#CONSUMERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA MORE FOR VEHICLE PURCHASE

Latest News Social Networks Guide Dealership Selection Online dealership reviews on social media networks are now playing the most important role in the dealership selection process. The Spring 2013 Automotive Social Media and Reputation Trend Study released by Digital Air Strike included an in-depth analysis of how 650 U.S. dealers use social media and an online survey of 2,000 consumers who purchased a vehicle in the last 6 months. The majority of car buyers said they consider review sites as "helpful" in their decision as to where to purchase a vehicle. The study found that 24 percent of consumers consider online review sites to be the "most helpful" factor, exceeding all other factors including the 15 percent of car buyers who consider dealership websites "most helpful". The study also showed that review sites are becoming increasingly important in organic search. Eighty-one percent of car buyers who use review sites said they look at review scores in search results. The dealer component of the study revealed that, on average, five review sites show up in search results. Car buyers use the top five sites 13 percent more than just 6 months ago. The most popular review sites are Cars.com (61 percent, previously 55 percent), Edmunds.com (54 percent, previously 50 percent),), Google Plus Local (37 percent, previously 44 percent), Yelp (14 percent, no change), and Yahoo (11 percent, no change) - the same rank order as the October 2012 study. The study went on to reveal that there is a 43 percent probability that a consumer will search for a local dealer on Facebook using Facebook's new Graph Search. The study revealed 67 percent of car buyers search for local business using mobile devices with 41 percent having "checked-in" to a local business using their mobile device. Additional Facebook findings include: There is a 59 percent probability that a consumer will trust a review from a Facebook friend more than reviews on other sites. 27 percent of car buyers click on mobile ads on Facebook. There is a 45 percent probability that a consumer will view the dedicated feed for brands in the forthcoming Facebook News Feed. Clicks on automotive dealership Facebook ads more than doubled from October 2012 to April 2013 - from 16 percent up to 39 percent.

#TRUE CAR PROVIDES TRADE'IN CAR VALUE

eNews U.S. News Adds TrueCar's ClearBook U.S. News & World Report has expanded its relationship with TrueCar Inc. to now incorporate ClearBook, TrueCar's used-car valuation tool, in various places on the U.S. News Best Cars website. TrueCar will be the exclusive provider of trade-in value and used car estimated market value data and pricing to 30 million annual visitors. With the introduction of ClearBook on U.S. News Best Cars, consumers visiting the site can now do the following: Find used vehicle pricing information for thousands of makes and models within a consumer's local area including Expected Sale Price, Recommended List Price and Trade-in Price. View rankings of used car models based on a price range so consumers can find the best used cars within their budget.

#AUTO START-UP WINS BUSINESS SCHOOL CONTEST

eNews Auto Start-Ups Win Business School Contest The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announced that student team ZenKars won the $30,000 Perlman Prize at the 2013Wharton Business Plan Competition (BPC). The prize was awarded at the Wharton School's 15th Annual Venture Finals onApril 24 where student finalists received more than $115,000 in combined cash prizes and in-kind legal/accounting services. ZenKars, which also received Wharton BPC's "Committee's Choice Award," is an online retailer of used cars targeting a $600 billion market. Jean-Mathieu (Jim) Chabas and Venkat Jonnala, co-founders and second year MBA students, have created an online model connecting used cars from corporate directly to consumers. Their "peaceful buying experience" for the buyer offers competitive prices, detailed vehicle information, convenience and warranties. The ZenKars co-founders met last summer on Facebook while looking for roommates in Philadelphia.They eventually found themselves batting entrepreneurial ideas around and landed on what has become ZenKars, which was soon accepted into the DreamIt Ventures accelerator, from whom they received additional seed funding. The Venture Finals, which is the yearlong Wharton BPC's culminating event, attracted nearly 300 venture capitalists, business leaders, faculty members and students. This year, 140 conceptswere submittedfor the competitive phase of the Wharton BPC. While the Venture Finals judges deliberated over the top three prizes, the "Great Eight" Finalist teams competed for the Michelson "People's Choice Award," which allowed the audience of hundreds to vote on their favorite elevator pitch. This year the crowd favorite was MacuLens whose eyeglass lens technology helps reduce the glare of high intensity auto headlights. MacuLens also won the Venture Finals second place award of $15,000.

