Have you heard the term “fiscal cliff” lately? According to both political and financial analysts, it looks like the United States is headed for one at serious speed. Here’s some background. About a year ago, Congress passed the Budget Control Act of 2011, which established a bipartisan “supercommittee” tasked with addressing America’s debt ceiling crisis. […] [Read More]

How does the automotive industry measure and manage quality? According to a new study, it’s via outdated methods, and it’s time to make way for new ones. The results of the new Global Quality Survey, released on Monday by AIAG, show that the methods currently used to measure quality in the industry are considered outdated […] [Read More]

When revealing its Industry Report this month, ALG explained in its Market Outlook that increased sales will likely be impacting supply returning to the used-vehicle market in three to four years. On top of updating its used market supply forecast, the company lowered residual residual values across all segments at a rate amounting to 0.3 […] [Read More]

The share of dealerships’ transactions commanded by used vehicles has slid “steadily” since the start of 2012, and used-car demand is not seeing as rapid of an increase as the new-car side. These are just some of the findings uncovered in the Industry Insights of ALG’s latest Industry Report, as the firm’s Market Analytics group […] [Read More]

Carfax has recently launched a new program designed to boost revenue for service locations, including the service shops of dealerships. In essence, the Carfax Service Network — which includes dealerships as well as aftermarket providers like Pep Boys — offers several free tools that can be used to foster customer loyalty and pull in new […] [Read More]

Dealers may want to take note of the following points OnStar and Autotrader.com recently cautioned potential used buyers to pay attention to. The two companies explained they teamed up in an effort to make buying pre-owned vehicles a little easier for shoppers. And in the notes compiled for shoppers in the used market, the companies […] [Read More]

Canadian new-vehicle sales climbed more than 6 percent in August and are up close to 7 percent on the year, leading analyst Dennis DesRosiers to call the month, “Great but not spectacular,” in his recent look at the market. Overall, there were 149,301 new units sold in Canada last month, according to data in the […] [Read More]

Thanks to a strong inventory situation and solid engagement from its dealer body, Volkswagen Canada celebrated a record in the certified pre-owned market last month. The company sold 1,342 CPO units in Canada, which was its strongest August on record and more than a 24-percent upswing from August 2011. Luigi Fiorino, manager of used-vehicle sales […] [Read More]

Auto Remarketing’s 2012 CPO Dealer of the Year presented by NCM Associates was officially announced this morning, and receiving this year’s honors is Longo Toyota. The El Monte, Calif., dealership is the third dealership to receive this award. Paragon Honda/Acura was named the inaugural CPO Dealer of the Year in 2010, and Karl Chevrolet claimed […] [Read More]

Much like the story told through July’s scarcity data, the AutoTrader.com analysis of last month's supply trends found that once again, full-size trucks continue to remain scarce. [Read More]