Vincentric Now Offers Cost-of-Ownership for Canadian Vehicles

Vincentric, a provider of vehicle cost-of-ownership data based in the U.S., has now brought its services to Canada.

The company announced that it has launched a Canadian database that will provide the country’s auto industry — including dealers and automakers — with ownership data for close to 5,000 model-year 2011 and 2012 vehicles.

“With the continued globalization of the automotive industry, we felt it was critical to expand the geographic scope of our cost-of-ownership measurements,” explained Vincentric president David Wurster.

“We are excited to be the first to introduce such a comprehensive and detailed automotive cost-of-ownership database for Canada, and look forward to helping current and future clients use this information effectively,” he added.

Total cost of ownership is determined using four different lifecycle terms and five yearly driving mileages, which range from 15,000 kilometers to 50,000 kilometers. Vincentric offers numbers for both the consumer and fleet side of the auto market.

Officials noted that there are eight cost elements measured for each vehicle. These include: depreciation, financing, fees and taxes, fuel, insurance, maintenance, opportunity cost and repairs.

Vincentric does a monthly update to account for current vehicle prices, residual values and fuel prices, as well as other economic and market conditions that could impact cost of ownership.

To license the Vincentric data, users have a few options. They can employ Vincentric’s Web Service technology, on-going monthly data deliveries, or tap into VinBase Online, Vincentric’s online cost of ownership tool for Canada.

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CarWoo Hires Former AOL Autos & Dealix Execs; New Funding Completed

While also revealing that it has closed on a $6 million round of funding, CarWoo announced that it has brought on a former AOL Autos executive as chief operating officer and hired a former Dealix exec as vice president of marketing.

Tapped for the COO role is Rudi Thun, who comes over from his post as general manager of AOL Autos. During his nine years there, he led the strategy, product, marketing, editorial, design and development for that website, as well as Autoblog.com.

Meanwhile, hired for the marketing post is Phil Yeh, whose most recent role was serving in the same position at SpeedDate.com. Yeh’s experience includes four years at Dealix. He was the director of marketing and headed up consumer marketing for auto Web portals.

"CarWoo is the most innovative online automotive company I have seen in a long time,” Thun stated. “When the opportunity came to join the CarWoo team, I was eager to jump on board. I truly believe that CarWoo will permanently change the way cars are bought and sold, and I really look forward to being a part of the change.”

CarWoo chief executive officer Tommy McClung added: “Having Rudi and Phil join our team, closing this round of funding and demonstrating the strong progress to date are all great endorsements of what we are doing.

“We have gained significant traction throughout the industry. CarWoo! is supporting over 11,000 dealers, and with our new initiatives in 2012, we are poised to become the foremost online destination for car buyers and sellers alike,” he continued.

Sharing more about the funding, it pushes CarWoo’s total funds to more than $12 million. These additional funds were from a host of investors, including InterWest Partners, Comcast Ventures, Blumberg Capital and Raymond Tonsing, among others.

In light of its dealer network climbing to more than 11,000 stores, CarWoo plans to use the funds to “continue that level of growth with their consumers,” as well as rolling new products, continue developing its team and building partnerships."

“We are excited to be part of such a fast growing company. The trajectory that CarWoo is on with regard to engaging car shoppers, dealers, and automotive manufacturers has accelerated over the last year. CarWoo has positioned themselves as the win-win solution in the industry,” stated Michael Yang, managing director at Comcast Ventures.

View the original article here

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Edmunds: Automakers Likely to Achieve 13.6M New Sales Next Year

After a solid year in 2011, it appears the auto market will make even more progress next year.

Even with what could be 12.8 million new-vehicle sales this year, there is still a hearty stock of pent-up demand remaining, as well as a stronger selection and improved credit conditions, leading Edmunds.com to project that 2012 sales will reach an estimated 13.6 million.

“With annual sales still far below the level achieved prior to the last recession, there’s plenty of indication that pent-up demand is far from spent,” stated Lacey Plache, chief economist at Edmunds. “Improved selection and loosening credit conditions are helping to entice the millions of buyers that are waiting to jump back into the market.”

Edmunds then offered a timeline of how 2012 may shake out as far as new-car sales.

The firm expects that the first few months of the year — specifically January through April — will likely be the remnants of the ongoing “mini-bubble” in the car market. This bubble, of course, represents shoppers who put off purchases last summer in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake.

The peak of these months is expected to be March.

Then, seasonality will come into play, Edmunds predicts. This will likely lead to a more volatile market than what occurred from May through November of this year, when there was “flat line monthly sales.” For instance, Edmunds projects that graduation-related purchases should boost May sales, with summer sell-downs of current model-year rides lifting August sales.

November and December of 2012 are likely to be pushed by year-end sales events, which have led to robust sales for these two months in recent years.

Of course, there certainly will be challenges facing the market in 2012. Plache points to the sluggish economy recovery as being a potential hindrance to car sales, as well as uncertainty in the months around the U.S. Presidential election.

Other negative factors that could come into play are a possible recession in Europe and a slowing Chinese economy, plus any other unforeseen negative events.

