U.S. used commercial vehicle registrations (GVW 3-8) climbed to a record level in 2010, according to Polk. Analysts determined that approximately 672,000 units were registered last year, a figure representing a 21.7-percent increase over the 2009 level. With this increase, Polk asserted last week that used commercial vehicle registrations accounted for nearly 65 percent of […] [Read More]

In TrueCar.com’s January Performance Scorecards that ranked manufacturers and brands across a wide spectrum of criteria, there was one automaker, in particular, that was the head of the class. Not only did Porsche show the most month-over-month improvement for any OEM, but it also was the top scoring manufacturer and tied for the lead among […] [Read More]

Canadian Black Book unveiled its Best Retained Value Awards for 2011 this week, and taking home the most honors yet again was Toyota/Lexus. The awards are spread across 17 segments and examine 2007 model-year units. Canadian Black Book determines the winner in each segment based on which model in the specific vehicle class has held its value […] [Read More]

A pair of Japanese brands has swept the top honors yet again in ALG’s Canadian Residual Value Awards, which were revealed Thursday. For the second straight year, the top overall award for mainstream brands went to Subaru, while Infiniti took top honors in the luxury category for the third consecutive year. This is the third […] [Read More]

Two sets of workshop sessions will bookend the events at the 2011 Auto Remarketing Canada Conference, which will be held April 12-14 at the Hyatt Regency Toronto. These concurrent workshops will feature a variety of speakers and topics, including “Higher Profits in Used Car Sales,” which will be presented by Geoff Helby, of J.D. Power’s […] [Read More]

While some analysts believe Chrysler and Volkswagen received the most consumer traction through their Super Bowl advertisements, an aggregator of Internet automotive shopping activity tells a different story. Dataium’s promotional impact charts say BMW actually benefited more. Why? Dataium explained that its analysts measured shopping, inventory search and lead activity of more than 3 million […] [Read More]

J.D. Power and Associates released a list Thursday of the 40 brands — spread throughout several industries, including the automotive field — that it considers as having the strongest customer service practices. Companies from more than 20 industries are represented and several of these winners are from the auto industry. In fact, five were automakers, those being […] [Read More]

While again mentioning strides toward securing regulatory approval to acquire Dollar Thrifty Auto Group, Avis Budget Group reported 2010 gains in revenue and all segments of adjusted EBITDA. Avis shared this week that its full-year revenue came in at $5.2 billion, an increase of 1 percent compared with 2009. Excluding certain items, the company determined […] [Read More]

The National Independent Automobile Dealers Association announced recently that two companies have signed on as new partners. Recently joining NIADA are Portfolio General Management Group and First Extended/Resource Automotive. Together these companies will offer profits solutions for NIADA dealers selling vehicle service contracts and other ownership protection products like GAP, anti-theft and appearance protection. [Read More]

In the wake of a slew of challenges — including automaker bankruptcies, brand elimination, network consolidation and arbitrations, as well as a rough economy — dealership attrition finally calmed down in 2010 and approached what it is considered the “normal” level, according to the 2010 Automotive Franchise Activity Report from Urban Science. In other good news […] [Read More]