Company receives UVEF Top 25 Under Five Award for second year in a row; wins Silver Stevie® Award for Innovative Company of the Year in 2012 American Business Awards SM

Salt Lake City, Utah – July 18, 2012 –  DrivingSales today announced that it has received two prestigious business awards: a 2012 “Top 25 Under Five” award from the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF), for the second year in a row – which spotlights outstanding entrepreneurs and start-up companies in Utah – and a Silver Stevie® Award in the ‘Most Innovative Company of the Year’ category in the 10th Annual American Business Awards.

“We are humbled to be recognized by the UVEF for being one of the top-performing companies in Utah, and by the American Business Awards for being an Innovative Company of the Year,” said DrivingSales CEO and founder Jared Hamilton. “Our mission is all about helping auto dealers use innovation to help drive outstanding performance in their businesses, and to be recognized for practicing what we preach makes us proud.  We thank the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum and the American Business Awards for these honors.” 

Founded in 2008 and dedicated to the dealer community, DrivingSales is a business intelligence and data company that delivers unbiased*, profit-building information to make automobile dealers more successful. Previously, DrivingSales won a 2011 “Top 25 Under Five” award from the UVEF, was named a 2011 Fast 50 “Emerging Eight” company by Utah Business magazine, and received an Interactive Media Award (IMA) for Outstanding Achievement in the ‘Automobile’ website category. Additionally, DrivingSales was named one of ten social media gambits for 2009 by Automotive News and one of the Top 10 Companies to Watch in 2010 by Auto Success Magazine.

DrivingSales and the other Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum award winners collectively created 600 jobs and $135 million in revenue. Award ceremonies were held on July 12th at Novell in Provo, marking UVEF’s thirteenth Top 25 Under Five competition. UVEF has highlighted more than 300 companies through this competition.

The American Business Awards are the nation’s premier business awards program. All organizations operating in the U.S.A. are eligible to submit nominations – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word for “crowned,” the trophies were presented to honorees during a gala banquet on Monday, June 18 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. 

About DrivingSales
Founded in 2008 and dedicated to the dealer community, DrivingSales is a business intelligence and data company that delivers unbiased*, profit-building information to make automobile dealers more successful through three distinct channels: DrivingSales Data, DrivingSales University and DrivingSales Media. DrivingSales Data houses the largest database of cross-vendor, dealership performance data in the North American auto industry and provides dealerships with the most statistically accurate performance benchmarks and metrics for their marketing and technology investments. DrivingSales University is a fully interactive online university that offers advanced profit-building strategies to automotive professionals through hundreds of classes taught by world-leading experts. DrivingSales Media connects dealers to peers and information through its global media assets, including DrivingSales.com, the world’s largest automotive social network; The Dealership Innovation Guide, an industry leading quarterly publication; DrivingSales Executive Summit, the top automotive conference for progressive dealers, and DrivingSalesTV, Web TV covering everything car-dealer related. Approximately one in every three dealerships in the United States has a registered member in the DrivingSales community.

*Vendor Neutral Policy: Dedicated solely to making dealerships more profitable, while also providing benefit to automakers and the industry as a whole, DrivingSales adheres to a strict vendor neutral policy through each of its channels. This means the company only provides unbiased information, not ‘pay-to-play’ follow up services -- and never accepts payment in exchange for media coverage or lets potential advertisers dictate messaging or create bias in any of its channels.

DrivingSales.com Media Relations:
Melanie Webber (melanie@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 424.603.4340
Angela Jacobson (angela@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 714.454.8776

Car website helps shoppers, catapults past competition.

BOOKITOUT.com offers car shoppers an enormous selection – over one million vehicles from more than 5,300 dealerships. BOOKITOUT.com launched in September 2011 under the leadership of Jonathan Hedy, a 23-year old entrepreneur; it started from nothing, and is currently the fastest growing automotive marketplace. Hedy is no stranger to the car business; his family owns the largest dealer management software company in the industry. “I attribute BOOKITOUT’s profound success to our business model and user experience. Dealerships and private sellers utilize our service, which provides car shoppers one of the largest and friendliest marketplaces available anywhere online,” says Hedy. In fact, no other automotive marketplace has experienced such rapid growth prior to turning ten months old.

