- The market for trucks in the U.S. has peaked
- Hybrid and electric vehicles will continue their climb
- Korean brands will be the story of 2025
- Technology is the new automotive growth engine, reigniting customer excitement, making smart dealers more efficient and profitable
- Nationalistic moves globally will upend the automotive competitive landscape
NEW YORK, Jan. 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The U.S. auto industry has reached peak truck, electric vehicles are here to stay, Korean brands are outpacing competitors, and technology is reigniting customer excitement and dealer profitability. These are just some of the forecasts from the latest Dave Cantin Group Market Outlook Report (MOR), released today as the 2025 National Automobile Dealers Association’s annual conference (NADA) kicks off.
Dave Cantin Group, a leading advisor to retail automotive groups and their owners, publishes MOR, in partnership with Kaiser Associates, twice annually: at the start of NADA and again during Q2 earnings season in July. The Market Outlook Report delivers a comprehensive analysis and forecast of the automotive climate headed into 2025 by combining Dave Cantin Group’s automotive research and data with Kaiser’s industry analysis.
“The Dave Cantin Group Market Outlook Report identifies and reports on key industrywide trends and issues that auto dealers, consumers and the global industry are facing headed into 2025,” Dave Cantin, President and CEO of Dave Cantin Group, said. “Last year, the industry found its new normal, post Covid. That’s all out the window as we start 2025, because of U.S. and global uncertainty around politics and regulation. Our report identifies and explores the key trends and issues dealers need to understand as they make strategic business decisions in an uncertain environment.”
MOR is based on data from a variety of current sources, including unique research and modeling, as well as surveys and interviews conducted among U.S. consumers, dealership executives, OEMs, supply chain players and industry analysts.
Key take-aways from the 2025 Market Outlook Report include:
We’re at Peak Truck: U.S. consumer preferences are finally moving away from trucks and SUVs toward more affordable sedans, driven by concerns over vehicle affordability. This trend promises to challenge manufacturers lacking competitive sedan offerings.
Korean Automakers Are Making Gains: Consumer preference for Korean brands is outpacing all others; they have achieved the perfect balance of product design, technology, pricing, and reliability leading to increased market share and positive consumer sentiment. The improvements and affordability have found a sweet spot with consumers.
Hybrid and Electric Vehicles Have Arrived: Last year, this report said EVs would be just fine, now we’re saying they are undeniably here to stay. Together, hybrid and electric vehicles are undeniably a growth driver and with dealers becoming more receptive to selling these models, we can expect the combined segment to continue to steadily gain market share for the foreseeable future. This growth is supported by maturing infrastructure, decreasing battery costs and new battery chemistries, potentially leading to the launch of lower-cost EVs in the coming years. It has also driven surprisingly strong fixed operations for dealers.
Technology will Drive Top- and Bottom-Line Growth: Fresh out of CES 2025, it’s clear that the automotive industry is experiencing a technological renaissance, with innovations in vehicle features helping to reignite consumer excitement. Technology is also driving more efficient dealer operations in every part of the store as dealers implement and use new technologies, such as AI and robotics, efficiently to drive profitability.
Consumer Sentiment is Ruling the Market Until the Political and Regulatory Environment Becomes Clear: There’s a bullish sentiment around automotive, but the unpredictability of political decisions – particularly regarding U.S. trade policies and tariffs, as well as any retaliatory actions – is creating challenges for the automotive sector. Post-Covid predictability just returned and now manufacturers and dealers must navigate this political uncertainty to make informed strategic decisions.
Global Nationalistic Competition Intensifies: International competition is intensifying, with foreign governments providing substantial support to their automotive industries. (Think China, Korea, Japan, Germany.) This dynamic poses challenges to a U.S. automotive industry without similar government backing and whose new President previously criticized U.S. government intervention.
Diverging Manufacturer Strategies: Headed into 2025, we anticipate automakers forging their own distinct strategic approaches to establish competitive advantages. Manufacturers will be placing more big bets than ever to win market share and this will lead to clear winners and losers causing industrywide disruption of the status quo.
Enhanced Network Control by OEMs: Automakers are exerting greater control over dealership networks and inventory management. This shift will force dealers to adapt to new operational models and expectations, and to face new attempts at direct-to-consumer sales models, as is the model at Tesla, Rivian, Lucid and now Scout. More than ever, auto dealers will need to evaluate automakers’ strategies, whether they will be successful and if they want to tie their fates to them.
White-Glove Dealer Service Gains Prominence: Dealers are introducing premium, personalized services – such as at-home mobile service and prime appointment times – to enhance customer satisfaction, increase customer retention, differentiate themselves in a competitive market, and drive more revenue.
The full report is available at davecantingroup.com/getmor.
About Dave Cantin Group
The Dave Cantin Group is a leading automotive mergers and acquisitions advisory company specializing in acquisitions, divestitures, intelligence, and other advisory services. The company is the M&A services provider of choice for North America’s top automotive dealership groups, advising on approximately 40 transactions annually, DCG is differentiated by its advisory approach, long-term lens on client relationships, and commitment to market intelligence tools that inform DCG and client strategies. In 2023, DCG became the only retail automotive M&A company with a significant strategic investor, welcoming Kaltroco to the DCG family.
Through its M&A intelligence division, DCG produces automotive content and delivers relevant, timely marketing intelligence, including the automotive industry Market Outlook Report (MOR). Together with CBT News, DCG produces the Inside M&A studio show and podcast to share stories, news and trends impacting the retail automotive industry. DCG’s proprietary AI-enabled software, Jump IQ, anchors its advisory services that support retail automotive dealers in developing informed M&A strategies and making smarter M&A decisions.
The company’s nonprofit initiative, DCG Giving, funds child and adolescent cancer research and treatment in communities nationwide and other worthy charitable initiatives. DCG team members regularly feature on the industry speaking circuit and are regularly cited by top national and global news outlets. For more information, please visit davecantingroup.com.
Media Contact:
Katie Merx
313.510.5090
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/7717e87c-0dbc-4d74-9634-888a73715496
Wall St Business News, Latest and Up-to-date Business Stories from Newsmakers of Tomorrow
