August 7, 2017 — Less than a year ago, Gary Flom was building an automotive empire consisting of eight dealerships in the heart of New York City with plans to sell more than $600 million worth of vehicles this year. Today, that empire is in tatters, due to a frenetic growth pace railroaded by a bitter… Continue Reading
August 7, 2017 — UPDATE BELOW — Sources confirm Lithia Motors is nearing completion of its pending acquisition of the Downtown LA Auto Group from the Shammas Group, its second large acquisition this year. The deal is likely to close as early as this week. In May, Lithia acquired six of the Baierl Group dealerships in… Continue Reading
August 1, 2017 — Good news and bad news today on the antitrust front for CDK Global and Reynolds Reynolds. First, in the lawsuit filed by Authenticom, Judge James Peterson of the Wisconsin district court issued a temporary seven-day stay this afternoon of the preliminary injunction he granted Authenticom on Friday to give the appeals…
July 30, 2017 — It is only a preliminary injunction, but the order issued by Judge James Peterson on Friday in the antitrust lawsuit pitting Authenticom against defendants Reynolds and Reynolds and CDK Global appears to have handed the plaintiff a significant victory. Authenticom is calling it a “stunning victory.” The order does grant Authenticom…
July 14, 2017 — BREAKING NEWS — Authenticom today won its request for an emergency preliminary injunction forcing Reynolds and Reynolds and CDK Global to allow it access to their dealer management systems during the course of the antitrust litigation. Authenticom sued Reynolds and CDK in May alleging the two technology firms engaged in antitrust…
June 4, 2017 — CDK Global’s pending acquisition of competitor Auto/Mate is a brilliant deal that should make investors happy. With only 1,300 or so dealerships in play and a price tag that won’t dent the bottom line (although Auto/Mate will get a nice multiple) it isn’t that big of a deal on the surface.…
June 1, 2017 — AutoNation named Lance Iserman as its new Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Sales yesterday. Iserman’s appointment is the latest in a series of executive moves by Chairman and CEO Mike Jackson designed to better position AutoNation for the future as it moves forward with new strategic initiatives to extend… Continue Reading
May 29, 2017 — Neural nets will be a critical part of enabling autonomous vehicles to become a reality, says Venture Capitalist Steve Jurvetson. How does that impact dealers? One of the big challenges over the next few years for automakers will be how to manage the massive amounts of data created by the connected…
May 24, 2017 — CDK Global is announcing this morning that it is acquiring Auto/Mate Dealership Systems. The move, which will further consolidate the dealer management system (DMS) space, should be completed in late summer once the regulatory process runs its course. Financial terms for the deal have not been disclosed yet. Auto/Mate was started as… Continue Reading
May 23, 2017 — We’re still waiting the official announcement, but sources have confirmed Experian Automotive will announce in the near future that it has acquired String Automotive, a 12 year-old data analytics firm based in Newton, MA. The acquisition cements a relationship that began in 2014 when Experian Automotive’s Auto Market DNA℠ demographic and behavioral information’s… Continue Reading