View the original article here

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CNW Looks at Independent Dealers and Where They Are Getting Inventory

With used supply drying up amid the stiff competition for limited resources, dealers often have to pull out all the stops to find enough used cars for their lots.

For instance, small independent dealerships, selling an average of zero–100 units annually, find close to 27 percent of their inventory through purchases off the street, according to CNW Research.

“Where do independent dealers get their inventory now that franchised dealers have pushed hard into auctions and other sources of cars and trucks? Depending on the size of the used dealership, the answer is ‘wherever possible,’” said CNW president Art Spinella.

CNW broke independents down by six size categories — zero–100 annual sales, 100–250 annual sales, 251–400 annual sales, 401–700 annual sales, 701-100 annual sales and 1001-plus annual sales — and then shared the most popular used sourcing techniques for each group.

For the zero–100 group, the No. 1 inventory source was the auction (32.56 percent) followed by sourcing off the street (26.72 percent). Trade-ins were third at 21.83 percent.

Independents selling 100 to 250 vehicles per year most often turn to auctions to find inventory at 46.31 percent of the time. Trade-ins (25.89 percent) were second for this group, followed by off-the-street sourcing (13.64 percent).

For the 251-400 sales per year crowd, auctions were most popular (53.96 percent), with trade-ins (21.46 percent) second and off-the-street sourcing in third (10.46 percent).

Of what Spinella called the “typical dealership"  — independents selling 401–700 units each year — the auction was overwhelmingly the top choice at 54.83 percent. The next closest option was the trade-in route (17.08 percent) with every other avenue in the single digits.

Dealers with 700–1,000 and 1,001-plus yearly sales saw similar results, with auctions commanding the lion’s share for both groups and trade-ins coming in second.

The following chart from CNW illustrates the inventory sourcing techniques of each group in more detail:

Delving more into used-car inventory throughout the market (including franchised dealers, independents and private-party sales), Spinella emphasized that it’s particularly hard to find late-model units.

“Lack of late-model inventory continues to haunt the used-car market,” he said. “Sales of vehicles one to three years old were off from 2 to 5 percent on a share of sales basis (in November).”

Interestingly enough, although younger inventory was in short supply, franchised dealers saw a 4.75-percent year-over-year hike in the value of the used vehicles they sold last month ($10.21 billion). Independents, however, saw the value of their sales ($5.85 billion) fall 5.87 percent.

The value in casual sales ($7.77 billion) jumped 11.18 percent.

The industry overall saw value of used sales jump 3.83 percent to $23.83 billion in what Spinella called a “good month.”

Annual Used Sales

Looking at full-year projections for used sales as 2011 is about to wrap up, Spinella is forecasting that the market is likely to top 38.7 million used sales for the year, which would be the strongest total in four years.

The last time the used market was this strong was 2007, when 41.4 million units were sold.

“Franchised dealers are set to have a banner year with sales up 8.1 percent versus 2010,” Spinella commented. “Independents should finish the year on a 5.8-percent positive note, while private party sales will pretty much match 2010 with only a 0.3-percent increase.”

Pricing

Moving along, Spinella also took a look at pricing. He found that the average transaction price for franchised dealers this December is $10,547, up 0.78 percent year-over-year and down 1 percent from November. For independents, the average transaction price this month is $9,384, up 8.7 percent year-over-year and down 0.71 percent month-over-month.

“Dealers are getting a bit less for their vehicles than they did in November of this year, but are still ahead of the curve versus 2010,” Spinella noted.

View the original article here

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West Michigan Auto Auction & GE Fleet Team up to Aid United Way

Jana Rauschenberg from West Michigan Auto Auction, Jay Watson from GE Fleet Remarketing (left), and Todd Sharp from Graff Chevrolet.

In the spirit of giving, West Michigan Auto Auction and remarketing partner GE Fleet have teamed up contribute to community betterment nonprofit United Way.

For the third year in a row, the two companies have partnered for a third quarter, three-month long promotion that uses weekly raffles help generate United Way cash donations from customers and employees.

“What gets our customers excited is the fact that the funds collected are cycled back to the Grand Rapids community through the local United Way organization,” company officials explained.

“It is a win-win for everyone involved!” they added.
In an interview with Auto Remarketing,  Jana Rauschenberg, fleet/lease sales manager at West Michigan Auto Auction, highlighted a few of the raffles and efforts the auction took to raise funds this time around.

“We did iPads, all kinds of stuff … we would also do great big buckets of snacks and pretzels and raffle those off, and there would be 30 of them in the lanes, and dealers would get a ticket at the beginning of a sale. And after they bought a car, they would get a snack basket to bring back to their store,” Rauschenberg noted.

“And about every week, there would a prize of $100 or $150 for customers and employees to get in the running for. It would be a dollar a ticket,” she added.

Furthermore, West Michigan Auto Auction also bestowed upon the top third-quarter buyer of GE consignments a GE appliance to be given to a charity or family in need.

And this top buyer was just selected last week — Todd Sharp, of Graff Chevrolet from Bay City, Mich. 

