Category Archives: News

Electric Vehicle Sales in U.S. in 2018

Electric Vehicle Sales in U.S. in 2018

Electric Vehicle Sales in the U.S. in 2018 – Electric Cars Newsroom. GM hit 200K total electric vehicles sold in the United States by the end of 2018, reaching a threshold that triggers a phase-out of a $7,500 federal tax credit over the next 15 months, a person briefed on the matter said Wednesday.

The largest U.S. automaker reached the figure in the fourth quarter of 2018, which means the credit will fall to $3,750 in April, and then drop to $1,875 in October for six months. The credit will completely disappear by April 2020. The 200,000 figure covers GM’s cumulative EV sales since 2010.

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Pedestrian-Detection and Automated-Emergency-Braking System

Pedestrian-Detection and Automated-Emergency-Braking System

IIHS to Begin Testing Pedestrian-Detection and Automated-Emergency-Braking Systems The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety will add the tests to its roster of vehicle-safety evaluations.

Three separate tests will be conducted. In the first, a dummy representing an adult-sized pedestrian enters the lane from the right side as the test vehicle approaches at 12 mph and again at 25 mph. The pedestrian is midway between the right side and the center of the vehicle.

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Better Auto Finance in 2019

Better Auto Finance in the Future

Better Auto Finance in 2019, Auto lending technology will take several leaps forward in 2019. One of the biggest involves the usage of cloud-based platforms for payments, applications, and document management. Read more and share your thoughts with us!

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Auto Loan Delinquencies In This year

Auto Loan Delinquencies In This year

Auto Loan Delinquencies In This year, Delinquencies should stay flat in 2019 despite a cautious increase in subprime loans, according to a TransUnion forecast. click here to learn more about Auto Analyst Forecasts Industry Trends for 2019!

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The Difference Between Toyota Prius Models

The Difference Between Toyota Prius Models

The 2019 Toyota Prius c, ranked a score of 7.3 out of 10 which is based on our evaluation of 52 pieces of research and data elements using various sources.

The 2018 Toyota Prius Prime, ranked a score of 8.3 out of 10 which is based on our evaluation of 19 pieces of research and data elements using various sources.

The 2018 Toyota Prius, ranked a score of 8.5 out of 10 which is based on our evaluation of 31 pieces of research and data elements using various sources. Call me for a Test Drive today!

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Toyota Avalon Hybrid ranked Number 2

The 2019 Toyota Avalon Hybrid the best choice in Large Hybrid Cars, it has received a score of 8.8 out of 10 which is based on our evaluation of 15 pieces of research and data elements using various sources. Call me for a Test Drive today!

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Toyota Camry Hybrid ranked Number 1

Toyota Camry Hybrid ranked Number 1

The 2019 Toyota Camry Hybrid ranked #1 in Midsize Cars and Hybrid Cars. It has received a score of 9.0 out of 10 which is based on our evaluation of 19 pieces of research and data elements using various sources. Let’s Test Drive it before you buy!

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Enemies To Team Up In New Auto Era

Enemies To Team Up In New Auto Era

BMW, Mercedes Pivot From Enemies to Partners in New Auto Era BMW AG dodged a takeover attempt by Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG six decades ago, and ever since the two luxury-car icons have been bitter rivals — until recently. Reflecting the historic challenges gripping the auto industry, BMW and Daimler are reaching across the aisle to team up in what’s become an emerging trend in the sector. The latest rapprochement between the German manufacturers involves talks to join forces on key components including vehicle platforms, electric-car batteries and autonomous-driving technology, according to people familiar with the matter. That could mean models like the BMW 2-Series coupe and Mercedes A-Class sedan could one day share similar underpinnings, a prospect that would have been anathema to both sides just a few years ago. That’s changing as crushing development expenses for next-generation vehicles, a looming slowdown in conventional models and agile new competitors prod unprecedented cooperation. “The pressure on […]

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Recession in Global Auto Industry

Recession in Global Auto Industry

The Global Auto Industry Is Likely in First Recession Since 2009 The global auto industry is poised for its first sustained production drop since the financial crisis, according to RBC Capital Markets. Worldwide light-vehicle output fell 2.9 percent in the third quarter and probably will decline about 4 percent in the fourth quarter, analyst Joe Spak wrote in a report Wednesday. This will be the first back-to-back industrywide drop since 2009, he said. Automakers probably will produce about 94.6 million vehicles this year, down 0.6 percent from 2017, according to RBC’s estimates. The analysts are projecting output will drop again by 0.4 percent in 2019, with tempered growth resuming in the following years. The World’s Biggest Auto Markets Are Flashing Yellow and Red. Some of the world’s biggest auto markets may be reaching the end of the road for growth. After almost every major carmaker posted declining U.S. deliveries in […]

