Vehicle registrations by African-Americans climbed by more than 11 percent in 2010 and one brand, in particular, seems to be benefiting, according to Polk. The automaker most popular among African-Americans in 2010 was Toyota. Specifically, Polk discovered that there were 641,090 new-vehicle registrations within the African-American demographic last year. This marks an 11.5-percent gain from the […] [Read More]

To drive service dollars, Hyundai’s Chicago dealers recently held a weekend-long Groupon promotion where shoppers could receive an oil change, inspection and tire rotation for $29. Customers could take advantage of the deal at 10 different stores in the Chicago area. Hyundai revealed that 1,323 shoppers utilized the Groupon, meaning the average number of new-service […] [Read More]

The effects of the Japanese disaster and skyrocketing gas prices are among the topics vAuto’s Dale Pollak is tackling in an online seminar this morning that features a Q&A with the company’s founder. The “General Market Update, a Q&A with Dale Pollak” begins at 11 a.m. (CDT) and runs until noon. Officials are asking participants to […] [Read More]

Three models were recognized last week in New York by the 2011 International Car of the Year Awards for being top-notch within their respective segments. Honored during a private ceremony were: —2011 International Sedan of the Year: Volvo S60, which was voted “Most Dependable.” —2011 International Luxury Car of the Year: Jaguar XJ, which was voted […] [Read More]

There have been many recent discussions regarding the practice of forwarding repossession assignments. In addition, the industry has targeted companies that do forwarding, questioning the value, or lack thereof, that these companies provide to the repossession process and to the industry. From the agent’s perspective, the standing argument is that lenders benefit from a direct […] [Read More]

Forwarding, in itself, is not a bad business practice. Afterall, we have been forwarding work amongst ourselves for many years. Forwarding became a nasty word when the auction companies entered into the business to push repossessed vehicles to their respective auctions. Sadly, that wasn’t enough for the auction companies, and forwarding started to become a […] [Read More]

Coming on the heels of Fiat increasing its ownership in Chrysler thanks to another performance achievement, last week the Italian automaker reached another agreement by exercising its incremental equity call option to gain another 16 percent interest in the Big 3 OEM. Under this agreement, Fiat explained that it will exercise in full its incremental equity call […] [Read More]

According to AutoTrader.com, consumers might soon be shifting their buying tastes even more as gas prices continue to gain momentum. Almost two-thirds, or 62 percent, of auto shoppers surveyed in March and April on AutoTrader.com indicated they would consider a more fuel efficient vehicle for their next car if gas prices continue to rise. Industry reports note that […] [Read More]

No matter what might be happening domestically or elsewhere throughout the globe, Dataium discovered Wednesday that its Auto Shopper Intensity Index has now made four straight months of gains. However, firm analysts pointed out that the rise of the ASI Index slowed both in February and the first part of March. They figure the climb was […] [Read More]

After another firm recently gave dealers a glimpse of trends in the Hispanic market, on Wednesday Polk rolled out analysis showing new-vehicle registrations among Asian-Americans grew at a faster pace than the overall market last year. Polk discovered 2010 new-vehicle registrations among Asian-Americans grew 10.4 percent above 2009’s total and accounted for 438,430 vehicles, signaling a slight […] [Read More]