If he had to choose between taking a vacation or working at the dealership, Brian Benstock said he would pick the latter. The minority owner of Paragon Honda in Queens and the vice president and general manager of Paragon Acura has mirrored his work ethic after that of the late Paul Singer, the founder of what is now Paragon […] [Read More]

As Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealers convened in Orlando, Fla., this week for their first meeting in several years to hear all about Chrysler's plans for a slew of coming new and redesigned models, the automaker's corporate headquarters was also busy working to ramp up the public's excitement. So, after months of waiting what does Chrysler […] [Read More]

In the midst of restricted supply and demand growth, average asking prices for used and certified pre-owned models continued to climb in August on a year-over-year basis, according to AutoTrader.com. The  segment enjoying the heaviest gains on both the used and CPO sides is the SUV category. Specifically, of the 20 most-searched used models on AutoTrader.com […] [Read More]

DrivingSales.com has brought in two more keynote speakers for its upcoming DrivingSales Executive Summit. Slated to share their insight are Scott Monty, Ford's global digital and multimedia communications manager, and Dan Zarrella, who wrote The Social Media Marketing Book.  It was previously announced that Jeremiah Owyang, a social media analyst, blogger and Web strategist, will also be […] [Read More]

On Sunday, Hertz and Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group announced a decision to amend their merger agreement to increase the purchase price per share. Moreover, Hertz announced it has begun divesting Advantage Rent-a-Car to speed along antitrust clearance. Due to the revised offer, the special meeting of DTAG shareholders has been postponed from Sept. 16 to […] [Read More]

Volkswagen Group of America revealed its new president and chief executive officer on Monday, and assuming that post starting Oct. 1 will be Jonathan Browning, who currently is tasked with the global directing of the automaker's national sales companies. Before his time with VW, Browning had a great deal of experience working for Big 3 […] [Read More]

Daimler AG and Cerebus, two companies that owned Chrysler prior to its bankruptcy, are facing a class-action lawsuit that 450 former employees and managers filed late last week. One news report indicated that Lee Iacocca, a former chairman at the automaker, was among the plaintiffs. The suit was filed in Wayne County Circuit Court in […] [Read More]

The 2010 fiscal year was certainly an eventful one for Toyota Motor Corp., with the automaker shifting leadership, dealing with the challenges of safety recalls and the closing of the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant, just to name a few hurdles. Reflecting on the fiscal year and looking forward to what lies ahead, Toyota's […] [Read More]

WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J. — With great sadness, BMW of North America revealed late last week that one of its top executives died tragically while on vacation at his farm. Executives said the company's vice president of marketing, Jack Pitney, was killed last Thursday. "We don't have many further details to share with you at this time […] [Read More]

TORRANCE, Calif. — Toyota Motor Sales USA said Thursday it is recalling roughly 1.13 million Toyota Corolla and Corolla Matrix vehicles in the U.S. for a potential problem with the Engine Control Modules that can lead to "harsh shifting" or an inability to start the engine. General Motors, meanwhile, revealed that Toyota is also recalling 200,163 Pontiac […] [Read More]