Cyber Insecurity

CDK Global, a company owned by Canada’s Brookfield Business Partners, was significantly affected by multiple cyber attacks this week. The most recent attack was ransomware, with the criminals demanding millions to release CDK’s systems, causing a major disruption to their operations and the operations of their dealership customers. After several days of outage, CDK appears ready to pay the ransom. reuters.com, cbsnews.com, usatoday.com, usatoday.com, bloomberg.com, edmunds.com, nytimes.com, cnn.com

For those of you not close to automotive and dealership operations, CDK provides dealership management systems (DMS) software that is integral to the operation of about half of the dealerships in North America. pcmag.com

CDK’s website highlights that they believe they can “Stop Cyberattacks in Their Tracks.” Maybe not so much. cdkglobal.com

Without a functioning DMS, many dealerships have been out of business for days. Some have reverted to pen and paper to desk deals for sales and manage service departments. Others opt to leverage a mish-mash of technology from CDK’s competitors to stay in business. autonews.com

Dealers are also being targeted by scammers pretending to be representatives of CDK and looking to have them reveal other sensitive information. canada.autonews.com

Financial Institutions are a top target for hackers and ransomware. Sensitive financial information and personally identifiable information stored at a dealership are the most attractive and likely the least protected source of that type of information. statista.com

Brookfield Business Partners acquired CDK Global in 2022 for $8.3 billion and listed it as one of its “Super Six” investments in their 2023 investor day presentation. This week, Brookfield Business Partners had its worst trading day since October 2023. bnnbloomberg.ca, brookfield.com

This incident highlights the extent to which dealerships, through their numerous distributed and divergent software providers, are vulnerable to operational interruption, security issues, and data breaches.

If you’re a dealer looking for best practice guidance on what to do, the folks over at the Car Dealership Guy newsletter put together this list of crowd-sourced recommendations. news.dealershipguy.com

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The world’s most profitable car company, Ferrari, has made a lot of news in the last couple of weeks. motor1.com

First, Ferrari won the 24-hour Le Mans in the hypercar category with their turbocharged V6 499P hybrid. topgear.com, wikipedia.org

Then Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna articulated the dilemma manufacturers face in the current energy transition, stating, “Some would-be customers tell me that they’d only join the Ferrari community if they could buy an electric,” the CEO said. Others say “they would never purchase an electric Ferrari.” fortune.com

Also this week, Ferrari announced that it is moving to a bring-your-own-sat-nav (BYO-SN?) solution. If you ever own a new Ferrari, you'll need to rely on Google Maps, Apple Maps, WAZE, et cetera for navigation. Granted, as one friend on Linkedin pointed out, no one is buying a Ferrari for the infotainment and navigation system. motor1.com

Lastly, Reuters reported that Ferrari’s first electric vehicle is scheduled for production and release next year. Built in their new “e-building” assembly facility, this new vehicle is expected to have a price tag of $500,000. reuters.com, electrek.co

The new facility will speed up the production of Ferraris. Current wait times are regularly over two years. europe.autonews.com

Leapmotor has begun production in Poland. europe.autonews.com

BYD continues to push into Europe. People start to notice their sponsorship of the Euro. theguardian.com

Berkshire Hathaway further cut its stake in BYD. cnn.com

NIO is confident it has vehicles that are still affordable regardless of EU tariffs. electrek.co

EV sales in Southeast Asia have more than doubled from a year before in the January to March quarter. Largely due to cheap Chinese EVs. reuters.com

GM’s Wuling previews new electric SUV. electrek.co

New research suggests that China spent over $230 Billion over the last decade to accelerate its automotive industry expansion. cnbc.com, csis.org

Starlink has a new backpack-sized portable dish with a built-in wifi router powered by a regular USB power bank. theverge.com

Tesla plans to build a new Megafactory in Shanghai to build their Megapacks, a large-scale rechargeable lithium-ion battery specifically designed for utilities. autos.yahoo.com

Tesla started making use of all that LIDAR tech they acquired. theverge.com

Tesla investors sue Elon over the whole Nvidia chip situation. arstechnica.com

Elon says the new Tesla Roadster can fly. x.com, teslarati.com

Neuralink forced a pregnant employee to work with herpes-infected monkeys (you can’t make this shit up). fortune.com