BOOKITOUT.com allows dealerships to list an unlimited number of vehicles for sale, for $295 per month (or $300 per sale with no monthly fees). By charging dealers to list inventory, BOOKITOUT does not charge private sellers to list vehicles for sale and does not display obtrusive advertisements on the site. This approach, which focuses entirely on design and affordability, is responsible for BOOKITOUT’s rapid growth and top ratings by independent consumer reviews. For instance, BOOKITOUT’s search resembles one of the Internet’s most popular websites, Pinterest, and is preferred by 9 out of 10 users when compared to other automotive marketplaces. “We set out to make car shopping fun again,” states Hedy.

“BOOKITOUT.com brings car shopping into the 21st Century, and we promise to continually evolve with the needs of shoppers.” BOOKITOUT’s elastic cloud platform ensures continued growth will not result in bottlenecks or increased fees.

When asked about the success of dealerships, Hedy cited several examples, including a small, used-car startup that sold three cars during its opening month on BOOKITOUT.com. Similar success stories, coupled with huge savings in online advertising, have made BOOKITOUT the buzz amongst dealerships. According to dealer analysis, BOOKITOUT’s conversion rate is higher than any other listing service. “We appreciate the dealerships’ trust in our program, and are happy to increase their bottom line,” proclaims Hedy. Successful sales do not end with dealers. Unlike other sites that charge private sellers to list a vehicle for sale, BOOKITOUT.com not only allows individuals to list vehicles free of charge, but also guarantees a cash offer within 24 hours. This ensures private sellers can sell their car quickly and easily. Low prices and superior design have driven buyers and sellers to BOOKITOUT.com in record time; aggressive SEO and advertising campaigns promise to continue this trend.

About BookItOut, Inc: 
Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, BOOKITOUT is a privately held company with over 10,000 customers (dealerships, finance companies, insurance carriers) across North America. BOOKITOUT began by providing vehicle valuations and market analytics to dealerships and finance companies. The newest addition to its Dealer Services, BOOKITOUT’s Automotive Marketplace promotes its dealerships’ inventory to consumers, while also helping consumers sell their vehicle, attain financing, and more. BOOKITOUT.com is one of the leading automotive services in North America with over one million vehicles listed for sale and the industry’s only true-cost vehicle value (offered exclusively to its Dealer Services subscribers). Launched by a 23-year old entrepreneur, BOOKITOUT.com received an award for Boldest Company of 2011, currently serves the largest Automotive Groups in North America, and leverages cloud computing as it redefines car shopping and the auto industry.

BOOKITOUT and Car Shopping Simplified are service marks of BookItOut, Inc. Any and all other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

No marketing plan can be considered complete (or even competitve) without a strong Search Engine Marketing (SEM) plan. Yet many dealerships are missing the mark. Is yours one of them?

This is your opportunity to get the inside scoop on best practices and learn how to align your overall advertising budgets, where to invest your SEM spend and what new technologies are available that finally allow a dealer to truly judge the effectiveness and ROI of SEM. Topics will include...

* SEM through the eyes of the search engines
* Why SEM is critical to a dealer's success
* SEM vs Traditional Advertising
* Determining a proper SEM budget
* Why Mobile PPC is so important
* How important are display & remarketing?
* YES, YOU CAN TRACK more than clicks & impressions with SEM!
* New technologies & how does a dealer can stay ahead
* Keyword level phone call conversion tracking

This 1-hour presentationwill be invaluable for both the SEM newbie and the die-hard SEM fanatic. Don't miss this opportunity to learn SEM Best Practices from a Google Adwords Premier SMB Partner!

