May 7, 2015 — Audi is testing different car sharing models throughout various international markets, the latest being piloted in the U.S. The Banks Report first reported on March 26, 2014 that Audi was putting together a pilot program in San Francisco similar to its Audi Select initiative in Berlin that allows people to pay a monthly…
January 26, 2015 — Sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting for a flight (after missing my morning flight) and going through nearly 50 pages of notes from last week’s NADA convention and related conferences. I’m not a big theme guy, but on the last day of the convention, that seemed to be the question I heard the… Continue Reading
January 15, 2015 — It’s time for some perspective now that some of the dust has settled from Elon Musk’s explosive appearance in Detroit on Tuesday during which he managed to casually drop at least three bombshells about Tesla. When he first got on stage at the Automotive News World Congress, Tesla’s founder and CEO appeared…
December 27, 2014 — Much of the auto industry’s discussion regarding cyber warfare focuses on the inherent vulnerabilities of the connected vehicle. But one area that receives little scrutiny is the retail side of the automotive industry. This will soon change as dealerships likely will become one of the central battlefields in the cyber wars that will be… Continue Reading
December 11, 2014 — Recent developments in patent law playing out in an expensive two year dispute involving Auto Alert, DealerSocket and Dominion Dealer Services portend a world in which defending patents that are for business based processes becomes significantly more difficult. How will the dispute affect the data mining equity world in automotive retail space? And…
December 7, 2014 — The return of the midsize truck market is officially in play with two big announcements last week. Late last week, Toyota Senior Vice President of Operations Bob Carter announced during the automaker’s annual media Christmas luncheon in Detroit that it will show a newly revamped Toyota Tacoma at the 2015 North American… Continue Reading
December 6, 2014 — UPDATED — Is Volvo worth a second look? The growing role of private equity; How long will the high multiples continue? Record setting year for number of acquisitions as the industry zeroes in on 300. Number of acquisitions by brand. Also, Van Tuyl sells a dealership; Sonic’s pending deals & the top… Continue Reading
November 24, 2014 — Teachers in Texas apparently like the financial prospects of franchised car dealerships. One of the country’s largest pension funds, the Teachers Retirement System of Texas is investing in Capital Automotive, a firm that provides sale-leaseback capital to car dealers, through an investment fund established by Capital’s parent Brookfield Property Partners. Brookfield…
November 23, 2014 — Cox Automotive continues to be active in the acquisition space buying the assets of small used car data firm last week, following its $325 million purchase of Xtime two weeks ago. It.has spent approximately $3 billion on both U.S. and international (China and Brazil) acquisitions since 2010. Meanwhile, the Atlanta-based firm…
November 13, 2014 — Next month, AutoNation will take a big step in making true online transactions in the car buying process a reality when it begins the roll out of its SmartChoice Express initiative. It’s one of its biggest initiatives to date and could move the automotive retail space into the next phase of car…
