News

One of the six publicly traded auto retailers sold a dealership in the San Francisco Bay Area, while a dealer and three groups expanded their holdings — all in fourth-quarter acquisitions.

Here's a look at the deals involving import and domestic brands and stores in California, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.

Two transactions involved auto retailers ranked on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups.

California dealer buys dealership from Penske Automotive; purchases Chevrolet store

Penske Automotive Group Inc. divested a Honda dealership in northern California late in the fourth quarter.

The publicly traded auto retailer sold Marin Honda in San Rafael, Calif., north of San Francisco, to Mike Patel and Jeff Christoffel on Dec. 19, Patel confirmed to Automotive News in an email.

Patel said he is the dealer principal and majority partner, while Christoffel is minority partner. The dealership was renamed Honda Marin,…

Vroom Inc. said Tuesday its revenues, sales and total gross profit per e-commerce vehicle all tumbled in the fourth quarter, a period in which the company continued pulling back on growth in favor of improving its per-vehicle economics and other business processes.

The online used-vehicle retailer reported a net profit of $24.8 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, though that was primarily driven by a $127 million gain on debt extinguishment due to its repurchase of convertible notes, which "more than offset the impact" of lower sales and lower profit per vehicle, Vroom CFO Bob Krakowiak said on a Wednesday earnings call.

That net income is compared with Vroom's $129.8 million net loss in the same period a year earlier and its net loss of $51.1 million in the third quarter of 2022.

Vroom said its revenue tumbled in the quarter to $209.3 million, down 78 percent compared with the year-earlier period.

Earlier in 2022, Vroom undertook a business re…

BERLIN/HAMBURG – Volkswagen Group’s supervisory board will discuss plans to build a new U.S. factory at a meeting on Friday, two sources close to the matter said, with one adding the board was expected to approve the project.

The factory is a new plant for the Scout brand, according to one of the sources, which Volkswagen has said will be designed, engineered and manufactured in the U.S. with production due to start in 2026.

Volkswagen declined to comment. The automaker has previously said a decision on whether to build a plant for the brand had not yet been made.

Scott Keogh, the former VW Group of America CEO who last year was tapped to lead Scout Motors, also declined to comment.

Last week, Automotive News sibling publication Automobilwoche, citing company sources, reported that VW Group decided to build the Scout plant on its own after considering contract manufacturers Foxconn and Magna.

Volkswagen is expanding its Chattanooga plant t…

Retail technology giant CDK Global will unload an undisclosed number of its employees onto Genpact, a global business process outsourcer, as part of its continued "fit and focus" strategy to reorganize and boost efficiency. While CDK is acknowledging that some jobs will be eliminated, company officials also said they expect most affected employees will continue working for CDK through Genpact.

CDK CEO Brian MacDonald announced the move in a Feb. 22 email to employees that was obtained by Automotive News and confirmed by CDK. CDK's goal, MacDonald said in the email, is to free up resources to boost customer service, planning and strategic initiatives for the Hoffman Estates, Ill., dealership management system company.

The plan calls for outsourcing most of CDK's enterprise information technology unit, as well as parts of its technology, product, customer, finance and procurement divisions in the coming months to Genpact, according to MacDonald's email. It's unc…

Russia's Avilon dealership group is poised to buy Volkswagen Group's Kaluga factory, Moscow-based business news site RBC reported on Wednesday, citing two unidentified sources.

RBC reported that one of the sources said the deal was already agreed, and would be finalized on March 3, which coincides with the automaker's upcoming supervisory board meeting.

VW said it was considering various scenarios, including selling Volkswagen Group Russia's assets to a third party, but that a decision had not yet been made.

Avilon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The factory, in which VW has invested more than $1.1 billion since its opening, employs 4,200 people and has capacity of 225,000 vehicles a year.

The plant has been furloughed since March 2022, when sanctions imposed by Western countries over the conflict in Ukraine caused supply chains break down.

A string of Western car brands have quit the Russian market in the year…

Lotus' imminent rival to the Porsche Taycan, an electric sedan code-named Type 133, has been spied winter testing above the Arctic Circle in Europe ahead of a launch planned for later this year.

The sedan will be the second model in the brand's non-sports car lineup following the Eletre crossover and images show a slippery, aerodynamic design with elements of the Eletre, such as the slim headlights.

The car has been described as an E-segment entry by Lotus, meaning it'll rival the Taycan as well as the Tesla Model S, BMW i7 and Mercedes-Benz EQS. It is expected to be sold globally.

The new model will be built at Lotus' new factory in Wuhan, China, which is where all cars from the Lotus Tech lifestyle division will be produced. Lotus, owned by China's Geely Holding Group, will continue to make sports cars at its Hethel plant in Norfolk, England. The Type 133 has been designed in Lotus Tech's design center in Coventry, England.

The Eletre crossover…