Executives with Group 1 Automotive have touted new efforts to capitalize on the higher mileage spectrum of the used-car market through the company's latest pre-owned car project: Val-U-Line, a proprietary brand for high-mileage pre-owned vehicles. It was in the first quarter that the company launched Val-U-Line, with the goal of growing it to represent 10 percent of the […] [Read More]

A pair of top Sonic Automotive executives reiterated the potential of its chain of dedicated pre-owned stores — EchoPark — not just because of the project’s capability of retailing used vehicles for a strong margin and building long-standing customer bonds. Furthermore, the top Sonic brass is pushing resources into EchoPark because requirements from automakers about […] [Read More]

Roger Penske was answering a question specific to the retailer’s operations in the U.K., but the sentiment, perhaps, is universal when it comes to the standalone used-car stores at Penske Automotive Group. Responding to that inquiry during the Q&A portion of the company’s quarterly conference call, Penske said that used-car standalone stores “really give us […] [Read More]

Lithia Motors leadership discussed people in significant detail during its first-quarter conference call with the investment community. Lithia is keeping close tabs both on individuals who employed by the dealer group as well as its customer base that is exhibiting changing behavior. Lithia president and chief executive officer Bryan DeBoer intrigued Wall Street watchers during […] [Read More]

Asbury Automotive Group will spend the rest of the year focusing on parts of its business it can control and expects to invest in excess of $10 million on its omni-channel strategy, company executives said. “Our plan for the remainder of 2018 is to focus on the aspects of the business that we can control, […] [Read More]

Sonic Automotive sure enjoyed a record-setting first quarter as the dealer group reported six different new milestones as a part of its latest financial statement released earlier this week. Sonic said it posted new highs within six different metrics, including a trio related to its used-vehicle and F&I departments. Starting from the top, the dealer […] [Read More]

Used-car sales this month are likely to decline modestly from March, but the seasonally adjusted annualized rate should remain steady. That’s according to an analysis released this week by Edmunds, which projects April used-car sales of approximately 3.5 million units. That would be down from 3.7 million in March. The SAAR for both months, however, […] [Read More]

The challenging winter weather experienced in much of the dealership footprint held by Lithia Motors left its mark on the first-quarter performance the dealer group reported on Wednesday. Despite the Northeast getting especially pounded by snow and other elements preventing potential buyers coming to showrooms, Lithia managed a 4.2-percent improvement in used-vehicle retail sales during […] [Read More]

When Brenna Stansberry got out of high school she could have joined the family used-car business, Park Marina Motors. But she joined the Navy. “The car business was stressful, and I saw that in my parents,” said Stansberry, who later had a family, joined the business and is now the owner of the Redding, Calif., […] [Read More]

After driving over 40 vehicles through a series of exercises on a 2.5-mile racetrack, members of the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) voted for Lexus and Chrysler to take home the top two awards at this year’s Texas Auto Roundup. Over the course of two days, 49 TAWA members learned about a total of 46 different […] [Read More]