October 2011

TrueCar, Inc. completes acquisition of ALG, Inc.

(Oct. 4, 2011) SANTA MONICA, Calif.-- TrueCar, Inc., the publisher of real-time new (TrueCar.com) and used (ClearBook.com) vehicle pricing data in the U.S. market, has announced that it has completed its acquisition of ALG, Inc. formerly a subsidiary of DealerTrack Holdings, Inc. and the industry source for automotive residual values.
 
In support of this acquisition of ALG, TrueCar has also announced that Larry Dominique will be joining TrueCar as Executive Vice President of the Data Solutions Group.  Dominique comes to TrueCar from Nissan North America where he served as Vice President, of Advanced and Product Planning and Strategy. Dominique brings a unique point-of-view to TrueCar – with extensive experience from the OEM perspective, leveraging pricing data and residual values (future value).

Meet the 45,000 station car radio

(October 4, 2011) NEW YORK — Hammacher Schlemmer has introduced the 45,000 station car radio. It's a device that plays live streams from local or global AM, FM, and Internet-only radio stations.

The unit plugs into a car's 12-volt power socket and connects to an iPhone running a free app that allows you to search music stations by genre or quickly navigate through thousands of talk-radio and news stations.

Japanese brands losing ground due to supply; domestics, Hyundai benefit

(October 4, 2011) IRVINE, Calif. — Kelley Blue Book www.kbb.com today reports that Japanese automotive brands are losing ground due to supply, while the domestics and Hyundai benefit, as covered in the company's Blue Book Market Report for October 2011. The Japanese brands' revenue and volume are at stake as they replenish inventory. 

September inventory figures for Japanese brands improved slightly over August, giving the first indication that the worst may be over. 

Declining engine quality leads to less satisfaction with medium-duty trucks

(October 3, 2011) WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — While the quality of medium-duty trucks has improved considerably during the past five years, overall customer satisfaction has declined during the same period, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2011 U.S. Medium-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study.