YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Pat Primm, a partner in Cascade Auto Group in Cuyahoga Falls, says he is encouraged by what he heard at a recent global meeting of Audi dealers in Portugal. Of the 11 new models that will be introduced over the next 20 months, the majority will utilize internal combustion engine – or ICE – technology, he reports.
That’s good news, according to Primm, because car buyers have yet to embrace electric vehicles with the enthusiasm manufacturers might have hoped for but are showing interest in hybrid models as well as more traditional vehicles.
“Whereas the German manufacturers were very, very strong with EVs, they’re starting to realize, especially for the United States market, that the adoption rate is much slower here than everyone had hoped for,” he says. “So, they’re not ignoring ICE cars as they had originally planned.”
Cascade has three brands – Mazda and Subaru as well as Audi – and sales of all three are doing well, with unit sales 12% above last year, Primm says.
Subaru sales are always strong. “That’s a strong product and one that is product driven, availability driven,” he remarks. “If we have more cars, we sell more cars.”
Meanwhile, Audi sales have exceeded objectives set by the manufacturer, Primm continues. He attributes part of the gains to a recent major renovation of his Audi showroom, which had a positive effect on employees and clientele.
“Any time you have a brand new, shiny building, it puts us in a better light,” he says. “It makes the employees happier and makes the customers feel more welcome.”
Modern touch points added include a Wi-Fi bar for customers waiting for service, better lighting to show off vehicles and more comfortable areas for customers to meet with salespeople.
STRONG SALES
Auto dealers contacted for this story largely report strong sales so far this year. In addition to Cascade, The Business Journal interviewed representatives of Diane Sauer Chevrolet in Warren, Apostolakis Auto Group in Cortland, #1 Cochran Buick GMC in Boardman, and Mark Thomas Ford in Cortland.
Sales at both Apostolakis Honda in Cortland and Shenango Honda in Hermitage, Pa., are up from last year. But Jess Briganti, marketing director at Apostolakis Auto Group, concedes inventory was low in 2023 because of chip manufacturing issues that persisted through part of the year and manufacturing slowdowns because of the employee shortage that plagued factories.
“Last year we ran out of cars continuously,” Briganti says. “This time it’s a different game because cars are readily available.” Best sellers for the dealerships are the CR-V and Civic, she adds.
“In our market, affordability is top of mind,” says Matt Sauer, president since August 2023 of Diane Sauer Chevrolet.
For new vehicles, top volume sellers include “budget-conscious, small-to-midsize” sport utility vehicles such as the Trax, Trailblazer and Equinox, according to Sauer.
Redesigned this year, the Trax is “a hot ticket item,” he says.
Buyers can get a well-equipped model for $25,000. “It’s sleek, stylish, attractive, spacious and really hits the affordability segment,” he says.
“Honestly, everything’s selling,” says Tom Levak, president of Mark Thomas Ford. “It goes in spurts based on the programs they have on the cars and how much you have of each item.” Perennial hot sellers include the F-150 pickup and Bronco Sport and explorer SUVs.
At the #1 Cochran Buick GMC dealership in Boardman, Buick sales are up over last year but GMC performance is down, an issue of availability and inventory, says Ron Cast, general sales manager. “We obviously sell what we have,” he says.
The Cochran dealership has been among the top three dealerships in the country a couple months over the past year, driven in part by good lease programs and lower price points on some models, Cast says. Customers have been purchasing rather than leasing the 2024 Buick Envista, which runs from $24,000 to $31,000 for a fully loaded model, because of the price point.
Other models doing well include the Encore GX and Envision, which received a new body style for 2024. “It’s been bringing people in the door,” Cast says.
At Cascade, customers are excited about the restyled Subaru Forester, which is larger and more modern looking, and Outback remains a consistent seller for the brand, Primm says. Mazda has the CX-70 and CX-90, full-size SUVs that replaced the CX-9, which was “getting a little long in the tooth,” Primm says.
“The CX-90 is a good-size, seven-passenger vehicle that people can actually fit in the third row,” he says.
At Apostolakis, the 2026 Passport, a redesign of the model, is debuting in November but won’t be available to the public until first quarter 2025, Briganti says.
