October 6, 2016 — Lithia Motors announced this morning the acquisition of Audi Auto Gallery in Woodland Hills, CA, from co-founders Harrison Gray and Tony Schwartz. It is Lithia’s 18th dealership acquired this year. The additional $120 million in annual revenue created by the acquisition brings Lithia’s total to approximately $1 billion in acquired revenue this… Continue Reading
Various media reports last week confirm Cadillac is offering buyouts to 400 of its smallest dealerships. The news isn’t a surprise as we speculated numerous times since September 2014 that Cadillac Chief Johan de Nysschen would try to reduce the number of 925 Cadillac dealers down to 400 to 500 stores. The buyouts follow Cadillac’s…
September 18, 2016 — Let me introduce you to Carla, who likely will be a critical member of your BDC and customer support team in the near future. “She” is also a chatbot billed as being the customer’s friend who knows cars. Carla was designed by California-based startup firm CarLabs to assist people with anything… Continue Reading
UPDATE: Click here to see more info on potential impact on dealers. While everybody’s attention is on the autonomous vehicle — which may or may not take over the roads in the next 10 years, society is five years away from being immersed in the connected car era. Sometimes, the two terms are interchanged. But… Continue Reading
September 12, 2016 — Lithia Motors has acquired the 13-store Carbone Automotive Group located in New York and Vermont. It’s the second largest acquisition by number of rooftops this year, following the Holman purchase of the 15-dealership Kuni Automotive Group. Since January 2013, Lithia has acquired 67 stores, including 17 this year. The publicly traded dealer group,… Continue Reading
September 8, 2016 — CIP Capital, a New York-based private equity company new to the automotive retail space, is putting together a unique strategy acquiring four companies and combining them to create Affinitiv Inc. a new technology marketing firm. While other companies have executed roll up strategies in the past (Cox Automotive, DealerTrack, Dealersocket and HGGC are a few…
September 7, 2016 — TEGNA announced this morning it plans to spin off Cars.com to become its own publicly traded company. The transaction, which likely will be tax free for TEGNA shareholders, should take place in the first half of 2017. TEGNA, which became public last year following the split with media giant Gannett, is one… Continue Reading
September 6, 2016 — Below is a new section for premium subscribers to The Banks Report. We would call it “Cliff Notes,” but that is copyrighted and I prefer not to tempt the lawyers. So we have opted for the title, “TBR Notes.” It will be our perspective of the bigger news stories and what they may mean…
September 1, 2016 — Todd Blue’s IndiGO Auto Group announced yesterday it has acquired BMW of Palm Springs in California. It is the group’s 12th luxury franchise. The acquisition closes out was has been a furious final two weeks in August in which the industry saw nine transactions involving 21 dealerships (25 franchises). The Banks Report will… Continue Reading
August 30, 2016 — The Walser Automotive Group, one of the largest dealer groups in Minnesota, is expanding to the Wichita, KS market acquiring the 10 brand-Wichita Luxury Collection this week. Meanwhile, Rick Ford’s RFJ Autos closed on the Jordan Automotive Group and its Ford and Toyota dealerships in Mishawaka, IN last week. Walser’s purchase of… Continue Reading
