Penske Using Recalls to Connect with Customers, from Automotive News.
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. – Penske Automotive Group’s service and parts operations raked in roughly $260.3 million in overall retail automotive gross profit during the first quarter of 2015. This marked a 5.8-percent year-over-year increase and also accounted for 41.4 percent of the company’s gross profit mix in the quarter.
When asked how much of a tailwind recall services were adding the parts and service business at Penske, the group’s chairman, Roger Penske, said the results were a bit “lumpy.” But they certainly have provided a chance to connect with consumers.
“We looked at what the recall activity, how does it really impact us, and I think it goes from 5 to 10 percent of our business,” Penske said. “It’s kind of lumpy. You get a big surge of recalls, then you might not have any for three or four months.”
Penske went on to point out that “any little defect that’s found on an automobile” nowadays, ever since the General Motors’ ignition switch recall, becomes its own recall due to the government safety regulations put in place by the NHTSA.
