June 6, 2015 — An erupting scandal involving former Fiat Chrysler and Mercedes Benz executives in Australia snags website provider MotorTrak and potentially threatens its business globally while raising questions about its deal to provide websites to Mercedes Benz retailers in the U.S. For the last week, media outlets in Australia and New Zealand have been… Continue Reading
May 27, 2015 — UPDATED: First it was non-dealer customers, then it was its dealer customers in California suing TrueCar — now its investors have filed a lawsuit against the online vehicle shopping site. Is it just noise or do the lawsuits indicate a deeper problem for TrueCar? Following last week’s announcement that the California New Car…
May 17, 2015 — New Country Motor Cars Inc. recently added six top-line franchises to bring its total number of locations to 30. It’s only the seventh transaction since January 2013 that included six or more dealerships and is the second biggest acquisition of the year. Michael Cantanucci’s New Country Automotive Group in Hartford, CT is turning into…
May 8, 2015 — The public dealer groups are off to a slow start in 2015 on the acquisition front. Asbury Automotive Group announced its first purchase of the year last night, acquiring Capitol City Nissan in the Atlanta area. The transaction is only the ninth this year completed by the six public groups according to data…
May 7, 2015 — With all the chatter of private equity and names like Warren Buffett getting into the automotive retail space, there have been few large deals completed. Only two transactions for more than eight stores and only six that have been for five or more have been signed since January 2013, according to data compiled… Continue Reading
April 27, 2015 — Solera Holdings announced last week it has acquired marketing firm DME Automotive. It’s the latest in a series a acquisitions and investments in the service and repair space for the industry. It’s a market that has been heating up since Solera jumped into it in late 2013 with an investment/acquisition of AutoPoint…
March 17, 2015 — Yesterday’s overwhelming vote by New Jersey’s state Senate (30 – 2) to allow Tesla to sell directly to consumers, appears, on the surface, to be a political loss for the state’s car dealers. The reality, though, is far different. It’s definitely a win for Tesla in that it gets to sell its vehicles… Continue Reading
This is Section Two of our post 2015 NADA Report. In this section, we evaluate the leading vendors — primarily those in the technology space. Companies covered in this section include CDK Global; DealerTrack Technologies; Cox Automotive; Reynolds and Reynolds; Dominion Dealer Solutions. Section Three will cover Cars.com; DealerSocket; Solera Holdings and ELeadOne. Section Four… Continue Reading
The newly minted Berkshire Hathaway Automotive wasted little time making its first acquisition buying Frank Kent Honda in Fort Worth, TX last week. The dealership was owned by Corrie Watson and her brother Will Churchill who decided to sell following the unexpected death of Watson’s husband, Tim. Churchill and Watson are great grandchildren of Frank Kent… Continue Reading
February 27, 2015 — Software piracy is a big problem, and unfortunately, dealerships have unwittingly — or knowingly — contributed to the issue. At least four dealer groups have paid out nearly $1 million in settlements the last three years for alleged violations. And now, we’ve heard of two more groups — one which reportedly is… Continue Reading