“Honda doesn’t do that as often as some other makes. It may take a solid four or five years to do a total redesign,” Briganti says. In the past few years, the automaker has redesigned the Civic, Accord and Pilot, along with “subtle redesigns” on the Odyssey and CR-V.
PICKUP TRUCKS
Truck sales are struggling right now, Sauer acknowledges. Silverado maintains the greatest value among Chevrolet’s full-size trucks, and the dealership sells “one or two here and there,” mostly in crew cab configuration.
“There used to be a market of people who would buy trucks just to have a truck. Now, with fuel prices, affordability and everything else, the people that are buying the trucks are people that need the trucks, but they need their truck to do more,” Sauer says. “That’s why you’re seeing the crew cab configuration take over.”
Cost-conscious customers are steering away from trucks, Apostolakis’ Briganti says. “When everything costs as much as it does, you want to get more bang for your buck,” she remarks.
ELECTRIC VEHICLES, HYBRIDS
Interest in and demand for hybrid models is growing, Briganti says. Honda offers hybrid models for its CR-V, Accord and Civic.
A regular Civic gets 35 miles per gallon, whereas the Civic hybrid, which Apostolakis received only in recent weeks, gets 50 miles per gallon, she reports. “The good thing about the Prologue [EV] is that we did qualify for the $7,500 tax credit, so that was huge,” she says.
“You would get nearly 300 miles to the charge in a Prologue, whereas in these CR-V hybrids you roughly get 40 miles to the gallon,” she says.
“There is probably more interest in hybrids,” says Levak from Mark Thomas Ford. “We don’t get too many people that come in and ask about [EVs].” Hybrid models for the dealership include the Escape and F-150.
Chevrolet hadn’t been a large player in the electric vehicle segment but recently entered the market full steam, with Silverado, Blazer and Equinox EVs.
“We’re seeing steady EV sales, albeit a little lower than what maybe initially was predicted from General Motors,” Sauer says. The Youngstown market overall outpaced Cleveland in terms of EV sales per capita for a couple months, he adds.
“The new Equinox is stirring a lot of attention. The Trax came out last year and it’s still bringing a lot of people in,” Sauer says.
“The public right now is a little more receptive to a hybrid than a full electric,” Primm agrees. “Range anxiety” and EV infrastructure not being fully developed are among the reasons potential buyers are hesitant.
Audi had hybrid models “several years before it was a thing,” including the Q5, so the dealership always has done well with those. Mazda has introduced hybrid versions of the CX-70 and CX-90 and is coming out with a CX-50 hybrid.
Primm drives a Q8, a fully electric SUV.
“I love that car. I drive to Cleveland all the time,” he says. “We have to teach the clients how an EV can fit in their life. As ranges get longer and longer, they are going to be adopted more.”
The Cochran Buick GMC dealership has Hummer and Sierra in the EV segment, and GM has “a very strong lease program” on both models that incorporates the $7,500 federal tax credit. “We just got our first Sierra EV, and we’ve sold a handful of Hummers so far,” Cast says. “We haven’t had a ton of them in.”
FEATURES
Features people are looking at are “all over the board,” Levak says.
“Heated stuff seems to be really, really popular still, and then safety and convenience features,” Sauer says. Customers increasingly request features such as blind side zone alert, lane assist, forward collision alert and audible backup alarms.
“People like remote start,” he adds.
Honda takes safety features “very seriously,” Briganti says. “We don’t have self-driving cars. But we have a lot of things that keep you in your lane and keep you safe and keep you comfortable,” she says.
Delivering a car to a customer probably takes an hour so salespeople can go through all the features, Briganti says.
“If someone hasn’t had a new car in 10 years, you want to make sure they’re well aware of what’s happening, and we take pride in that,” she says.
While buyers are interested in electronic safety features, they also are sometimes leery. The lane departure warning system “sounds nice on paper” but the warnings can be annoying if the driver is going through a construction zone where the regular lanes have been altered.
Children assisting their elderly parents with purchasing vehicles “really like those safety features because as we get older, we all know that our reaction time is not quite what it used to be,” Primm says.
On the opposite end, parents want those features for their young kids because they know their driving skills “aren’t quite developed yet” and “want that little layer of safety.”
Pictured at top: Matt Sauer of Diane Sauer Chevrolet shows the popular Chevrolet Equinox.