General Motors has been riding the recent upward trend in the automotive industry, but sales in the U.S. dropped 8.2% in April, mainly due to a drop in fleet sales. Ford also reported that their U.S. sales were down as well, this time by 5%. Chrysler, however, reported that sales were up 20% last month, making it the company’s best April showing in four years; it sold just over 141,000 cars and trucks during the month, an impressive feat. Auto transport companies have noticed a small increase in Chrysler’s popularity, but as they ship so many vehicles each year it really hasn’t been incredibly noticeable. Still, Chrysler has been making huge gains after receiving its bailout money a few years ago…let’s hope they keep it up.

The NHTSA has recently announced that they are looking into putting new regulations into place next year regarding “vehicle to vehicle” communications. The regulations would make it eventually mandatory to have such technology inside vehicles, though which specific cars or when they’ll need to have it in there has yet to be released. The technology is designed to help prevent accidents, and according to David Strickland, the administrator of the NHTSA, said it could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars. While the agency is still testing the effectiveness of such technology, it is looking promising. Auto transport companies could easily use such technology to help improve their dispatch departments and also communicating with trucks in the area, for instance if a customer books two different carriers to pickup their vehicle. If the technology is more akin to the old-fashioned CB radio, however, it may be even more useful…if people use it.

Chrysler Group LLC recently posted their profits for quarter one of 2012, and the results are pretty darn impressive: $473 million in profit, more than four times the amount recorded in that same period just last year. Net revenue for the company was up 25% over Q1 2011 to $16.4 billion, global sales increased 33% and Chrysler gained two points of share in the U.S. market, which is incredibly difficult. Auto transporters have noticed a slight increase in the number of new Chrysler vehicles being shipped, which is usual in cases like this. Chrysler has been using new marketing techniques and aiming at a younger audience as well as appealing to American buyers with their “Imported from Detroit” campaign, which has actually raised consumer confidence in the corporation. This is good news for Detroit, and for auto transporters as well, as more vehicles being bought always means more vehicles being shipped.

Penske Automotive Group is one of the country’s largest automotive retailers, sure, but they surprised everyone by showing a 38% hike in sales in the first quarter. Penske issued a statement saying that sales of new vehicles increased to $1.58 billion, while used vehicle sales jumped 22% and revenue rose 18%. Auto transporters move a lot of cars and many rely on Penske products to get from point A to point B, then from B to C, C to D, and so on and so forth. The automotive industry has been in a heap of trouble for quite some time, and it’s had resounding effects across all its related industries including auto transport. Fuel prices skyrocketing hasn’t helped matters, but it’s always good to see a company so vested in the industry doing so well.

While all fleets are currently battling the rise in gas prices and the increasing amount of technology going into vehicles, but police and other emergency fleets are having an even harder time maintaining their bottom line. To combat this, fleet supervisors have been researching current miles-per-gallon options, optimal maintenance times and current collision repair rates to help better prepare themselves in the future. Auto transporters have much the same problems, oddly enough, as they put a lot of miles on their rigs, and so these tips could work well for auto shipping fleet managers as well as police fleet managers. Telematic systems can help save in the fuel department and reduce maintenance costs as well, and with the Ford Crown Victoria being slowly phased out and replaced by the newer cruisers, it’ll help as well.