May 15, 2024 — Serent Capital-backed CallRevu announced this week that it has acquired TotalCX from its founders, Gary Graves and Jack Behar. The deal is Serent Capital’s fourth investment in the automotive technology sector. It acquired fintech provider and auto retailer Tricolor Auto in 2010 (sold to Ganas Auto group in 2016), Motility Software,… Continue Reading
May 8, 2024 — In late April, headlines across numerous media outlets reported that Vietnamese electric vehicle automaker VinFast has added 12 dealerships, bringing its total to 16 (five of which will open this quarter) across seven states. This is in addition to the 15 stores it owns in California. Several more franchised stores should… Continue Reading
May 6, 2024 — A flurry of transactions in April indicates that investment and acquisition activity among tech players in the automotive retail space is starting to heat up after a slow 2023 and early 2024. Anchoring the activity are three pending monster deals that, if completed, could raise multiples for other companies looking for… Continue Reading
March 12, 2024 — As J.D. Power was completing the acquisition of the European-based Autovista Group a few weeks ago, Bloomberg reported that the data analytics and consumer intelligence firm was on the market itself for approximately $8 billion. The $8 billion number might raise some eyebrows, but it is right in the neighborhood of… Continue Reading
March 12, 2024 — At the start of 2024, conventional wisdom held that Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell would initiate a series of interest rate cuts throughout the year as inflation began to slow. Some optimistic economists even predicted up to six cuts in total for this year. However, the financial narrative took an unexpected… Continue Reading
A modern-day automotive Godzilla, the likes of which we have not seen before, is how China expert Michael Dunne described China’s automotive juggernaut last week in a presentation at the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association Summit. Chinese automakers “could be the single biggest disruptor this decade” in the auto industry, Dunne said. The question is whether… Continue Reading
Here we are – January 3rd, and we still don’t have a firm grasp of how many electric vehicles qualify for the full $7,500 consumer tax credit in 2024. Reading the headlines, the number of eligible vehicles ranges from five to 20. What we do know is that several vehicles that qualified on December 31st… Continue Reading
January 3, 2024 — After opening Leith VinFast in Cary, NC the last week of December, Vietnamese automaker VinFast Auto announced deals with another four dealerships this week to sell its electric vehicles in the U.S. The first group of VinFast dealers are: VinFast began selling its VF 8 electric SUV last March via 13… Continue Reading
November 14, 2023 — According to a bulletin from the Illinois Automobile Dealers Association today, the state’s Motor Vehicle Review Board confirmed the October 24th proposed decision by Hearing Officer Mark Kuchler finding for the 26 Ford dealers who filed a protest against Ford’s Model e certification program. Today’s announcement was a formality as Ford had indicated it would… Continue Reading
November 14, 2023 — Dealership website provider DealerOn acquired competitor fusionZONE Automotive last week. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Dealership executive Brett Sutherlin and his wife founded fusionZONE in 2009. Primus Capital acquired a majority investment in 2017. Sutherlin sold a second company, LeadRevenue, to Primus in 2021. Sutherlin now is the… Continue Reading