New car incentives are high, used car values are down, and all of this could change next week. That's what seems to be the message in the upside down that is car shopping right now. As automakers and the market adjust to effects from the coronavirus pandemic, there's no clear, sustained forecast...Read More»
With American automakers pulling out of the small car and sedan markets, Asian manufacturers are beginning to reap the rewards. Sales of compact cars and family sedans have been slowing in recent years, and while Ford, GM and FCA cut their small-car lines for being less than profitable, they were...Read More»
If you’ve been counting on a zero percent interest rate to help finance your next new car, it may be time to lock in the deal before it’s too late. According to a report by Automotive News, rising benchmark rates from the Federal Reserve and a drop in customer adoption may cause...Read More»
The sheer number of cars destroyed by hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017—by some estimates totaling north of half a million vehicles—resulted a boom for both new and used car sales. That's hardly unexpected. The disaster-driven sales are already virtually non-existent, however, having...Read More»
If you're looking to buy a car, and you're hoping to save money by grabbing one from the "used" lot, you may be in for a bit of a shock. According to Alec Gutierrez, a market analyst at Kelley Blue Book, new vehicles now sell for just 11.5% more than their one-year-old equivalents -- and in some...Read More»
There's good news and bad news for folks in the automotive sector. GOOD NEWS We'll start with the good news (because it's Monday, and kicking off with the bad stuff seems cruel). According to a report in AutoNews, new-car sales for June are likely to reach heights not seen since before the Great...Read More»
Today at High Gear Media, the cost of owning a car has gone up and we spotted Mercedes-Benz's future hot hatchback. The third trailer for The Dark Knight Rises was released and details regarding the 2013 Kia K9 are revealed. All this and more in today's car news, right here on The Car Connection...Read More»
If auto sales—now at their highest level in four years—are any indication, Americans are feeling a lot more confident. GM, Ford, and Chrysler all reported strong sales in March—significantly above year-ago levels—but it was the Chrysler Group that saw sales a full 34...Read More»
Like the U.S. economy, America's auto market is slowly, steadily recovering from the aftershocks of the Great Recession. New sales data from Kelley Blue Book suggests that March 2012 will see double-digit gains over March 2011 and will, in fact, be higher than any March on record since 2007. In...Read More»
Volvo's S60 Performance Project hints at a possible PCP model, which is almost but not quite as unfortunately named as the Smart ED. [MotorAuthority] Saab says it's found a new sugar daddy, and announced three upcoming vehicles, but China's leaders have been pretty quiet on the whole topic...Read More»
As incredible as this may sound, the city of San Francisco, California, has just lost its final domestic car dealership. San Francisco Ford Lincoln Mercury closed on April 30, 2011, which means that there are now no domestic new car dealerships within the city’s 47.6 square mile area. Want to...Read More»
Sales of pickup trucks, once considered the staple vehicle of U.S. automakers, fell to volumes not seen since Ward's Auto began keeping a database in 1980. April 2011 sales of compact and full-size pickups accounted for just 11.8 percent of light vehicle sales during the month. Year to date sales...Read More»
New-car sales continued to nudge back into a more healthy range in April, as most of the major automakers reported big double-digit increases. With some automakers left to report April sales, the big stories are coming from Ford, with a 16-percent increase across its two brands; from General...Read More»
As most sentient consumers know, the car market fell off the cliff in 2009 and is only now starting to recover--slowly, haltingly, painfully. It may take several years to reach the level of 17-plus million vehicles sold in the U.S. just a few years ago. Even worse for carmakers, the U.S. is...Read More»
Donating old cars to nonprofits used to be a win-win: charities generated revenue from the re-sale or auction of vehicles, and donors got a nice write-off on their taxes. But automobile donations have slid as much as 90% from where they were just a few years ago, leaving charities to make up big...Read More»
A new study by TrueCar Inc. determined that consumers prefer to know the true price of a car paid by others along with transparency when car shopping. It seems most consumers are not aware of what the dealers actually make on each new vehicle sold. The study, conducted by Synovate, polled 1,000...Read More»
If you're old enough to read this, you're old enough to remember 2009's slumping auto market. Economists and auto analysts predicted that the U.S. would see a rebound in 2010, but now that the year has drawn to a close, inquiring minds want to know: were the pundits right? Let's take a look. The...Read More»
It's just like complaining about taxes, which are always too high. New cars just cost too damn much, right? Well, perhaps. But in between bouts of griping, U.S. car buyers should pause for a moment and reflect on how much better off they are than their counterparts in some other markets, including...Read More»
It seems the days of buying a brand-new car every two to three years are fading into history, as most buyers are keeping their new cars for much longer. Among families who buy their cars new, six, eight, even ten years isn't uncommon. According to Polk, car ownership continues to get longer; as of...Read More»
