Certified pre-owned vehicle sales were up modestly in April, as the first third of the year wrapped up slightly ahead of the 2016 pace. According to Autodata Corp., there were 234,493 CPO sales last month, beating year-ago figures by 0.7 percent. That pushes the year-to-date sum to 881,881 sales, a 0.3-percent increase. This follows a particularly […] [Read More]

Asbury Automotive Group chief executive Craig Monaghan doesn’t downplay the impact that swelling supply and off-lease volume has on pricing in the used-car market. That said, he’s not hitting the panic button, instead treating the pre-owned sector as a “trading business” and leaning on fast turns. “We think that’s going to create some pressure on […] [Read More]

Jim Ellis Automotive Group announced recently that Jimmy Ellis, president of the family-owned and operated dealership network, has decided to launch a giving campaign that will benefit local first responders in Atlanta. Each of the group's 14 locations will participate in the first responder campaign. A portion of the profit from every new or pre-owned […] [Read More]

For well over a decade, I have worked with, led and trained some of the best sales professionals in the world. They all, without exception, share a single common trait.  Somehow they know more about their customers’ business and what their customers are trying to accomplish than customers do.  The reason for this is simple: Most successful […] [Read More]

Union Pacific has earned the 2016 Toyota Logistics Excellence Award in customer service for the ninth consecutive year, along with the automaker's Kaizen Excellence Award in recognition of excellence in continuous improvement, the company announced on Monday. "We’re honored to receive the inaugural Kaizen award, demonstrating our dedication to continuous improvement, efficiency and shipment quality," […] [Read More]

The T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research has announced that it will honor Facebook's U.S. Automotive director Stephanie Latham at the Women of Influence Awards and Luncheon next week. Latham, a breast cancer survivor and passionate supporter of the cause, will join five other women in accepting their awards during the foundation's […] [Read More]

The latest move from Lithia Motors continues what has been an active few years on the acquisition side of the business.  The retailer has expanded its operations to Pennsylvania with the purchase of Baierl Auto Group in Pittsburgh. Lithia announced the acquisition on Monday afternoon. Baierl, which  has Acura, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Kia, Subaru and […] [Read More]

Sonic Automotive had record first-quarter used-car sales and March, in particular, was the retailer’s strongest month ever for pre-owned volumes. The company’s standalone EchoPark pre-owned stores had 1,673 sales during the quarter (up 77.8 percent year-over-year) and could be poised to expand by as many as 20 locations next year.   “If you look at […] [Read More]

Just like when trying to turn used vehicles, Penske Automotive Group chairman Roger Penske also sees an inventory mismatch when dealer group stores look to put their customers into a lease for a new model. Penske addressed the new-vehicle leasing situation and the potential impact on residual values when the dealer group hosted its quarterly […] [Read More]

On Friday, CarGurus named the recipients of its inaugural Best Used Car Awards, which recognize the best recent-year used-car models across seven body style categories. CarGurus’ new award considers each vehicle’s long-term value retention projections along with driver satisfaction based on both consumer and expert reviews. “Vehicle generations which include the 2013 model year were considered in […] [Read More]