Vehicle affordability is like an octopus. Hard to get your arms around. Elusive. Far-reaching tentacles in every direction. And given the impact affordability (or lack thereof) is having in automotive, the topic is worth a bit of ink. “Affordability is the dominant theme at the midpoint of 2025, and it has implications across nearly every […] [Read More]

Next week is the last one of August, with the sales month closing on Saturday unless your dealership delivers vehicles on Sunday. Leads that come in during the last seven days of the month close at an 8% higher rate than those from the first week. That’s one of the main findings from Foureyes, which […] [Read More]

Sonic Automotive has acquired Jaguar Land Rover Santa Monica from Redwood Automotive, an addition the North Carolina-based dealership group said solidifies its claim as the nation’s largest Jaguar Land Rover retailer. The Santa Monica store is Sonic’s 11th JLR dealership. Sonic operates 126 franchise locations and 18 EchoPark used-car stores nationwide. “This acquisition marks another […] [Read More]

Missouri Auto Auction and opened a celebration of 25 years in business with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the five-lane facility in Columbia, Mo., featuring founder Gregg Boswell. The Boswell family, which has owned the independent auction since it was established by Gregg and Dagmar Boswell in August of 2000, said in a news release the […] [Read More]

The Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR) on Tuesday announced the hiring of an executive director; someone who has close knowledge of the automotive IT standards organization. Leveraging a relationship with STAR that dates to its formative days, where he worked alongside staff members to develop STAR’s initial standards for automotive, the organization’s executive […] [Read More]

Location Services has added former Cox Automotive executive Erik Kibler as its new vice president of marketing and strategic initiatives. The forwarding company for the third-party servicing industry said Kibler will lead its marketing strategy, brand development, data analytics and strategic growth initiatives across all verticals. “Erik has an impressive background and reputation in marketing, […] [Read More]

Vivian Liu is the CEO of Making Auto Easy, a platform designed to help dealers turn the manual meet-and-greet into a more efficient digital experience. In June, she joined the Canada’s Used Car Week Live Stage, presented by SYCN Auto Logistics, to talk about “Training the iPad Generation to Sell Cars.” Listen to her conversation […] [Read More]

Cox Automotive chief economist Jonathan Smoke said Tuesday that unique credit applications per dealer on Dealertrack increased 6% year-over-year last week, perhaps reflecting some previously mentioned consumer sentiment trends shared by the Conference Board. In his weekly Auto Market Report, Smoke acknowledged “consumers with great credit are seeing the lowest rates in several years.” According […] [Read More]

Two big names in the auto industry are teaming up to launch a new place to shop for cars. Car and Driver, published by Hearst Magazines, has joined with Cox Automotive’s Autotrader to create the Car and Driver Marketplace powered by Autotrader, a shopping platform that connects research and vehicle listings on caranddriver.com. In a […] [Read More]

Cox Automotive said Monday it has closed its acquisition of Bel Air Auto Auction and Tallahassee Auto Auction from BSC America, a purchase announced late last month. While Cox Automotive was perhaps the auto industry’s most acquisitive company in the 2010s, these two locations are Manheim’s first U.S. auction additions in close to 25 years. […] [Read More]