April 4, 2018 — Acquisition activity in the dealer website world suddenly has become hot with the third deal since last November. This afternoon, fusionZONE Automotive LLC announced it is acquiring competitor MotorWebs Inc. The acquisition is the 18th automotive retail vendor deal this year and follows Primus Capital’s majority investment into fusionZONE last November.… Continue Reading
March 8, 2018 — CDK Global is launching a flexible pricing dealer management system aimed at dealer groups consisting of one or two stores. The new DMS, being called DriveFlex, will be built from the ground up on the Amazon Web Services Cloud platform and will come with a new user-interface while providing for a… Continue Reading
March 6, 2018 — Despite industry perception that dealership consolidation is on the rise, buy-sell activity of U.S.-based stores declined in 2017 for the second consecutive year, based on data compiled by The Banks Report. Even with the downward trend the last two years, the buy-sell market has been vibrant since 2013 as the industry… Continue Reading
February 1, 2018 — A judicial panel in Miami ruled this morning that five of the antitrust cases in which Reynolds and Reynolds and CDK Global are defendants will be classified under the multi-district litigation and transferred to the Northern District Court in Illinois. The panel issued the ruling after listening to oral arguments from… Continue Reading
January 30, 2018 — Cars.com continues to unwind its affiliate contracts with previous owners which include six major newspaper publishing firms, a relic from the company’s founding 20 years ago. The latest move, announced this morning, converting eight of newspaper publisher tronc’s affiliate markets into Cars.com’s direct sales channel effective February 1. As part of… Continue Reading
January 30, 2018 — Fair announced this morning a strategic partnership with Uber along with the acquisition of the lease portfolio of the ride-hailing firm’s XChange Leasing program. As part of the agreement, Fair will become Uber’s exclusive U.S.leasing partner for drivers leasing vehicles for a month or longer. Financial terms of the acquisition were… Continue Reading
January 10, 2018 — AutoNation Chairman and CEO Mike Jackson has been appointed to serve as chairman of Atlanta’s Federal Reserve board for a one-year term that started January 1. Jackson, who previously was deputy chairman, will head Atlanta’s nine-member board that is responsible for the district encompassing Florida, Alabama, Georgia and areas of Mississippi, Tennessee… Continue Reading
January 10, 2018 — Spireon Inc. is demonstrating a vehicle subscription concept it is dubbing Drive On Demand at the International Consumers Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. Calling it a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) technology, the company says the new solution will allow new car dealers to select specific vehicles in their… Continue Reading
January 9, 2018 — The Asbury Automotive Group acquired Terry Lee Honda in Avon, IN this week and renamed it Hare Honda. The acquisition follows Asbury’s purchase of Hare Chevrolet in Noblesville, IN in 2017. The two acquisitions indicate Asbury, the country’s seventh largest dealer group with more than $6.5 billion in annual revenue and… Continue Reading
January 8, 2018 — Fueled by continuing rumors of a potential sale, CDK Global shares hit a 52 week high this morning and is now trading above $72.50 a share. Shares have jumped more than $10 since mid-November when reports first broke that CDK again was exploring a possible sale. The reports continued in late…