Under a partnership between the two companies announced Tuesday afternoon, Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corp. will obtain a 20-percent share of Westlake Financial Services. The deal, which closed Friday, is valued at $250 million in newly issued equity. In addition to owning a fifth of Westlake, Marubeni will also have two executive board seats. [Read More]

Now almost four months after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Edmunds.com wanted to see the difference between new-vehicle inventory levels now and shortly after the March disaster that disrupted production industry-wide. What site analysts found might surprise franchise dealers. Using a statistically representative sample of U.S. inventory, Edmunds.com discovered, as expected, that dealer inventories for […] [Read More]

Though the inventory shortage has certainly caused some real issues for automakers, there is a bit of a silver lining, according to TrueCar’s Jesse Toprak. Not only are OEMs spending less on incentives, but June transaction prices were the strongest of all time, Toprak said. Thus, more profits. “The upside to a lack of inventory […] [Read More]

In the midst of used-car prices moving upward in the past year, there is some question as to whether this trend is like a “bubble” that will suddenly burst or — as CNW Research president Art Spinella put it — “more like a slow leak in an air mattress,” deflating gradually. To shed some light […] [Read More]

Analysts from J.D. Power and Associates and Edmunds.com each gave their latest projections about where June’s SAAR might land, touching on how incentive levels greatly swayed their estimations. J.D. Power indicated Thursday the pace of new-vehicle retail sales cooled during the third week of June, after exhibiting a stronger pace during the first two weeks […] [Read More]

Is the Prius really so valuable? A Toyota dealership recently announced it bought one of these used models back from a customer after more than a year for $1,500 more than it was originally sold for. Is this the result of high gas prices, the impact of the Japanese quake on supplies or what? The supply level of […] [Read More]

Chicago-area dealer John Nelson says he’s not sure whether or not this new gas promotion from Wal-Mart will actually lead to increased sales at his store or help give his customers more spending power, but he definitely sees it catching consumer attention. The business operations manager at Mercedes-Benz of Hoffman Estates said this new promotion can’t hurt sales […] [Read More]

A decision made this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is particularly important to dealers who handle vehicles from the 2000 model year and older. The EPA issued fuel pump labeling and other requirements for gasoline blends containing more than 10 percent and up to 15 percent ethanol, known as E15. These requirements will help […] [Read More]

Donning the cap of a used-vehicle manager for a bit on Tuesday, Edmunds.com pricing manager Richard Arca gave Auto Remarketing some tips on what late-model vehicles will likely be in high demand on dealer lots this 4th of July weekend. He recommends that dealers ensure these are visible on the frontlines, if possible. Arca first rattled off a […] [Read More]

While Capital One Auto Finance president Kevin Borgmann said his division is looking to bring on new dealer partners and hire new associates, he also revealed the company’s collateral has been earning record prices at auctions. This isn’t a trend the management expects long term, though. "As the economy continues to improve, we are seeing […] [Read More]