Nov 21 2012
After nearly three decades of production, Suzuki has announced its departure from the U.S. automotive market. Suzuki first began manufacturing automobiles for the U.S. market in 1985 and will stop selling automobiles once their current supply runs out. They will however continue to produce motorcycles, ATV’s, and watercraft here in the U.S.
Topics: Support, Auto Portals, Automotive Data, Vehicle, Marketing, Auto Manufacturers, Automotive, Dealers
May 30 2012
NHSTA to Deploy Fleet of 2800 V2V-Ready Vehicles This Summer.
Most new vehicle technologies, including even safety features, are introduced as premium options on luxury vehicles. In the case of safety features these gradually become available to lower priced vehicle segments as it becomes more mainstream. However, the exception to this rule happens when regulations are put in place that require new technology be installed on new vehicles from a certain date forward. Based on the NHTSA’s interest in Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) technology and possible safety benefits it may become one of those exceptions before too long.
Topics: Automotive Data, Safety
Feb 24 2012
As we explained in our article "VIN-to-Trim/Style Matching Explained", VINs often are not encoded with enough information to determine a single vehicle style. This means that important details such as MSRP, MPG, and certain standard installed equipment may not known based on the VIN alone. If you're working with DMS data, there's a good chance that you have additional, valuable data at your disposal that you can use along with the VIN to decode down to a single vehicle style.
Topics: Automotive Data, VIN
Feb 22 2012
We found an interesting study this morning published by Google which describes consumer automotive shopping behavior in 2011. Some highlights below here as well as a link to Google direct for the full presentation.
Topics: Auto Portals, Fuel Economy, Automotive Data, Vehicle, Marketing, Safety, Vehicle Equipment, Dealers
Feb 22 2012
NADA 2012 this year was in one of my favorite cities out of the four city rotation - Las Vegas, Nevada. Las Vegas is an exciting city to visit under any circumstances and this excitement and energy definitely carries over into the expo. While talking with an old friend in the lobby - we were both surprized as music suddenly blared over the PA system and to my further surprize a flash mob organized in the middle of several hundred folks in the lobby into a line dance. Only in Las Vegas.
Topics: Automotive Data, Vehicle, Marketing, Dealers, NADA Conference, Conferences
Jan 10 2012
If you have read any of our other articles on VIN decoding you know already that the VIN pattern has certain information that it is required to contain in the US and Canada. However, if you acquire and review a VIN file, like VIN Basic, you will come across exceptions to even these basic rules. Here are a couple of VIN rule exceptions that have led to questions from our customers in the past.
Topics: Support, Automotive Data, VIN
Jan 9 2012
As technology, solutions and inventory processes continue to evolve, automotive marketing companies face some interesting challenges when it comes to vehicle marketing. With so many classified sites representing dealer inventory locally, regionally and nationally – it can be difficult to “rise above the rest”. This is also (maybe especially) a challenge with Franchised automotive dealer websites which represent an auto dealers inventory direct.
Read MoreTopics: Auto Portals, Automotive Data, Marketing, Auto Manufacturers, Automotive
Jan 9 2012
Developers will receive access to Manufacturer General Motor's OnStar API which is called ATOMS (advanced telematics operating system) sometime in the first half of 2012. OnStar president Linda Marshall described the consumer benefits in terms of functionality comparable to computers, smartphones and tablets as a response to the growth in the mobile applications market for Android and iOS platforms.
Topics: Automotive Data, Auto Manufacturers, Automotive, Vehicle Equipment
Nov 25 2011
Have you ever driven in England? How about in India or Japan? Many US drivers who have traveled abroad have a colorful and nerve-racking story about their experiences behind the wheel. These same people are probably confident, knowledgeable drivers in the US. In both situations, they are driving a car with much the same equipment and functionality. So what makes the experience of driving abroad so challenging and perilous?
Topics: Automotive Data, VIN
Nov 15 2011
Consumers will pick the medium, format and content that best allows them to find the information that they need, prioritized by how quickly and efficiently they can browse it and digest it. As more and more consumers opt to research within mobile applications, space and functionality become increasingly important to design elements.
Topics: Automotive Data, Mobile, Vehicle, Marketing
