Florida

Chrysler buys former Ford testing site in Florida

3:04 pm U.S. ET | April 3, 2013
Chrysler Group has bought a 531-acre testing center in Florida, where it plans to expand its vehicle testing, especially in winter. The site has more than six miles of test track, including a 2.1-mile straightaway and a 1.1-mile ride and handling loop.... Read More »

 

Bankrupt Toyota store in Florida sells for $18.7 million

10:33 pm U.S. ET | March 22, 2013
A federal bankruptcy court has approved the sale of a bankrupt Toyota dealership in St. Augustine, Fla., for $18.7 million. The buyer, Michael Beaver, owner of Beaver Toyota in Santa Fe, N.M., will close on the sale in April, said Joe Luzinski, senior vice president of Development Specialists Inc. in Miami.... Read More »

 

EDWARD LAPHAM

Why 'Back to the Future' resonates at NADA

9:01 am U.S. ET | Feb. 11, 2013
It caught my eye immediately. Parked at a booth in the NADA exhibition hall was a DeLorean time machine. It looked as if it had just blown in from the "Back to the Future" movie trilogy -- complete with blinking dashboard lights and a flux capacitor.... Read More »

 

Kia to dealers: Get ready for more

2:37 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 10, 2013
Kia asked dealers at its make meeting during the National Automobile Dealers Association convention here to “take a longer term view” of Kia's growth plans and get ready for bigger volumes.... Read More »

 

Chrysler dealers hungry for more Wranglers

3:38 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 10, 2013
Chrysler Group dealers used its make meeting during the National Automobile Dealers Association convention here to voice a concern they share with the factory: There aren’t enough Jeep Wranglers and Grand Cherokees to meet demand in the United States.... Read More »

 

Volkswagen to bring infotainment system to U.S. this year

2:54 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 10, 2013
Volkswagen will begin offering an infotainment system in the United States this year, the company’s U.S. marketing boss said today. The system, named Car-Net, is similar to Ford's Sync and MyFord Touch software, Tim Mahoney, chief marketing officer at Volkswagen of America, told Automotive News here during the National Automobile Dealers Association convention.... Read More »

 

JAMIE LaREAU

An NADA booth isn’t for everyone, but the convention is

2:30 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 10, 2013
Meeting up with EasyCare’s CEO at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention is not easy. I tracked him down at the NCM Associates booth. That’s because EasyCare is boothless.... Read More »

 

JAMES B. TREECE

Three generations at NADA

2:15 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 10, 2013
Three generations of the family behind Colussy Chevrolet in Bridgeville, Pa., outside of Pittsburgh, are at this year's NADA convention: Tim, 55, the dealer principal; his father, Skip, 84, who remains part owner; and Tim's son, Dan, 22, who is learning the ropes in the parts department.... Read More »

 

New-generation Mini Cooper hardtop to be unveiled next week

2:55 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
Mini dealers will get a glimpse of the new-generation Cooper hardtop next week at a worldwide dealer meeting in Helsinki, Finland. The hardtop is scheduled to go on sale in March 2014 and is the first vehicle to be built on a BMW platform that will spawn 10 to 12 compact Mini and BMW front-wheel-drive models.... Read More »

 

Rising sales tide lifts new-vehicle grosses

11:44 am U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
Dealers at three-fourths of the auto industry's brands are experiencing improved new-vehicle grosses as sales return to pre-recession volumes.... Read More »

 

Panel backs embedded, simple telematics systems

1:35 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
Telematics systems run the risk of becoming too complicated and distracting for drivers, yet they also can become outdated well before the vehicle's life is complete. So said a panel at the JD Power International Automotive Roundtable here.... Read More »

 

Old car, new repair prospect

4:02 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
Expect consumers to keep their cars longer, requiring more repair work, and expect more dealership groups to follow AutoNation's lead and brand themselves.... Read More »

 

