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Volkswagen-backed Scout Motors is making a massive bet in the electric SUV market with a carefully cultivated experience that will allow some customers to buy the company’s vehicle in minutes on an app and then use it to handle everything after from repairs to updates and upgrades.But without some help from lawmakers, that will be impossible in South Carolina, where the company is pouring billions into its new auto plant and a Scout Motors experience like BMW’s test track in Greer.In a world where almost everything can be bought online, automobiles remain an exception. Supporters of the dealership model say the experience allows buyers to compare prices across several businesses.Unlike a pair of pants, where color, style and size are about the only concerns, buying a car involves financing, state registration, taxes, regulationsand often a test drive.South Carolina is one of about two dozen states that ban manufacturers from selling vehicles directly to consumers and instead require all new autos be purchased through a dealer. Scout would like to see that practice changed nationwide for all EV makers and figured it could start in its new backyard.South Carolina also bans manufacturers from owning their own service centers, which means anyone who wants to own a Scout SUV must travel to another state to have it repaired or serviced.People who back the dealership structure said online sales could lead to carmakers raising their own prices with less competition.The dealership structure requires local business owners to back what they sell and assure buyers get quality service on their vehicles. Auto dealers often have close ties to their communities and cities could lose one of their biggest businesses and heftiest taxpayers.“If for some reason the car is a lemon or the job isn’t getting done, they are the folks who live there, who pay their taxes and send their kids to school,” said Republican Sen. Larry Grooms, who runs the Senate Transportation Committee where any bill changing the rules would likely end up.Scout is determined to get the law changed to help them as well as other EV makers like Tesla and Rivian. They have gone on a media blitz that includes stories in local outlets. They are also trying to secure support in a Republican-dominated state with an argument that consumers should be free to buy whatever they wish directly, without a middleman.Scout also is armed with a 2000 Attorney General’s Office opinion on the bill which would weeks later would become law and serve as the most recent major overhaul to South Carolina’s laws on new car buying.“If a manufacturer cannot sell his own product, but must constitutionally pass that product through a ‘middle man,’ then our understanding of the free market system is way off base. The Internet is a worldwide web for trade, not a local instrument for protectionism,” wrote then-Republican state Attorney General Charlie Condon in the opinion, which is not binding and an educated guess on what a judge might do if someone sued over the law.Scout officials say using a dealership-only business model would make the vehicles aimed at the under-$60,000 market too expensive and complicate what the company wants to be a seamless experience, from start to finish.Gov. Henry McMaster touts the Scout plant in Blythewood as one of his biggest economic development scores The Republican has been to both the February 2024 groundbreaking of the massive facility and this month’s ceremony to mark work starting on a new $150 million interstate interchange the state is paying for to help get workers, parts and new SUVs in and out.McMaster recently said he wants to protect dealers, but wants to let Scout sell directly, too.“Over the last few years with the Internet and Amazon and all the others customers are looking for their freedom and that ability to order things direct without a middleman,” McMaster said.Scout is trying to find a niche in a growing but uncertain U.S. electric vehicle market. President Donald Trump’s election could threaten the industry, both through ending tax credits and tariffs that could raise prices.The original Scout Motors made gasoline-powered vehicles for about 20 years when it was owned by International Harvester. Production ended in 1980, but their shape and features continue to influence modern SUVs. Scouts have had a niche fanbase of collectors ever since.The new Scout Motors is trying to tap into a mix of nostalgia and technology. Key to Scout’s success will be its app, Scout Vice President of Growth Cody Thacker said.He envisions a Scout buyer scrolling through types and colors, performance and comfort options and hundreds of other choices. Financing, titling, and paperwork would all be handled in minutes instead of the hours it takes at dealerships. That custom SUV could then be delivered to the buyer’s door.