Industry Trends

In the race to get cars sold and off the lot, new SUVs and Tesla are leading the pack. iSeeCars published a study revealing a slightly surprising list of new and used vehicles that are selling the quickest. The study examined over 9 million transactions from March to June to see which cars spent the least amount of time on the lot before being sold.  Leading the new car list was the Chevy Trailblazer, followed by a host of other...

According to data from J.D. Power, the retail automotive industry is looking at a 14.3 million SAAR for July, which is about 2.5 million units lower than July of 2019. Retail sales are expected to be off 10% from 2019 overall, however, this means there will only be a gap of 4% down from pre-Coronavirus forecasts. So, the retail side has normalized faster than anyone expected it could. To discuss more industry insights for the month of July, we’re...

New analysis from IHS Markit points to record-breaking vehicle ages on the road today. Over the past few years, vehicle age has been slowly trending upwards and is now at an all-time high of 11.9 years. In fact, 1 in 4 cars and trucks you see are at least 16 years old. But why? Here to discuss what the data says about this trend is Todd Campau, after-market specialist with IHS Markit. "We sit at 11.9 as of January 1st,...

2020 has brought twists, turns, and challenges of every sort. Auto retailers have certainly felt the unpredictability as they’ve tried to navigate through the most unusual year in recent memory. The second quarter of 2020 has come and gone, and now the industry looks back on what was lost and gained during a pivotal quarter.  The impact of COVID-19 hit businesses right at the beginning of Q2, forcing dealerships across the country to close their doors. The stage seemed set...

COVID-19 has created a new standard of efficiency required for dealerships. Dealers have had to adjust their staffing strategies, increase their focus on digital sales, and meet a steep rise in demand in the midst of a new vehicle inventory shortage. Lance Schafer, general manager of product and technology at LotLinx joined us to give valuable insight into new efficiencies in the auto retail world. Dealerships have always focused on efficiency. However, since COVID-19, efficiency has been at the forefront...

At this point, several publicly traded automotive groups including Lithia Motors, AutoNation, and Asbury Automotive reported an increase in earnings per share for Q2. These earnings highlight the resilience of the auto retail industry and signal a strong return of transaction activity in the automotive buy-sell market. Erin Kerrigan, founder and managing director for the mergers and acquisitions firm Kerrigan Advisors, says that every transaction the firm was working on in the midst of the pandemic, has come back...

The auto industry is showing signs of concern as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to grow daily. Automakers are in a realm of uncertainty as they try to keep factories running and sales afloat. Many employees are having to miss work, causing extensive problems on the production line. Dealers have had to furlough a large number of employees, and many of those on leave won’t be returning. Many dealers are waiting on inventory numbers to rise as production...

All car buyers have a unique set of features they want in a new vehicle. Some shoppers enjoy the luxury of a convertible top, others a high-end stereo is a must, and many put a built-in vacuum to good use. The most popular feature among buyers, however, seems to be a built-in dashboard camera. Among the 1,000 participants in the annual Future Attribute Demand Study conducted by AutoPacifc, 70% listed the dash cam as a must in their new...

Cases of the novel coronavirus have been on the rise in Florida with more than 12,000 new cases being reported per day. In Texas, there are nearly 150,000 active cases as of July 20th. Yet, franchised car dealerships are reporting nearly normal traffic levels and sales, according to a story in The Detroit News. Rather than declining traffic, the cause of concern for dealers in some of America’s highest-volume markets is from low inventory levels among popular models.  Carroll...

Before March, mergers and acquisitions expert Dave Cantin, CEO of Dave Cantin Group, was planning for an incredible 2020 with dozens of transactions in the buy/sell market, but as we know, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and sent a shockwave through the industry. There was no planning for this, it came out of nowhere. At the end of the day, for Dave, it became about taking a step back and figuring out how to re-engage with the market. What DCG...