The fact that the auto industry is conditioning consumers to do most of their research and purchasing online is uncontested. What is debatable, however, is whether we are making it easy for this new behavior to be adopted. Nearly 100% of dealerships’ or OEMs’ marketing budget and strategy (both traditional and digital) is geared toward […] [Read More]

Used vehicles, dare it be said, have become somewhat sexy. In the not too distant past, used vehicles took a back seat to their more glamorous new-vehicle brethren. Often relegated to the far back lot, used vehicles were not the sale of choice for many dealers. Boy have times changed. Today, used vehicles aren’t simply […] [Read More]

When you think of a digital versus brick-and-mortar business model, consider Amazon and Walmart. While pieces of their operations may lean more heavily either direction, neither is completely physical nor completely digital. Peter Kelly, who is president of KAR Global, uses that analogy to illustrate the operations of the auto auction business. KAR is the […] [Read More]

Hyundai Motor America chief marketing officer Angela Zepeda says Hyundai understands that “building a better future starts with investing in the young women inventing it today.” That is evident as Hyundai introduced a new program to celebrate International Women’s Day. The Hyundai Women in STEM Scholarship seeks to help the next generation of women leaders […] [Read More]

Unfortunately, we have not yet made it to the era of “The Jetsons.” Forty-three percent of millennials believed we would be traveling in flying cars by now, according to new research by Cars.com. But 87% of millennial respondents to the research believe car ownership is important. And those famously commitment-phobic millennials are twice as likely […] [Read More]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently granted a patent to KPMG for a blockchain-based method that can improve the selection, curation and management of data used to train machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) models. The company highlighted KPMG’s new patent — U.S. Patent No. 10,528,890 — demonstrates how blockchain can be used to […] [Read More]

Officials from 700Credit recently finalized another alliance to make their credit reports, compliance solutions and consumer pre-qualification products available to more dealerships. The latest relationship is with Advent Resources, which offers Advent DMS, a cloud-based platform for dealers. The companies noted this new 700Credit integration can provide dealerships with seamless access to 700Credit’s credit report […] [Read More]

Our podcast episodes originating from last month’s automotive festivities in Las Vegas continue with a conversation featuring Cheryl Miller and Kaitlin Gavin of Dealertrack. During the Vehicle Finance Conference hosted by the American Financial Services Association, Miller and Gavin shared an update about how the industry is steadily moving toward more e-contracting while navigating the […] [Read More]

In the aftermath of the storms that hit Tennessee early Tuesday, Manheim provided an update Friday afternoon on its Nashville-area location. Manheim Nashville is still closed, but it has accounted for all 619 of the auction’s employees, the company said. “With several buildings on our property severely damaged, services such as reconditioning are not available. […] [Read More]

Consumers visiting dealer websites, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist and other sites can use a new product from automotive digital marketing company AutoRevo to start a live text conversation with an actual sales professional. Those consumers can do that instead of having a conversation with a chatbot or someone who “doesn't understand your dealership or your inventory,” AutoRevo […] [Read More]