April 27, 2015 — Solera Holdings announced last week it has acquired marketing firm DME Automotive. It’s the latest in a series a acquisitions and investments in the service and repair space for the industry. It’s a market that has been heating up since Solera jumped into it in late 2013 with an investment/acquisition of AutoPoint…
April 25, 2015 — This week, Gannett Co. announced the new name of the digital and broadcast company that will be created as part of the split with its newspaper business. The split should be completed sometime in the late second quarter or third quarter of this year. Meanwhile, the move likely will position Cars.com as a significant…
This is Section Three of our post 2015 NADA Report. In this section, Cars.com, DealerSocket, Solera Holdings and ELead1One are covered. The entire report, which we will be published in different sections is now over 10,000 words. We decided to break the report into different sections to make it more readable after talking with several subscribers. Section… Continue Reading
UPDATED — March 23, 2015: A recent article in the Wall Street Journal about General Motors’ Shop-Click-Drive initiative shows just how far the automotive industry has to go before consumers have the ability to complete the entire car buying transaction online. (Updates are in italics.) GM created Shop-Click-Drive (www.ShopClickDrive.com) to make it easier for their… Continue Reading
March 17, 2015 — Yesterday’s overwhelming vote by New Jersey’s state Senate (30 – 2) to allow Tesla to sell directly to consumers, appears, on the surface, to be a political loss for the state’s car dealers. The reality, though, is far different. It’s definitely a win for Tesla in that it gets to sell its vehicles… Continue Reading
This is Section Two of our post 2015 NADA Report. In this section, we evaluate the leading vendors — primarily those in the technology space. Companies covered in this section include CDK Global; DealerTrack Technologies; Cox Automotive; Reynolds and Reynolds; Dominion Dealer Solutions. Section Three will cover Cars.com; DealerSocket; Solera Holdings and ELeadOne. Section Four… Continue Reading
The newly minted Berkshire Hathaway Automotive wasted little time making its first acquisition buying Frank Kent Honda in Fort Worth, TX last week. The dealership was owned by Corrie Watson and her brother Will Churchill who decided to sell following the unexpected death of Watson’s husband, Tim. Churchill and Watson are great grandchildren of Frank Kent… Continue Reading
Vendor acquisition activity in the automotive retail space this year will not come close to the mind-blowing $30 billion in equity that changed hands in 2014. So far, through the first week of March, there have been four deals announced ranging from $5 million to more than $190 million. This is Section One of our post…
March 8, 2015 — The Wall Street Journal is reporting that General Motors will lay out Monday its plans to return billions to shareholders in a more aggressive timetable than originally planned. The move is part of an agreement with activist investor Harry Wilson who has agreed to not pursue a board seat. The amount GM intends to… Continue Reading
February 28, 2015 — While not yet “official,” Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of the Van Tuyl Automotive Group is now completed, according to the annual shareholder letter Warren Buffett released earlier today. There are a few details still to iron out, likely with holdings such as the off shore insurance entities owned by the Van Tuyl… Continue Reading