Just three days after Hertz Global Holdings pushed back the deadline of its latest offer to acquire Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group, the proposed Hertz-Dollar Thrifty merger took a major step forward late last week. Hertz revealed that it gave federal antitrust authorities the premerger notification required by the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as […] [Read More]

Last Friday, SoCal Penske added another nameplate to its stable of franchise dealerships, unveiling Penske Chevrolet of Buena Park. The new dealership is located in the Buena Park Auto Center in Buena Park, Calif. SoCal Penske explained it was awarded the Chevrolet franchise to fill an open market for Chevrolet in Buena Park. Executives emphasized […] [Read More]

Last week marked the launch of AutoBuying 101, and the site also revealed the results from its Auto Buying Experience Study that covered the "best" and "worst" aspects of buying a car, among other areas. The site aims to be the “essential consumer guide on how to get the best deal on new- and used-auto […] [Read More]

American Suzuki Motor Corp. wants to generate some feedback from customers about its lineup and learn more about what consumers like and how the automaker can improve. So, it is turning to Facebook. There is now a vehicle ratings feature on the company’s Facebook page where Suzuki fans can rate models in the lineup on […] [Read More]

Though auction prices in Canada dipped again in June, the decline slowed down a bit, and it appears that the economic outlook in the country could be getting better, according to the latest ADESA Canada Used Vehicle Price Index report. Specifically, ADESA’s data — powered by ALG Canada — indicated that the index was down […] [Read More]

Although wholesale prices for three of the four vehicle segments OPENLANE tracks slid down in June, the Canadian Market Index still ticked higher. OPENLANE said its June Canadian Index settled at 98, which was 1 percentage point higher than May and 5 percentage points higher than the same month a year ago. The Canadian Index […] [Read More]

Strong support from dealers. Positive reaction from consumers. A robust Canadian used-car market. These were but a few of the many reasons cited by leaders at several automakers in Canada for healthy certified pre-owned sales in June and throughout the first half of 2011. And to shed a bit of light on how they achieved […] [Read More]

Experian Automotive wanted to offer more information pertinent to dealers beyond the brand loyalty trends it tracks on a quarterly basis. So this week, Experian combined its analysis of both brand loyalty and dealer loyalty, resulting in some interesting findings. For calendar year 2010, Experian discovered dealer loyalty — buyers returning to market and purchasing […] [Read More]

The leasing market continued to show much of the same trends spotted throughout the last several months, as lease penetration was steady from May and approached the 20-percent mark, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Specifically, leases represented 19.7 percent of new-vehicle sales for June, up from 19.1 percent the previous month and 18.2 percent […] [Read More]

Although gas prices have moderated in recent weeks, there’s no telling what may set off a fuel-price hike down the road. And recent times have shown that price movements certainly impact the auto industry. To shed some light in this area, ALG recently investigated what residual impact a $1-per-gallon increase in fuel costs would trigger […] [Read More]