GM and Ford can’t shake anguish over where US sales are headed

General Motors Co. posted a quarterly sales gain, and Ford Motor Co. sales fell less than expected. But both are having trouble shrugging off concerns that the U.S. auto market is taking a turn for the worse. Shares of the two companies fell Wednesday along with those of Italian-American manufacturer Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV. Their […]

• Bloomberg News
• October 2, 2019
• Bloomberg, Sales & Marketing

Grim start to US auto sales stirs alarm that collapse is here

U.S. auto sales took a big step back in September, setting the stage for hefty incentive spending by carmakers struggling to clear old models from dealers’ inventory. Results were disastrous for leading Asian automakers Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which both suffered double-digit declines that were worse than analysts anticipated. While a fuller […]

• Bloomberg News
• October 1, 2019
• Bloomberg, Sales & Marketing

Honda breaks sales record

American Honda posted the “best month of sales in company history” in August and set four different records, according to a release from parent Honda Motor Co. Between the Honda and Acura brands, the company sold 173,993 units, a 17.6% year-over-year increase, which “smashes all-time monthly sales records for total vehicles and trucks,” the release […]

• Joey Pizzolato
• September 6, 2019
• Sales & Marketing

Wholesale used-vehicle prices climb in July

July’s used-vehicle prices on the wholesale market increased 2.6% year over year, pushing the Manheim Used-Vehicle Value Index to 140.5. Comparatively, July 2018 saw an abnormal increase in both prices and sales volume due to tariff concerns, making comparison to last year “particularly tough,” the report notes. While July usually sees a 1% decline in […]

• Joey Pizzolato
• August 7, 2019
• Risk Management, Sales & Marketing

Reduced incentives dampen new vehicle sales in July

July’s projected 2.9% decline in new light vehicle sales to 16.6 million units at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) is fueled largely by automakers’ decline in incentive spending, said Oliver Strauss, chief economist at ALG, noting that the SAAR has fluctuated more in 2019 than in previous years. In fact, automakers’ average incentive spending […]

• Joey Pizzolato
• July 29, 2019
• Sales & Marketing

Lift in Fleet Volume Offsets Sagging January Sales

January fleet sales edged higher than expected, easing the decline in new-vehicle sales, according to fresh data from Cox Automotive. Total fleet sales rose 10% year over year in January to nearly 216,000 units, driven mostly by an increase in sales to rental car companies. In January, 67% of fleet vehicles were sold to rental […]

• Bianca Chan
• February 12, 2019
• Sales & Marketing, Update

How Smaller Tax Refunds Could Impact Auto Finance in 2019

The potential for fewer or decreased tax returns as a result of the 2017 tax act will likely bring down vehicle sales this spring, Chief Executive of JoyDrive Hunter Gorham told Auto Finance News. “Consumers use the tax refund as a whole down payment, and they won’t be a buyer [this year] without that down […]

• Nicole Casperson
• January 29, 2019
• Risk Management, Sales & Marketing

Electric Vehicle OEM Offers Drive Motors’ Digital Financing

Electric vehicle startup Karma Automotive has synced up with digital sales platform Drive Motors to power its online checkout option for consumers. Drive Motors, which counts Ally Financial Inc. as a preferred lender on its platform, enables consumers to get fully approved for loans in less than a minute, Chief Executive Aaron Krane told Auto […]

• Monica Melton
• November 22, 2018
• Innovation & Technology, Sales & Marketing