January 26, 2023 — M&A activity in the auto retail vendor space continues its brisk pace at the beginning of 2023 with Vehlo’s announcement this week that it has acquired Velocity Automotive from Hugh Hathcock and Rapid Recon from Dennis McGinn. Both deals were completed late in the fourth quarter, but announced only this week.…
January 10, 2023 — Acquisition activity in the automotive retail vendor space is off to a brisk start in 2023. Following last week’s announcement that APCO Holdings had acquired National Auto Care, J.D. Power announced this morning it has acquired ZappyRide, to bolster its new E-Vision initiative created to provide software and data to greentech… Continue Reading
September 5, 2022 – General Motors’ strategy to buy out Buick dealers not wanting to transition to an all-electric future is good news for the brand and its dealers. The automaker introduced its plans to Buick dealers on Friday (kudos to Mike Colias of the Wall Street Journal for breaking the news). The move follows Buick’s announcement… Continue Reading
August 23, 2022 — President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law a week ago. The new law enacts several changes to the tax credit available for new electric vehicles. As we noted prior to the law’s signing, many of the changes are confusing and needed clarification from the government. In the last week,… Continue Reading
August 10, 2022 — The Inflation Reduction Act is not yet law, but it may be as soon as this weekend. The impact on dealers will be immediate. Members of the House of Representatives are slated to return to the chamber on Friday to vote on the version the Senate passed 51-50 on Sunday. The…
July 12, 2022 — After a three and half year hiatus, Brian MacDonald is returning to CDK Global in his former role as CEO. He replaces Brian Krzanich who replaced him in November 2018. CDK is expected to make the announcement this morning. The move follows last week’s $8.7 billion sale to investment firm Brookfield… Continue Reading
April 17, 2022 — A direct-to-consumer sales model appears to be a non-starter for Toyota as sales chief Bob Carter calls it “a disaster waiting to happen.” Carter provided his perspective on a wide range of topics during an on-stage interview with Jason Stein, president of Motormindz, at the NADA/J.D. Power Automotive Forum in New… Continue Reading
February 8, 2022 — Cars.com announced this morning it is acquiring the assets of Accu-Trade, Galves Market Data, and MADE Logistics from founder Robert Hollenshead. Terms of the transaction, which should close within the next month, include an initial cash payment of $65 million with another expected $63 million earnout payment based on certain financial… Continue Reading
October 27, 2021 — As the auto industry continues to manage an ongoing chip shortage, a looming magnesium and silicon shortage is threatening to erode vehicle production even further. Magnesium and silicon are key ingredients in the production of aluminum alloy, which is used in numerous vehicle parts. Silicon also is a main component in…
Follow the money — or more specifically, the investment capital. I became convinced during my 10 years as a reporter and editor at WardsAuto that the investment community fuels much of the vendor growth and strategy in automotive retail. But it is an under-reported and underserved — and often, misunderstood — component of the industry.… Continue Reading