March 8, 2018 — CDK Global is launching a flexible pricing dealer management system aimed at dealer groups consisting of one or two stores. The new DMS, being called DriveFlex, will be built from the ground up on the Amazon Web Services Cloud platform and will come with a new user-interface while providing for a… Continue Reading
March 6, 2018 — Despite industry perception that dealership consolidation is on the rise, buy-sell activity of U.S.-based stores declined in 2017 for the second consecutive year, based on data compiled by The Banks Report. Even with the downward trend the last two years, the buy-sell market has been vibrant since 2013 as the industry… Continue Reading
March 6, 2018 — Despite industry perception that dealership consolidation is on the rise, buy-sell activity of U.S.-based stores declined in 2017 for the second consecutive year, based on data compiled by The Banks Report. Even with the downward trend the last two years, the buy-sell market has been vibrant since 2013 as the industry… Continue Reading
February 26, 2018 — We’re still not through February but there have been 14 investments, acquisitions and mergers already this year with vendors in the automotive retail space, up from two in the first quarter of last year. Seven of the deals have been in the online transaction space where investments have continued a frenzied…
February 14, 2018 — Cars.com announced this morning it is acquiring the Chicago-based automotive retail technology firm Dealer Inspire and its digital advertising agency Launch Digital Marketing (LDM). The acquisition, which is expected to close this month, is the first for Cars.com since it became a stand-alone company after completing its public spinoff from media…
February 6, 2018 — The hot rumor late Friday afternoon has the Carlyle Group and Silver Lake closing in on an acquisition of CDK Global. Company shares jumped in after hours trading Friday night on the news from $66 to $73 so the rumors likely have some teeth. It is possible a deal might not… Continue Reading
Februrary 9, 2018 — Welcome to our fourth annual TBR Automotive Retail Vendor M&A Report. Our M&A reports on vendor acquisition and investment activity are published quarterly along with an annual year-end report. The reports provide insight and analysis of each acquisition, investment and IPO from the previous year including an outlook for the upcoming…
February 5, 2018 — One of the splashier stories coming out of this year’s Detroit Auto Show is the prospect of the Guangzhou Automotive Co. Group (GAC) entering the U.S. market sometime in late 2019. And in a few weeks, representatives from GAC Motor will be in Las Vegas at the National Automobile Dealers Assn.… Continue Reading
February 1, 2018 — A judicial panel in Miami ruled this morning that five of the antitrust cases in which Reynolds and Reynolds and CDK Global are defendants will be classified under the multi-district litigation and transferred to the Northern District Court in Illinois. The panel issued the ruling after listening to oral arguments from… Continue Reading
January 30, 2018 — Cars.com continues to unwind its affiliate contracts with previous owners which include six major newspaper publishing firms, a relic from the company’s founding 20 years ago. The latest move, announced this morning, converting eight of newspaper publisher tronc’s affiliate markets into Cars.com’s direct sales channel effective February 1. As part of… Continue Reading