PRESENTER: Jason Wiley is the National Sales Director for Haystak Digital Marketing. Haystak is one of only 16 Google Adwords Premier SMB Partners in all of North America and is the only SMB Partner that started out as a Full Service Automotive Advertising Agency. Jason has been around the car business since a child and has worked full time in the Auto Industry since 1999. He's been the Director of Sales & Marketing at numerous successful automotive vendor companies and also co-owned his own Full Service Automotive Advertising Agency. Combining advanced technology with old fashioned customer service, Jason is part of an amazing team who have helped advance Haystak to be the leading provider of digital marketing services to the automotive industry. Haystak's products and services are used by numerous publicly traded retailers and Automotive News Top 125 Dealership Groups. Jason is an avid traveler and can be reached at Jason@Haystak.

Las Vegas, NV, July 16, 2012 –MPi (www.mpiworldclass.com), a leading provider of revenue and retention solutions for automotive dealership service departments, today announced that following a highly successful pilot at several auto dealers nationwide, it has launched a revolutionary new tool, EDGE WorldClass™ PORTAL. The online platform takes MPi’s successful Know Your Vehicle Report, the ultimate service-selling tool and customer takeaway, and automatically generates personalized web pages, featuring a fully interactive 3-D experience that includes detailed service recommendations, photos, videos and diagnostics.  PORTAL increases the dealership’s ability to sell service and retain customers by providing all inspection information in one quickly accessible web page that is easy for customers to navigate.

The Know Your Vehicle Report has proven to be an extremely powerful tool for promoting customer retention; dealerships using it enjoy over 30 percent of upsells from return visits within 30 days of initial service. MPi predicts that the enhanced customer experience by delivering it online in PORTAL will drive results even higher. PORTAL provides a central location for the dealership’s customer to view, drill-down and access all multi-point inspection information with the tap of a finger or the click of a mouse.

Along with PORTAL MPi has also released another WorldClass Solution, PHOTOS. PHOTOS enable the service department to provide customers with actual photos of their needed repairs to authenticate recommendations and build trust that generates additional sales.

Using PHOTOS, both service advisors and technicians can capture pictures quickly with an Apple mobile device or Android. The images are stored in a gallery in PORTAL that becomes a permanent part of the repair order history and can be annotated with any information that could be relevant to the customer experience. These photos can be used to help sell needed service, either on the service advisor's PC, or in a separate email to support the ActionPlan.

“We’ve been using EDGE WorldClass for a little over a year and it’s been a fabulous retention tool for us, now with PORTAL we can do even more. Just recently Toyota conducted a retention study and out of 76 dealers in the LA region we were honored to be #1,” said Kevin Young, Service Director with Bob Smith Toyota. “We always look to technology to improve the customer experience and our customers love how PORTAL enables them to actually look at the condition of their vehicle without having to drive back to the dealership and inspect it.  We’re in a bedroom community sandwiched between mountains, so we cannot rely just on our local area for business. Word of mouth is our strongest form of advertising and now with PORTAL we have customers that drive hundreds of miles – past multiple dealerships -- to do business with us.

PORTAL was developed to give the customer a more personal experience with their service department, along with easy access to their vehicle maintenance history and repair recommendations. It provides a fully interactive and data-rich experience that engages the dealership customer more effectively with the service department. Accessible 24/7, it enables the customer to access their inspection results and vehicle history in a cutting-edge digital technology as follows:

·         Provides one central location for all inspection items to be graphically displayed

·         Contains a unique URL for each customer, ensuring all data is archived and can be viewed at the same web location time after time

·         Embeds the link for the customer in an email or text message that can be viewed on a device right at the dealership, or on the customer’s smart phone

·         Organizes inspection reports for the customer as well as photos, links to videos and previously declined repairs in one convenient place, and can provide more in-depth information through drill-down clicks or taps

·         Provides customers with service history for all their vehicles serviced at the dealership by accessing a simple drop-down box on the PORTAL page

According to Rich Holland, MPi President, PORTAL empowers dealers and their customers with knowledge. “Whether the service advisor sits down with the customer at the computer and goes through PORTAL, or the customer accesses it at home, it takes the pressure off any sales pitch for the service advisor and helps the vehicle owner make up their own mind.  The customer can review pictures and videos in their own time, perhaps show it to their spouse and take the time to make an informed decision.”

