Managing Automotive Blog

Welcome to “Beyond the Lot,” a podcast series hosted by Kevin Timson that invites industry experts to weigh in on trends and auto retail business topics.

ArentFox Schiff represented Grupo Inlosa, a Mexico-based automotive retail group expanding its US operations, in acquiring Toyota of Pharr in February. The store was purchased from Penske Automotive Group Inc., a publicly traded US automotive retailer. Grupo Inlosa anticipates that the new store will complement its nearby Buick GMC dealership.

ArentFox Schiff advised Knight Automotive Group, a Canada-based automotive retail group, in its sale of Elk Grove Subaru to Lithia Motors, Inc., the nation’s largest automotive dealership group (ranked by total units sold).

ArentFox Schiff represented Trophy Automotive Dealer Group in acquiring Kia of Cerritos, the nation’s second highest-volume Kia dealership, from Lou Sobh Automotive.

As car buyers rush to get in front of tariffs — which are widely expected to boost sticker prices — the flood of demand has been pushing new vehicle prices ever higher, with the trend unlikely to stop any time soon, experts said.

A Michigan economics group, calculating tariff impact after President Donald Trump’s latest executive orders, has estimated that the least-impacted vehicles will still face a $2,000 tariff and the most impacted will see a tariff of $15,000.

AFS Automotive’s Franjo M. Dolenac appeared on a panel with alumnus, Rob Cohen of Vitu, at the New Motor Vehicle Board’s Roundtable held in Sacramento, California on April 27, 2025 to talk about late title transfers for used vehicles.

Cox Automotive predicts 700,000 fewer vehicles will be sold in the United States this year due to tariff volatility.

AFS Automotive’s Kevin Timson and Charles Gallaer chatted with the Eastern New York Coalition of Automotive Retailers on their latest stop of the “2025 Buy-Sell Hot Topics” tour.

Final order requires company to pay over $630,000 in fines and change its business practices.

Automotive Group Leader and Los Angeles Managing Partner Aaron Jacoby shared his insight on autonomous vehicles in a special ride-along with Waymo robotaxi.

AFS Automotive’s Kevin Timson and Charles Gallaer tell us about top trends that impact negotiations in dealership acquisitions.  Have a listen to their first stop on the “2025 Buy-Sell Hot Topics” tour!

In this episode, Aaron H. Jacoby, who leads AFS Automotive, and Franjo M. Dolenac explore challenges dealerships face with the onslaught of DMV investigations into late title and registration transfers and resulting administrative, civil, and criminal actions.

Proposed settlement requires Leader and its Canadian parent company, AutoCanada, to turn over $20 million, include full offering price in ads, and get consent for all charges.

The consent order includes a $1.5 million fine and other non-monetary penalties.

ArentFox Schiff Automotive Group Partner Sara Judge was quoted in a recent Automotive News article regarding a case involving Nissan North America’s sales performance metrics.

ArentFox Schiff represented Keeler in its sale to Open Road Capital of a majority stake in Keeler’s business, which operates Mercedes-Benz, Honda, BMW, and Mini dealerships in Albany, NY and Ridgefield, CT.

The nation’s car dealerships experienced total losses of more than $1 billion as the result of a nationwide hacking and ransomware attack on their software and systems last month.

Hyundai said it does not ‘condone any intentional falsification of sales reporting data and [has] launched an immediate investigation.’

A group of Hyundai Motor dealers has sued the South Korean automobile giant in Chicago federal court for allegedly inflating sales numbers for electric vehicles.

Ford Motor Co. is recommending dealers halt investments related to selling electric vehicles until after it completes a review of its requirements in June.

Connected vehicles, and concerns about the data they collect, are making headlines.

Today, the Federal Trade Commission adopted a final rule purporting to ban noncompete covenants for workers nationwide, which will become effective 120 days after publication in the Federal Register, unless first enjoined in long-anticipated litigation to challenge the FTC’s attempted rulemaking.

The Automotive Group sponsored and attended the National Association of Dealer Counsel conference in Napa Valley.

On April 16, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it will hold a special Open Commission Meeting on Tuesday, April 23 at 2:00 p.m. ET, for purposes of voting on its proposed final rule banning noncompete agreements.