TROLLHATTAN, Sweden — Saab Automobile has officially built its first units in its "new era" as an independent company. The automaker resumed production Wednesday at its Trollhattan, Sweden, plant. In commemoration, Saab chief executive officer Jan Ake Jonsson, along with Spyker Cars CEO Victor Muller and Trollhattan plant director Gunnar Brunius, joined workers along the assembly […] [Read More]

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — The five top contestants who correctly answered the Jeep-branded trivia questions during the automaker's "Jeep Tweet-to-Win" contest last week will now be getting ready to head to the New York International Auto Show. While giving no traffic specifics, Mike Manley, president and chief executive officer of Jeep Brand, said the contest "noticeably" […] [Read More]

GAINESVILLE, Ga. — In a record-breaking week — percentage-wise — for upward value changes, Black Book's overall wholesale value adjustments were positive for the fourth straight week and for the fifth time in six weeks. The overall car segment, in particular, finally showed an increase, according to managing editor Ricky Beggs. "The end-of-the-week adjustment reports indicated a significant […] [Read More]

IRVINE, Calif. —  In some good news for the embattled automaker, Toyota is likely to gain significant ground when Kelley Blue Book releases its May/June Residual Value Guide. More specifically, KBB projects that the 36-month residual values of new Toyota will be up 4.2 percentage points from a year ago, on average. Granted this underperforms the average overall upswing for […] [Read More]

STAMFORD, Conn. — February's wholesale prices gained significant ground from January as well as the year-ago period, with especially strong improvements for the small to midsize car segments and the larger truck segments, according to RVI Group. The RVI Used Car Price Index was 1.141 in February, compared with 1.107 in January and 0.954 a year ago. […] [Read More]

DEARBORN, Mich. — Alan Mulally's total compensation for last year, including the grant date value of long-term stock options and other stock-based awards, was $17.9 million, according to Ford. A preliminary notice about Ford's 2010 annual meeting of shareholders, which was filed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, indicated that Mulally earned $1.4 million in […] [Read More]

WESTCHESTER, Ill. — To make sure it stays in tune with its buyers' needs, Insurance Auto Auctions announced recently that it has appointed J.D. Power and Associates to conduct a third-party, independent benchmarking study that will focus on buyer preferences and overall satisfaction. "IAA chose J.D. Power and Associates to lead this study because of their extensive […] [Read More]

CARY, N.C. — Cherokee Automotive Group Analytics released the last results of its initial three-part study today. Of the participants surveyed, 57 percent are in the remarketing industry, while 33 percent are in both the remarketing and repossession industries. About 10 percent are just in the repo industry. When asked what is the most critical part […] [Read More]

DETROIT — General Motors has spoken out via newspaper advertisements about a bill in the Kentucky legislature that it believes would be detrimental to the state's economy and the automaker. GM's $50,000 campaign includes ad spots that were slated to run Sunday in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Lexington Herald-Leader, Ashland Daily Independent, Paducah Sun, Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer and […] [Read More]

LOS ANGELES — Westlake Financial Services announced late last week that it has created a new division to specialize in portfolio acquisition services. The company is willing to buy from dealerships, brokers and finance companies looking to sell all or part of their portfolios. The new division, called Westlake Advanced Lending & Portfolio Services, was created […] [Read More]