New light vehicle registrations in Southern California grew by 11.3 percent in 2015 according to the California New Car Dealers Association, far outpacing the national growth rate of 5.2 percent.
The California market is booming. That is why AMP Group of India is looking to acquire a dealership in SoCal. Doing so could not only help the group’s bottom line, it would also provide AMP with valuable dealership operational knowledge it could apply to its dealerships in India.
In this issue, I talk with Raunaq Singh Anand, director of business development at AMP, about the Group’s interest in the SoCal market and its search for an equity partner in India. It sees both as a way to grow and to gain some knowledge.
When I interview dealers about their criteria for acquiring a dealership, they usually mention that they think they can improve on that store’s operations in some way. Why else would they be thinking of buying it?
One area they may not think of doing due diligence on is marketing. In this issue, Peter DeTrempe of Taylor Strategic Relations Group discusses why doing due diligence on a dealership’s marketing program before an acquisition is smart and suggests areas that may be ripe for improvement.
We also have Transaction News, of course.
Enjoy!
