October 15, 2015 — Fremont Private Holdings is acquiring Morrie Wagener’s 11 dealership-group in Minnesota. Partnering with Fremont is Karl Schmidt, who has run Morrie’s Automotive Group since 2009 as its CEO. Fremont, which is the investment firm established by the family that owns construction company Bechtel Corp., has been rumored for about two years to […]
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October 15, 2015 — The Volkswagen saga continues as its North American president and CEO Winfried Vahland resigned suddenly yesterday. Vahland, who had been Skoda’s CEO, was appointed to the newly created position in North America as part of the automaker’s scrambling to deal with its growing diesel engine scandal. Vahland’s move potentially places Michael Horn, […]
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October 17, 2015 — Dealer sues Autotrader; Adam’s an idiot; Viper no more? Lexus’ F-bomb; Can U.S. automakers compete? Getting mean over green in CA; Ford’s push toward mobility; Preventing cyber attacks; Picky lenders; Mobile sites still have work to do. The TBR Weekly Top 10 is our list of what we believe are the […]
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October 24, 2015 — Ferrari’s IPO on Wednesday was a success generating nearly $1 billion in much needed cash for Fiat Chrysler. Marchionne hopes the euphoria continues as he plans to sell more shares next year to either raise more cash or use its stake to attract a partner. But some analysts think the automaker’s […]
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October 18, 2015 — Record automotive sales the next two years? If IHS Automotive analysts are right, there will be. They do have a track record of sorts — a few years ago, as the industry was on the back end of the recession, most, if not all analysts were predicting a prolonged period of depressed auto […]
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October 24, 2015 — AutoNation is on a buying spree this year. It is set to announce early this next week that is acquiring the Allen Samuels Group in Texas. The acquisition follows its August purchase of 16 stores — 13 from Carl Gregory in Georgia and three in Maryland owned by Charles Fenwick. (TBR has […]
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October 28, 2015 — The Banks Report has confirmed the McLarty Automotive Group has acquired seven stores selling 16 franchises of the Joe Machens dealership group in Columbia, MO, from owners Gary and Rusty Drewing. Charles Oglesby, the former chairman and CEO of the Asbury Automotive Group, has been named the CEO of the group. The […]
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October 29, 2015 — The vendor acquisitions keep coming as PureCars announced earlier this week it has been acquired by Raycom Media. It’s an intriguing acquisition for Raycom, an employee-owned broadcast company that owns 51 television stations in 38 markets reaching more than 13% of U.S. TV watching homes. PureCars is a digital automotive advertising […]
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November 2, 2015 — It’s been 10 years since the McGraw-Hill Companies acquired J.D. Power and Associates for nearly $400 million. Now, according to media reports late last week, McGraw-Hill is exploring strategic alternatives for the market research firm and could command as much as $1 billion for a sale. J.D. Power generates about $265 million in […]
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November 3, 2015 — Since the middle of 2013, the automotive retail space has been in a period of upheaval as what can only be classified as big money has entered the industry. The last 28 months have probably been the most intense period vendors have ever seen in the history of the industry […]
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November 23, 2015 — The Banks Report has learned that TrueCar today is naming Chip Perry as its new chief executive officer. Perry has been president and CEO of RentPath since July of this year. RentPath is the parent company of Rent.com, Apartment Guide, Rentals.com and Lovely. He takes over the leadership of TrueCar on December 15. […]
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November 30, 2015 — The Banks Report has learned that private investment firm HGGC has just completed an acquisition of a third company in the automotive retail industry. The announcement should come in the next couple of days. HGGC, owned by Steve Young, a former NFL quarterback who was elected to the Hall of Fame, currently manages […]
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December 1, 2015 — Industry-specific domain extensions are coming to the automotive industry next week and could create a digital land grab reminiscent of the Oklahoma land rush in 1889. Cars Registry Ltd, a joint venture between XYZ and Uniregistry, which owns and operates the new extensions, is making the domains, .cars, .car and .auto available for purchase […]
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December 1, 2015 — Apparently, someone recently declared it to be open hunting season for the media on car dealerships. Recent stories include claims of racism (in the Huffington Post) due to dealers fighting against the CFPB’s efforts to curtail financing profits to claims yesterday in the Daily Signal that removing the dealership monopoly from […]
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December 5, 2015 — After launching AutoNation Express a year ago the nation’s dealer group is taking the next step adding the ability for customers to secure an online appraisal for a trade along with determining financing. The new components launched earlier this month according to a report in the Sun Sentinel. The initial program has […]
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December 6, 2015 — Volkswagen’s challenges are showing no signs of letting up and appear to be growing in complexity. Plunging sales, disappearing incentives, VW’s inability to find a fix and questions surrounding management continue to plague the automaker and its dealers. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, top Volkswagen executives are […]
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December 8, 2015 — If you haven’t been paying attention to French politics recently, an intriguing battle is brewing for control of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. A vote by the alliance’s board that likely will determine its future is scheduled for December 11. The background is complicated. In a move to protect jobs and its ability to […]
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December 10, 2015 — Volkswagen executives today presented a far more favorable picture of the automaker this morning during an early press conference than could have been envisioned a few weeks ago. But the situation in the U.S. remains more murky as Volkswagen waits for guidance from U.S regulatory officials on whether its proposed fixes […]
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December 11, 2015 — CDK Global announced today that CEO and President Steve Anenen will retire by the end of the company’s fiscal year on June 30, 2016. Brian MacDonald, who was named to the board of directors in June, will become president on January 1 and will take over the CEO position once Anenen […]
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December 11, 2015 — The Renault Nissan Alliance and the French government reportedly have agreed to terms that will restore balance of power between the two sides. The agreement, which still has to be voted on by the board, will allow Nissan to protect itself from increasing influence from the French government. The dispute (read more here) […]
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