Tapping into Latin America's literary tradition of magic realism, Ford Motor Co. is bringing wondrous tales along with trucks to little-used theaters in rural Argentina. Ford and its agency JWT were inspired to write plays by the launch of the latest Ford Ranger compact pickup, because there wasn't much to say about the truck itself. Read More »
GMAC Financial Services this week is raising nearly $1 billion selling retail auto loans as securities. The sale is one of a series of transactions indicating that GMAC h ...
Chrysler Group, after congressional pressure and complaints from rejected dealers, said it will stop awarding new franchises temporarily in the markets of closed dealersh ...
Honda Motor Co will recall about 412,000 vehicles in the United States to address the risk that brake pedals may feel soft and slip closer to the floor over time. The rec ...
Chevrolet is making a big splash at the South by Southwest Interactive conference now taking place in Austin, Texas, and it's just the beginning of the GM brand's planned ...
Dealer Ralph Martinez's recent attempt to buy a $4 million Subaru dealership suddenly collapsed when the bank rejected the deal. "It's not about equity," says Martinez, a ...
As a teenager in Kenya, Dean Parpia's dream was eventually to take over his father's auto dealership in the capital city of Nairobi. Then life happened. Political turmoil ...
With its sales plunging 52 percent this year in a market up 10 percent, Suzuki is struggling to stay upright. But the troubled brand has provided Scott Pitman his big bre ...
General Motors is demanding that some dealers pay back five- and six-figure sums for alleged infractions of its Standards for Excellence incentive program without a chanc ...
Dealer Dathan Wilson has kept a secret from his customers for nearly a year. His Cadillac franchise in Stillwater, Okla., was one of General Motors Co.'s wind downs. But ...
Manheim, which has long allowed dealers to sell vehicles online without transporting them to a physical auction, has bundled some services to make the process easier. Man ...
At least several rejected General Motors Co. dealers who have not been told that they are candidates for reinstatement have reached out to the company anyway and have bee ...
None of the three leaders of the rejected-dealers group that successfully lobbied Congress for a new arbitration law got a reinstatement phone call from General Motors Co ...
Dealerships in this report: Mel Hambelton Ford in Wichita, Kan.; Robberson Mazda in Bend, Ore.; Thoroughbred Ford in Kansas City, Mo.; Page Toyota in Southfield, Mich.; a ...
Autobytel Inc., which is battling back from massive losses in 2008, is using patent infringement settlements with competitors to upgrade its Web sites. The company also i ... Auto auction purchases fell 6 percent in 2009
4:36 pm U.S. ET, March 12
Dealers purchased almost 9 million vehicles at National Auto Auction Association member auctions in 2009, down 6 percent from 2008, according to the auction group's 13th ... Banks dominate auto finance, overtaking captives
2:20 pm U.S. ET, March 11
The shake-up among auto lenders touched off by the credit crisis in 2008 continued last year, with banks and credit unions emerging as winners, according to Experian Auto ...
Mitsubishi will continue using the “Ralliart” brand name despite the demise of the Japanese racing parts company this week. Ralliart Inc., a wholly owned Japa ...
10:43 am U.S. ET, March 10 | UPDATED: 3/10/10 12:34 p.m. ET
A senior U.S. lawmaker is calling on Chrysler Group to follow General Motors Co.'s lead and reinstate rejected dealerships. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the sixth-ranking House ...
Chrysler Group, reacting to General Motors Co.'s plans to reinstate 661 rejected dealerships, is signaling that it will not follow suit while noting that the number of ar ...
None of the three leaders of the rejected-dealers group that successfully lobbied Congress for a new arbitration law got a reinstatement phone call from General Motors Co ...
AutoNation Inc., the nation's largest dealership group, sold 35,000 prepaid maintenance plans in the fourth quarter last year -- about 40 percent of them from the service ... Leasing's revival expected to continue in '10
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 8
Leasing has plunged since 2007 but is on the upswing and will continue to rebound this year, analysts and financial institutions predict. An industrywide shortage of used ... GMAC deal will cost DealerTrack $15 million
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 8
DealerTrack Inc. believes that in GMAC Financial Services it has landed a key partner in making its credit application software more attractive to dealers. But that new p ...
Rising interest rates, fragile consumer confidence and lukewarm demand still threaten the first green shoots of a recovery in auto lending. But lenders are having an easi ...
General Motors Co. has contacted all 661 of the rejected dealerships that the company intends to reinstate, fulfilling a pledge made last week. The automaker reached 80 p ...
If you're puzzled by the serial reorganizations of General Motors Co.'s sales and marketing staffs, here's the simple explanation: Ed Whitacre wants to sell more cars -- ... GM, dealers talk cash to wind down
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 8
General Motors Co. says it is meeting with rejected dealers who are seeking additional wind-down money under an agreement negotiated by the National Association of Minori ...
