At a recent 20 Group meeting of Chevrolet dealers, a dealer told me that the average front-end used-vehicle gross profit for the group was down $275, while expenses were up 11 percent. The dealer then asked a question that I’ve heard multiple times in recent months: “Dale, what can we do about this? I got […] [Read More]

Hyundai Motor America recently announced its president and chief executive officer John Krafcik would be stepping down as of Dec. 31. Filling the role in 2014 is David Zuchowski, former executive vice president of sales for the company. Zuchowski assumed the position Jan. 1. The new president and CEO joined the company in Feb. 2007 […] [Read More]

A pair of luxury brands is making vehicle recalls, according to postings from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The larger of the two campaigns comes from Volvo Cars of North America, which is recalling 30,929 vehicles. Included are S60 vehicles from the 2011 and 2012 model years and manufactured from June 22, 2010, through […] [Read More]

A lot has changed when it comes to new-vehicle market share in Canada. The economic downturn, manufacturer bankruptcies, product challenges and newcomers to the scene have shaken some of the grip that big names have held on the market. In a recent issue of the Observations report from his company, Dennis DesRosiers, president and founder […] [Read More]

Destination Auto Group, a family-owned Vancouver-based retailer of new and pre-owned vehicles, says it finds the perfect customer service balance by taking both an artistic and scientific approach to serving customers. Adil Ahamed, marketing and business development manager at Destination Auto Group, says the dealership’s approach to customer service is as much an art as […] [Read More]

This holiday season, Honda Canada and Ontario Honda dealers gathered more than 3,000 toys for needy children. The toy drive is in support of the 47th annual CP24 CHUM Christmas Wish, a nonprofit dedicated to helping children in need during the holidays. The toy drive began on Nov. 18 and involved the participation of 77 […] [Read More]

Edmunds.com recently shed some light on which used cars have been the hottest for franchised dealers.   The site found that the fastest-selling 1- to 5-year-old vehicle for franchised dealers in November was the Lexus RX 400h; and when taking all age vehicles under consideration, the fastest seller was the Suzuki Grand Vitara. Specifically, the […] [Read More]

CarMax saw record results for its fiscal third quarter of 2014, with total used unit sales rising by 15 percent. And that was one of many double-digit increases the company reported. The company also enjoyed a 10-percent rise in used unit sales in comparable stores over the year-ago period. This spike was due in part […] [Read More]

RedBumper has announced that it will be launching a new-car inventory management system at the National Automobile Dealers Association Convention in New Orleans. New Car IQ  is designed to offer both individual dealers and dealer groups a comprehensive set of inventory management analysts for the new-car side of the business, and serve as an as […] [Read More]

After used-car prices rose dangerously close to new-car price tags after the recession, pre-owned prices have started to ease this year. And Cars.com reported Thursday that December late-model used-car prices hit a new low for 2013. Rates have fallen $117 from November to rest at an average of $21,952, the site reported on its Kicking […] [Read More]