The past week has been a bit sobering for the auto industry, based on the stories I have been reading. Sales in April fell, incentive spending is up, banks are pulling back on automotive loans, large groups are trimming their real estate exposure.
Still, there is a silver lining. New car sales this year are still forecast to top 17 million units. Consumers are still enamored of SUVs, supporting rising transaction prices. And overall consumer confidence remains high.
In the buy sell world, people I talk to are all frantically busy. I don’t think franchises are pulling in the kind of valuations there were late last year, but the buy sell market is strong. That is at least good for professionals serving the sector. Signals for buyers and sellers, like the overall automotive market, are mixed.
We have a mixed bag of stories for you in this week’s issue, as well. I profile Ivette Dominguez, the owner of a small but growing dealership group who is an advocate for helping other women succeed in the dealership world but also aims to help all her employees be more successful.
And in the realm of dealer real estate, we have a column this week from A.J. Jenkins of CityLift. If you want to keep stocking a healthy amount of inventory but are cognizant of those high real estate prices, CityLift offers a possible solution.
And we have, naturally, Transaction News.
Enjoy!
