It is time for change to come to auto finance.
Last month, Ralph Babb, CEO of Comerica, a super-regional bank based in, of all places, Detroit, said this about the bank’s auto finance business:
Year-over-year, our dealer loans are up 8%. This growth reflects the fact that auto sales, on an annualized basis, are running at a ten-year high, and we’ve been maintaining our market share. We’ve been in this business for over 65 years and our strategy is to develop full relationships with top-tier, multi-franchise dealers, some of which have been expanding the acquisition.
You know what? 65 years is long enough. The “develop relationships” approach to auto finance growth just will not work anymore, especially not when the SAAR comes down to earth and consumers expect more. That is why Auto Finance News is changing.
Starting immediately, we are changing Auto Finance News‘s coverage to orient toward innovation. Our new mandate, which officially starts with the February 2016 issue of Auto Finance News, but should already be apparent to careful readers of this site, will have our content honed in on not just what is new or news, but specifically on the news on industry innovations. We are particularly geared up to uncover technology disruption; the digitization of auto finance; mobile apps; new ways of underwriting loans and assessing risk; and new and enlightened business models. We will explore not just what is “happening,” but what is happening that is meaningful to the future evolution of auto finance.
This reorientation toward innovation is an exciting change for Auto Finance News. Since 1996, we have been the industry’s news source. We plan to keep it that way.
As part of these changes, you will see:
- a revamped and more exciting Auto Finance News, with bolder features, new sections and snazzier design;
- this site provide more technology coverage, and particularly coverage of startups and disruptive ventures; and
- a new event called the Auto Finance Innovation Summit, which we will unveil soon.
To use the Silicon Valley parlance, this is a “pivot” for our auto finance media venture, and an important one at that. Our goal is ambitious, but straightforward: to foster a better auto finance industry for the next 65 years — and beyond. The journey starts now.
