Salesforce.com has announced the addition of its new chief automotive officer, appointing a longtime leader from Nissan and Renault. Joining salesforce.com as executive vice president and chief automotive officer is Patrick Pelata, who will be responsible for leading the company’s strategy for delivering social and mobile cloud technologies to the automotive industry. Pelata has 28 […] [Read More]

Ford Motor Company announced this week that the company, along with its employees and dealers, will donate more than $1 million this year to Kentucky nonprofits. More than $1.2 million in donations will go to nonprofits in the Louisville, Ky., and Lexington, Ky., areas this year, as part of Ford’s new Operation Goodwill partnership with […] [Read More]

There has been a new landmark reached at OVE.com. Officials with the website announced last week that OVE.com recently achieved a growth milestone of 150 independent auction partners. In celebration of the milestone, OVE.com will continue its “Strive 4 Five” promotion. This program applies to dealer-to-dealer transactions and gives partners selling via OVE.com financial incentives. […] [Read More]

Experian Automotive discovered that new-vehicle leasing continued on a steady pace during the second quarter, coming in with a level similar to what the industry has generated outside of the worst point of the recent recession. Analysts determined leasing represented 24.40 percent of all new-vehicle financing during the second quarter. That level was on par […] [Read More]

As new- and used-vehicle sales strengthened, the Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index for August showed that wholesale used-vehicle prices (on a mix-, mileage- and seasonally adjusted basis) declined for the fifth consecutive month. The August reading slipped to 120.7, which is down 2.4 percent from a year ago. However, when looking month-over-month, Manheim chief economist […] [Read More]

During a span that included recalls and ramifications from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Kelley Blue Book discovered the Toyota brand dominates new-vehicle shopping activity on Kbb.com when examining shopper loyalty and share-of-voice data from the past three years. Since the first quarter of 2010, KBB indicated, Toyota has claimed the top spot for shopper […] [Read More]

How will Facebook help me with sales? Does social networking really make a difference when it comes to customer/dealer relationships? How can I best engage customers through posts? As many dealers continue to ask similar questions amid Facebook gaining more and more popularity among vehicle shoppers, digital solutions company Jumpstart Automotive Group aims to address […] [Read More]

As gas prices rise again, consumers may be turning towards hybrids, as a few of these units are being identified as having a lower total cost-of-ownership than their all-gasoline counterparts, according to Vincentric’s Hybrid Analysis released late last week. In the study, 11 of 25 hybrid vehicles came in as costing less to own over […] [Read More]

Toyota dealership employees will have a new place to train, as the OEM broke ground last week on a new classroom and service bay facility. Executives and associates at the Chicago Regional Office of Toyota Motor Sales, USA broke ground on the $4.9 million training center in Aurora, Ill., as part of a campus-wide building […] [Read More]

HOUSTON — New developments in the buy-here, pay-here industry are happening at an unprecedented pace, and new operators are entering the business in record numbers. Both new entrants and experienced operators are seeking exceptional profit opportunities in the low yielding economic environments of today. Caution — the old ways aren't working like they used to, […] [Read More]