The Automotive Trade Association Executives, which represents 115 state and metro new-car and -truck dealer groups in the U.S. and Canada, has chosen a new chairman for 2014. Elected to the position is James Appleton, who is also president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers. “There has never been a moment in time […] [Read More]

When it comes to the certified pre-owned market, one of the key themes Black Book’s Ricky Beggs sees is opportunity.  Opportunity in the remarketing channels to take advantage of greater off-lease volumes, for OEMs to maintain brand strength and for dealers to quickly turn their inventory. (Not to mention, dealers will have a lot more […] [Read More]

Thirteen import brand certified pre-owned programs hit best-ever years in 2013, according to Autodata Corp., and nine of these brands have started 2014 ahead of last year’s pace. And most of the two dozen Asian and European automakers included in Autodata’s set showed year-over-year increases in CPO sales for January. Despite losing a bit of […] [Read More]

Urban Science announced a partnership with third-party sales lead transactions company LeadiD late last week. The company explained this partnership will provide Urban Science with verified lead origins and histories, “allowing for more educated lead-buying decisions and, in turn, an increase in dealership productivity and profitability.” “Urban Science is committed to finding new ways to […] [Read More]

Group 1 announced its Q4 and full-year 2013 financial results on Wednesday, reporting a 19.3-percent increase in revenue and considerable growth in used-vehicle gross profit. The dealership group president and chief executive officer Earl Hesterberg also noted he expects increasing used supply to contribute to a “more favorable” industry-wide pre-owned market going forward — one that […] [Read More]

Led by a year-over-year sales increase of nearly 27 percent from Ford, the Big 3 grabbed about three-and-a-half additional points of certified pre-owned market share in January as all the automakers posted nice lifts in CPO sales, according to the latest report from Autodata Corp. All told, certified sales for the Detroit automakers totaled 59,648 […] [Read More]

Manheim’s Tom Webb said during a press conference at the NADA Convention & Expo last month that he “can pretty much guarantee that CPO sales are going to hit a record again this year.” Well, they’re certainly off to a good start. Fresh off the third straight record year for certified pre-owned sales, last month […] [Read More]

Asbury Automotive Group is confident company dealerships are primed to have a great first quarter and beyond because of a higher level of used-vehicle inventory already in stock and the projected burst of off-lease volume coming into the wholesale pipeline. Asbury executive vice president and chief operating officer Michael Kearney indicated that the group ended […] [Read More]

Asbury Automotive Group sold 18 percent more used vehicles in 2013 on a same-store basis compared to the previous year, but those company dealerships watched their gross profit per unit sag slightly. All told for the year, Asbury reported gains in adjusted income, net income and revenue as it released its latest financial metrics this […] [Read More]

With a good bit of the country hampered by severe weather, the used-car market last month wasn’t quite as solid as it was a year ago, as sales dipped 0.72 percent, according to CNW Research. That said, franchised dealers bucked the trend, boosting their used-car sales by more than 2 percent. Overall, used-car sales fell […] [Read More]