David Smith and members of Sonic Automotive’s leadership team were excited to share the company’s earnings results during the company’s second-quarter 2019 earnings call in July. “We want to thank our teammates, customers, vendors and manufacturer partners for helping us achieve a record second quarter,” said Smith, who is Sonic Automotive’s chief executive officer. But […] [Read More]

Saying the move places it in a stronger position for future digital retailing, connected vehicles and mobility opportunities, auto company JM Family has named Chad Couch as its new chief information officer. Leading JM Family’s technology and innovation strategy, Couch will work to identify new and emerging tech tools and services to support future growth. […] [Read More]

Among the financial details reported for second quarter 2019 by Group 1 and Asbury were perspectives on emerging vehicle technologies and their benefits to these companies’ service operations. Group 1 said repair costs are not likely to “materially change” soon, but the nature of the (vehicle) components needing attention will shift. “As vehicle complexity continues […] [Read More]

Used-car performance for the second quarter of 2019 over the same period last year was up slightly for public dealership groups Penske Automotive, Asbury Automotive and Group 1 Automotive, according to each group’s second-quarter financial filings, press releases and Q2 presentations to investors. • Penske reported that same-store used vehicle retail revenue (U.S. operations) was […] [Read More]

Since the inception of the Barbecue for the Troops program in 2013, the area's new-car dealers with the Chicago Automobile Trade Association, or CATA, have raised nearly $900,000, with that money going toward support of USO of Illinois initiatives. The program has initiated more than 600 fundraisers over the course of seven years, and with […] [Read More]

It was a great start to the second half of the year for the certified pre-owned car market. There were 236,579 CPO vehicle sales in July, which beat year-ago figures by 6%, despite trailing June figures by 2%, says a new Data Point report from Cox Automotive, which cites Motor Intelligence data. This follows a […] [Read More]

Group 1 Automotive has added former S.C. Johnson executive Steven Stanbrook to its board, expanding the number of directors to 10. In a news release Thursday, Group 1 said Stanbrook spent more than 30 years in the global consumer packaged goods sector, most recently as the chief operating officer for international markets at S.C. Johnson, […] [Read More]

To get a sense of the approach Jasen Rice and his team at Lotpop take in working with dealers, picture the one-game-at-a-time, week-by-week approach of a football team. “They don’t worry about the Super Bowl; they worry about who they’re playing this week. They make their adjustments and try to win that game,” Rice said […] [Read More]

In announcing two California expansions on Tuesday and Thursday, Carvana says it is addressing growing demand for the company’s products in Los Angeles and surrounding areas. The company unveiled its newest car vending machine in the Westminster area of Los Angeles and also launched as-soon-as-next-day vehicle delivery to residents of Oxnard, Calif. Carvana’s latest vending […] [Read More]

In a few special editions of the show, we’re sharing some of the panel discussions and keynote presentations from the recent Automotive Intelligence Summit in Raleigh, N.C. First up is our dealer panel, featuring four members of the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association and executive director Robert Glaser. The full discussion can be found below. Download and […] [Read More]