“You see the point of contention and the huge opportunity,” Thacker said.Scout’s plant in Blythewood, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Columbia, is expected to open in 2027 and employ up to 4,000 people if the company can hit its goal of making and selling 200,000 vehicles per year.Scout also wants to build by its plant a center where people could test drive vehicles on a company-owned track and take tours. For it to work, the company wants to be able to sell someone a vehicle after they zoom around the site, Thacker said.South Carolina agreed in 2023 to give Scout more than $1 billion in incentives to land the plant. At the time, the dealership law wasn’t on their radar. It came up as executives started looking at their business model, Thacker said.The company doesn’t regret choosing South Carolina and still believes it gave them the best workforce, economic climate and infrastructure. And it will move forward if the law isn’t changed selling its vehicles through other states where it can get national licenses sending the money and tax benefits out of the state, Thacker said. Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Amazon on Thursday reported better-than-expected revenue and profits for the holiday shopping period, but its stocks dipped in after-hours trading due to disappointing guidance for the current quarter.The Seattle-based e-commerce and technology company said its revenue for the October-December period totaled $187.8 billion, a 10% jump compared with the same period in 2023. Profits came out to $20 billion while earnings per share reached $1.86, higher than the $1.49 that analysts surveyed by FactSet had anticipated.But the company said it expected revenue for the current quarter to be between $151 billion and 155.5 billion, lower than the $158.56 billion that analysts were expecting. The guidance anticipates “an unusually large, unfavorable impact” from foreign exchange rates, it said.Amazon is the biggest online shopping destination in the U.S. and has long been a beneficiary of consumer spending during the holidays. As it has done in recent years, the company in October began offering promotions intended to lure early holiday shoppers. It advertised other discounts during the three-month period, including on major sales days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.Amazon on Thursday reported it saw $75.5 billion in revenue for its online shopping business, up 7% from the same period in 2023.Across the retail industry, holiday sales in November and December were better than expected compared with the previous year as lower inflation on holiday goods enticed shoppers to buy, according to The National Retail Federation. Online shopping also saw record sales levels, Adobe Analytics reported in January.Sales for Amazon Web services, the company’s prominent cloud computing unit, rose 19% during the fourth quarter. But it fell slightly below analysts expectations.Amazon is one of the biggest players in the competitive tech race around generative artificial intelligence. Like other tech companies, it has ramped up investments in the technology and is spending billions to expand data centers that support AI and cloud computing. The company is also spending money on other equipment, including its own computer chips and those developed by Nvidia. It has also rolled out its own AI models and integrated the generative AI into other parts of its business.In the fourth quarter, Amazon reported spending $27.8 billion on property and equipment, significantly higher than the same period in 2023. During a call with analysts on Thursday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said capital expenditures for the quarter came out to $26.3 billion, most of which was geared towards AI and AWS.“We think virtually every application that we know of today is going to be re-invented with AI inside of it,” Jassy said. “I think both our business, our customers and shareholders will be happy medium-to-long term that we’re pursuing the capital opportunity and the business opportunity in AI.”Jassy added during the call that Amazon, like many others, was “impressed” by DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence company whose chatbot recently became the most downloaded app in the U.S.Amazon’s quarterly report comes as the retail industry is absorbing a new 10% tariff President Donald Trump imposed on Chinese imports on Tuesday. Tariffs on Canada and Mexico have been put on hold for about a month.Trump also threw out a trade exemption that allowed low-value shipments from China to bypass duties, a loophole that had given an advantage to China-founded e-commerce firms, such as Shein and Temu.The new tariffs could benefit Amazon by increasing costs for its competitors. But it would also impact Chinese sellers who connect with American consumers on the company’s shopping platform. Furthermore, it could raise prices on a recently-launched online storefront that Amazon set up to ship low-cost products directly from China. The storefront, called Amazon Haul, was Amazon’s answer to Shein and Temu.Additionally, analysts from Morgan Stanley wrote in a Monday note that Amazon’s first-party retail business, though which the company sells products purchased from manufacturers, has the highest exposure to the tariffs. The analysts estimate 25% of the merchandise sold through that business comes from China. Haleluya Hadero, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
