Mazda North American Operations announced today that it has made a $1 million donation to the St. Jude Children’s Hospital to aid the latter’s efforts in researching and treating childhood cancers and other life-threatening diseases. The donation was made through the Mazda Drive for Good program, which ran from Nov. 21 to Jan. 2, aiming […] [Read More]

FCA US LLC announced today that it will offer a no-cost, no-debt college degree to its employees via a partnership with Strayer University. Titled the Degrees @ Work program, employees at Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and FIAT dealerships in the United States will soon have the option to earn a college degree through Strayer University, […] [Read More]

Manheim chief economist Tom Webb crunched the first-quarter reports of the seven publicly traded dealership groups — CarMax, AutoNation, Penske Automotive Group, Sonic Automotive, Group 1 Automotive, Asbury Automotive Group and Lithia Motors — and determined these companies enjoyed a same-store increase in retail used-unit deliveries for the 23rd consecutive quarter. Webb also computed that the sales-weighted […] [Read More]

Thinking back a few years, Fisker Automotive emerged on the scene in 2008 as a competitor to Tesla with the launch of the all-electric Karma — its first and only vehicle. The company went into bankruptcy in 2013, then was bought by Chinese parts manufacturer Wanxiang last year. Now, it looks like the automaker is back […] [Read More]

Despite a slowdown from March, certified pre-owned sales in April beat year-ago figures by more than 11 percent, and two brands posted their best-ever months. According to Autodata Corp., there were 214,967 certified sales last month, an 11.3-percent increase from April 2014 and a 3.4-percent decline from March. Through four months of 2015, the industry […] [Read More]

DCH Auto Group, which is a part of Lithia Motors, is calling attention to teen driving safety this month as part of Global Youth Traffic Safety Month (GYTSM).  Officials highlighted that throughout May, all DCH Auto Group dealerships in New Jersey, New York and California will be sponsoring activities to raise awareness about how to […] [Read More]

Penske Automotive Group's service and parts operations raked in roughly $260.3 million in overall retail automotive gross profit during the first quarter of 2015. This marked a 5.8-percent year-over-year increase and also accounted for 41.4 percent of the company’s gross profit mix in the quarter. When asked how much of a tailwind recall services were adding the parts and service business at […] [Read More]

Ford Motor Co. issued four safety recalls in North America on Wednesday. Only one accident and no injuries are known to be related to the recalls. The vehicles recalled are as follows, according to Ford. 2015 Lincoln MKZ A compliance recall is active for certain 2015 Lincoln MKZ vehicles made between Feb. 17, 2014 and […] [Read More]

Barring a few exceptions, consumer interest has largely turned to sportier models as the weather continues to warm. In fact, demand for these models, many of which have convertible options, prompted Autotrader senior analyst Michelle Krebs to say the following: “Spring has arrived, and car buyers’ desires have turned to sporty cars.” The majority of […] [Read More]

The Costco Auto Program announced Tuesday its Driving Member Satisfaction event, which will award $2,000 to a winning authorized contact and general manager team each month to thank its participating dealers and to help improve the dealers’ customer service index scores. The first award recipient is Carol Gonzalez at Honda of Bowie in Bowie, Md., […] [Read More]