About MPi:

For more information visit: http://www.MPiWorldClass.com

Sold-Out Attendance Demands Continued Growth of Summit

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif., July 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- DealerSocket, a leading auto dealer CRM (customer relationship management) provider based in San Clemente, CA, held the 2012 DealerSocket User Summit, June 19 – 21, at the Marriott Laguna Cliffs in scenic Dana Point, CA. The event enjoyed a sold-out attendance, and participants have applauded it as a highly valuable, successful event.

DealerSocket holds the annual event as a service to its product users. A DealerSocket user and Summit participant stated, "It was great to get a better understanding of the DealerSocket system to increase overall productivity in the dealership."

"The User Summit is a way for us to provide our valuable customers with ammo to return to their dealership floors stocked and loaded with new information and skills to blow away their customers," said Brad Perry, DealerSocket co-founder and CTO. "We are excited by the overwhelmingly positive feedback from attendees and are looking forward to an even bigger and better event next year."

Attendees found the event to be well worth the investment. "My head is still spinning from all the information I obtained," said one attendee. John Velicsanyi, Director of CRM of Keyes European, stated, "DealerSocket's (2012) User Summit was incredibly valuable. It will very likely go down as the industry's best conference of the year."

The three-day summit was stacked with mid and high-level information sessions that covered a range of pertinent topics, from employee accountability tactics to advanced ROI (return on investment) tracking to social media and other online marketing strategies. When asked which session was his favorite, Greg Wells, Senior Partner at Kain Automotive, stated: "Jared Hamilton's keynote address on Convergent Evolution was very on point when encouraging dealerships to discover their unique value proposition."

DealerSocket's annual User Summit also provides an opportunity for auto dealers to network with other industry professionals who use DealerSocket's tools. "It was nice to network with other people that use it (DealerSocket) and utilize the ideas they passed along," said one professional.

The sold-out attendance demands DealerSocket accommodate a larger group for 2013. DealerSocket looks forward to stepping up to the challenge!

For more information on DealerSocket, visit DealerSocket.com, or call (877) 888-8048.

For more on the User Summit, visit DealerSocket.com/UserSummit.

ABOUT DEALERSOCKET

For ten years, DealerSocket has provided the automotive industry with the most comprehensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and training solutions available, allowing auto dealers to save time and money, and improve sales staff effectiveness, with one consolidated product. With the power to manage sales, service, CSI, marketing and training, DealerSocket is the complete source for all customer-facing automotive dealership departments. DealerSocket's core CRM is enhanced by a powerful, customer-facing Mobile Portal application to keep in contact with customers and prospects via all mobile devices, a data-mining tool called RevenueRadar, an online process-training university called CarMind and an efficient CallCenter solution. These products can be used alone or in conjunction with the core CRM solution to provide an end-to-end marketing and revenue-producing engine. More than 90,000 users at over 2,800 auto dealerships throughout the U.S. and Canada now leverage DealerSocket's automotive CRM solution to optimize and manage marketing activities, sales processes, customer satisfaction and retention and service-department operations.  For more information, call 877-888-8048, email sales@DealerSocket.com, visit DealerSocket.com, like us at Facebook.com/DealerSocketCRM, or follow us on Twitter at @DealerSocketCRM.

