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Vol. 40 / Issue 8 / August 2022
Registration Open for Texas Auto Body Trade Show, Aug. 26-27
Texas Poll Shows Majority of Young Voters Own or Want to Own EVs
Registration is now open for the Texas Auto Body Trade Show, to be held Aug. 26-27 at the Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas, 500 W. Las Colinas Blvd., in Irving, TX.
by William Johnson, Teslarati
Presented by the Auto Body Association of Texas (ABAT), the
Texas Auto Body Trade Show is an annual two-day trade event, featuring exhibits, education, competitions and more, strategically crafted to foster the success of all levels of the automotive repair industry across Texas and the Southwest region. Bring the whole shop to premium education sessions, presented by internationally known speakers, designed to take your shop to the next level in 2022. There are sessions for everyone, and this year it is easier than ever to see who will benefit the most out of See Registration Open, Page 27
A Deeper Look at Crash Champions’ Merger with Service King by David Roberts, managing director of Focus Advisors
After months of speculation about the future of Service King, a blockbuster merger with Crash Champi-
ons was announced to Service King managers on July 15. The two consolidators will merge and create a 550+ shop operation with upwards of $2 billion in annualized sales.
See Crash Champions to Merge, Page 12
Recent polling showed more than half of voters under the age of 45 have bought an EV or are considering buying one. In the poll released by Texas 2036, a nonprofit voter polling agency in the state focused on gauging the interests of voters on a wide variety of topics, more than half of younger voters already own or are considering buying electric cars. The poll found those between the age of 35 and 44 were most likely to acquire EVs (56%), followed
by 18- to 34-year-olds (53%), then 45- to 55-year-olds (34%) and finally voters over age 55 (20%).
The poll also examined why voters were or were not interested in buying electric vehicles. SurprisSee Texas Poll, Page 14
The World Experienced a Pandemic—and Initial Vehicle Quality Got Sick In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, initial vehicle quality notably declined, according to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Initial Quality Study, released June 28.
Buick was the highest-ranking brand in J.D. Power’s 2022 U.S. Initial Quality Study and the Buick Encore GX, shown here, ranked the highest in its segment.
The disruptions caused by the pandemic—supply chain issues, record-high vehicle prices and personnel dislocations---contributed to vehicle problems reaching a record high in the 36-year history of this benchmark study. Compared with 2021 results, the industry experienced an 11% increase in problems per 100 vehicles (PP100), which is 18 PP100 worse than last year, resulting in an industry average of 180 PP100. A lower score reflects higher vehicle quality.
General Motors bucked the trend with an improvement in initial quality that landed it in the highest rank position among automotive corporations. Among brands, Buick’s quality improved 17 PP100 year over year, vaulting it to ranking highest overall in 2022 from 12th place in 2021, while Genesis ranked highest among premium brands. Just nine of 33 ranked brands improved in vehicle quality year over year. “Given the many challenges automakers and their dealers had to face in the past year, it’s somewhat surprising that initial quality didn’t fall even more dramatically,” said David Amodeo, director of global automotive at J.D. Power. “In general, initial quality has shown steady improvement throughout the history of this study, so the decline this year is disappointing—yet understandable. Automakers continue to launch vehicles that are more and more technologically complex in an era in which there have been many shortages of critical components to support them.” See Initial Vehicle Quality, Page18
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