Lithia Motors & Driveway announced Tuesday the retailer has acquired Fink Automotive Group, a move that continues to bolster Lithia’s presence in the Southeast. The group, based in the Tampa, Fla., area, is led by president Scott Fink and includes Hyundai of New Port Richey among its dealerships. That store, which was featured as Auto […] [Read More]

Avi Steinlauf says earning a spot on the Edmunds Five Star Dealer Awards list is an accomplishment in any year. “But given the unprecedented challenges that were thrown at dealerships across the country last year, this is truly a testament to the incredible effort made by dealers to go above and beyond for their customers,” […] [Read More]

Cox Automotive Canada has expanded its senior management team, adding four new leaders, including longtime J.D. Power and Canadian Black book analyst Brian Murphy. Coming aboard as chief customer officer for Cox Automotive Canada is Laurent Villanueva, who was most recently executive vice president of client services at Dealer-FX. Named the group general counsel and […] [Read More]

America recently was under the Great Freeze of 2021, which lasted more than two weeks. Millions were without power. Businesses and schools were shuttered. Power grids strained under a brutal arctic assault. This will without a doubt negatively affect business output and the economy for the first quarter of the year, the automotive retail marketplace […] [Read More]

Changes are continuing at the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association. This week, NIADA announced a refreshed vision and mission statements and the 10 steps the association intends to take to accomplish its mission. NIADA’s vision and mission statements now say: “A robust, ethical and professional independent used-vehicle market trusted by consumers. The mission statement describes […] [Read More]

Two technology platforms used by buy-here, pay-here and independent dealers are now integrated to make customer relationship management and other dealership management segments work more efficiently. On Monday, Selly Automotive CRM announced its real-time integration with Frazer Computing, which provides dealer management software to more than 22,000 dealers. The company explained the integration allows Selly dealers […] [Read More]

Marketing technology company Force Marketing, which offers products and services to more than 950 automotive dealers, has acquired the business of GS Marketing, which is also a marketing technology company. The Jan. 31 closing of the deal brings the total number of dealerships served nationwide to more than 1,500. Force Marketing’s full portfolio of companies […] [Read More]

No matter how chief economist Tom Kontos and his team dissected most of their numbers, wholesale prices within the data available to KAR Global Analytical Services have demonstrated noticeable gains year-over-year. The latest installment of the Kontos Kommentary included not only an in-depth comparison of the January data, but KAR Global also delved into some […] [Read More]

Stellantis and Amazon are joining forces to help owners of one of the automaker’s iconic brands acquire additional merchandise to go along with their vehicle. The Dodge Store by Amazon officially opened its doors to automotive enthusiasts on Monday. Dodge//SRT fans now can shop hundreds of options for authentic licensed gear and merchandise across the […] [Read More]

Customer experience dealer management system provider DealerBuilt has appointed former VinSolutions product director Jim Nelson as vice president of operations, saying he will oversee the company’s software installations, customer service and support. DealerBuilt said Nelson will drive company-wide processes that result in a consistent experience for DealerBuilt’s clients and network of more than 200 integration […] [Read More]