The Pre-Owned Automobile Dealers Alliance wants to help stores maintain strong Fourth of July weekend sales momentum by highlighting how a franchise dealer and an independent lot owner are using CarMark Certified to keep units turning and profit climbing. The next free edition of the POADA’s Pre-Owned LIVE Webinar series is set for 2 p.m. […] [Read More]

Veteran industry analyst James Bell has a new position — this time with a member of the Big 3. Bell, who previously worked as vice president of corporate communications and executive market analyst at Kelley Blue Book , was appointed by General Motors as the automaker’s head of consumer affairs. “James will provide expertise on […] [Read More]

In what appears to be a good sign for Big 3 dealers, AutoNation’s June retail new-vehicle sales showed a slight uptick year-over-year, due in part to a large increase in domestic sales. The company announced Tuesday that its retail new-vehicle sales last month came in at 16,564, an increase of 3 percent year-over-year.  Also, year-to-date […] [Read More]

John Hine has seen a number of good things come out of Mazda’s certified pre-owned program since the automaker revamped it a year ago. Mazda’s CPO program builds value and fosters greater consumer confidence, Hine said, and it has helped his San Diego dealership see greater used Mazda sales. “And it’s also improved our gross-profit […] [Read More]

Dealers will now be able to take advantage of ClassicCars.com’s Certified Classic Vehicle program, announced the company late last week. The program, which was previously limited to private sellers, has also gained quite a few dealer-specific enhancements through its recent expansion, noted company officials. Additionally, ClassicCars.com also introduced a credit program for qualified dealers, allowing […] [Read More]

Seen as a tool to help dealerships reduce energy costs and protect the environment, the National Automobile Dealers Association is urging its members across the country to take a new survey on their energy usage at the dealership. Based on the survey results, NADA officials said the Environmental Protection Agency will produce a 1-to-100 ENERGY […] [Read More]

Canadian auto superstore HGrégoire recently launched its second franchise in Québec, hosting an official grand opening of HGrégoire Canada’s Car Superstore Estrie. The dealership will service the needs of customers in the Eastern Townships and offers what the company says is the largest  physical pre-owned inventory in the region. [Read More]

Carfinco Income Fund gained a major contract earlier this week, as it agreed to service a U.S. equity fund-owned auto loan portfolio that is worth more than $150 million. And with the addition of the third-party portfolio, Carfinco plans to launch a Quebec service center. The portfolio includes both prime and non-prime Canadian consumers and is seeing […] [Read More]

Developing more vehicle technologies and enhancing corporate synergy were among the topics discussed this week by Toyota Motor Corp., president Akio Toyoda and the automaker’s other top executives who gathered for the annual national dealer meeting. The private meeting was attended by representatives from Toyota’s 1,233 U.S. dealers, as well as Toyota Motor North America […] [Read More]

As its peers prepare to rev their facilities back up to 100-percent capacity, Mazda Motor Corp. also plans to return to normal production at its Japanese assembly plants in June. Fiscal 2012 production output in Japan for the automaker is expected to reach 900,000 units. Not only that, the automaker has said it will be profitable across the […] [Read More]