolt breaking loose. I think this is half of why I enjoy the I Do Cars channel on YouTube. He starts loosening all of the head bolts with a breaker bar and cuts them together in a sort of gearhead ASMR clip. 🙂
Well, I love the sound of people at the start line of an autoX, but my current favorite is the sound of gravel/mud/snow hitting my fender liners. My all-time favorite was the sound made by a 1976 (former) Formula Ford Dulon: twin 48mm IDAs directly behind my head just gulping air & >flinging< that little 1400lb rocket forward. Damned glad I got to experience that/that I didn’t flip it the day it was sold!
Vehicle Noises that make me feel some type of way.
’90s Ford truck doors opening and closing.
Fuel priming whine
Aircooled VW exhaust, specifically my Dad’s ’74 Van
7.3L International Diesel firing off for the first time in months due to my troubleshooting.
The last one is directly from a story where I wiped the smile off some senior mechanic’s face. It was a glorious moment.
Thumbs up for the fuel priming. Was one of my first thoughts as well.
How about the median transaction price? Wouldn’t that be a better barometer for what us more normal people are paying? It’s what is done with the housing market…
Shush. Next you’ll point out that the decline in regular car sales has not been accompanied by a drop in rich people playthings, and that makes the mean even less meaningful.
Favorite automotive sound: The sound of an old semi truck with a compressed-air-powered starter. It’s the soundtrack of obnoxiousness.
Favotite sounds? The smacking rhythm of expansion joints on the interstate, as I doze in the front passenger seat after my shift at the wheel on long road trips. Feels just like momma rocking me to sleep as a kid. Because well, that’s what she did.
I plunked down $30K earlier this year for a 2004 Maserati Coupe GT 6 speed manual with 46K miles. To put that in perspective, this is a proper Ferrari engined, manual transmission car that can tear up your favorite B road or be just as happy transporting you and a passenger in comfort on a 8 hour journey. All for $16K less than the average price of a new car. While I’m not suggesting it will have new car levels of upkeep or even reliability, it has been fairly trouble free and makes me wonder if – outside of a warranty – all the new car fuss is really worth it. It is, also, without a doubt one of the best sounding ICE vehicles to assuage your eardrums.
Which brings me onto the next topic of discussion: EVs. Sorry, I just don’t see this as the future. Putting aside the fact that EVs, irregardless of their straight line speed, are completely missing a critical part of the experience that delights drivers – sound, transmission and engagement (and yes, I’ve driven the P100D and Taycan) – there are still many obstacles to overcome. The elephant in the room, of course, is the raw material needed to manufacture batteries, which is neither currently sustainable, environmentally friendly nor readily available (unless we want to invade Afghanistan again).
I predict everyone that has gone all-in on EV technology, will in 2 – 3 years time, move away from such a hard line all-or-nothing ideology. So, whether it’s hydrogen fuel cells, synfuels, CNG or some other form of propulsion, I am anxious to see what the future brings. But I am certain it’s not BEV.
Let’s also remember that Toyota, which many regard as one of the best run car companies, has doubled down on hydrogen and is only making EVs for optics.
I think you are dramatically underestimating the challenges we face with fuel cells.
Fuel cells are very expensive to produce and require rare metals for catalysts. It’s estimated that Toyota lost $100K per Muria.
95% of hydrogen is currently produced by burning natural gas. Which is not good. Producing it by electrolysis is expensive… and we don’t have the infrastructure in place.
Storing hydrogen is no fun. It will be a major headache developing a nationwide system of “gas stations.”
Meanwhile, battery technology is permitting faster and faster recharging. And electricity is easy to transport.
I think you are dramatically underestimating the challenges we face with fuel cells.
Fuel cells are very expensive to produce and require rare metals for catalysts. It’s estimated that Toyota lost $100K per Muria.
95% of hydrogen is currently produced by burning natural gas. Which is not good. Producing it by electrolysis is expensive… and we don’t have the infrastructure in place.
