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…
Despite our earlier report this morning that a manufacturer may have been trying to block part of the deal, the Lithia Motors’ acquisition of the DCH Automotive Group was just signed this afternoon and includes all of DCH’s 27 dealerships. The purchase closely follows what Lithia laid out in its investor presentation in mid-June. The Medford, OR-based…
I just saw the news posted by Elder Ford of Tampa’s General Manager Terald Hopkins that Irma Elder passed away early this morning. She was one of my favorite interviews while I was a reporter for Ward’s — in part because she possessed a sharp wit and a keen eye for business while maintaining a… Continue Reading
September 30, 2014 — After the market’s close today, the ADP Dealer Services Group moniker will cease to exist. The group, a division of ADP, is being spun off today as a separate public company and will be called CDK Global. What does this mean for dealers? The Dealer Services Group was started in 1972…
September 29, 2014 — The Sonic Automotive Group’s stock price has jumped $2 today from just over $23 to more than $25 today. The stock has been hovering below the mid-$20’s for most of the year after hitting its 52 week high of $27.87 in July. Meanwhile, shares of the other public dealer groups have…
September 29, 2014 — The sale of Ted Linhart’s Dominion Chevrolet Buick GMC in Short Pump, VA to the Hendrick Automotive Group will be finalized Tuesday September 30. TBR has reported on this pending acquisition a couple of times since it was announced in July. The Linhart family has been selling cars since 1955 and at… Continue Reading
A little bit of bragging here — I’ve been asked to give the keynote presentation for the AICPA Auto Dealership Conference in October in Las Vegas. My friend John Davis who is a partner with Dixon Hughes Goodman’s Dealer Services Group and is on AICPA’s dealer conference committee helped facilitate the engagement. The conference is for dealership… Continue Reading
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 22, 2014 — A new type of investor in dealerships may provide the comfort level manufacturers require and the flexibility dealers need. Recently a new breed of investor has been drawn to the business of franchised retail auto dealerships. Included are hedge funds, private-equity funds and family offices. First, what attracts them to automotive…