OpenRoad Dealership Group is going into the car wash business through its OpenShine division. And while OpenShine is starting as a franchisee of an American car wash brand, you may see OpenShine-brand car washes in Canada one day, Christian Tjia, operations manager at OpenShine Holdings Ltd. said. “For our long-term strategy, we are definitely exploring […] [Read More]

Volkswagen’s plan to revive the Scout brand has drawn the wrath of the National Automobile Dealers Association. Last week, Reuters reported the VW-backed Scout Motors company will sell its electric SUV and pickup truck directly to consumers rather than through dealers, quoting CEO Scott Keogh as saying he expects Scout to have some three dozen […] [Read More]

Credit Sesame last week launched an improved version of its credit intelligence platform fueled by a decade of serving 18 million consumers and AI models trained with more than 7 trillion data points. Credit Sesame highlighted its platform can provide a full-stack, end-to-end solution with personalized credit analysis, real-time financial insights and access to an […] [Read More]

Doug Timmerman has always been good with numbers. It’s part of the reason why Timmerman graduated with his undergraduate and master’s degrees in business administration from the University of Nebraska. When it came time to depart from the land of the Cornhuskers, Timmerman he thought he’d become a stockbroker, leveraging that talent for figures. But […] [Read More]

“Now, I’m very familiar with what a war zone looks like,” Corey Cox said. “So, when I say that this was a war zone, it was exactly that.” Cox, who served 13 years in the U.S. military, wasn’t describing overseas combat. He’s talking about what he saw in Western North Carolina, mere days after Hurricane […] [Read More]

EchoPark’s record-setting bandwagon continues to roll. Sonic Automotive’s used-car operation has taken off in 2024, and it soared to a third consecutive record quarter for gross profit, according to the company’s third quarter financial results, released this week. EchoPark’s gross of $55.2 million was the best ever for Q3, and that wasn’t the end of […] [Read More]

In reporting its third quarter financial results Friday, AutoNation sang the second verse of a similar song from Q2. Revenues, gross profits and net income were all down year-over-year, in part because the residual effects of the CDK Global outage in June carried over into the beginning of Q3 in July. In AutoNation’s Q2 earnings […] [Read More]

Thomas King, president of the data and analytics division at J.D. Power, explained why this month has been a tricky one for used-car managers and leasing specialists at franchised dealerships. Let’s begin with the details J.D. Power shared on Thursday associated with the used-car department. So far in October, King reported average used-vehicle retail prices […] [Read More]

Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) this week announced a strategic, five-year partnership with the MassMutual Foundation to launch the CDFI Innovation Initiative, a new effort designed to drive innovation, scale impact and build new infrastructure for the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) industry. Officials said the initiative will be funded by a $25 million grant from […] [Read More]

This week, KeyPoint Credit Union — an institution based in Silicon Valley — launched an auto financing program specifically designed for individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) holders. According to the Internal Revenue Service, an ITIN is a tax processing number only available for certain nonresident and resident aliens, their spouses and dependents who cannot get […] [Read More]