Canadian Web portal Auto123.com has rolled out the list of finalists for its annual awards honoring vehicles across 20 segments. These vehicles will vie for the 2012 Auto123.com Awards to be doled out Nov. 24 at the Intercontinental Toronto Yorkville Hotel. The finalists include: 2012 Subcompact Car of the Year Ford Fiesta Hyundai Accent Kia […] [Read More]

The Canadian car market showed modest improvement in October, but things were still rather sluggish in light of low consumer confidence, which sparked from negative news around the globe, according to DesRosiers Automotive Consultants. Overall, there were 125,680 new vehicles sold in Canada last month, a 2.1-percent hike. Through October, year-to-date sales are up 1.5 […] [Read More]

[swf file=”audio/Dale-Pollak.mp3″] vAuto has incorporated the data tools of both AutoTrader.com and Manheim in rolling out a new used-car inventory management tool that can give dealers a more comprehensive way to find the right used cars to stock at the right price. [Read More]

Monthly certified pre-owned sales fell on a year-over-year basis for the first time since July, but the current sales pace remains well above year-ago levels. The market again saw multiple brands reach best-ever certified sales. Overall — according to statistics from Autodata Corp. — there were 139,532 CPO sales in October, down 1.4 percent year-over-year. […] [Read More]

Auto Remarketing recently learned that Volvo Cars North America has a pre-owned car line manager to replace Diana Lidgett, who is moving over to Volvo’s Southern region to serve as its distribution manager, effective Dec. 1. Taking on the pre-owned position is Steve Golow, who has been with the company since 1995, most recently serving […] [Read More]

Kelley Blue Book calculated that used-vehicle values dropped 2.6 percent overall in October, marking the fifth consecutive month of wholesale declines. Since peaking in June, KBB discovered used-vehicle values overall have sunk 10 percent with the most pronounced declines coming from fuel-efficient vehicles, falling more than 20 percent. “The earthquake in Japan and ensuing new-vehicle […] [Read More]

DrivingSales University — a NADA University partner that offers an online training platform for dealers — has chosen an executive director. Tapped for the position is Shaun Raines, who the company notes has spent the last 13 years “helping dealers effectively use the Internet to attract, acquire and retain customers.” Raines will oversee DSU, which […] [Read More]

The hybrid and electric vehicle market’s tough year and slide in sales this past summer may be due in part to lack focus and desirable product for certain demographics. According to research company Mintel, the biggest potential in the market for alternative fuel vehicles is with black  consumers. [Read More]

After Consumer Reports ranked Ford 20th in its overall reliability rankings last week, marking a 10-spot decline for the brand, problems were sited involving the nameplate’s MyFord Touch and SYNC technology by the publication and dealers alike. Interestingly, just days after the results were out, Ford announced it is revamping these very same technologies. Listening to dealers […] [Read More]

Announcing an upgrade to its used-vehicle value data, Kelley Blue Book is now breaking that data down regionally, offering specific used value data for each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. And while consumers and single-point dealerships may not notice a huge difference, the state-by-state breakdown of used values will be extremely beneficial to large […] [Read More]