SOURCE DealerSocket

Alliance revolutionizes vehicle stock photos, blending izmostock’s high quality car images with Maground’s amazing worldwide destination stock photography 

San Francisco, CA – July 10, 2012 – izmostock (www.izmostock.com) a division of izmocars, the world-leader in automotive photography and interactive media, today announced a partnership with Maground (www.maground.com), the leading image archive for exclusive automotive backgrounds and HDR Domes. The alliance will further expand izmostock’s automotive media library of new vehicles, which is the largest in North America and Europe. And, by uniting the best of each company’s car stock photo libraries to blend super clean car photos with amazing destination photos from around the world, izmostock’s clients will have access to high-quality, high-value imagery at affordable fees.

izmostock’s new-car images can now be composited on Maground’s destination backgrounds, offering automotive advertisers and marketers around the world a way to deliver a location-based image at a fraction of the cost of a live shoot. This new option for automotive marketers eliminates the time and expense of sending production teams out to shoot a car at a location, or performing CGI rendering and compositing. And, not only are these new car stock photos lower in cost, but they have rapid production times to meet tight deadlines for designers, art buyers, creative directors, and other advertising professionals.

“izmostock is known for the excellence of its automotive digital photography and Maground is renowned for its stunning destination stock photography. Through our partnership, we are delighted to offer the efficiency and affordability of the high quality automotive images on custom backgrounds to meet the needs of global automotive marketing professionals,” said Tej Soni, President of izmocars. “Imagine getting access to locations like the Coliseum in Rome, or the streets of Paris or the breathtaking beauty of the Alps from the comfort of your desktop, and mix and match automotive images with these background to get the perfect location shot. That’s transformational technology brought to you by izmocars.”

izmostock offers this capability through its online webstore at www.izmostock.com. Any user can go to the website, select an image, select a background and place an order which is delivered within a week. The company also offers services for custom development on larger projects and has an engagement team that can meet the most exacting needs.

To learn more about the new izmostock / Maground destination car stock photos or to license these popular images, visit http://bit.ly/Nbgq4Y

About izmostock (a division of izmocars)

izmostock is the world-leader in automotive photography and interactive media, covering more than 800 current models worldwide. izmostock is dedicated to providing clients with a comprehensive, end-to-end solution in automotive photography and visual media. The company’s large automotive photography studios in Long Beach, California and Brussels, Belgium are situated in the heart of the world's largest automotive markets, giving all clients and izmostock direct access to the latest in the consumer automotive industry. Most importantly, izmostock offers dedicated account management and technical support. This translates into the ability to handle large volumes of photography, multimedia creation and custom development, while maintaining the highest quality standards in both media and customer care that professionals have come to expect from a partner.

izmostock provides the latest digital imaging solutions for traditional still photography, high-resolution stop motion animations, and interactive HDR panoramas. izmostock runs a full time staff of photographers, producers, and vehicle prep, which average 200 production days per year.

About MAGROUND

The Hamburg-based stock photo agency MAGROUND is the leading provider for high quality images of landscapes, roads and cityscapes with full spherical HDR domes. The collection of over 100,000 images includes alternative perspectives of each spot as well as 360°HDR domes. With optimal settings for focal length, depth of field and perspective, the images are up to the highest standards of CGI productions and digital processing. In cooperation with over one hundred renowned photographers, MAGROUND provides an exclusive and diversified imagery with a unique visual language that satisfies both technical and creative demands. The immediate availability of the high-resolution data simplifies and accelerates the customer’s workflow from presentation to final layout. In addition to that, the company offers a complimentary image search service and individual support for their clients.

Major brands benefit from the quality and service of this specialized provider, making MAGROUND the natural link between modern commercial photography and creative services.

