Record earnings, the role of diversification in achieving those earnings and the prominence of used vehicles as part of that diversification were among the main themes of the Penske Automotive Group third quarter 2018 earnings results. PAG and its chairman and CEO Roger Penske reported during the results call on Oct. 25 that the record […] [Read More]

AutoNation doesn’t plan on building any new AutoNation USA pre-owned stores  in 2019, and will instead focus on the Customer Care piece of its brand extension strategy. “We are encouraged by current progress and are continuing to evaluate the existing stores,” chief operating officer Lance Iserman said during opening remarks of the dealer group’s latest […] [Read More]

Another publicly traded dealer group has made a significant investment in the online car sales space. AutoNation said Tuesday it has obtained roughly a 7-percent ownership stake in Vroom after a $50 million strategic investment in the online car retailer. “We are excited about our investment in Vroom and the potential collaboration between our companies,” […] [Read More]

Reconditioning is a vital part of most any retail used-car sales operations, including those in the growing standalone pre-owned store space. With that in mind, EchoPark Automotive — which is Sonic Automotive’s chain of used-car stores — has lined up auto reconditioning software provider AutoMobile Technologies to provide workflow automation software to its reconditioning facilities, […] [Read More]

Kerrigan Advisors has expanded to the East Coast. The California-based firm, which advises dealers on the sell-side of M&A, has opened its second office, setting up shop in the Washington, D.C. metro area. The D.C. office will be led by Gabe Robleto, who joins the company as vice president of buy/sell advisory. Robleto was most […] [Read More]

Mitsubishi Motors North America has teamed up with Dealer-FX to launch a digital platform designed to help its dealers make service visits more seamless for their customers. This customer experience management platform is called MICAR and is based on the ONE platform from Dealer-FX. The ONE platform is designed to connect each phase of service […] [Read More]

Many of the metrics around Asbury Automotive Group's used-car operations have shown some growth, both in the third quarter and through nine months of the year, according to the retailer's quarterly earnings report released Tuesday.   Asbury increased its used-car retail sales by nearly 11 percent in the third quarter, retailing 20,824 pre-owned units. That’s up from […] [Read More]

Auto classified industry veterans Skip Dowd and Ernie Blood — who have been with operations such as AutoMart Magazine, AutoMart.com, AutoTrader.com, Mini Merchant and Trader Publishing — are now collaborating on a new platform to help dealers move metal. Dowd and Blood joined forces to launch MAutoSearch, an online mobile vehicle-buying solution that is geared to […] [Read More]

The next line of succession in National Automobile Dealers Association leaders has been decided. Current NADA vice chairman Charlie Gilchirst, who is president of Texas-based Gilchrist Automotive, was elected 2019 president by NADA’s board of directors during their meeting in Newport, Calif., on Tuesday. Chosen to be the vice chairman for next year is Rhett Ricart, […] [Read More]

Perhaps a couple times a week, a vehicle with a manual transmission rolls over the curb or pulls into the service drive at your dealership. According to data shared by CarMax on Monday, the penetration of company sales for vehicles that are equipped with manual transmissions is down 86.2 percent from 23 years ago. Back […] [Read More]