Outgoing NADA chairman urges factories to be flexible on facilities

5:08 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
With little payback proven, automakers should back off demands on dealers for massive investment in facility image programs, outgoing Chairman Bill Underriner told dealers today at the National Automobile Dealers Association convention.... Read More »

 

Passion cools on facilities issue

9:00 am U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
Expansive new dealership buildings still aren't worth the millions of dollars invested in them, but facility renovation programs aren't as dramatic an issue for dealers as they were a year ago. So concludes an NADA study that was released Saturday. The finding on payback is an echo of the first phase of the study, released a year ago.... Read More »

 

JASON STEIN

Mood swing in Orlando: This year, deals are everywhere

6:43 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
A lifetime ago -- like, way back in the bad old times of early 2010 -- you could have shot a cannon down one side of the Orange County Convention Center and not hit a soul. This weekend the message is clear: Dealerships are open for business. And people are buying in style.... Read More »

 

ARLENA SAWYERS

Heavy snow won’t stop auction action, NAAA president says

6:22 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
The roads are blocked, businesses are closed and people have hunkered down in their homes as the Northeast rides out the great blizzard of 2013. But come Monday morning auto auctions located in the snow-covered Northeast will be ready for business, predicts Paul Lips, president of the National Auto Auction Association.... Read More »

 

Q&A: Lincoln will fund a 'date night' for buyers waiting for delayed MKZ

5:42 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
Matt VanDyke is global director of marketing, sales and service for Lincoln, which recently said it would do additional quality inspections of the 2013 MKZ sedan at Ford's Flat Rock, Mich., plant to help out the Hermosillo, Mexico, plant where the car is built. Lincoln is more than two months behind in delivering the MKZ.... Read More »

 

VW execs seek ways to shave sales costs

3:22 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
Volkswagen of America executives on Sunday plan to discuss with dealers a new plan for achieving an old goal: slashing the per-unit cost of selling cars.... Read More »

 

Supplies are tight for redesigned Range Rover

4:24 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
Land Rover dealers in most of the country are sold out of the new-generation Range Rover SUV through early summer.... Read More »

 

LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE

Newborn Chrysler Capital shows up at NADA

3:42 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
There are lots of young companies on the expo floor at the NADA convention pushing this product or that service to help dealers. But as far as I can tell, there's only one so young that it ought to be wearing diapers.... Read More »

 

GABE NELSON

How the NADA and EPA want to save energy at dealerships

2:17 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
The National Automobile Dealers Association and the EPA may not always see eye to eye, but they are collaborating on some common ground: saving energy at car dealerships.... Read More »

 

Used-car auction volumes seen rising 5% in 2013

10:51 am U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
New-vehicle sales to rental car companies in 2012 rose 11 percent to 1.55 million units in the United States, which will help increase the number of vehicles returning to the used-car market in 2013, predicts an annual report on the state of the used-car industry.... Read More »

 

Honda planner: Civic, Accord hitting stride

10:22 am U.S. ET | Feb. 9, 2013
Vicki Poponi, American Honda assistant vice president of product planning, is seeing the results of her department’s work: a swath of new products hitting dealerships or on the way. She spoke with Staff Reporter Mark Rechtin about what 2013 holds in store.... Read More »

 

MIKE COLIAS

Why millennials are a double-edged sword for dealers

12:24 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 8, 2013
There's been a lot of ink spilled about why car dealers must go out of their way to court young people. Here's one more reason: They're more likely to help -- or harm -- a dealership's reputation.... Read More »

 

Mercedes exec touts cultural change in U.S.

5:27 pm U.S. ET | Feb. 8, 2013
Steve Cannon, CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, said automakers must improve their customer satisfaction if they are to survive in a crowded industry, and that the effort must involve dealership employees. Cannon, 51, today said improved quality by all automakers means that consumers' purchasing decisions will be driven by the quality of the interactions between customers and dealerships.... Read More »