Carvana Extends Its Youth Soccer Sponsorship With a $200,000 Scholarship Fund
Carvana signed a multi-year extension of its sponsorship with Rush Soccer, described as the world’s largest youth soccer club, according to Auto Remarketing.
Subaru Unveils Its First In-House EV Prototype as It Steps Out of Toyota’s Shadow
On Oct. 18, Subaru showed reporters its first independently developed EV prototype at its test course north of Tokyo, according to Automotive News. Engineers developed the technology in roughly half the usual time. Some of it could reach the market around 2029.
Ford Just Passed Toyota in Certified Pre-Owned Sales. Now It Wants the Full-Year Crown.
Ford’s Blue Advantage program was the No. 1 certified pre-owned brand in the third quarter, ahead of Toyota, after sales jumped 44%, according to Ford’s quarterly sales release. Now Ford has set a goal of taking the full-year title in 2027.
🚗 New York City Sues CarGurus Over How It Displays Dealer Prices
🚙 The push for honest pricing has reached the listing sites. New York City’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection has filed a lawsuit against CarGurus, alleging its deal ratings and AI chatbot presented misleading prices that hid dealer fees, according to Automotive News.
How Tesla’s Flying Roadster Won Over Our Resident Skeptic
A car drove up a wall, flipped through the air, and convinced our most doubtful teammate that Tesla’s long-delayed Roadster is worth a dealer’s attention.
Car Shoppers Compare Prices, but They Buy Payments
Most shoppers start by comparing prices, but they decide based on whether the monthly payment fits. With the average new-vehicle price above $50,000, according to Kelley Blue Book, and the average payment at a record $787, according to Edmunds, that payment is getting harder to hit.
TrueCar’s CEO Predicts the End of Different Prices for Identical New Cars
The biggest fear for dealers, Painter says, is being reverse-auctioned at scale by a computer, sparking a race to the bottom. That’s why he believes AI tools need to be built in a way that helps protect a dealer’s front-end and back-end gross.
🚙 Analysts say Penske’s move looks like a unique case rather than the start of a trend among public dealer groups. Without quarterly earnings pressure, the company can make longer-term decisions, and Stephens analyst Jeff Lick has noted it could simplify an eventual leadership transition. Roger Penske is 89.
The Cruise Ship Habit That Could Change Your Dealership
Steinhauser, now director of sponsorship and business development for the LA Auto Show and AutoMobility LA, learned four “gold standards” at Royal Caribbean. Staff trained on them about four times a year, and he can still recite them today. Here’s how each one translates to a dealership:
GM Ordered This Cadillac Destroyed. It Just Sold for $494,500.
It was built for luxury: an open chauffeur’s compartment up front, a fully enclosed rear cabin behind a glass partition, gold-finished hardware, an intercom to talk to the driver, and even a cigar humidor.
More Than 100 Carvana Google Listings Point to Places Carvana Doesn’t Operate
An investigation by CDG News, built on research by LocaliQ Automotive’s Chris Wood, found at least 266 Google Business Profiles tied to Carvana. Here’s how they break down, as verified Oct. 13:
