Toronto, Ontario — This week, J.D. Power Canada director J.D. Ney says he needs more data to predict the industry’s pandemic-born trends; AkzoNobel marks upticks in its Q3 revenues and Tesla nears a personal market value record.
J.D.’s justification
According to J.D. Ney, director of J.D. Power Canada, the $2.6 billion hit to the automotive service industry—and a shift toward aftermarket repair facilities as opposed to dealerships—appears to be a one-time event spurred by the pandemic.
Ney said he’s waiting for another year’s worth of data before calling this a trend for each instance. The data was highlighted in the J.D. Power 2021 Customer Service Index Study.
“We’ve run the survey every year for 25 years, and I’d say it’s the biggest shift of service market share, calculated in revenue, away from new-car dealers toward the aftermarket,” Ney said. “That reverses about a decadelong trend.”
J.D. Power Canada found the service market in Canada shrank to $6.6 billion in 2021 from $9.2 billion in 2020. The study linked the $2.6-billion drop in total service billings to fewer kilometres driven as people worked from home during the height of the pandemic.
Revenue—and materials—up for Akzo
AkzoNobel has published its results for the third quarter of 2021, reporting six percent revenue growth.
“During the third quarter, as predicted, extraordinary levels of raw material costs and supply chain disruptions impacted our business,” said Thierry Vanlancker, CEO of AkzoNobel. “Despite supply constraints and the resulting backlog, we were able to demonstrate six percent revenue growth.”
The company also said raw material and other variable costs increased by US$323 million, compared to the same period in 2020.
“I’m very proud of our team’s focus on our own pricing…We’re on track to have our own pricing actions offset the raw material inflation by year-end,” said Vanlancker.
Tiptop Tesla
Shares of Tesla neared another record Monday and the electric-car maker’s valuation hovered just a few billion dollars short of US$1 trillion after Hertz announced plans to order 100,000 Teslas and a market analyst raised his forecast for sales and production.
Tesla’s shares rose as much as 11 percent on Monday following Hertz’s announcement of the order.
The stock will need to close at or above US$995.75 per share for the company’s valuation to hit $1 trillion. As of 3:20 p.m. Monday, shares stood at US$1,025.81 per share.