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New Toyota Supra Engine and Exhaust Sound

New Toyota Supra Engine and Exhaust Sound

Hear What the 2020 Toyota Supra Sounds Like Before It Finally Debuts in January The long wait for Toyota’s revived sports car is almost over. Toyota says the first production 2020 Supra will be auctioned off January 19, 2019, at the Barrett-Jackson auctions in Arizona to benefit the American Heart Association and the Bob Woodruff Foundation. Its VIN will be #20201 and it will feature a special paint scheme (teased below) including matte gray exterior paint, matte black wheels, red mirror caps, and a red leather interior featuring a carbon-fiber plaque denoting it as the first 2020 Supra. The new Toyota Supra sports car is almost here—and we mean it this time. Toyota has finally given an official release date for the highly anticipated return of the Supra nameplate: It will make its debut in January 2019 at the Detroit auto show. After that, production for the 2020 Toyota Supra will begin […]

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luxury Car Santa's Gift

Luxury Car Santa’s Gift

When Santa Brings a Car, They’ll Need a Bigger Tree Every December, the holiday classics return to television, mainstay tales like “Frosty the Snowman” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” And don’t forget those commercials where someone wakes up to a luxury car in the driveway on Christmas morning. Except those ads aren’t just Yuletide fantasies. Yes, there are people who give a car worth $60,000, $80,000 or more to someone special during the holidays, even rushing into a dealership on Christmas Eve. So many people give costly cars as presents that gift sales can make up 10 percent or more of December sales for luxury auto dealers, brand representatives and dealers say. Also, yes: Those gigantic car bows are real (picture below), and they’re a crucial factor in making the sale. “Gift cars are about 15 percent of our December business,” Chris Brunner, general manager of Park Place Lexus […]

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Sagent Manheim Market Report Pricing Tool

Sagent Manheim Market Report Pricing Tool

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. — Sagent Lending Technologies has announced the integration of Manheim Market Report into its suite of Business Process Outsourcing solutions for its remarketing operations. With this integration, Sagent can now leverage MMR as a key input into its proprietary pricing algorithms, enabling it to more accurately and competitively price vehicles, executives said. “While our resale values were already above industry averages, this integration to MMR allows us to further improve our performance, ensuring that lenders are getting increasingly greater resale results from their inventory,” said Stephen Bissett, Sagent’s vice president of client services. “Continual and meaningful data integrations are something that our clients have come to expect from Sagent over the years, and those integrations are something that we’re more than happy to deliver upon.” The Manheim Market Report is a pricing tool designed to utilize recent, actual sales transactions to allows users to find the […]

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More Sales With Less Marketing Expense

More Sales With Less Marketing Expense

Unlock More Sales Without More Marketing Expense For most dealerships, selling more typically means spending more on marketing. This usually involves purchasing more leads for prospects and investing in more sales training to close deals. But what if there was a better way to turn up sales, hold down expenses, and boost the bottom line, all with greater predictability? Just shifting your marketing focus slightly can significantly impact your dealership’s sales and profits. The secret lies in knowing how to manipulate the two main components of the sales formula: leads and closing ratio. In short, leads multiplied by closing ratio equals sales. So 1,000 leads at a 30% closing ratio results in 300 closed deals. Raising your closing ratio means squeezing out extra sales — and more profit — from the same number of leads. Remarkably, however, most dealers appear to be unknowingly doing the exact opposite of what’s needed […]

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Self-Driving Cars Without Brakes and Steering Wheels

Self-Driving Cars Without Brakes and Steering Wheels

The Evolution of Automated Safety Technologies. Driver assistance technologies in today’s motor vehicles are already helping to save lives and prevent injuries. A number of today’s new motor vehicles have technology that helps drivers avoid drifting into adjacent lanes or making unsafe lane changes, or that warns drivers of other vehicles behind them when they are backing up, or that brakes automatically if a vehicle ahead of them stops or slows suddenly, among other things. These and other safety technologies use a combination of hardware (sensors, cameras, and radar) and software to help vehicles identify certain safety risks so they can warn the driver to act to avoid a crash. The continuing evolution of automotive technology aims to deliver even greater safety benefits and – one day – deliver Automated Driving Systems (ADS) that can handle the whole task of driving when we don’t want to or can’t do it ourselves. U.S. […]

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The Most-Liked Brand by Auto Dealers

