Marketing

Flow Automotive Cos., Pohanka Automotive and Holman were among several dealership groups and others who invested $4 million in technology company Orbee Inc., whose platform provides data management and other digital marketing services for dealerships. Flow, Pohanka and Holman’s Holman Enterprises arm were previous investors. They joined the Series A funding round with new investors

Electric vehicles offer significant savings in operating costs compared with traditional gasoline-powered cars. By making the switch, drivers can save up to $3,000 a year on fuel and reduced maintenance alone. Most EVs also have a lower total cost of ownership over their lifetime, especially when factoring in the incentives under the federal Inflation Reduction

A 26-foot statue of a Native American chief that had been a San Antonio landmark since the 1960s was felled by Hyundai’s dealership standards. The statue came down in July as part of a reconstruction project at Red McCombs Superior Hyundai. “This is a piece of history that is really unique but is not part

Lego is commemorating the Chevrolet Corvette’s 70th anniversary with a new model kit replicating the 1961 C1 convertible. The 1,210-piece kit went on sale last week for $150. The 13-inch-long car, in Roman Red, can be built with either a hard or open top and features a working tie-rod steering system. It’s the fourth and

Those of us of a certain age may think we’re important to consumer-facing businesses. It’s not as much as you might assume. We matter, of course, and spend money that advertisers want. The reality is, however, that younger adults are often the preferred target because they have far more spending power ahead of them than

“Humans are terrible drivers,” General Motors’ one-page advertisement in The New York Times and other papers last week claimed. The advertisement for Cruise, a GM-backed autonomous driving startup, argued that while “people cause millions of accidents every year in the U.S. … Cruise driverless cars are designed to save lives.” The advertisement prominently featured the

I’m a Barbie girl in a GM world. A collection of dozens of Barbies and two Kens were some of the most-loved toys on my shelf. A doctor Barbie, rock star Barbie and even Cleopatra Barbie encouraged me to dream big. And if you were lucky, your Barbies would cruise around in a toy Chevrolet

Stellantis is bolstering its creative roster with its first Black agency of record. The automaker said TKT & Associates, through its TKT Collab division, will be tasked with reaching Black consumers for Stellantis’ North American brand portfolio consisting of Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep and Ram. TKT also is the automaker’s first female-owned agency

Auto shows are magical events and remain relevant and beneficial to the current new-car market. That magic has been wowing audiences since the very first U.S. auto show in New York City in 1900. Chicago’s auto show started in 1901. Denver has been organizing auto shows since 1902. Los Angeles and Detroit started hosting auto

Two men in matching flat-brim baseball hats pull up to a Kia store in Frisco, Texas. But they’re not there to shop. The two — Kyle Mountsier and Paul Daly — are the creative minds behind “More Than Cars,” a documentary series following the pair as they visit car dealerships around the country. “More Than

Organizers are promising that the 2023 North American International Detroit Auto Show will feature more brand participation and vehicle reveals than last year, although it’s unclear which companies plan to return to the mid-September event. The Detroit Auto Dealers Association, which runs the show, said the 2023 version will include a new indoor track for

Where better to celebrate the Volkswagen bus’ legacy and electrified future than Surf City, USA? Coinciding with the debut of the three-row version of the electric ID Buzz tailored for North America, the automaker gathered VW bus enthusiasts to join the festivities in Huntington Beach, Calif., on June 2 — which the automaker declared the

The North American International Auto Show said this year’s event will feature more brands than last year’s first foray into September that extended outside the walls of Huntington Place. The Detroit Auto Dealers Association, which runs the show, said Wednesday that it expects more than double the 13 brands that participated in last year’s show.

Cars.com is launching a new branding campaign designed to establish itself as a varied consumer-focused auto services company that goes beyond its 25-year identity as an automotive marketplace platform. “We are proud of our heritage as an original dot.com company and search engine for automotive and have evolved into a comprehensive platform of possibilities for

Rivian Automotive will not enable the “tank turn” feature in its R1 off-road vehicles because the four-wheel thrust needed to rotate in a circle is potentially damaging to trails, CEO RJ Scaringe confirmed in response to a question on social media. The feature was the subject of a viral video posted on Christmas Day 2019

Tesla owners drive significantly more miles per year than buyers of rival EVs, thanks to the superior range of Tesla vehicles, according to a new study from iSeeCars. The range advantage translates to a Tesla ownership experience that’s more similar to combustion vehicles — in terms of miles driven — than to other EVs, iSeeCars