Storing hydrogen is no fun. It will be a major headache developing a nationwide system of “gas stations.”
Meanwhile, battery technology is permitting faster and faster recharging. And electricity is easy to transport.
And the problems go on…
Like anything else, fuel cell technology will scale and become less expensive as it does. Remember that Tesla, not too long ago, only turned a profit because it sold bitcoin and emissions credits.
Yes, hydrogen production today is not carbon neutral and the infrastructure for dispensing it in mass is not yet in place. But the same holds true for the electricity needed to power EVs. 63% of global electricity is being generated by fossil fuels and the infrastructure to charge an EV is woefully under developed, especially in the US. BMW figured out how to store hydrogen back in the 80s in the tank of an E32 7 series. I’m sure with a little more R&D a solution that is safe for consumers could be quite viable.
Faster recharging times are fine and dandy, but it still doesn’t address the issues of how the batteries are made. Which is why I predict EVs will not be the future.
Rootwyrm – you’ve made some thoughtful comments on other threads (thanks). I think you’re understanding this one.
Yes… we can make individual hydrogen vehicles (reasonably) “crash safe.” But you neglect the refill stations. “NFPA” is the National Fire Prevention Association. The US uses IBC (International Building Code) to build new buildings… which in turn uses NFPA for Fire Code.
Storing more than 75 cubic feet of gaseous hydrogen (or a gallon of liquid hydrogen) kicks in all sorts of building requirements. Building a national hydrogen distribution system will be far more challenging than a battery recharging network. With battery recharge speed getting better and better… I just don’ the see Hydrogen happening. Nev ind the production issue.
Let’s agree to disagree and revisit this it ten years.
“which is neither currently sustainable, environmentally friendly nor readily available (unless we want to invade Afghanistan again).”
All of those statements currently apply to hydrogen as well, except you have to add in the fact that there is functionally no infrastructure available to support it either.
New battery chemistries can be created to solve a lot of those problems. The process of extracting hydrogen is what it is and it’s unsustainable at scale.
Extracting hydrogen is hard?
Water + Electrolysis = hydrogen + oxygen.
Get electricity from solar or wind farms.
It isn’t hard, its just we haven’t built anything at that scale yet.
You are of course correct. Plus, we need electrically generated hydrogen anyway for planes, long haul shipping, and fertilizers. The source of the hydrogen can be nuclear, deep geothermal, solar, wind, tidal, hydroelectric… a plethora of sources. These, combined with iron-nickel heavy storage at the generation site, will provide huge amounts of hydrogen, which can then use our existing natural gas infrastructure for distribution:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2020.509052/full
You don’t need to use fuel cells if you don’t want either. ICE works fine with hydrogen. Or you could simply use the hydrogen, and combine it with atmospheric CO2, to create longer chain fuels.
All of this is easier than trying to build out a whole new lithium supply chain and recycle infrastructure. But because we have people who aren’t chemists making these decisions, they aren’t using the total infrastructure costs to consider the paradigm shift, and always ignore the hidden costs of the straight battery vehicles which they want everyone to go to.
And yes, chemistry is one of my degrees.
This is an interesting article in Nature about using atmospheric CO2 to make long chain olefins:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29971-5
It’s extremely hard from an energy perspective. If you assume that we’re going to magically increase our electricity production to allow for the incredibly inefficient process of hydrolysis, then sure, it sounds easy. The problem is that here in the real world scaling our green energy production like that is extremely difficult, if not impossible.
The only way hydrogen ever becomes viable is if we commit to nuclear power, which can create large quantities of hydrogen as basically a byproduct of its power generation. Just using electricity to make hydrogen is so wasteful it will never be viable at any kind of scale.
Based upon the market it looks like you overpaid by 10-15k.
If I bought a Cambiocorsa Coupe yes. Not for a 6 speed manual.
Its funny, I traded in back in Jan 2021, like 3 or 4 weeks before prices started to spike. Finished remodeling the house and sawing down trees.
Decided it was a good time to dump my 14 mpg 2011 Tundra, 4wd extra cab with the small underpowered but gas guzzlint 4.6 v8. Truck was clean, no wrecks, no dents, mint interior with 85,000 miles. Loved that truck but it was hard to justify 14mpg when I was done with the remodel and was just using that huge truck to commute
Traded it for a 2014 Lexus ES350, 50k miles. Car is IMMACULATE. Red on black leather. I just straight up did a trade with Carvana, I think I owed them like $200 in fees, no taxes cause the truck trade in was the same as the Lexus purchase price. Love the nicer/quieter ride of the Lexus. Really love the leather smell and 27mpg in mixed driving. Thing is this car actually has some balls when you put your foot down. I plan to keep this car another 8-10 years and 200,000 miles or so. If electric cars are affordable, give me 500 miles of range doing 80mph in temps like 95 degrees or 5 degrees, then I might buy one. I can only afford one nice long distance cruiser, I do those types of trips 4 times a year with my Lexus. If I slow down to 70 the car does 36mpg.
Alonso moving to Aston Martin has resulted in both Alpine (his current team) and McLaren (his previous team) in a world of hurt. now both of them without a #1 driver (ya Norris IS McLaren’s actual #1, but listed as #2 – and Piastri’s contract will be decided in court). I don’t think that was Fernando’s intent, but neither do I think he’s shed a tear over it.
and while Danny Ric wants to stay in F1, there’s no room at the teams ahead or around McLaren unless he goes to Alpine, and they have cause to distrust him.
a crappy situation all around…how long before Laurence Stroll and Alonso try to strangle one another? I hope the racing is as entertaining as Silly Season has been.
Not sure if this counts but I love the click of a torque wrench.
There’s nothing like the sound of doing a job correctly.
Every time I tighten a head bolt in an aluminum block, the torque wrench click makes me very happy.
That’s more a tactile feeling for me than a sound thing.
For a sound, the opposite of that does it for me. That nice crisp snap of a bolt breaking loose for the first time in forever. Especially if it was right on the verge of being the very soft, squishy sound of one going snap and leaving me with the bolt head in my hand and the rest of the bolt inside the system.
The best thing about the limited editions not being announced together is the extremely high risk of buyer’s remorse if one of the last ones is the perfect embodiment of your dream for this platform, but you already have an earlier edition in the driveway.
They should make the last “special edition” a countdown edition where they just use up what’s left at the factory and put a decreasing number plaque on the dash. “So the last 5 Chargers ever were V6 automatics with widebody kits only on the front?” “Yep, this is 4th from the end. On 3rd, 2nd and last the seats don’t match each other.”
Let’s see them go all-in with fun colors, too, and we could have Dodge Charger Harlequins that take the theme farther than VW ever imagined!
Shakedown, breakdown, takedown
Everybody wants into the crowded light
Breakdown, takedown, your busted
Bob Seger saw this coming decades ago…
Bravo!
Automotive sounds: definitely the door thud of a well-insulated car. It’s really satisfying to hear that.
I’ll definitely miss the sound of shifting, even in an automatic, as we move to EVs. I briefly had a CVT, and it was fine, but it didn’t feel/sound right.
Some of the modern automatics sound great too. I had a Camaro SS convertible as a rental in July and the clunk/burbles that thing made on upshift were delightful.
Favorite automotive sound? Cold Start of a 6.4 Hemi with the rear diffusers deleted.
I am disappointed the Shake down did not get the active suspension bits from earlier SVT’s. the ride when not tracking the Scatties is why I would not want one.
I don’t think it’s necessarily Schadenfreude, but every time I read another story about transaction prices going bananas, I’m very happy and secure with the decision to keep my 2012 JK in top shape. After doing a thorough service on the solenoids, valve body, and filter, it shifts better than ever and I’m grateful to have the time, tools, and knowledge to swing my own wrench.
“Shakedown” best describes the new car business in general.