Here are five must-read, must-watch auto news stories, reviews, and videos for Tuesday, April 14, 2015.
INSIDE THE AUTO DEALER BUSINESS
The Detroit Free Press quotes the National Automobile Dealer Association’s chief economist, Steve Szakaly: “Total dealership gross margins fell for a fifth year in a row to 13.1% of total dealership sales,” in 2014. But profits at auto dealers increased nearly 7% last year.
INSIDE THE AUTO MEDIA BUSINESS
Autofocus’s Mark Richardson used to be an autos editor at the Toronto Star. The Toronto Star used to publish Jeremy Clarkson columns. It wasn’t always easy to be the Canadian editor for the bombastic Brit.
RECALL
No status change since Friday’s Nissan and BMW fuel pump recalls. There will soon be a recall posted on the NHTSA site, however, for the Fiat 500e.
REVIEW
Everyone loves the Volkswagen Golf R, the newest one even more than the older one, the older one more than the one before that. The Wall Street Journal’s Dan Neil is no different. Year-to-date, VW USA has sold 840 Golf Rs along with 5754 GTIs. The overall Golf line is America’s 40th-best-selling car.
WATCH
Linking to a Golf review makes this a great time to show a Golf commercial. An old Golf GTI commercial, that is. Where the owner actually uses a key, not “proximity access.”