Clients include: Alfa Romeo, Allianz, AMG, Aston Martin, Audi, AXA, BMW, Casio, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Citroen, Condé Nast, Debitel, Deutsche Bahn, DIE ZEIT, EnBW, Fiat, Ford, Henkel, Hyundai, IWC, Jeep, Kia, Lacoste, Lexus, Lufthansa, MAN, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes Benz, Mini, MTU, Nestle, Nissan, Opel, O2, Panasonic, Peugeot, Porsche, Quicksilver, Renault, Roeckl, Rolls Royce, Shell, Skoda, Smart, Subaru, Swisscom, Telekom, Toyota, TUI, Vodafone, Volkswagen, Zurich

CONTACT: mWEBB Communications for izmocars, Melanie Webber, +1-424-603-4340, melanie@mwebbcom.com, or Angela Jacobson, +1-714-454-8776, angela@mwebbcom.com

CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. – July 9^th, 2012 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announced today that Stanley Subaru of Ellsworth, Maine has increased its service department proficiency by 20% since switching from its legacy dealership management system (DMS) to Auto/Mate in May of 2012.

Service manager Neil Harriman attributes the increased productivity to Auto/Mate’s integrated front-end appointment system and its ability to grow technicians’ proficiency in his service department from an average of 115% to an average of 135%.

“One of the reasons we chose to switch to Auto/Mate was because the scheduling program was a good match with our process,” Harriman said. “We don’t simply schedule appointments, we schedule the time available for each technician every day.” His goal on a daily basis is to fill 80% of the 15-minute increment blocks that the scheduling system displays, virtually eliminating technician downtime.

All of Stanley Subaru’s employees strive to provide friendly and personal customer service. And because of its commitment to excellence the dealership has doubled its revenue in the last seven years.

“We are really a very large dealership without the large facility,” said Harriman. For the service department, this means that to accommodate their growing base of customers, every available bay and every minute of technicians’ time must be maximized.

Harriman and the owner of Stanley Subaru attended the NADA convention in February of 2012 to demo new dealership management systems. “One of the big things that stood out with Auto/Mate was the simplicity of the program,” he said. “That was a big deal, because our employees have used the old system for 14 years, so we wanted to make sure the change was good for them.”

What Harriman most appreciates about the scheduling system is the fact that when he wants to do something, like create a repair order, all he has to do is click on a button that reads “create repair order.” He also likes the fact that multiple things can be done from within one screen; i.e. from within the appointment screen he can check shop capacity, look at the service history of a vehicle, and check to see if there are any manufacturer recalls.

Harriman also finds the appointment system visually appealing, as it allows users to color code various functions. At a single glance, Harriman can see who’s here, who’s not here, which car is being worked on, and who needs a courtesy ride.

A surprising benefit to Harriman was the level of customer service that he has received from Auto/Mate. “I know they get a lot of reviews on this, but I admit I was a skeptic,” he said. But since the install, Harriman has become a believer. Every time he calls Auto/Mate, he gets a live person on the phone and typically receives the answer to his question within a few minutes. Once he even called on a Saturday and received a call back almost instantly.

“It’s nice because we have the same philosophy; we want our customers to get a live person on the phone. We couldn’t run our business any other way,” said Harriman.

Stanley Subaru is a flat rate shop so the more productive they are, the more money they make. Increasing service department proficiency 20% has resulted in more money for the technicians and more money to the shop’s bottom line.

“The techs time is really what it’s all about,” said Harriman. “If you’ve got a big blank space with no jobs in there and the techs aren’t working, that’s not good. It’s all about keeping people working.”

About Auto/Mate

Auto/Mate Dealership Systems is a leading provider of dealership management system (DMS) software to retail automotive dealerships. Its Automotive Management Productivity Suite (AMPS) is a user-friendly, feature-rich dealership management software in use by more than 800 auto dealers nationwide. Auto/Mate offers the best customer service in the industry, with live people answering the phone and minimal hold times for technical support. Auto/Mate’s employees have more than 300 years of combined experience working in auto dealerships – the foundation of its “designed by car people, for car people” slogan. For more information, visit www.automate.com and follow us on Twitter @AutoMateDMS

Fort Lauderdale, FL – July 9^th, 2012 – AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions (www.autousadealers.com) today announced a milestone for the company; based on the total number of leads that AutoUSA has delivered from independent auto shopping web sites and the average closing percentage collected from AutoNation, AutoUSA’s Internet leads have contributed to the sale of an estimated 1.3 million vehicle sales since the year 2000.

