During the group’s NADA Show event in Las Vegas, North Carolina dealer Mike Alford will become the 2022 chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association.  Alford, who is the dealer principal at Marine Chevrolet in Jacksonville as well as Trent Buick Trent Buick GMC and Trent Cadillac in New Bern, will be the second NADA […] [Read More]

Charging infrastructure is a major component to driving widespread adoption of electric vehicles, and one franchised dealer in Wake County, N.C., is already taking action.  In preparation for a wave of new EV options from legacy OEMs, the dealership — which isn’t going public with these plans yet — has installed 12 charging stations on […] [Read More]

Rick Ricart had a concise response when asked what he thinks about the current state of the used-car market. “The first thing that comes to mind is, thank goodness for used cars,” said Ricart, who is president of Ricart Automotive Group. Ricart elaborated by saying that when used-car values rose, it was a good thing […] [Read More]

In 2017, Zach Terrell was a quarterback for Western Michigan University, helping to lead his team to the Cotton Bowl. Terrell is now a general sales manager for Zeigler Automotive Group, and the company’s president and owner Aaron Zeigler said he likes to hire athletes because of the energy they bring to their jobs. Zeigler […] [Read More]

A pandemic-induced dealership business model that forces dealers to make do with lean vehicle inventories, more digital interaction with consumers and engage in other cost containing measures, is yielding fatter dealership profits. In turn, those profits are stoking a red-hot dealership buy-sell market. So say dealership buy-sell advisors who handle those transactions for dealership groups […] [Read More]

Earl Hesterberg provided a blunt response to an analyst’s question on vehicle inventory during the Group 1 Automotive fourth quarter 2021 earnings conference call that took place on Feb. 10. Hesterberg is Group 1 president and chief executive officer, and the analyst asked when Hesterberg thought the inventory shortages that have plagued the industry might […] [Read More]

Contributions from acquired businesses, a growing e-commerce platform and successful navigation of the supply and demand environment. Those are factors that Lithia & Driveway ) president and chief executive officer Bryan DeBoer listed as helping the company achieve record annual 2021 revenues of $22.8 billion. “[Lithia & Driveway] has a track record of exceeding targets […] [Read More]

“Very tough to predict.” That was the response from Asbury Automotive Group president and chief executive officer David Hult to an analyst’s questions regarding when vehicle inventories would return to normal. The analyst went on to ask, would inventories return to somewhere between where they are now and where they used to be, or would […] [Read More]

Sonic Automotive’s immediate focus is to expand and enhance its EchoPark standalone, used-car operation and to integrate its recent acquisition, RFJ Auto Partners and its subsidiaries, into its business, said Sonic chief executive officer David Smith. “We’re going to be disciplined on further acquisitions, but that’s not to say if a deal comes together we […] [Read More]

Penske Automotive’s growth trajectory remains on track, though the company has had to change how it finds new employees and used vehicles, said chief executive officer Roger Penske during the company’s Feb. 9 earnings conference call detailing the company’s financial results for the quarter and year ending Dec. 31. “We had a terrific year,” Penske said. […] [Read More]