Hurricane Harvey Flooding
Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area in late August, inflicting nearly $200 billion dollars in damage. Included in that total are an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 vehicles that were destroyed by flood damage.
Many local Houston dealerships had to shut down for weeks during the cleanup process and to restock on inventory. Subsequent months saw a huge sales boom in south Texas to replace those washed-out cars.
The Executive Shuffle
It might not seem significant one at a time, but the executive changes in the automotive industry were announced one after the other in 2017. Carols Ghosn set things off in February stepping down as Nissan’s CEO.
Cadillac’s marketing chief Uwe Ellinghaus resigned. CEO Mark Field had to resign due to pressure from declining stock prices. Former VW executive Oliver Schmidt got 7 years in prison and fined $400,000 for the Dieselgate scandal.
There were many more, like an executive-style game of musical chairs, as most of these professionals took posts at other cushy desks.
