Thomas Ieracitano

  From: Mike Levine Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 2:01 AM Subject: Rising Fuel Prices Create Rising Demand for Ford F-150's EcoBoost V-6 Ford's all-new 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 isn't just a high-performer on the road . The fuel-efficient engine is also tearing up the sales charts faster than expected. Sales of the 365 horsepower, 420 pounds-feet of torque gasoline twin-turbo direct-injection six-cylinder are 35 percent of all 2011 Ford F-150 half-ton pickup sales in April and currently account for 40 percent of new orders from Ford dealers, according to Ford powertrain spokesman Richard Truett. What's likely driving the rapid adoption – much quicker than we originally estimated – of EcoBoost's small-displacement GTDI technology? Fuel prices are more than a dollar higher than last year's prices and rapidly approaching $4 a gallon for regular octane fuel, according to AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report . A two-wheel drive EcoBoost F-150 carr...

  From: Chris Shunk Sent: Monday, April 18, 2011 8:01 PM Subject: <i>Consumer Reports</i>: Most car buyers not looking to downsize Filed under: Car Buying Back in 2008, gas prices soared past $4 per gallon and car buyers clamored for more efficient forms of transportation. But once fuel became affordable again, we're guessing there were quite a few Honda Civic and Chevy Cobalt owners who longed for their old SUVs. The price of gas is skyrocketing yet again, but it appears that customers aren't inclined to make that mistake again. Consumer Reports recently polled 911 new car-buying adults to gauge the size of their next vehicle, and 56 percent responded that their next car or truck will be the same size as the one it replaces. The poll shows that a quarter of the respondents did plan to downsize, but another 19 percent were inclined to buy bigger the next time around. And if you're 18-34, you're more likely to up-size your next vehic...

  From: Chris Shunk Sent: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 8:31 AM Subject: Report: Austin police looking to stockpile Crown Vics ahead of model's phase-out Filed under: Car Buying , Sedan , Government/Legal , Ford The age of the Ford Crown Victoria cop car is almost at an end, but law enforcement in Austin, Texas wants one more crack at the old standby. Actually, the police are asking city council for $4.5 million to buy 176 Police Interceptor squad cars at an average price of $25,568. Why the mad rush to buy 176 vehicles when all the new cop cars are on the way? Police officials tell the Austin Statesman that the department already has parts like computer mounts and light bars that fit on the Crown Vic, and a new model would call for a fresh batch of parts. Further, automakers haven't yet set official prices for the new models, and new models like the Taurus -based 2012 Police Interceptor and Chevrolet Caprice haven't been extensively tested in the s...

  From: Mike Levine Sent: Monday, April 25, 2011 10:21 PM Subject: How We Dyno Tested Ford's 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 and 5.0-liter V-8 Engines By Greg Whale and Mike Levine, Photos by Greg Whale In response to reader comments about observed low-end power output (or rather, the lack of measured output below 2,000 rpm) during our earlier dyno test of Ford's all-new 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6, we've rerun the test. This time, we combined engineering resources from Ford and our friends at K&N Engineering . Ford graciously flew in an engineer from Dearborn, Mich., to participate in the testing at K&N's headquarters in Riverside, Calif. We also made sure we had two 2011 F-150s to compare on the same day on K&N's SuperFlow chassis dyno – an EcoBoost V-6 and a 5.0-liter V-8. Both trucks were 145-inch-wheelbase models with four-wheel drive and 3.73 rear axles. The EcoBoost F-150 ($41,300) was a SuperCab FX4 with a 6.5-foot cargo box and 4,650...

CarMax EasyShop - Is this the FUTURE of car buying? You didn't miss the announcement of CarMax EasyShop did you? Watch the car max video click here. CarMax has just dramatically changed car buying with their new CarMax EasyShop. The service has been launched first in Raleigh and Fayetteville NC. ShopEasy allows you complete more of the car shopping process at the convenience from any computer before arriving at the store and IMO, it's looking slick! Our good friend Brian has been talking about full transactional online car buying for years here on DealerRefresh and just published an article - Seeing Your Dealership As Consumers See It . As dealers, most of us quickly nudge our shoulders at this while thinking to ourselves - "this will never work" , customers want to touch and feel a purchase of this size. Yes, there's a lot of truth in that. The percentage of consumers that are willing to buy a car sight unseen (other than photos) is very...

Your business is under attack and it's time to strike back. Every day is a battle for online leads and brand awareness. Your competitors are using new online tools such as social media and search engines to advance on your customers. Your customers are rating your company and killing your reputation. You might even be your own worst enemy if you're simply not in the online marketing war. You need your own specialized, covert digital force to give you air cover. A team that will support your ground troops. A team that will scout new social media marketing tactics and then leverage them to give you an edge. We are that team. You will get an unfair digital advantage so you can maximize social media, dominate the search engines, protect your reputation and capture more sales. If you would like more information about leveraging social media for mobile devices please contact  TheDigitalCarGuy.com . Thank you, Thomas Ieracitano 229.251.2462 Thomas@Ieracitano.com TheDigita...

Leverage Mobile Devices with Facebook Deals posted by Glenn Jimerson March 31, 2011 When was the last time you left the house without your mobile phone? Today's consumer has more access to information than any group in history. In an instant, a person can grab a map to your business, peruse your reviews, and see deals your competitors are offering all from their smart phone. The dealership that successfully leverages mobile technology has an advantage in today's market because many companies are not aware of its potential. In this article we'll discuss how you can use mobile devices to help drive more customers to your showroom. There are several players in the mobile space such as Facebook Places , Gowalla , Foursquare , and Google Latitude . These services enable people to broadcast to their social network where they are by "checking in" to a location. People are starting to make checking in a part of their daily routine. ...