February 2022

General Motors and Ford claimed top honors again as part of the 26th annual Automotive Loyalty Awards orchestrated by IHS Markit. However, for the first time, Honda earned the accolade closely associated with franchised dealerships. IHS Markit recognized GM for its leadership as top manufacturer for automotive loyalty in the U.S. in 2021. This is the seventh consecutive win for GM in the Overall Loyalty to Manufacturer category and 18th time in the past 26 years. Despite inventory constraints throughout the year, IHS Markit said GM retained 64% of its… Read More »Recipients of IHS Markit’s 26th annual Automotive Loyalty Awards

Here’s some good news for BMW dealerships looking for more personnel to man their service bays. Universal Technical Institute (UTI) has launched the first session of its new BMW FastTrack technician training programs at its Orlando, Fla., campus, the second location to begin offering the 12-week advanced training program. A collaboration between the German automaker and UTI, officials highlighted the BMW FastTrack provides state-of-the-industry training on the latest models in production, utilizing the tools, technology and procedures that are specific and proprietary to BMW vehicles. The BMW FastTrack program also… Read More »UTI launches BMW FastTrack technician training program in 2 states with more locations planned

Toyota earned Best Resale Value: Brand honors from Kelley Blue Book for the sixth time in the last nine years, and corporate sibling Lexus won Best Resale Value: Luxury Brand for the third time overall. On Monday, KBB released its 20th annual Best Resale Value Awards, which spotlight the 2022 model-year vehicles expected to retain the most value during the first five years of ownership. In addition to the aforementioned overall brand winners, the Best Resale Value Awards honor the individual models with most expected retention in 24 segments. The… Read More »Toyota, Lexus top KBB’s Best Resale Value Awards

Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, 12:28 PM It’s likely been experienced by you first-hand or by one of your dealership colleagues or managers. It’s the test drive that turned wild; almost into something from Hollywood. Well, perhaps now we can have a chuckle about the incident and make a comparison to some of the most famous movie segments that involved vehicles traveling at high speeds. To help your explanation, new research conducted by Quotezone.co.uk compiled a list of the most memorable superhero car chases based on a study that evaluated the… Read More »Have test drives felt like car-chase scenes from superhero movies?

Monday, Feb. 28, 2022, 11:36 AM F&I Sentinel — a leading compliance solutions provider with respect to the financing of F&I products — announced its founders have partnered with Calera Capital, a leading middle-market private equity firm.  According to a news release distributed on Monday, terms of the transaction that created a majority recapitalization of the business were not disclosed. “With the increasing regulatory scrutiny regarding F&I products, regulators are analyzing whether finance companies have a program in place to monitor F&I products they finance,” F&I Sentinel co-founder and chief… Read More »Calera Capital invests in F&I Sentinel

It appears the frenetic M&A activity in auto retail has found its way to the wholesale space. ACV said Monday it has acquired Monk SAS, an imaging and vehicle inspection platform designed to automotive vehicle damage detection through artificial intelligence. Within the last week,  E Automotive Inc. and its EBlock brand have purchased the FastLane Auto Exchange independent auto auction, Carvana has purchased all of the U.S. ADESA auction locations from KAR Global and now ACV is making another move.  And earlier this month, the CARS group annnouced the acqusition of… Read More »ACV acquires AI platform that automates vehicle damage detection

Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, 02:29 PM For decades, you could walk into an ADESA facility (or any auto auction, for that matter) and generally know what to expect on sale day. A multitude of lanes, each with a block where an auctioneer would call bids, as vehicles would slowly drive through as dealers put in their bids. The auction format has evolved over the years, particularly recently as more wholesaling goes digital or through hybrid online-offline formats — a trend driven over time by multiple factors. However, it largely remains among… Read More »How a Carvana-owned ADESA auto auction might operate

The recent trend of companies going through a rebranding continued this week with one of the industry’s largest service providers. On Thursday, Cox Automotive launched DRiVEQ, the official branding of the company’s data intelligence capabilities that powers its portfolio of automotive solutions and services. Leadership highlighted DRiVEQ combines Cox Automotive’s portfolio of first-party automotive data, sourced from the company’s end-to-end automotive solutions, with cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology. Cox Automotive president Steve Rowley described DRiVEQ is the engine that powers Cox Automotive’s ability to deliver valuable business insights, services and solutions… Read More »Cox Automotive rebrands solutions portfolio as DRiVEQ

Carvana’s agreement to buy ADESA’s U.S. auction locations for $2.2 billion is arguably the most landscape-shifting move to impact the wholesale auto industry in decades, if not ever. One might ask, though, why would a digital used-car retailer buy such a physical asset-heavy business as a bricks-and-mortar auto auction chain — especially at a time when the wholesale car business is moving further online? What’s in it for Carvana? Source Article

Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, 11:04 AM A day after announcing a major move associated with its business operations in Canada, IAA turned its attention back to the U.S. on Friday. The company announced that it has completed a branch expansion at IAA Fontana and has broken ground on a new branch to meet growing demand in southern California. Executives highlighted the new IAA Los Angeles North branch in the Golden State will offer state-of-the-art facilities to support increased customer capacity needs. “This expansion and new branch will bring needed capacity… Read More »IAA continues to expand in California