FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. — The current health and future viability of leasing has been a hot topic in the auto marketplace lately, as leasing levels throughout the industry dipped last year but are now showing a bounceback.  Sharing some perspective from the luxury side of the market with Auto Remarketing this week was Jeff Gartland, director of […] [Read More]

MEDFORD, Ore. — A stronger push to move used vehicles helped Lithia Motors overcome a sluggish new-unit retail sales performance and improve its fourth-quarter revenue figure. Company executives indicated that same-store new-vehicle sales increased just 1.2 percent during the closing quarter of 2009. Meanwhile, Lithia highlighted its used-vehicle retail sales jumped 17.9 percent when compared to […] [Read More]

DULUTH, Ga. — Thanks largely to stronger new and used light-vehicle unit sales, revenues and gross profits, along with a trimmed cost structure, Asbury Automotive Group enjoyed what its president and chief executive officer called a "solid" fourth-quarter financial performance. Its income from continuing operations was $5 million, up from a loss of $352.3 million in […] [Read More]

TULSA, Okla. — Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group revealed on Wednesday that it has extended its vehicle supply agreement with Ford. Executives said the extension is for an additional year until August 2013. Dollar Thrifty also noted the agreement can be extended further with joint approval. "We are very pleased with our first-year results under our Ford […] [Read More]

NEW YORK and TORRANCE, Calif. — Toyota revealed several added services for the thousands of customers in New York who are affected by the automaker's recent recalls. On Wednesday, the automaker reported that these services will come without additional cost to the dealer or vehicle owner. Toyota stressed on Wednesday that the special offerings will be tailored […] [Read More]

DETROIT — The General Motors sale of Hummer to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machines Co. cannot be completed, meaning that the automaker will wind down its Hummer business, it announced Wednesday afternoon. "One year ago, General Motors announced that we were going to divest Hummer, as part of focusing our efforts on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and […] [Read More]

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In remarks prepared for his appearance before the House Oversight Committee, Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corp., said he fears the automaker has grown too quickly and that this has impacted quality. "Toyota has, for the past few years, been expanding its business rapidly. Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which […] [Read More]

COSTA MESA, Calif. — NADAguides.com released its Best Car Buys for 2010 earlier this week, recognizing models across eight vehicle categories that meet the specific criteria that shoppers consider to be the most important. In their annual in-depth study, the site's Market/Data Analysts sought to find the vehicle attributes on which consumers place the most emphasis when shopping […] [Read More]

DETROIT and TROLLHATTAN, Sweden — The Spyker Cars NV purchase of Saab Automobile AB from General Motors has been finalized, the companies announced Tuesday. The ownership shift has been completed, and now Saab and Spyker will operate under the Spyker umbrella as sister companies. Spyker is taking over the operations of Saab, whose previously announced wind-down has […] [Read More]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sonic Automotive's used-vehicle operations ended 2009 on quite a high note as executives highlighted volume and gross profit gains during the fourth quarter. Sonic revealed overall used-vehicle unit volume climbed 18 percent and total used-vehicle revenue jumped almost 23 percent for the fourth quarter of last year as compared to the same quarter […] [Read More]