Colorado Dealer Wins USA Today/NADA Dealer Innovation Award

Colorado Dealer Wins USA Today/NADA Dealer Innovation Award

USA TODAY and NADA presented the second annual Dealer Innovation Award last week to Ed Bozarth, president of Ed Bozarth #1 Park Meadows Chevrolet in Lone Tree, Colorado, at the New York International Auto Show. The award recognizes franchised new vehicle dealers nationwide who have used innovative methods to recruit, train and retain their employees. Last yearês winner was Jack Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Auto Malls in Rockville, MD.

Bozarth was honored for providing his employees with creative training and development opportunities, a sales incentive plan and new technology to increase customer retention. Higher sales and customer satisfaction have resulted from these initiatives.Bozarth was one of four regional finalists for the national award, representing NADA’s Region IV (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming). Regional finalists included: Edward Albert, president of Classic Chrysler Center, in Raynham, Mass. (Region I); Larry Shelor, president of Shelor Motor Mile, in Christiansburg, Virginia (Region II); and Keith McCluskey, president of McCluskey Chevrolet, in Cincinnati, Ohio (Region III).

Automatics Stick it to Manuals in U.S.

The stick-shift vehicle is becoming an endangered species in lots across America, according to the Sacramento Bee. That is, standard is no longer the rule.Industry experts say only about 9 percent of the cars and light trucks built today have manual transmission because drivers simply don’t want them. Part of the explanation is improved technology.Twenty-five years ago, automatic transmissions were both unreliable and inferior to their manual counterparts when it came to fuel efficiency.That’s not the case today.Stick-shift vehicles still outperform automatics, but only by about three miles per gallon. Experts say the advantage is not enough to offset the convenience of an automatic. However, in Europe, where gas prices are much higher and driving is taken seriously (cup holders are rare), automatic transmissions are just as scarce as manual transmissions in America.

SUVs Claim Nearly Half of All Online Automotive Advertising

Nielsen//NetRatings reports that sport utility vehicles posted nearly half of all automotive Internet advertising during the first quarter of 2003. SUVs recorded more than 1.2 billion ad impressions, dominating the auto manufacturers market with a 48 percent share and outnumbering car ads by more than 700 million impressions.

According to the Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance service, SUVs and cars have fought for the top position for more than a year. By the end of the first quarter, cars and vans ran a close race, each claiming about 19 percent of the automotive manufacturers market, but second to SUV advertising. Pickup trucks owned 11 percent of the market, while specialty autos, including hybrids, motorcycles and recreational vehicles, posted the smallest number of impressions, accounting for just three percent of the market.

The automotive online advertising trend clearly reflects American’s current love affair with big vehicles, said Charles Buchwalter, vice president of client analytics, Nielsen//NetRatings. Combining both SUVs, vans and trucks, large vehicles dominated the market nearly four to one.”

The Toyota 4Runner and GMC Envoy easily grabbed the top spots on the list of most advertised SUV models, with 534 million and 355 million impressions, respectively. The top ten list was rounded out by the Honda Element (45 million), Nissan Murano (44 million), Infiniti FX45 (40 million), Volvo XC90 (28 million), Porsche Cayenne (25 million) Mitsubishi Endeavor (24 million), Lexus GX (21 million) and Kia Sorento (14 million). Table 1: Automotive Online Advertising, Ranked by Market Share (U.S., Q1 2003).