Dealers

A list of GM's woes would undoubtedly include the European market, but right now GM is also struggling in the U.S. Through the first six months of 2012, the company's U.S. market share is down almost two percentage points to just 18.1%. The GM brand suffering the greatest decline, in both market share (-25%) and sales (-18%), is Cadillac. 

Yet, even though this is not good news for GM's flagship brand, it is not a surprise. During GM's restructuring in 2009, product programs were delayed or even...

First, it happened with Brazil. President Dilma Rousseff's government announced that it would cancel the ACE-55, signed between the Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) and Mexico in 2002 to allow the free trade of light vehicles between the five countries. In 2011, the trade deficit between Brazil and Mexico was US$1.5 billion and the Brazilian government worried it would not stop increasing. Mexico did not want to lose the benefits of exporting to Brazil, the fourth main market...

Polk has just finished updating its light vehicle sales and production forecast, which is made four times a year. For the South American market, the numbers are not as positive as one would expect for emerging countries. We've reduced the sales forecast by 2% for 2012, 3% for next year and 5% for 2014. Regarding production, the forecast was reduced by 3.4%, 2.9% and 1.6% for those same years.

The main cause of these reductions is the Brazilian market, which represented 67.3% of the total South...

Hidden behind the headlines about May's modest new vehicle sales results is the fact that Toyota Motor Sales had an extraordinary month. With replenished inventories of core models, both the Toyota and Lexus makes had "break-out" months. Together the two brands captured 15.2% of the U.S. market in May, up five percentage points from May 2011. To put that in perspective, Toyota's gain in May was equal to the entire U.S. volume of the Hyundai make in the same month.

Toyota dealers delivered 181,510...

Non-luxury fullsize cars, once the mainstay of the U.S. car business, are losing their luster in the eyes of the U.S. consumer. This category’s share of the U.S. market has dropped by more than half over the last five years, and through the first three months of this year, it accounts for just 2.3% of all new vehicles sold. The number of fullsize models in dealer showrooms has declined dramatically as well, falling from 15 just five years ago to only seven now. The only large non-luxury cars now...

April auto sales continued at the strong pace set in the first quarter with a Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (SAAR) of 14.4 million light vehicles. This is the fourth month in a row that SAAR passed 14 million and it represents a real milestone in the auto sales recovery. Noting year-to-date sales strength, Edmunds.com, recently raised its 2012 forecasts. It appears that auto sales are accelerating at long last, but that does not mean that no speed bumps lie ahead. Between high gas prices, a...

GM's consolidation to four brands and Ford's discontinuation of Mercury have helped to create the current environment in which there is an exceptionally high number of "orphan owners" on the road. "Orphan owners" are driving cars or light trucks from a make that no longer markets new vehicles in the U.S. As of last October, the latest date for which Polk has Vehicles In Operation (VIO) data, there were 18,529,769 million "orphan" cars and light trucks on the road from 16 makes. Five metro areas...

If the new 2013 Lincoln MKZ does as well after its launch as it has beforehand, it will be a huge success. At both the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January (concept vehicle) and the New York International Auto Show just a couple of weeks ago (final production version), the media raved about the car. Two compliments were mentioned repeatedly: the car's styling is modern, clean and elegant, and there is virtually no similarity visually between the MKZ and its sister...

This month, the Jacob Javits Center in New York is the focal point for the automotive industry as it hosts the 2012 New York International Auto Show from April 4 to April 15. Each year, automotive executives, dealers, suppliers, media, automotive consumers and simply the curious descend upon New York to check out the new cars, trucks, crossovers, hybrids, electrics and futuristic concepts.

On April 4, part of the Jacob Javits Center served as a launching pad for the first Annual NAMAD (North...

Common sense suggests that gaining a first time buyer provides the opportunity to create a customer for life. Yet analyzing repurchase behavior among the younger demographic set suggests that manufacturers and dealers alike are not doing enough to retain younger buyers when they return to market. Admittedly, younger buyers represent a small percentage of total repurchase activity, less than 1% for buyers 18-24 and 7.5% for buyers 25-34, but it’s not necessarily about the value these customers...

Engaging diverse markets has become an increasingly important initiative for the automotive industry. The contributions of these consumers have been widely documented by automotive analysts including my colleague, Marc Bland. In an effort to further quantify the value of diversity marketing, I thought I’d look back at 2011 from an ethnic loyalty perspective.

In 2011, 1,033,097 African-American, Asian and Hispanic new vehicle owners returned to market to buy a new vehicle. Of these owners, 47%...

Last month, I had the opportunity to speak at the Digital Market Strategies Conference, an event hosted by First Class Educators. If you are focused on the retail side of the automotive industry and haven’t attended an event hosted by First Class Educators, I highly recommend it. The staff, venue and speakers are top notch.

I co-presented during the afternoon keynote address with Matt Murray from Dealer.com. Our session focused on the impact of social media on initial vehicle purchase and...

Polk and HookLogic have joined their respective areas of expertise to create an innovative and effective way of targeting incentives to the best automotive prospects.

HookLogic has developed a turn-key solution for offering customers a printable coupon that can be redeemed at the dealership for a $25 incentive card. Polk and HookLogic worked together on a test program with a major dealer group and saw that the program doubled the rate of leads clicking and opening the email and printing the...

The FIAT 500 has come in for some criticism because dealers delivered only 17,945* units in 2011, far short of the annual goal of 50,000 announced earlier in the year by Chrysler and FIAT Chairman Sergio Marchionne. The 500’s shortfall was exceptionally visible because it occurred amidst successful performances in 2011 by all other Chrysler Corporation makes. And, if one looks at the 500 in the context of the non-luxury subcompact car segment in which it competes, its results – 4% of the segment...

Americans continue to hold on to their cars and trucks longer than ever before. Nearly six years (71 months) among new vehicle owners is the latest trend. New Polk consumer research shows the opportunities for professionals managing OEM aftersales and the automotive aftermarket operations should have a lot to look forward to given this trend. It's about parts and service business, folks.

Two years ago, I posted a blog on the same behavior and when we started to see a real incline in the average...

When was the last time you participated in an event that really made you think about a significant achievement? Not just obtaining a goal, more like transforming your organization's position in its playing field. Not just moving toward greater market share, but keeping your customers loyal once you've introduced them to your brand. Significant achievement is out there. I recognized it as I was fortunate enough to spend a few days at the Subaru of America National Training Conference in Atlanta,...

Have you heard of the next new social media phenomenon, Pinterest? No? Well that's why I'm here, to keep you updated on the latest, greatest and potentially profitable ideas in social media. Pinterest is a two-year old social media site, still in beta, that allows users to find things (pictures, videos, infographics, etc) on the web that they like and pin them to their own page, which contains boards that they can name. Usually these boards center around hobbies or aspirational items. Pinterest...

Dependence on foreign oil, increasing fuel costs and concerns for the environment have forced OEMs to develop solutions to improve the efficiency of new vehicles and their response could be seen at the North American International Auto Show which was held in Detroit from January 9 - January 22, 2012.

For those consumers wishing to stick with gasoline engines, Mazda's Skyactiv technology is something worth considering. Skyactiv is the combination of an efficient high compression gasoline engine, a...