Dear Reader,
First, thank you for your support and patronage of Auto Finance News. Since 1996, we have had the great honor of serving the auto finance industry – we hope to continue to do so with distinction for many years to come.
Second, the truth is we have been confounded by one distinct challenge since 1996: to definitively determine whether the auto finance market is strong or weak. Oh, we receive and report on plenty of market indicators — this is one of our core obligations. But what we have longed for is a more definitive dataset that tells the current story of auto finance.
So, we built one.
I am pleased to introduce the Auto Finance Composite Index, which aims to be the indicator of auto finance industry’s health and performance. The index is a composite of eight datasets weighted so that the index numeral becomes an all-encompassing benchmark for industry performance. Among the datasets included are the SAAR, auto loan rejection rates, relevant equity stock data, and auto finance outstandings.
We have built this index so it can act as the ultimate arbiter of market performance and feed financial models built to forecast various aspects of auto finance. The Auto Finance Composite Index can serve as a unique data reference point when modeling for “good” or “bad” auto finance industry performance. The index goes back 10 years, so it offers sufficient historical reference. (Check out current news on the index here.)
The Auto Finance Composite Index is part of a significant overhaul of our Big Wheels Auto Finance Data service. Since 1999, Big Wheels has produced the definitive ranking of auto finance lenders and lessors in the United States. Today, we present the new Big Wheels, which includes nearly two dozen datasets, including the new Auto Finance Composite Index, broken out into five dashboards that serve as the ultimate reference resource for executives monitoring or engaged with the auto finance industry.
Needless to say, this effort to rebuild Big Wheels and produce the Auto Finance Composite Index was tremendous, and I am grateful to my Auto Finance News teammates for their help with this project.
Auto Finance News since 1996 has been committed to helping you better understand your business world. Today, with the Auto Finance Composite Index and the revamped Big Wheels, we have taken that commitment to new heights. I can pledge to you that we will continue our efforts to bring improvements to the auto finance industry.
Sincerely yours,
JJ Hornblass