#CONSUMERS SEEK DOMESTICS ONLINE

eNews Consumers Seek Domestics Online According to page views on Kelley Blue Book's website, which is defined as every time a KBB.com user visits a Web page, domestic automakers Chrysler and Ford continue to see the largest increases. Chrysler increased to 7.2 percent of page views on KBB.com, up from 6.1 percent last year, while Ford has seen the largest jump, to 12.6 percent in April from 10.6 percent in April 2012. Hyundai/Kia reports the steepest drops in KBB.com page view traffic, down to 7.5 percent in April from a 12.3 percent share in April 2012. As gas prices have dropped, Kelley Blue Book also has seen segments with the most fuel-efficient vehicles drop. Subcompact car page views are down to 3.5 percent in April from 5.3 percent in April 2012. Compact car page views are down to 13.5 percent in April from 15.4 percent in April 2012.Hybrid vehicles page views also are declining, down to 3.2 percent of all KBB.com page views in April 2013, from 3.7 percent in April. The segments that saw some of the largest increases in KBB.com page views are compact crossovers, which had the largest segment increase, up to 13.8 percent in April from 12.6 percent in April 2012. In addition, luxury crossovers also increased from last year, to 5.9 percent in April from 5.1 percent in April 2012.

#IMPORTS DOMINATE SCORECARD OF BEST CARS TO OWN

Latest News Imports Dominate TrueCar.com Scorecard Subaru, Toyota and BMW topped the list in TrueCar.coms Performance Scorecards for March. TrueCar.com, which provides new car pricing information, trends and forecasting, recently released its March Performance Scorecards for automobile manufacturers and brands. The Performance Scorecards grade each manufacturer and brand on eight different measurements related to pricing, sales, incentives, customer loyalty, market share and days in inventory data. Overall, the top manufacturers on the March Performance Scorecard were Subaru, Toyota and BMW. Near the bottom of the list were Volvo, Mitsubishi and General Motors. The brands that received the highest grades for the period were Scion, MINI, Subaru, Lexus and Audi; while the brands with the lowest grades were GMC, Buick and Dodge. The manufacturers with the largest gains, from February to March included: Toyota, which moved from a B- to an A and Porsche which moved from a C+ to a B+. The manufacturers with the steepest declines, from February to March were: Mitsubishi, which moved from a B+ to a D+; Mazda moved from an A to a B-; and Ford moved from an A to a B.

#TOP BEST CAR BUYS FOR TEENS

USAA, a financial services provider, unveiled its third-annual Best Value vehicles list naming the top 2013 automobiles offering affordability, safety and reliability. It also listed its top cars for teens. The 2013 Best Value list includes: Large Sedan, Dodge Charger; Midsize Sedan, Dodge Avenger; Small Sedan, Mitsubishi Lancer; Large Luxury Sedan, Lincoln MKS; Midsize Luxury Sedan, Audi 4; Large SUV, Chevrolet Traverse; Midsize SUV, Ford Explorer; Small SUV, Kia Sportage; Midsize Luxury SUV, Lexus RX 450h (hybrid); Large Pickup, Toyota Tundra; Sports, Scion Fr-S; Coupe, Honda CR-Z; Wagon, Audi 3; and Minivan, Dodge Grand Caravan. No vehicles met the USAA Preferred requirements in the large luxury SUV and small pickup categories this year. This year we raised the bar on the importance of safety standards. Vehicles must earn a top safety pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) to qualify as USAA Preferred, said Steve Thompson, vice president responsible for the USAA Car Buying Service. A USAA Preferred vehicle is a great value financially, and is among the safest vehicles on the road. According to USAA, Best Value automobiles offer the best overall value of all vehicles USAA evaluates as part of its proprietary rating system called USAA Preferred, which uses quantitative data to evaluate vehicles cost, safety and reliability, among other factors. There are nearly 70 cars, trucks and minivans currently designated as USAA Preferred vehicles. The Best Value list represents the vehicles that rose to the top of each category.

#INFINITI CONSIDERING PLANT IN THE US

NISSAN MOTOR CO is considering a new automobile plant in North America that can produce 100,000 premium Infiniti vehicles per year starting in 2017. The Infiniti brand in previous years has been concentrated in Japan. However, Nissan has been the most aggressive in Japan's BIG 3 to shift production outside the country in recent years. The existing operations plant in Smyra, Tenn could get a boost in opportunties to expand their facility and hire more employees.