TrueCar.com’s newest study examined gender differences in vehicle buying based on more than nine million retail purchases in 2011. As dealers might have suspected, analysts discovered men prefer flashy or brawny vehicles while women prefer import brands and smaller vehicles. “While gender preferences amongst the buyers of various automotive brands still exists, the gap is […] [Read More]

The 2012 Automotive Executive of the Year Award was recently doled out, and taking this year’s honors was Ferarri North America’s head. Late last week, the award was presented to Marco Mattiacci, president and chief executive officer of Ferrari North America. Mattiacci received the accolade at an invitation-only luncheon held at the Detroit Athletic Club. […] [Read More]

On top of the certified pre-owned market setting an all-time record for sales last month, it was found that CPO units almost 40 percent faster their non-certified counterparts in March, according to CNW Research. What’s more, the premium for CPO vehicles has gone up 64.3 percent since the beginning of 2011, as of the end […] [Read More]

CreditForecast.com recently discovered through data from Equifax and Moody’s Analytics that most consumers looking to buy a new vehicle are still financing their purchases with loans rather than leases. However, analysts found the volume of leases is expanding rapidly and expected to grow approximately 50 percent by the end of 2017. Equifax and Moody’s Analytics […] [Read More]

Consumer reaction to gas prices is sending mixed signals to Kelley Blue Book. According to the latest Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence survey, more than half — in fact, 66 percent — of new-vehicle shoppers have either changed their minds about which vehicle they are considering, or are thinking about vehicles they normally would not […] [Read More]

Who buys the “greenest” cars? Does the West Coast boast more eco-friendly drivers? Coinciding with yesterday’s celebration of Earth Day 2012, Cars.com aimed to answer these questions and more in releasing a list of U.S. cities with the most and least eco-friendly car shoppers. And the site found that based on their search for vehicles […] [Read More]

With gas prices high, more consumers are turning towards purchasing gas sippers like hybrids. However, dealers may have to fight harder to get hybrid buyers back into the store after their first purchase, according to recently released data from Edmunds.com Breaking the data down by 10 of the largest cities in the U.S., Edmunds.com found […] [Read More]

Lithia Motors shored up its floor plan resources on Thursday as the dealer group completed a new $650 million, five-year revolving syndicated credit facility with 10 institutions..  The group noted that the facility — which will expire in April 2017 — can be expanded to $800 million in total availability. Executives highlighted that the revolving […] [Read More]

As one conference panelist so succinctly put it, Canada’s used-vehicle industry may be in for a "helluva strong market."  And it appears the interest in the country’s used-car and remarketing industries is already there. Close to 500 dealers, remarketers and other Canadian auto business leaders poured into The Fairmont Royal York in Toronto recently for […] [Read More]

For Canadian dealer Larry Wright, his buy-here, pay-here offering started, essentially, as a solution to a financing problem. Wright — president of Wright Auto Sales, Inc., which has two dealerships in four locations — needed to get a group of customers from overseas financed, but he was running into complications. “RIM was our biggest customer […] [Read More]