The focus of the Parts Department has historically been internal: serving the Service Department and in-store parts customers. Accessory marketing was typically not seen as a stand-alone profit center with significant revenue and profit contribution.  Today, dealers are able to fashion a separate online business that ... Read More »

We recently held our annual review of the leading issues in automotive marketing and media with a presentation from Gene Cameron, Vice President, Marketing/Media Solutions, Arianne Walker, Director Research, U.S. Automotive, and Chance Parker, Vice President, General Manager, Web Intelligence Research Division.  This ... Read More »

The sheer size of the Baby Boomer generation—roughly 78 million strong—influences every aspect of the products and services they consume. Boomer demand creates industries and markets. The generation born between 1946 and 1964 decide what is important for the rest of the population at virtually every stage of ... Read More »

Market pricing data on new vehicles, which has been available online for many years, goes beyond MSRP and dealer invoice to show consumers what they could expect to pay at the dealership.  This information empowers consumers, but it can also be misleading.  For instance, while the 2010 Audi A6 3.2 has a True ... Read More »

I love September! It really is a great time of year – Football season is here, triathlon season is ending for me (no more 5a.m. alarms!), and the weather is beginning to cool off (or maybe that’s just my new perspective after returning from Phoenix).
September is also a very exciting time here at J.D. Power ... Read More »

There are numerous online sources that provide vehicle reviews and ratings, both expert and user-generated.  In order to test the differences between rating sources, I conducted an analysis based on models in six highly competitive segments. Only those 58 models with ratings across all rating sources were included so ... Read More »

In order to assess the current state of SEO for third-party automotive Web sites, I conducted a field test which I applied a set of automotive search terms to Google and Bing.  I noted which sites appeared in the default first page of results - ten for Google and ten to twenty (depending on the type of search) for ... Read More »