March will conclude with busted NCAA Tournament brackets, the start of the NADA Convention & Expo in Las Vegas and, according to Edmunds.com, about 3.6 million used-car sales. The company said the resulting used-car SAAR for the month would be 36.7 million. In February, Edmunds said, there were 3.5 million used sales with a 37.4 […] [Read More]

Five different nameplates took honors as Nielsen announced the winners of its 10th Annual Automotive Advertising Awards, celebrating the most effective automotive ads that aired during 2015. Crowned as Automotive Ad of the Year was Dodge’s “Wisdom” spot, which featured an emotional montage of interviews with centenarians describing what they have learned in life juxtaposed […] [Read More]

Dominion Dealer Solutions highlighted that its equity data mining solution — DealActivator — recently completed significant upgrades to its soft credit pull reporting capabilities, Priority Page mobile functionality and real-time notifications. Last year, DealActivator released soft credit pull functionality to help dealers achieve conquest sales through equity opportunities in the service drive. With new equity […] [Read More]

Volkswagen has until April 21 to submit a plan to federal regulators regarding how to fix or buy back vehicles included in the diesel emissions controversy; a situation that based on the estimates from Kelley Blue Book could cost the automaker more than $7 billion. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer on Thursday extended the deadline […] [Read More]

Cloud-based customer engagement solutions provider GoMoto is rolling out a digital platform that will allow consumers to start the purchase process on the Web and then continue it inside the dealership walls. This lets the dealer “capture” the consumer before they even set foot on the lot. GoMoto Digital is set to roll out Thursday. […] [Read More]

In a move impacting a couple tentacles of the company, Cox Automotive said Thursday that the Dealertrack Service Pro fixed operations product will be blended into the Xtime customer engagement and retention solution. The result is one integrated solution. “Fixed operations is a dependable and growing source of revenue for our dealer clients, and the […] [Read More]

LotLinx has rolled out a digital marketing tool called VIN View Optimizer through which dealers can monitor marketplace engagement at the vehicle level. In essence, this tool can help them figure out which cars are getting some looks online, and which ones aren’t so that they can redistribute ad spend as needed.   In its news […] [Read More]

One of the benefits to certified pre-owned is that it often gives dealers and automakers the chance to introduce a consumer to the brand. An entry point, so to speak. Maybe the shopper is on the fence financially, but wants some of the same protection and assurance that a new car offers; CPO can be […] [Read More]

Third-party automotive websites are improving satisfaction by capturing the attention of vehicle shoppers through increased use of the visual Web and its streamlined approach to site navigation, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Third-Party Automotive Website Evaluation Study released on Thursday. The study, now in its fourth year, measures the usefulness of automotive third-party websites […] [Read More]

Steven Landry will be the new chief executive officer of AutoCanada starting April 1, the company announced last week. Tom Orysiuk is remaining AutoCanada’s president, while Pat Priestner will become non-executive chair of the board of directors on May 6. Priestner has a target retirement of May 2017 at the company’s annual general meeting. “I […] [Read More]