October 2, 2014 – Warren Buffett’s announcement today that his Berkshire Hathaway Group is acquiring the Van Tuyl Group Group has the potential to change the market over the next year. Certainly, adding his iconic stature to an industry that already has business luminaries such as Roger Penske and MikeJackson only adds further validation that automotive retail is…
September 28, 2014 — The short term future for Cadillac dealers is not looking good. Sales predictions less than two years ago of 300,000 units a year in 2015 seem foolhardy today as the brand is on target to sell five percent less in 2014 than it did in 2013. While in Las Vegas last… Continue Reading
The automotive retail sector is on the cusp of true transformational change. Since 1995, when Seattle dealer Marty Rood sold the first vehicle online – a gold Volvo 760 – through a service called DealerNet, the Internet and its surrounding technology has pushed customers, dealers, vendors and automakers closer to an era where real digital…
September 15, 2014 — Automotive sales in August far exceeded everyone’s expectations leading to concern that automakers were again relying on aggressive incentives rather than true demand juice showroom traffic. The truth lies somewhere in the middle — but could have far reaching implications for the short term future of certain market segments, and even,…
September 7, 2014 — There have been 175 dealership-buy sells through the first eight months of the year in 2013 — up from 115 through the same period in 2013. The increase came despite a slowing of the buy-sell pace in August which saw 15 dealership acquisitions — down from July’s total of 30 buy-sells…
August 28, 2014 — Capital Automotive LP, a power broker in the dealership acquisition market, announced today it has been sold to Brookfield Property Partners for $4.283 billion. Based in McLean, VA, Capital Automotive has more than $3.5 billion invested in more than 450 dealerships spread across 37 states. The company provides financing to dealerships looking to…
August 23, 2014 — The automotive retail industry should see a third consecutive year of record breaking throughput — the number of sales per dealership — in 2014 according to the mid-year Automotive Franchise Activity Report released by Urban Science last week. Based on LMC Automotive’s forecast of 16.2 million new car sales by the… Continue Reading
UPDATED — At least ten (updated from eight) cases of manufacturers using the Right of First Refusal since January 2013, including at least three lawsuits, shows dealers wanting to sell their stores and the dealers hoping to acquire need to do their homework up front to know whether it will be an issue. Since we first reported…
UPDATED — Maus calls off deal to join Peacock and First Team. In the last few months, at least three intriguing dealer groups that are potential big players in the buy/sell market have been created. First Team – Peacock & Maus As fast as we publish, sometimes the news changes — David Maus decided not to join…
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…