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TD Bank’s TD Auto Finance arm recently named Christopher Nabeta the director of OEM sales and strategy for Canada. Nabeta has been in the position since February, after spending the better part of 2023 focusing on ... [Read More]

It was springtime in the auction lanes last month. Prices were down double-digit percentages from a year ago, but the market was buzzing as dealers were busy buying units amid blooming retail demand. “The wholesale market got into the spring mood in February, with dealers ... [Read More]

The recovery in commercial consignment volume is already bearing fruit for marketplaces in the wholesale auto industry. At OPENLANE, for instance, 710,000 commercial consignment vehicles were sold through its marketplaces last year, compared to 661,000 in 2022. In the fourth quarter, OPENLANE had 183,000 commercial vehicle sales, up from 151,000 a year earlier. The growth in commercial vehicle volumes for the company has ... [Read More]

Although there may not have been any big surprises this year for the AutoTrader 2024 awards, the company’s editor-in-chief Jodi Lai told Auto Remarketing Canada she was happy to see the Toyota Prius/Prius Prime win for Best Overall Car. “It’s cool because it's the first hybrid and plug-in hybrid that has won this overall category in the AutoTrader awards. The Prius has always been so good. It's always been very reliable and efficient, but it recently ... [Read More]

CarGurus has gone all in on CarOffer, closing its deal to take over 100% ownership of the digital wholesale platform in December. But, the company said in its fourth-quarter 2023 earnings call, getting a return on that investment is going to take time. CarGurus’ digital wholesale operation recorded ... [Read More]

In two separate investor notes this week analyzing the respective earnings results of ACV and OPENLANE, John Healy of Northcoast Research describes the wholesale vehicle market as “thawing.” This melting “ice,” so to speak, should come as a warm welcome to the overall used-car ecosystem, which has dealt with an avalanche of up-and-down prices and is in dire need of liquid assets (i.e. pre-owned supply for dealer lots). “Q4 financial results from ACV were reflective of our view that wholesale industry pressures are ... [Read More]

Consumer interest in electric vehicles has plateaued and dealers want some relief from pressure to sell them. That was the message that emerged from speakers during the J.D. Power Auto Summit earlier this month in Las Vegas. “Interest (in EVs) has been improving pretty nicely over the last few years, but it has kind of ... [Read More]

Consider the landscape for used-only vehicle retailers just three years ago. Vroom, which launched its initial public offering in June 2020, made its Super Bowl advertising debut in February 2021, followed by a return trip a year later alongside rival Carvana, which joined the commercial action for Super Bowl LVI. Shift announced plans to go public through a special purpose acquisition company (or “SPAC”) in June 2020, a move that was completed in October of that year.  CarLotz, a “retail remarketing” platform, would announce its own SPAC plans that same October. Momentum was strong, amid a pandemic-driven white-hot market for pre-owned cars. Some three years later, however ... [Read More]

While sales of certified pre-owned vehicles may have risen last year, dealers tell Auto Remarketing it was a tough year for them on several levels. They anticipate 2024 will be a better year for CPO sales, with some caveats. Demand for CPO vehicles in 2024 will not be a problem. A CPO vehicle “is something consumers ... [Read More]

The auto market will return to normalcy in 2024, which is good news for consumers and at least more predictable for dealers. That was Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke’s message in his State of the Industry presentation at the Cox booth during NADA. He divided the outlook into five trends. First, recession is out. 2024 will be a ... [Read More]