Toyota isn’t just winning the battle for Hispanic consumers — it’s dominating the nation’s second-largest ethnic group, in a triumph that’s more than 30 years in the making. The brand accounted for five of the top six nameplates sold to Hispanics in 2022, according to U.S. new-vehicle registration data from S&P Global Mobility. The Toyota

Deion Sanders, the former NFL star who’s preparing for his first season as head coach at the University of Colorado, showed off his customized Ford F-650 Super Duty on social media. The truck, which has a 7.3-liter V-8 engine and is designed for heavy commercial use, retails for about $150,000 before Sanders’ personalizations. “You gotta

The design for Chrysler’s first electric crossover arriving in 2025 will be completely different from the Airflow concept that’s been shown publicly, a top executive told MotorTrend. Chrysler brand CEO Chris Feuell “wanted a statement that had literally zero to do with anything that you have seen today, even the Airflow concept car,” Ralph Gills,e

Melody Lee, a former marketing executive at Cadillac, is taking over as CMO at Mercedes-Benz USA. Lee is one of three senior hires announced by Mercedes at the brand’s annual dealer meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Thursday. The Atlanta company has seen executive churn in recent years, including in sales, finance and customer service.

Charity Dunning is the CMO of Fixed Ops Marketing and co-host of the “What the Fixed Ops?!” podcast series. First car: Ford Taurus First concert you attended: Tool Name a pet peeve: Spitting on the ground/sidewalk Most thrilling/adventurous thing you’ve done: Deep-sea fishing in Mexico! Your personal hero (and why): Mentor and attorney Jeff Babener,

SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla Inc. boss Elon Musk, who has never used traditional advertising to sell cars, said that the automaker would try it and see whether it produced results. Musk said it was “ironic” that as CEO of Tesla, he now owns Twitter. The social media platform is highly dependent on ads and will

The 2024 Ranger Raptor shows how Ford Motor Co. is working to maximize profits from its internal combustion business by offering high-margin derivatives that require little additional engineering. CEO Jim Farley has said variants such as the Raptor generate margins that are 30 percent higher than the base model while sharing about 80 percent of

Used-car retailer Carvana is showing love to its customers by issuing them unique, AI-generated videos of their vehicles. Each animated video, roughly one minute and 47 seconds long, is intended to highlight the bond between an owner and their car, from the perspective of the latter. The cars reflect on the date and location of when

Product placement in mainstream film and TV to raise brand awareness has been a common practice in auto marketing for quite some time: The Audi R8 in Iron Man, the Chevrolet Camaro in The Transformers movies, the Hyundai Tucson in “The Walking Dead” TV series and so on. Whether the placements are subtle or in-your-face

As part of its ongoing efforts to connect with Black consumers, Hyundai Motor America today launched a choose-your-own-adventure style campaign highlighting the love between a real-life couple. Hyundai’s “Choose Yours” campaign revolves around two 60-second spots starring actors Alonzo B. Slater and Mea Wilkerson. Each of the two commercials plays off of the “pick a

Lucid’s Air sedan has been showered with awards for its 500-mile range and sports-car performance, but orders aren’t meeting expectations. Lucid is now going on a 42-city pop-up tour to find new buyers. CEO Peter Rawlinson said the electric vehicle isn’t the issue. “We’ve got the best car in the world and not enough people

AutoNation Inc. executive Marc Cannon plans to leave his position as chief customer experience officer, shift to a short-term philanthropic role for the auto retailer and then retire at year-end. Richard Lennox, a former department store, toy company and jewelry store marketing executive, was named AutoNation’s CMO, effective May 15, the retailer also announced. “It

A commercial for the Ford Mustang Mach-E turned into a “life-changing” experience for the deaf mother and son who starred in it, with the help of actress and singer Jennifer Hudson. The ad, which first aired in February, shows Arlene Ngalle, 35, and her 16-year-old son, Darien Lopez, driving in a Mach-E equipped with BlueCruise.

Chinese Internet users berated BMW last week, accusing it of discrimination at the Shanghai auto show amid claims workers at its Mini booth favored foreign over domestic visitors during an ice cream giveaway promotion. Mini apologized for the incident, saying on social media that it was caused by poor internal management and that it would