August 8, 2014 — TrueCar held its first quarterly earnings call as a public company with analysts yesterday and the results they reported were fairly strong — strong enough to push the stock price to over $15 a share (now down to $14.66 a share), which is significantly up from the $9 a share it…
Confirming rumors that have persisted since April, Gannett Co. announced this morning that it is paying $1.8 billion to its four partners to acquire the portion of Cars.com it does not already own. Cars.com is owned by Classified Ventures, which is a joint venture between Gannett, A.H Belo Corp., Graham Holdings Co., Tribune Media and McClatchy. Gannett…
A report in the Orlando Business Journal late yesterday (July 30) seems to confirm what we’ve been hearing the last couple of weeks about David Maus selling his stake in four dealerships back to his majority partners Van Tuyl. The price is rumored to be about $20 million. The Orlando-area stores include David Maus Chevrolet, David Maus Toyota… Continue Reading
OVERVIEW Through the first six months of 2014, 125 dealerships changed ownership, up from 89 through the same period in 2013 according to data compiled by The Banks Report. Eighty-three different buyers accounted for the 125 acquisitions. Note: The 125 does not include the 27 stores Lithia Motors will gain when it closes on its…
TBR has talked to several BMW dealers the last two weeks who say that BMW has been exerting significant pressure on them to engage in a practice commonly known as “punching” sales. According to the dealers, BMW zone officials have been offering anywhere from $1,000 to $3,500 in some cases, to count vehicles as sold,…
Longtime Illinois dealer Ed Napleton is suing Florida attorney and New York dealer Manuel Kadre; Jaguar Land Rover North America; the Long Island Automotive Group, MMS-HM and their owners, the Marubeni America Corp. It’s another lawsuit resulting from a manufacturer’s exercise of the right of first refusal in which they nix one buyer and bring… Continue Reading
June 24, 2014 General Motors branded dealerships are proving to be the most popular on the acquisition front in 2014 with GMC leading with 11 franchises sold and Chevrolet and Buick in second with 10. Meanwhile, five Cadillac dealerships were sold. Honda also has seen several of its dealerships find new owners with eight buy-sells…
There have been 89 dealership acquisitions through the first five months of 2014 – up from 71 through the same period in 2013, according to data compiled by The Banks Report. Even though the number was up through May, the pace for the year was relatively flat – although, still brisk. Last year, there were 202…
A couple of days ago, on April 30, Southern Motors Chevrolet filed a lawsuit against General Motors for blocking its purchase of Fuller Chevrolet, located in Rincon, GA. According to dealers and individuals who broker dealership acquisitions one of the more under-reported dynamics of the dealership buy-sell field is the growing willingness on the part…
April 20, 2014 — Six New Jersey dealerships owned by Bob Ciasulli last week filed lawsuits against Toyota Motor Sales USA and American Honda Motor Corp. claiming dealer incentive programs created by manufacturers are illegal according to New Jersey state franchise law. The implications of this case could be far reaching because there is little… Continue Reading