ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Similar to the overall market, import automakers closed a challenging year on a high note, as their December sales were up double digits from the prior year, according to the American International Automobile Dealers Association. Citing statistics from Autodata Corp., AIADA officials said that import brands moved 558,680 vehicles during December, a 23.4-percent […] [Read More]

SALT LAKE CITY — The Larry H. Miller Group launched a new dealership this week that stands on the site of a former Saturn store in Utah. Group president Tony Schnurr said Larry H. Miller Chrysler Jeep Dodge Riverdale is now operational at 1481 West Riverdale Road in Riverdale, Utah. Company officials indicated that the dealership […] [Read More]

ATLANTA — On Wednesday, Manheim praised the widespread implementation by its fellow National Auto Auction Association members of NAAA's revamped arbitration policy, which Manheim said it has supported since its inception and had implemented at all of its auctions as of Jan. 1. In fact, David Munnikhuysen, Manheim's vice president for strategic initiatives, was a member […] [Read More]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Executives from three major automakers will gather this month in a conference to discuss how federal environmental mandates will continue to push the drive toward more electric and hybrid vehicles. Scheduled to take part in the third annual Green Car Summit are Stefan Jacoby, chief executive officer of Volkswagen Group of America, along with executives from Ford and […] [Read More]

ATLANTA — An online chat session using ContactAtOnce software not only helped a Utah dealer complete a sale, it pushed the company to a significant milestone. ContactAtOnce recently surpassed 2 million chat sessions powered by its live dealer chat service. The conversation actually took place just before 2009 ended on Dec. 30. "It was a happy […] [Read More]

HERNDON, Va. — Volkswagen Group of America altered its management team regarding government relations and communications. Promoted into the position of vice president, industry and government relations is Anna-Maria Schneider, an executive with more than 20 years of automotive experience. Schneider previously served as director of industry and government relations at VW. She also has been […] [Read More]

OAK BROOK, Ill. — vAuto announced recently that it has named a senior director of performance management. Appointed to the role was Larry Beasley, who was previously the Eastern and Western used-vehicle director and regional used-vehicle director for Sonic Automotive Group.  Before that, he worked as vice president of operations for Budget Car Sales. In his […] [Read More]

MIAMI — LeaseTrader.com said that the time it takes to transfer a lease through the site has almost been cut in half thanks largely to new services and efficiencies from the company. Specifically, LeaseTrader.com contends that the average lease transfer on the site currently takes 13.4 days, compared with 26.2 days last year. The company pointed to […] [Read More]

MT. LAUREL, N.J. — Automotive Resources International recently promoted two executives in its information technology department. Taking over as director of systems and programming will be Tony Candeloro, while Dan O'Callahan now will serve as director of information technology.  During the past year, ARI said that Candeloro assumed responsibility for pre- and post-sales support in the imaging systems […] [Read More]

DALLAS — Since both companies aim to serve buy-here, pay-here dealers, Vehicle Acceptance Corp. and PassTime chose to form a marketing alliance. The partnership announced earlier this week resulted in a coordinated effort to promote PassTime's starter interrupt and GPS devices in conjunction with Vehicle Acceptance's cash and service solutions. In order to be prepared adequately […] [Read More]