Lotlinx’s Len Short digs beneath the headlines to review a litany of first quarter auto retail and finance reports and distills them into four key points in his latest contribution to DealerELITE. +

Kerri Wise has joined Lotlinx as chief marketing officer, bringing 25 years of industry experience to the inventory management solutions provider as it grows and leans into AI and machine learning technology. +

Lotlinx’s latest VIN-based Quarterly Vincensus Report finds that, despite a March sales surge for new and used vehicles, aging inventory undermined profitability over the course of the first quarter. +

Ford has launched “From America, For America,” a new campaign offering employee discounts on most of the factory’s U.S. lineup, in a bid to offset a new tariff on imported vehicles that goes into effect today. +

The owner of two Los Angeles-area Nissan dealerships says the factory orchestrated a “deliberate and nefarious scheme” to “suffocate” his rooftops by purposely depriving them of needed inventory. +

Lotlinx’s Len Short says artificial intelligence and machine learning have quickly become critical elements of a successful inventory management strategy, far outpacing human intuition. +

Hyundai Motor America has been ordered to pay a multimillion-dollar award to Universal Hyundai of Orlando, Fla., for breaching Universal’s franchise agreement as well as Florida’s Dealer Act. +

vAuto reports U.S. sales of all pre-owned vehicles increased by 5.6% to 1.57 million units year-over-year, but certified pre-owned sales were down 3.4% compared with February 2024. +

DealNow.com’s Brad Parker says platforms that connect dealers with sellers of privately owned vehicles need built-in identity verification and fraud prevention tools to avoid costly mistakes. +

Germain Toyota’s Wendell Hardy tells WardsAuto’s Alysha Webb the secret to mining the service drive is to “keep it simple” by training, setting attainable goals and making every customer an attractive offer. +