GMAC Financial Services now will arbitrate disputes for dealers who find previously undisclosed problems with vehicles they bought through GMAC's SmartAuction online rema ... 661 dealerships expect make-up calls from GM
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 8
Seeking peace with dealers, General Motors Co. plans to reinstate 661 dealerships. Late this week, GM will start sending letters that say the automaker wants to reinstate ...
10:28 am U.S. ET, March 5 | UPDATED: 3/5/10 6:14 p.m. ET
General Motors Co. said today it plans to reinstate 661 of the 1,160 rejected dealerships that applied for arbitration to get their franchises back, scrapping a nine-mont ...
Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles are losing residual value due to safety recalls and a perceived decline in quality, an influential automobile dealer tracking firm said Friday ...
Two Republican lawmakers have asked Chrysler Group to stop awarding franchises in the markets of rejected dealerships that have filed for arbitration. “We are conce ... F&I managers get creative in selling service contracts
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 3
Most extended service contracts are still sold at the same time a new car is sold. But now dealerships are finding a new place to market service contracts - and a way to ...
Toyota outlined a range of services now being offered nationwide to customers who have been affected by the automaker's recalls. The services, which may include use of a ...
Toyota might be telling Capitol Hill it wants to regain the public trust, but judging from Facebook, it may not have lost it. Doug Frisbie, Toyota Motor Sales USA's natio ... Toyota owner loyalty slips, Consumer Reports says
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
The number of people driving Toyotas who would think of the carmaker first when buying another vehicle declined after the company's safety recalls and ensuing bad publici ... Arbitration strategy: Let the dealers speak
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
Lawyers for rejected General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group dealerships say they have an edge in upcoming arbitration hearings: the dealers themselves. The lawyers plan to ...
The average U.S. dealership's profits rose sharply last year despite lower overall revenues and fewer unit sales industrywide. The average dealership's net pretax profit ... Looking for the hip and nifty at NADA
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
Dealers walking the exhibition floor at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention in Orlando were met by vendors offering new ways to cut costs, tap social m ...
When it comes to slashing the time customers spent on quick maintenance, Conrad Letson and Jerry Jackson tried pretty much everything at their respective dealerships. Bot ... Kia seeks service work beyond warranties
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
As warranty work declines, Kia is trying to help dealerships boost customer-pay service revenue. For years, Kia dealerships relied primarily on one source -- warranty pa ... Russ Darrow III files for bankruptcy
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
Former automobile dealer Russ Darrow III has filed for personal bankruptcy protection after setbacks two years ago with dealerships in Illinois, North Carolina and Georgi ... Dealers
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
Dealerships in this report: Lafayette Ford in Fayetteville, N.C.; Dick Smith Ford in Raytown, Mo.; Hamilton Nissan in Hagerstown, Md.; Partyka Mazda in Hamden, Conn.; Ko ... Spurned GM dealers still await details
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
Wind-down dealers waiting to see whether General Motors Co. will make good on its pledge to try to settle outside of arbitration have had to wait longer than expected for ... Sonic is profitable again
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
Sonic Automotive Inc. got back into the black in the fourth quarter, on a modest rise in revenues. Sonic, the publicly traded dealership group that was on the verge of ba ... Asbury reports a profit
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
Cost cutting helped Asbury Automotive Group Inc. become more efficient and turn a profit in 2009. The sixth-largest U.S. dealership group earned a $200,000 fourth-quarter ... Used-car sales lift Lithia
12:01 am U.S. ET, March 1
Used-car sales helped Lithia Motors Inc. post improved earnings and revenue for the fourth quarter. The nation's eighth-largest dealership group reported net income of $2 ...
Used-car sales helped Lithia Motors Inc. post improved earnings and revenue during the fourth quarter. The dealership group said yesterday that it posted net income of $2 ... Toyota to offer rental cars to recall customers nationwide
8:46 am U.S. ET, Feb. 25 | UPDATED: 2/25/10 4:24 p.m. ET
Asbury Automotive Group Inc.’s restructuring effort in 2009 helped the company become more efficient and turn a profit even during the worst sales environment in mo ...
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood acknowledged today that some automakers’ recalls for safety defects are never learned about by consumers, possibly leaving ...
12:01 am U.S. ET, Feb. 24 | UPDATED: 2/24/10 1:08 p.m. ET
Hyundai Motor America Inc. late Tuesday told regulators that front door-lock modules on some 2011 Sonatas can stick under some circumstances. The Korean automaker planned ...
Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda plans to tell lawmakers tomorrow that the company regrettably chased growth at the expense of safety in recent years, and he will ... Chrysler dealers like new ads
12:01 am U.S. ET, Feb. 22 | UPDATED: 3/1/10 4:52 p.m. ET
Chrysler Group's new dealer council got a peek at some new advertising last week and was pleased to see messages focused more on selling cars. Some dealers had been unhap ...
About 100 Toyota Motor Corp. dealers are flying to Washington today for a lobbying campaign on the eve of congressional hearings into the automaker’s safety problem ...
New models and hot-selling brands are nice. But what dealers need to keep the auto industry going is a steady source of customer financing from committed lenders, say som ...