Like YZ and Snoop Dog, Elon is thinking of a master plan (part 4). teslarati.com

Maybe we don’t need autonomous cars. We just need better autonomous musculoskeletal humanoid robots that can drive. techxplore.com, arxiv.org

Israeli company upgrades their “loitering munition” killer drone. interestingengineering.com

Canadian public servants are wary of their robot observer. cbc.ca

US Startup Kinetic is building AI-powered robots to help repair EVs. cnbc.com

China has produced so much cheap solar there’s hardly a way to turn a profit. Industry consolidation is likely. economist.com

Chinese scientists are attempting to replicate the sun’s energy through controlled nuclear fusion experiments called China’s “artificial sun.” interestingengineering.com

Excess solar and wind generation in France caused their grid operator to take several nuclear plants offline due to an overflow of low-cost renewable electricity. fortune.com

The US has the cheapest gas prices in the world. Canada doesn’t even break into the top 20. autoblog.com, globalpetrolprices.com

Canada’s largest battery storage system goes online. ottawa.ctvnews.ca

Canadian federal government intercedes in Chinese rare earth mineral deal, acquires stockpiled rare earth materials from an Australian firm and gives them to the Saskatchewan Research Council for $3 million. bnnbloomberg.ca

SaskPower enlists Westinghouse for small modular reactor evaluation using locally produced uranium. globalnews.ca

Alberta powers down their last coal fire electricity plant. cbc.ca

TDK, yes, the TDK of audio cassette fame, claims to have made a breakthrough in solid-state batteries. arstechnica.com, tdk.com

Post-COVID travel has pushed jet fuel output up over pre-COVID levels. reuters.com

Stellantis stops putting chrome on vehicles. businessinsider.com

The new Fiat Grande Panda will come in both EV and ICE flavours (just without any chrome). europe.autonews.com

Bank of America’s top automotive analyst said that North American OEMs should exit China “as soon as possible” but forgets that Stellantis isn’t North American and gives Tesla a hall pass. cnbc.com

Fisker aspires to break the record for the number of times a single company can go bankrupt. And the creditor fight for assets begins. cnbc.com, techcrunch.com

NACS adoption has given Ford and Rivian EV owners an advantage. techradar.com

Akio Toyoda gets to keep his job despite recent scandals and some angry shareholders. apnews.com, finance.yahoo.com

Ontario’s government wants Canada’s federal government to get in on the Chinese EV tariff bandwagon. canada.autonews.com

Rumor is that Canada is already on the case and EV tariffs are likely. bloomberg.com, cnevpost.com

Not all tariffs on Chinese EVs are alike. wsj.com

German union wants a 7% pay hike from VW. reuters.com

Kia plans to build EV3s in Mexico. electrek.co

If you’ve got $4 Million and nothing else to spend it on, the Bugatti Tourbillon might be the 8.3-litre, naturally aspirated V16 hybrid, 1,000-horsepower vehicle you’ve been looking for. mashable.com

Introducing Karbike! It’s part car and part bike and looks like a great solution if you’ve ever been stuck bicycling in the rain. autoblog.com, youtube.com

Rolls-Royce has a new hybrid engine… for tanks. interestingengineering.com

eVTOL air taxis may be coming to US airports sooner than you think. electrek.co

Lots of new music this week.

The Tragically Hip - “Get Back Again” (extended box set re-release), youtube.com

Mustard · Travis Scott - “Parking Lot” youtube.com

Charli XCX · Lorde - “The girl, so confusing” youtube.com

U2 · Tiësto- “Atomic City” youtube.com

Acko · Snoop Dogg · CHXBB · Half Deezy - “Go Gettas” youtube.com

The Dandy Warhols - "Teutonic Wine" youtube.com

PVRIS · Lights - “The Blob” youtube.com

Waveshaper · Oscillian - “BIOS” youtube.com

Jimmy Fallon admits he had to Google who Chappell Roan was. Do you know who Chappell Roan is? youtube.com, youtube.com