Carvana Still Has A Surprise, TikTok In The Stores, Coke Let’s Consumers Create

The Automotive Troublemaker w/ Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier

We’re throwing down Thursday as we discuss why Carvana’s earnings surprised the market yesterday. We’re also talking about how more and more Dealers are using TikTok in their stores, as well as a new campaign by Coke that puts the power of the brand in consumers' hands by leveraging AI.
Yesterday, Carvana announced a much smaller core loss than most expected saying they are looking at a Q1 loss of $50-100 million. A year earlier the loss was $348m. The announcement sent shares north to almost 30% before they came back down to close the day still up 12%

• • The company credited the better than expected performance to aggressive cost cutting measures implemented over the past year
  • In a regulatory filing, Carvana estimated Q1 sales will be between 76,000 and 79,000 units. Carvana sold 105,185 vehicles in the year-earlier period and it sold 86,977 in the Q4 2022.
  • Carvana attributed the drop to higher interest rates, lower inventory size, lower advertising expenses and focus on its profitability initiatives.
    
    
• More and more Dealers and their employees are taking to Tiktok to pull the curtain back on the buying process and letting some secrets out in the process.
  • Many of the most popular videos discuss hidden fees and explain how some dealers might use scarcity tactics to sell cars
  • "TikTok has actually produced more sales, more calls, more immediate business than any of the others," said Jesse Cannon-Wallace, a salesperson at Mercedes Benz Atlanta Northeast in Duluth, Georgia, who has 121,100 TikTok followers.
  • Tito Suave, a salesperson at Gettel Nissan in Sarasota, Florida with 548,300 TikTok followers, posts videos sharing word tracks some dealers use to try to pressure you into buying a car.
  • In addition to the sharing, they also use the platform for walkarounds and educations
    
    
• Coca-Cola has launched an AI platform, "Create Real Magic," which combines OpenAI's GPT-4 and DALL-E technologies that offers consumers in select markets access to Coke-branded elements for use in AI-powered art. The artists have the chance to submit work for digital billboards that could be featured in New York City and London.
  • According to Coke "Create Real Magic" aims to democratize both Coke's brand iconography and "highest-profile advertising assets," with a focus on testing and scaling AI technology quickly.

Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier
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