September 11, 2015 — This feature is a list of of intriguing, quirky and informative stories about the automotive industry that we found on the Internet from this week. Look for this is going to become a regular feature each week of the TBR Weekly. We hope you enjoy!
1. Speeding Up Online Car Sales
Car Lister is company to keep an eye on. Launched just under a year ago, it allows dealers and consumers to instantly list, buy, and sell new and pre-owned vehicles directly from their mobile device. Last week, it partnered with ELend Solutions (formerly DealerCentric) to integrate an online credit application product into the Car Lister platform to reduce the amount of time it takes to pay for a vehicle.
2. Service Departments Under Attack
An article written by someone who’s not an expert in automotive retail. But it does raise some questions…
3. Indiana Dealer YouTube Account Suspended
YouTube still hasn’t provided a reason for why it suspended a dealer’s account.
Can Eberhardt turn Jaguar around? Long time industry columnist says just because the strategy is probably what needs to happen, success is no sure thing.
5. Toyota Tells Dealers No Below Invoice Advertising
Taking a page out of Honda’s playbook, Toyota confirms what was reported last week, and puts the hammer down on below invoice advertising.
6. CPO Sales Decline Should be Short Term
CPO sales declined for the first time in 14 months, but likely does not portend a long term trend.
7. First Apple and Now Sony? Who doesn’t Want in on the Autonomous Car Future?
Sony is exploring whether building its own autonomous vehicles makes sense, according to an article in the Financial Times.
8. Autonomous Vehicles are the Future — Not So Fast, Say Two Automakers
While every automaker it seems is pushing hard to get their versions of an autonomous vehicle on the road, two of the industry’s top selling companies don’t believe self-driving cars are the future.
9. Volvo Looking at Online Sales?
Volvo sold nearly 2,000 special editon XC-90’s last year in 47 hours during an online experiment. Now a report in The Economist magazine says the automaker is looking at selling all of its vehicles online — maybe overseas, but not in the U.S. — at least not yet.
10. Jim Cramer Loves Marchionne but Barra? Not So Much
The Street’s Jim Cramer falls prey to Marchionne’s sizzle but passes on Barra’s arrogance. Barra arrogant — Really?
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