In this episode, Stellantis’s American unit pleads guilty to criminal conspiracy charges in a 300 million dollar plea deal. The 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid gets a power and economy upgrade. And, here is a cautionary tale about how not to see customers who come looking for a new vehicle.
Mike Talks Cars is an automotive podcast addressing current news, quick updates on new vehicles, and something from this Automotive Trainer that can help you understand the world of automobiles a little better.
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I am your host, Mike Little, and I have spent my career training Sales Consultants and Managers on how to create and deliver world-class Customer Experiences. You can find more from me on Anchor, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts and on Apple Podcasts at Mike Talks Cars.
Hi Everyone. This is Mike Talks Cars podcast.
Today, FCA pleads guilty. Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid. And, how to recognize a buyer.
Stellantis’ American business unit has plead guilty to criminal conspiracy charges that were brought by the U.S Department of Justice.
The plea agreement will see FCA pay about 300 Million dollars in combines forfeiture penalties and fines for their engagement in a multi-year misrepresentation of diesel emissions data to customers and regulators.
This is just the latest payment requirements. FCA has previously paid 311 million dollars in civil penalties and another 183 million that was paid in a class action lawsuit by owners of diesel Ram pickups and diesel equipped Jeep SUVs.
The Justice department says that FCA installed deceptive software that was intended to fraudulently help those diesel vehicles meet the required emission standards.
The company has been placed on probation for the next 3 years and will be required to meet a series of changes and reviews during that time.
The new 2023 Toyota Corolla Cross will be available with Toyota’s new 5th generation Hybrid system.
This means an improvement in both power and fuel efficiency over last year’s model. Corolla Cross’s horsepower will jump by 25, making it peppier and more fun to drive, while combined fuel economy ratings improve by a whopping 23% according to Toyota’s internal numbers.
The standard All-wheel drive and additional horsepower from the hybrid powertrain are pretty good reasons for people to choose Corolla Cross over the Corolla sedan. That and the more SUV-like interior space and utility, of course. The base hybrid is also one full trim level above the sedan’s base L trim, starting out at the mid-level LE trim for the lowest price versions.
The new hybrid is slated to be assembled at the Huntsville, Alabama plant and will go on sale later this year.
Ron, not his real name, was a pretty good sales person. He tended to hover towards the top 3rd of the sales board month after month and was someone we all liked to work around.
During a particularly difficult 2 month sales run for Ron, I witnessed something that had me scratching my head and wondering how he had ever been successful. About a month into Ron’s slump I witnessed him following our top sales guy Jim, also not his name, around, everywhere he went.
Whenever Jim went out onto the lot, Ron was standing somewhere close by. If a customer came onto the lot and Jim headed towards them, Ron would jump in front of him and talk to the customer. If Jim ignored a customer, Ron would do the same.
About the 4th or 5th time I had noticed this, I saw Jim head for a customer and Ron jump out in front of him and then Jim went over to a different customer on the lot and begin the sales process.
Jim sold his customer and Ron did not.
While Jim was still helping his customer with their new vehicle, Ron, walked up to me and said, he tricked me. I just started to chuckle and asked Ron what he meant by that.
Ron proceeded to tell me that Jim always seemed to get the buyers and that he, Ron, only ended up with people that were just shopping. He went on to tell me his strategy of trying to jump in front of Jim so he could get a few buyers, himself.
I asked him, how is that working for you. His answer was, Not very well because Jim was on to him and was only pretending to approach customers so Ron would take them and let Jim wait for the real buyers.
I admit. I was pretty taken aback by his statement. I asked Ron if he had considered that maybe Jim was doing something differently with his customers that helped them decide to buy from him than what Ron was doing?
Ron was baffled by that question and said, and I quote, “A buyer is either a buyer or they are not. No sense wasting time on someone that is not a buyer.”
Well, guess what happened. Ron continued to spiral for another few weeks and then quit. He was frustrated and unhappy and we were not surprised to see him go. And Jim? He kept right on being lucky by meeting more buyers than shoppers by using his magical powers.
Yup, those magical powers that we call excellent customer sales skills. Listening and responding to customer’s needs.
This is Mike Little reminding you that… Hey, selling is fun…go have a great day.
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