Swapalease.com sees the sales performance of luxury brands becoming a new sweet spot for improved leasing activity in the coming future. The website noted eight luxury nameplates that posted anywhere from 8- to 19-percent increases in sales to date as compared to the same time last year. The growth Swapalease.com highlighted includes: —Audi: 19.1 percent. […] [Read More]

Volkswagen of America touted the half dozen new elements associated with  the completely redesigned website that the automaker launched on Monday. It’s all meant to augment the brand’s global digital business strategy to enhance the user experience in both shopping for and owning a VW. The automaker noted the redesigned site is on a globally hosted […] [Read More]

Ford hopes its Western region franchise dealers benefit from another campaign not only meant to promote the 2011 Fiesta but also undiscovered musical talent. The promotion called “Gimme the Gig” is branded as a multimedia campaign integrating experiential, social and digital interactions while building awareness around the Fiesta. Unsigned musicians throughout the U.S. are currently […] [Read More]

Sparked by what top management described as a reinvigorated focus on increasing used-vehicle sales, Penske Automotive Group posted significant gains in third-quarter income. Sharing their financial report late last week, Penske executives said third-quarter income from continuing operations attributable to common shareholders came in at $31 million or 34 cents per share. During the same […] [Read More]

Late last week, CarMax elevated one of its veteran executives to senior vice president and chief financial officer. Moving up into the role is Tom Reedy. Management explained Reedy will be responsible for CarMax’s finance organization, including accounting, treasury, financial planning and analysis, tax and risk management. The company plans to begin recruiting for the […] [Read More]

Potential buyers who also watch plenty of pro basketball on television likely will be seeing plenty of content that highlights the Kia brand. Kia Motors America and the National Basketball Association recently announced an extension and expansion of their marketing partnership through a new multiyear agreement.  Returning as the Official Automotive Partner of the NBA, […] [Read More]

Jaguar Land Rover Canada will officially have a new president Monday. Hired to serve in the position is Lindsay Duffield, whose most recent post was as BMW Group Canada’s president and chief executive officer. Duffield’s tenure in that position was five years. His background also includes financial services leadership. He worked for BMW Group Financial […] [Read More]

Fiat stretched the reach of Chrysler Group’s sales and service into four key European markets during the third quarter, and the Italian company’s automobile businesses — comprising Fiat Group Automobiles, Maserati and Ferrari — posted a 2 million euro year-over-year gain in trading profits, Fiat Group announced Thursday. [Read More]

On Thursday, Toyota announced another voluntary recall on certain Toyota and Lexus models that covers many parts of the world, including the U.S.    Will this mean a hit to the automaker’s U.S. residuals and used-vehicle values? Both Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds.com analysts say it’s unlikely. However, these experts say that the higher incentives and enticing deals Toyota has been offering […] [Read More]

While also sharing what social media trends are impacting brands most, J.D. Power and Associates believes October’s seasonally adjusted annualized rate for new-vehicle retail sales should surpass 10 million for the first time this year. Sparking what J.D. Power thinks is a sign of a more pronounced recovery trend is an October new-vehicle retail sales […] [Read More]