There are 20 groups for all manner of car dealers – franchises, independents, buy-here pay-here, big dealers, small dealers, fixed ops and more. Now there’s a 20 group for vendors. Vendor 20 Group (V20), which launched with its inaugural meeting Oct. 16 in Las Vegas, bills itself as the auto industry’s first 20 group “dedicated […] [Read More]

Gettel Automotive has expanded its Florida holdings by acquiring Stadium Toyota in Tampa from the Parks and Couey families. Kerrigan Advisors, which represented the sellers in the transaction, announced the sale in a news release. The dealership is ranked among the nation’s top 10% of Toyota dealerships and has earned numerous awards for its sales […] [Read More]

Asbury Automotive Group struggled against “challenges” in its used-car operations during the third quarter of 2023, company officials said. In its quarterly earnings call this week, Asbury – one of the nation’s largest dealer groups with 138 dealerships, a service contract provider and 32 collision repair centers – announced a 17% year-over-year drop in net income to $169 million and a 5% decrease in revenues, to $3.7 billion. That said, there is help on the way, thanks to ... [Read More]

Rental car giant Hertz has named Justin Keppy as its new executive vice president and chief operating officer. Keppy, who will assume the role effective Nov. 15, will be responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the company’s global business. Keppy joins Hertz from Carrier Corp., serving most recently as president of North America residential […] [Read More]

Asbury Automotive Group, one of the nation’s largest automotive retail and service companies, has been named by U.S. News & World Report as one of its Best Companies to Work For in the retail sector. Asbury was one of 349 companies recognized across 20 fields of work based on factors contributing to job seekers’ decision-making […] [Read More]

Dealership inventory shortages during the beginning and peak of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a shift to “transactional” buying, said Samantha Splane of Sterling Automotive Group. “You had the vehicle and you sold it, most times at a premium price,” said Splane, who is marketing and customer experience director for Sterling. Now, she said, “we’re […] [Read More]

Now that completed oil change can come with 90s on 9 or audio broadcasts of the NBA. On Wednesday, SiriusXM and Hyundai Motor America announced an extension of SiriusXM’s Service Lane program that enables Hyundai’s dealership service centers to reward eligible customers with a complimentary three-month SiriusXM subscription during their service visit. According to a […] [Read More]

A Texas dealer group is employing artificial intelligence to make it easier for Spanish-speaking car shoppers to find and buy its inventory. Cavender Auto Group, which operates eight rooftops in the San Antonio and Dallas areas, announced a partnership with Carfluent, a provider of AI-driven software that publishes additional search, inventory and vehicle detail pages […] [Read More]

The National Automobile Dealers Association has set up succession plans for chairmanship of the trade group. NADA said Tuesday that its board of directors has elected current vice chairman Gary Gilchrist to be its 2024 chairman, and selected to be the next vice chairman is Tom Castriota. Gilchrist, who is president of Gilchrist Chevrolet Buick […] [Read More]

As an independent dealer, Kendra Brown knows what issues dealers are facing. As a marketing expert and founder and chief strategy officer of The Dream Team Media Company, she also knows how to help dealers solve many of those issues. Kendra joins Cherokee Media Group associate editor Andrew Friedlander on the show to talk about […] [Read More]