The year-over-year double-digit climb in retail used-vehicle sales during the second quarter certainly got the attention of investment analysts who watch Lithia Motors’ results regularly. What they wanted to know was whether Lithia could sustain this growth trajectory. President and chief executive officer Bryan DeBoer pointed to one factor as a reason why Lithia might […] [Read More]

Jaguar Land Rover North America has begun mailing notifications to owners of certain 2009-11 Jaguar XF and 2007-11 Land Rover Range Rover vehicles that their vehicles are affected by the ongoing Takata airbag recall. For the first phase of this recall, which includes about half of the 108,000 Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles affected, vehicle […] [Read More]

July was the second-best month of all time for certified pre-owned car sales, Autodata Corp. said Thursday. The industry sold 234,243 CPO vehicles last month, which beat year-ago figures by 5.6 percent, the firm reported. The only month stronger was March, when 243,957 certified vehicles were sold.  Five brands (BMW, Lexus, MINI, Nissan and Subaru) reached […] [Read More]

More than 70 percent of respondents in a recent Xtime study considered cost estimates “extremely important” or “very important” when scheduling service appointments. In fact, the assurance that they are getting a transparent estimate outranked all other factors among the 668 drivers surveyed, including the ability to choose the time or day of the appointment, […] [Read More]

BMW sold a record 11,877 certified pre-owned vehicles in July, beating year-ago figures by 23.1 percent, the company said in a news release Tuesday. Meanwhile, the MINI brand at BMW Group U.S. posted a July record 1,197 CPO sales, which beat year-ago sales by 8 percent. Among other brands reporting July CPO results so far, Mercedes-Benz […] [Read More]

Back in April, Manheim announced it was expanding its Retail Solutions operations to provide clients greater access to high-quality services that can produce retail-ready vehicles. During a discussion about its second-quarter results last week, Sonic Automotive described how Manheim is a “great business partner for us,” especially as the dealer group is looking to gain […] [Read More]

For each used vehicle it retails, Group 1 Automotive has been generating an average gross profit in the neighborhood of $1,500, and you can expect that to remain steady in the second half of the year. In the company’s latest quarterly earnings call with investors, Group 1 said used-vehicle prices in car segments have been […] [Read More]

Lithia Motors watched its retail used-vehicle sales figure overall and on a same-store basis climb by double digits year-over-year in the second quarter, which turned out to be the highest second quarter for adjusted net income in company history. Lithia reported that it turned 12.3 percent more used vehicles during Q2 as all of the […] [Read More]

The industry isn’t “over the cliff” at this point, but AutoNation chief executive officer Mike Jackson reiterated concerns he made earlier this year about too much incentivizing in the new-vehicle market, stressing that it’s an “unsustainable” model. During the Q&A portion of Friday’s quarterly earnings call, Jackson responded to an analyst expressing concern about record new-car […] [Read More]

Penske Automotive Group has ramped up its supply of “young, used vehicles.” During a conference call Thursday to discuss the company’s second-quarter earnings results, chief executive officer Roger Penske noted that in an effort to provide service customers on the premium luxury side with loaner cars, the auto group has grown its loaner car fleet to […] [Read More]