Indonesian authorities have ordered the halting of development of a tourism project affiliated with U.S. President Donald Trump over water management and environmental issues, officials said Friday.The 3,000-hectare (11.6-square-mile) project is the brainchild of Trump’s Indonesian business partner, billionaire and politician Hary Tanoesoedibjo, who attended Trump’s inauguration in Washington last month.His association with Trump began in 2014 when his group company, MNC, was looking for an operator for sprawling “six star” resorts, one to be built on the tourist island of Bali and the other near Jakarta.In exchange for a cut of the revenue, the Trump Organization would manage hotels, golf courses and country clubs that would cost about $700 million for MNC to build. The projects form the core of larger developments that the company plans.In a January 2017 interview with The Associated Press, Tanoesoedibjo, better known as Tanoe, said that developing the whole 3,000 hectares of Lido City would take more than a decade and cost up to $3 billion, of which the Trump properties would cost more than $300 million.The company has been promoting the project for years. In 2023, then Indonesian President Joko Widodo gave it special economic zone status, providing MNC Land with tax breaks and leniency on permits.A sprawling “Trump Community” has been built since 2014 in this pocket of Indonesia’s most densely populated island, with a new toll road leading to it, located in Gunung Gede Pangrango, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the capital, Jakarta, and is home to a new Trump golf course, which started offering membership last year.Though a private development, Lido City suits the Indonesian government’s ambitions to create more tourist destinations that it hopes will be as popular as Bali.It’s part of broader plans, including a huge theme park, that have alarmed conservationists who fear development will overwhelm habitats for some of the archipelago’s most threatened species.The Environment Ministry said in a statement that mismanagement of rainwater at the resort had caused sedimentation in Lido Lake, making it shallower and halving the size of the body of water to 12 hectares (30 acres).“The mismatch between environmental plans and physical implementation is a serious concern in efforts to preserve natural resources,” said Ardyanto Nugroho, the ministry’s director of environmental complaints, monitoring and law enforcement.He said that his team was still waiting for laboratory test results to determine further steps in the environmental law enforcement process.“We committed to preserving the environment and will take firm action against violations that impact the ecosystem and surrounding communities,” Nugroho said.Local media reports showed a board with a sign that the project was under “supervision” installed on one side of Lido Lake.Gunung Gede Pangrango is one of the last virgin tropical forests in Java, where only 2% of original forest remains. It nurtures a dazzling variety of flora and fauna: more than 2,000 species of ferns, mosses and flowering plants, and 250 species of birds.Endangered species include the Javan slow loris the world’s only venomous primate the Javan leaf monkey, the Javan leopard, whose total population numbers less than 250, and the Javan hawk-eagle and Javan silvery gibbon.The park has a rehabilitation center for silvery gibbons that have been rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. The gibbons, known for practicing lifelong monogamy and their distinctively small, intense faces, number fewer than 4,000 in the wild.PT MNC Land President Director Budi Rustanto denied that his company’s project had caused the sedimentation in Lido Lake, saying it also came from other projects, offices, housing and buildings in the surrounding area, including a government office compound and existing community settlements.He said that his property firm had followed the criteria and prerequisites related to the environmental impact analysis, known as AMDAL.“Since 2013, we have always tried to overcome the problem of shallowing of the lake, this is because 50% of the lake area is in our development area,” Rustanto told Kompas news outlet, adding that a number of efforts will continue to be made to overcome the problem of shallowing of the lake, including dredging plans.Environmentalists welcomed the government’s move as a sign that it was serious in addressing the failure of project management to consider the environmental impact near the land designated as a Special Economic Zone.Executive Chair of Konservasi Indonesia, Meizani Irmadhiany, said the Lido area is one of the most important watersheds of the Cimandiri river and part of the landscape of Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park, not only for the people of West Java but also for the residents of Jakarta.“The slope contours serve as a significant water catchment area, and the area planned for the project is located on critical land,” Irmadhiany said. “It is time for the business sector to prioritize environmental principles which have direct impacts on the environment and communities, as well as business itself in the long run, before and during development.” Niniek Karmini, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
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