MENLO PARK, Calif. — Describing much of 2009 as "atypical," OPENLANE'S Nagi Palle shared a forecast of stabilizing wholesale prices and modest retail sales growth this year in the latest OPENLANE Market Index Report. Because the new-vehicle retail sales market already is picking up slightly, Palle contends that trade-in volume at dealerships should improve as the […] [Read More]

CHICAGO — The struggles of the Big 3 certainly are widely known, so Cars.com pinpointed 10 vehicles site editors believe will push the automakers to future success in 2010 and beyond. In conjunction with the ongoing North American International Auto Show in Detroit, site officials not only picked the units they liked, they also shared elements […] [Read More]

DETROIT — At the North American International Auto Show this week, the 2010 EyesOn Design Awards were unveiled, and taking home this year's top honors were the GMC Granite Concept and the Audi A8. The Granite Concept won in the concept category, defeating finalists Nissan Mixim, Revenge Verde Supercar and the Audi eTron concept. Meanwhile, the […] [Read More]

LOS ANGELES — The Southern California Honda Dealers Association was inundated again — not only in the amount of nominations but also the quality of community-benefitting work done by individuals in the running for its Honda Helpful Awards. Now in its fourth year, the association received more than 700 nominations for its Honda Helpful Awards in which each […] [Read More]

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — Experian Automotive recently entered into a working relationship with a lender based in northern California. The deal's intention is to provide enhanced credit prescreen services for dealers' marketing materials. Experian's solution, iScreen, now will be utilized by Western Sierra Acceptance Corp. to boost the lender's range of services. The companies believe the partnership […] [Read More]

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — RouteOne announced today that it has completed integration with independent subprime lender Nationwide Acceptance Corp. Dealers in all of the markets served by Nationwide can now process credit applications electronically to Nationwide through the RouteOne platform. Basically, Nationwide Acceptance Corp. comprises a group of companies specializing in the underwriting and point-of-sale purchase […] [Read More]

PORTLAND, Ore. — Compli, a compliance management software provider, is orchestrating a Webinar about a business element the company believes dealers might be overlooking. The upcoming event will focus on wage-hour compliance. Compli has scheduled the Webinar for Jan. 27 beginning at noon EST. Executives offered a trio of reasons why dealership general managers and human […] [Read More]

NEW YORK — High unemployment rates throughout 2010 will continue to apply pressure on gross losses on auto loan transactions, according to DBRS. Basically, DBRS drew a connection between unemployment and credit performance, saying this relationship has continued during the "economic recession." "Unemployment rates for December 2009 remained steady at 10 percent and are expected to […] [Read More]

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. — R.L. Polk & Co, released its 14th Annual Automotive Loyalty Awards Tuesday night, and receiving the program's two biggest honors were Toyota and Honda. Toyota ended General Motors' nine-year run at the top, as it earned the highest scored in Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer. The automaker also took home awards in the Mid/Full-Size […] [Read More]

NEW YORK — About.com recently named its Best New Cars of 2010, the fourth installment of the list that honors the top new and redesigned cars. Audi and Ford both had two of their models make the list — which was chosen by About.com's Aaron Gold — while Buick, Chevrolet, Hyundai, Kia, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen each […] [Read More]