AUTOMOTIVE ADVERTISING & MARKETING

Motor Trend Awards

Motor Trend Awards Announced for 2015

JKRAdvertising / Auto Industry in the News /

November 20, 2015

This year’s Motor Trend Awards have been released, and it’s a really good year for Chevrolet. The brand sporting the bowtie for its logo took home two of the three awards as the major automotive publication announced their favorite car, truck and SUV for 2015.

Winners of Motor Trend Awards

Car of the Year: Chevrolet Camaro

Judges chose the Camaro due to its lighter-weight design, and it’s just in time for its 50th birthday. The Camaro got the nod over finalists Audi TT, BMW 7 Series, Honda Civic, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Mercedes-Benz GT 5, and the hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai.

Truck of the Year: Chevrolet Colorado

Last year’s winner takes home the hardware once again, besting the field for a second straight year. Finalists included the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, GMC Canyon, GMC Sierra 1500, Nissan Titan XD and Toyota Tundra.

SUV of the Year: Volvo XC90

The XC90’s new design and plethora of powertrain options made it the winner in a hotly contested field full of worthy candidates. Finalists included the Honda Pilot, Lincoln MKX, Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class, an Nissan Murano.

Do you think the Motor Trend Awards went to the correct vehicles?

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars.

Press Categories

Recent Posts

Post-Pandemic Dealer Gross Profits are Down – But They Don’t Have to Stay There!
March 13, 2024
It is no secret that dealer gross profits per vehicle are down sharply in the post-COVID automotive world. According to a recent article in Automotive News, gross profits of the six largest publicly traded dealership groups plunged significantly from Q4 2022 to Q4 2023. One of them was actually down 35% per vehicle!

The article explains: High interest rates, more expensive vehicles and a steadier post-pandemic supply chain continue to soften demand and bring it closer to pre-pandemic levels. Still, new-car buying has remained strong overall …

This means that, while sales volume is similar, overall bottom lines are lower for many dealers due to the reduced gross profits. What about your dealership?

Being Realistic
It’s time to turn the page! The time for dealers to simply be order takers for people willing to pay MSRP for a vehicle (and in some cases more) has passed and dealers have to work hard once again to achieve acceptable gross profits.

Selling a high volume of cars doesn’t control gross profits, no matter how much you wish this was the case. Correct processes and menu pricing – and strict adherence to them – do!

What kind of processes?
∙ Slow down the transaction! Your sales staff has to once again sell the customer on the features and benefits of every new and pre-owned vehicle on your lot.

∙ Your salespeople and managers should devalue the customers’ trade-in value (politely, of course) as much as possible. After all, if the customer expects you to lower your price, shouldn’t you be able to do the same on their trade? Remember, you’ll have to fix it up, put your name on it and resell it to someone else with all the tenacity you would a brand-new car. So make sure you buy it right … because the profit is made when you buy it, not when you sell it!

∙ To that end, management should be ready and willing to leave the desk and do thorough walk-arounds on each trade to ensure the best outcome for the dealership.

The Cure for Low Gross Profits
If you are like a lot of dealers these days, you could use some good news. Here it is: while you may not have the capability to achieve profit margins similar to those you enjoyed during the pandemic, they could likely be improved. JKR’s clients enjoy the benefit of attracting not only more customers, but better ones, too!

If meeting and exceeding your sales goals (and increasing gross profits at the same time) sounds great to you, you need to call us. Don’t settle for reduced gross profits when help is out there to get you closer to where you’d like to be.

Want to know how we do it? Reach out to Senior Partner Richard Brauns (407) 701-4233 or Partner/Vice President Jon Albert (407) 718-2494 today.

JKR Automotive Advertising: We Move Cars.

Read more