This time around, Sharp was awarded a new GE stove, which he gave to a family that had been lacking a stovetop to cook meals on for over six months.

And Graff Chevrolet does its own share of charity work as well. The store is involved with charitable organization Just For Kids, benefiting families in need out of the Bay, Saginaw, and Midland Counties.

And West Michigan Auto Auction isn’t the only auction that partners with GE to contribute to United Way.

GE Fleet does a promotion for the nonprofit every year, and all of its auctions participate in their own way, Rauschenberg noted.

And as for how much West Michigan Auto Auction raised this year, Rauschenberg explained that the low volumes running through the lanes directly affected the promotion’s outcome.

“We raised close to $2,000, but this was our lowest year in dollars raised because we also match anything that the dealers contribute. In other words, if a dealer puts five dollars in for every car they buy, we would match it,” she told Auto Remarketing.

“And that is normally where we generate the most money. But because of low volume in the lanes, it was a slower year. A good year, but a slower year,” she concluded.

View the original article here

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Audi Magazine Targets Mobile Market, Now Available on the iPad

Revealed Monday, Audi Magazine is now available on the iPad.

In an effort to better reach the mobile market, the company shared that the magazine that highlights the automaker and its products can now be viewed through the app “Audi USA Magazine” for free on iTunes.

"The iPad app will combine the same great story telling and reporting that our readers are used to with new, interactive elements and compelling content," said Scott Keogh, chief marketing officer for Audi of America.

"By bringing Audi Magazine to the iPad, we're able to reach our progressive, plugged in and tech-savvy audience in new ways,” he added.

The company also shared that over the years, Audi Magazine, with its "drive," "move" and "inspire" sections centered around automobile, sports and lifestyle has won numerous awards.

Its accolades include the 2011 Gold Addy Award,Gold Ink Award in 2010 and Sappi Printer of the Year Award in 2010 and 2009.

"Audi magazine, characterized by innovative design and informative articles, presents the Audi brand premium-world with exciting contents around automobile, sports and lifestyle," company officials said of the publication.

The magazine can also be viewed online in digital format.

To download the app, see here.

View the original article here

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Pike Research: High Demand Spurs Hybrid and Plug-In EV Market Growth

With OEMs pumping out a number of new electric vehicles to consumers, such as the Chevrolet Volt and the new Mitsubishi i, and fossil fuel costs rising, the hybrid and plug-in EV market is moving to take a significant piece of the automotive sales pie, according to a report from Pike Research.

By 2017, the company predicts that these vehicles could make up more than 5 percent of total U.S. vehicle sales, it cited in its most recent “Electric Vehicle Market Forecasts” report.

Pike Research referenced the combination of consumer purchase incentives, rising fossil fuel costs, and “exciting new vehicle models” as reasons behind a strong early EV market.

In fact, just in recent weeks, both the Chevrolet Spark EV and the Honda Fit EV were officially launched, further illustrating that OEMs are catching on to what Pike Research calls high consumer demand in the early EV market.

Though the market is growing at a fast pace, Dave Hurst Pike Research senior analyst, says it isn’t climbing as fast as initially expected, noting, “The PEV (plug-in EV)  market is anticipated to miss many of the targets set by governments because vehicle programs have not been launching as rapidly as expected even a year ago.

“Those targets aside, though, the EV market will grow at a rapid clip in the next six years — at a rate of nearly 20 percent a year, compared to fewer than 4 percent for the worldwide market for vehicles of all kinds,” he continued.

What’s Selling in the U.S.?

According to the report, the U.S. plug-in vehicle market is being decisively led by two “key models”  — the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf.

That said, Pike Research doesn’t expect this to last for long, noting another Big 3 automaker is set to take over.

“Ford’s model diversification and recharging equipment strategy will shake up the market,” the company explained.

It predicts that Ford will take the market lead by 2017, with 23.6 percent of the plug-in vehicle market share.

Following the Blue Oval, Toyota — with a plug-in version of its popular Prius — and General Motors may find themselves fighting for second place with 21.1 percent and 20.7 percent market share, respectively, the report stated.

Also of interest, lesser-known startup Tesla may me making moves, as well.

Though high price points are expected to limit the company’s market share, Pike Research still predicts it will grow to hold 4.6 percent of the plug-in EV market share by 2017, compared to 2.2 percent this year.

North America Shows “High Demand" for Hybrid Units

Breaking it down by numbers, according to the report, hybrid EVs and plug-in EVs combined will represent 3.1 percent of worldwide auto sales by 2017.

That said, due to higher penetration rates in the U.S, the very same vehicles will account for 5.1 percent of total U.S. vehicle sales in 2017, the report stated.

So which regions are expected to experience the most rapid growth in the number of plug-in electric models?

According to the report, the Asia Pacific region is expected to see the most expansion, followed by Europe and North America.

“There will be 26 models of PEVs (plug-in EVs)  available in Asia Pacific by the end of 2011, compared to 23 models in Europe and ten in North America," company officials noted.

View the original article here

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