February 2, 2017 — As the National Automobile Dealers Assn. celebrated its 100 year anniversary at its annual convention in New Orleans last week, it capped an nine year period that might have been its toughest, yet finest hour. But 2017 brings a new set of daunting challenges. Playing Defense For the last nine years, the association…
January 2, 2017 — M&A activity among automotive retail vendors for the year ended quietly with only four deals completed in the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, the 31 acquisitions and investments in 2016 surpassed the 30 in 2015. The four deals in the fourth quarter include (more information about the following deals are included in the…
Except for a couple of investments from JMI Equity, M&A activity in the automotive retail vendor space has been silent in the fourth quarter. With three weeks left to go in the year, there have been 27 investments or acquisitions among vendors to date. (For more analysis on investment and acquisitions in the automotive retail…
November 28, 2016 — Is a potential battle looming between automakers and tech firms with the government over security issues with over-the-air updates made possible by connected car technology? Billions of dollars are at stake for automakers, technology firms and even dealers, but comments from various government officials over the last several months indicate OTAs… Continue Reading
October 25, 2016 – Automotive retail vendor merger and acquisition activity slowed slightly in the third quarter with only nine deals and investments announced bringing the total for the year to 25, according data compiled by The Banks Report. The third quarter review provides TBR’s outlook for the fourth quarter along with a recap of all…
August 28, 2016 — Amazon.com surprised the automotive industry last week rolling out Amazon Vehicles, an extension of its Amazon automobiles portal. The question is, how does Amazon’s strategy affect automotive retail? The answer for now is, it doesn’t. But it will depending on what Amazon’s next move is. The initiative is the first step of a…
August 12, 2016 — Perhaps the most striking data point from CDK Global’s recent earnings filing is that it is gaining share of the overall North American dealer management system market while also growing the average amount from those contracts. CDK also announced strong results for its 2016 fiscal year along with an agreement with activist investor Elliott Partners to increase the… Continue Reading
July 18, 2016 — TBR’s mid-year report on automotive retail vendor M&A activity recaps the 14 acquisitions that occurred the first six months of the year. The report also provides TBR’s outlook for the rest of the year on who the buyers and sellers are, and what deals may be in play. RECAP With 14 acquisitions this year,…
July 12, 2016 — Dealership acquisition activity is showing a slight slowdown according to data compiled for TBR’s 2016 Mid-Year Dealership Buy-Sell Report. (Subscribers to The Banks Report can download Excel files with buy-sell activity going back to January 2013). Through June of 2016, there were 108 different transactions accounting for 177 rooftops changing hands. In…
July 7, 2016 — The automotive retail technology world is dominated by three players today — Cox Automotive, CDK Global, and Reynolds and Reynolds. On the CRM side, the major players are DealerSocket and ELead1One. Meanwhile, Salesforce is hovering around the industry. The question is, will this power structure continue over the next two to… Continue Reading