The Most-Liked Brand by Auto Dealers

Lexus remains dealers’ most-liked brand, NADA survey finds After spending a year out of the top spot, Lexus once again is the most-liked automaker by dealers who responded to the most recent National Automobile Dealers Association Dealer Attitude Survey. The luxury brand finished ahead of its mainstream sibling, Toyota, in the winter 2018 survey, the results of which were released Monday. Lexus had been runner-up to Toyota in the previous two surveys, conducted in winter and summer of 2017. Prior to the 2017 surveys, Lexus spent several years atop the ranking. Lexus remained the most-liked brand by dealers in the latest ranking of the National Automobile Dealers Association Dealer Attitude Survey, while Porsche overtook Audi to land in the top five. Lexus sibling Toyota retained the second spot, followed by Subaru repeating at third and Honda remaining in the No. 4 position in NADA’s summer 2018 survey. NADA released the […]

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Porsche 919 Hybrid Record-Breaking

Porsche 919 Hybrid Record-Breaking

How the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo Made Its Record-Breaking Nürburgring Lap Time Porsche gives its Le Mans program a blistering send-off. Quick at Germany’s legendary 12.9-mile, 73-turn Nürburgring Nordschleife is 7:16.04 in a 2018 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Quicker is the 2018 Lamborghini Aventador SVJ that busted up the place with a 6:44.97 run, the production-car record. But awesome? Awesome is driver Timo Bernard’s 5:19.55 in the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo. It’s the quickest lap any car has ever turned around the Nordschleife, slaughtering the 6:11.13 record that stood for a lifetime, set during qualifying in 1983 by the late Stefan Bellof in that pathetic ox cart, the Porsche 956C. Of course, Bellof was restrained by the burden of having rules to follow. Bernard, in the Evo, wasn’t. The Evo was born as a tribute to Porsche’s three-time Le Mans–winning 919 Hybrid after Porsche quit the World Endurance Championship’s LMP1 class at the end […]

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Forecasting the future of auto retailing 2019

Forecasting the future of auto retailing 2019

Toyota’s top U.S. executive says car sales nationwide have nearly bottomed out and his company will keep making them despite a dramatic shift to trucks and SUVs. Toyota’s U.S. car sales are down nearly 12 percent through October. DETROIT — Toyota’s top U.S. executive says car sales nationwide have nearly bottomed out and his company will keep making them despite a dramatic shift to trucks and SUVs. U.S. CEO Jim Lentz told the Detroit Economic Club on Wednesday that car sales fell below 30 percent of sales last month, and he thinks that’s close to the bottom. While Fiat Chrysler FCAU, -1.21 %, Ford F, +0.24%   and General Motors GM, -0.03%   are canceling many car models, Lentz doesn’t see that happening with Toyota TM, -0.56% 7203, -0.60 %. Consumers are still buying more than 4 million compact, midsize and near-luxury cars each year, he said. “There’s no way I’m going to walk away from that,” Lentz said. “We are always […]

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4 Important Car Salesman Training Tips

4 Important Car Salesman Training Tips

Learn to Listen and Listen to Learn, 4 Important Car Salesman Tips When we are different, it gets the cus­tomer’s attention. They listen more, talk more, and eventually buy more, and they are glad they did. One of the most important things I have learned about customer service is to always look at the person across from you as if they are a family member, then treat them accordingly. As F&I professionals, we sometimes lose sight of the simple fact that we are in the business of customer service. And the ultimate test of customer service is whether you are helping the customer make good buying decisions or just try­ing to sell something. They know the difference. In a competitive environment, the way we treat our customers and the ex­perience we provide during the buying process is essentially the only thing that can set us apart. F&I is typically the […]

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New-Vehicle Sales in 2019 Forecast

New-Vehicle Sales in 2019 Forecast

NADA Forecasts 16.8 Million New-Vehicle Sales in 2019 TYSONS, Va. – The National Automobile Dealers Association, a trade group representing U.S. franchised new-car dealerships, today released its annual sales forecast for new light vehicles in 2019. “We’re forecasting sales of 16.8 million new cars and light trucks in 2019,” said Patrick Manzi, NADA senior economist, at an industry briefing. “This would represent a falloff in sales of about 1.1 percent compared to 2018.” Based on a strong November, new-vehicle sales are expected to reach 17 million units in 2018, which would mark the fourth straight year of U.S. auto sales above 17 million units. “This was unexpected. We were expecting sales to fall off a little more than they have this year, but then the new tax law was passed which put more money in the pockets of consumers and they certainly purchased new vehicles at dealer showrooms,” Manzi added. “The […]

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