How Your Credit Score Impacts Your New Car Purchase or Lease

Interesting view of the way that lending is changing for cars

"Certainly, robust U.S. auto sales are driving most of the growth in auto loans. But changes in evaluating credit data also seem to be fueling the gains.
Before the 2000s, most lenders used a FICO model to score risk on most auto loans. California-based Fair Isaac Corp. pioneered software that processed credit bureau data on individual consumers and spit out a single score estimating how likely a person was to repay a loan. A FICO score simplified assessing loan risk. It replaced loan officers hand processing credit records.
Its limitation was the records the major credit bureaus had, which then included medical collections -- whether outstanding or paid -- but not rental payments.
FICO scores worked well on people with conventional credit records -- mortgages, previous car loans and credit and department store cards. But assessing risk on those with thin records was still guesswork."
Source: Automotive News

More Autonomous Driving Coming to the E-Class

2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Photo credit Caranddriver.com

More than just good looks are coming to the E-Class from the S-Class. Handsfree lane changing will be coming in 2017.

"Mercedes-Benz will expand the new Driving Assistance package of the future E-Class for the market launch in spring with "Active Lane Change Assist" and will thereby make the business class saloon car even more intelligent. The radar- and camera-based assistance system supports the driver in changing lanes, e.g. when overtaking on multi-lane roads. The system thus offers a significant further increase in comfort and can help to prevent collisions.
Nearly 15 percent of all accidents on German roads happen between two vehicles travelling in the same direction, almost 20 percent of them resulting from collisions when changing lanes."
Source: Mercedes-Benz USA

MB Rolling Out 9 New Vehicles in 2016

MB to roll out 9 new vehicles in 2016, and that does not include any of the new AMG product. I believe that's an unprecedented number. According to Automotive News:

CEO Steve Cannon is calling 2016 the "zenith" of the brand's multiyear product offensive.
"Our challenge will be, how do you support launching nine products?" Cannon said. "That's a huge challenge. It's a big year. There will be more marketing, yes."
Cannon declined to share a dollar figure or the percentage by which marketing spending will increase over 2015.

$200MM Web Site Investment Appears to be Paying Off for AutoNation

The numbers from Automotive News were more like $100 million last year, and in a recent article, the spend is closer to $200 million.  Regardless, Michael Jackson CEO of Autonation se

Eighteen months ago, AutoNation was on course to derive 20 percent of its vehicle sales from TrueCar, Costco and other third parties, Jackson said during a sit-down in his office here. Its own website, autonation.com, was generating just 10 percent of sales.
But with major improvements to the website, including allowing a customer to do the bulk of a transaction online, that's reversed. Today, the website and its AutoNation Express transactional tools account for more than 20 percent of AutoNation sales, with third parties down to about 9 percent.
Moreover, AutoNation has cut altogether two of the lowest-profit lead generators, TrueCar and Costco, the ouster of the former coming in July through a loud and public exchange with TrueCar ex-CEO Scott Painter.

The team size to develop the site has grown 27x larger in two years.  

From two dozen people two years ago, AutoNation has built an IT department of 250 people, with half writing software code, as well as an 80-person digital marketing staff at the company's 17-story headquarters in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The fruits can be seen at autonation.com, where 100,000 vehicles at the 253 stores are listed in inventory at any given time.

 

Your Next Mercedes-Benz Might be a "Chill Out Zone"

This makes me want to go to Tokyo

Mercedes-Benz unveiled its Vision Tokyo concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show. The car lays out a vision of luxury driving in the future, one in which self-driving technology has advanced to the point that the vehicle’s interior is allowed to resemble a lounge more than a car.
“The Mercedes-Benz Vision Tokyo embodies the concept of an automotive lounge for a future generation of megacities,” Gorden Wagener, Daimler’s head of design, said in a statement. “The purity and sensuality of the Vision Tokyo’s styling defines a new interpretation of modern luxury from Mercedes-Benz.”

The five-seat car will be on display during the Tokyo Motor Show beginning Friday through Nov. 7.

Source: Automotive News

Autonation Has a Strong Quarter

Auto dealers have been doing well, and growth is predicted well for 2016. AutoNation is the latest to report strong Q3 earnings.  It's a good time to be a dealer.

AutoNation Inc., the largest new-vehicle retailer in the U.S., said today its third-quarter net income rose 11 percent to $118.5 million from a year earlier, as revenues increased 9.1 percent to $5.35 billion.
Revenues rose across all business lines, climbing by double digits for new-vehicle sales as well as finance and insurance.
Operating income rose 14 percent to a record for any quarter of $235.7 million.
“We are very pleased with our strong year-over-year growth across all areas of our business, as well as our 20th consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year growth” in earnings per share from continuing operations, to a record $1.05, CEO Mike Jackson said in a statement.

Source: Automotive News

Marketing Cars to Uber Drivers to Generate Word of Mouth Advertising

Interesting marketing strategy by Toyota of Plano, TX: market cars to Uber drivers to generate word of mouth advertising for your dealership and brand. According to Automotive news:

Hail a black car by smartphone in the Dallas area, and there's a decent chance you'll find "Toyota of Plano" on the license plate frame.
By offering hefty discounts and tailored online advertising, the dealership in Toyota's soon-to-be U.S. hometown has aggressively gone after customers who drive for Uber, a smartphone-powered taxi service that allows people to earn money giving rides to strangers. The dealership sells about 200 cars annually to Uber drivers -- about 6 percent of the 3,200 new cars it sells in a year.
Uber drivers get the dealership's best offers. It's a form of marketing: Future passengers may notice a Toyota of Plano license plate holder when they get picked up by a shiny new car. And when the driver and passenger start talking, a driver who got a great deal is far more likely to gush about Toyota of Plano.

MB's Sexy new AMG S-Class Convertible Coming in 2016

MB marketing made a great video of the new AMG S-Class cabriolet which is coming out as a 2016 model.   The last time they made an S-Class convertible was 1971.   

The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet is the first open-top luxury four-seater from Mercedes-Benz since 1971. It offers a distinctive, sensual and exclusive design, the cutting-edge technology of the S-Class, as well as a comprehensive warmth and wind protection concept which includes intelligent climate control for convertibles.