“The demand for our leads has stayed pretty consistent over the years, mirroring the market but demonstrating that independent leads continue to offer proven results and add revenue to the bottom line,” said Phil DuPree, President of AutoUSA.

In a survey that AutoUSA recently conducted of more than 180 dealership Internet marketing personnel, 89% of respondents indicated that their dealership purchases Internet leads from at least one independent (third-party) provider; and 31% of respondents reported that more than 30% of their total Internet leads come from independent (third-party) providers.

AutoNation’s dealerships have been using leads delivered by AutoUSA since before the auto retailer purchased the company in May 2000. “The value in independent leads lies with the fact that you can capture customers who visit independent sites for research, and who might otherwise not find your dealership,” said Mark Taylor, Director of Business Development at AutoNation. “Our company is very focused on results-oriented marketing with measurable results, and AutoUSA’s leads have always delivered proven ROI.”

In addition to an improving economy, DuPree observes that more dealers are investing increased time and budgets into online marketing, staff training and process improvements. “The investment is paying off as Internet sales metrics continue to improve,” said DuPree. “More dealerships are embracing new technologies that help to increase their show and close rates, and drive more traffic to their web and social media sites.”

About AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions

AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions brings the best-in-class tools to increase Internet sales and lower costs for automotive dealerships. Leading products include Leads&Listings^SM, providing the highest quality, new and used car email and phone leads from 100+ sites; ShowPro^SM incentive program, proven to turn more leads into shows; PowerListings^SM 2.0, helping dealers increase traffic to—and leads from—their social media sites; and AVA Virtual Sales Assistant, helping dealerships manage more leads at a reduced cost. AutoUSA products are currently benefiting thousands of active dealers all across the U.S.

For more information, visit AutoUSA’s web site, subscribe to our blog at http://blog.autousadealers.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoUSALeads and “Like” us on Facebook at /AutoUSADealers

June Sales Push SAAR Past 14 Million 
 

Alexandria, VA (July 5, 2012) – The American International Automobile Dealers Association (AIADA) today released June 2012 sales figures for the international nameplate automobile industry. AIADA represents America’s approximately 10,000 international nameplate franchises whose brands accounted for 53.6 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States last month. 

Falling gas prices and rising demand for new vehicles drove sales higher than expected in June. AutoData Corp. estimated the seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) at 14.08 million units, versus 11.56 million units a year ago. Sales for all brands, unadjusted for business days, rose 22.1 percent compared June 2012 and 14.8 percent year over year.

Among international brands, Honda and Toyota led sales growth in June. Up 45.6 and 57.5 percent respectively, the Japanese manufacturers appear to be fully recovered from last year’s tsunami and subsequent production interruptions. Nissan’s sales were up 24.6 percent and Volkswagen saw a 34.2 percent improvement from June 2011. Incentives per vehicle were down from May, with each unit sold receiving an average of $2,187 in discounts.

“Demand for new cars isn’t softening,” said AIADA President Cody Lusk. “All indications are that the automotive industry’s recovery is both solid and lasting.”

In June, international brands accounted for 688,794 units sold, down from 727,607 in May. Asian nameplates occupied 44 percent of the U.S. auto market, down from 45.4 in May. European nameplates grew from 9.1 percent in May to 9.6 percent in June. Domestic brands finished the month with a 46.4 percent share of the market, up from 45.5 in May.

Read AIADA’s complete coverage of June’s international nameplate auto sales here. 
 

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About AIADA: Established in 1970, AIADA is and continues to be the only association whose sole purpose is to represent America’s 10,000 international nameplate automobile franchises that sell and service the following brands: Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Land Rover, Lexus, Maserati, Maybach, Mazda, Mercedes, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Saab, Scion, Smart, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. These retailers have a positive economic impact both nationally and in the local communities they serve, providing more than 500,000 American jobs.