Latest news with #Napleton
Associated Press
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
Napleton Auto Group Achieves Record Score in 2025 Dealer Group Study Measuring Response to Website Customers
MONTEREY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 2025-- Napleton Automotive Group dealerships ranked highest in the 2025 Pied Piper PSI ® Internet Lead Effectiveness ® (ILE ® ) Auto Dealer Group Study, which measured responsiveness to internet sales leads coming through dealership websites. Following Napleton were Ciocca Automotive, Herb Chambers Auto Group, and Berkshire Hathaway Automotive. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Source: 2025 Pied Piper Auto Dealer Group Internet Lead Effectiveness Study (USA) Pied Piper submitted customer inquiries through 2,105 automobile dealership websites representing 26 of the largest USA auto dealer groups. Each inquiry asked a specific question about a vehicle in inventory and included a new customer name, email address, and local telephone number. Pied Piper then evaluated the speed and quality of dealership responses sent by email, telephone, text, and chat over the next 24 hours. Each group's overall ILE Score is a combined average of their individual dealership ILE performances. ILE evaluations consist of over 20 differently weighted measurements, based on best practices that are mathematically most likely to generate sales, combining into an overall ILE score ranging from 0 to 100. Napleton Achieved Highest Score on Record, What Behaviors Drove This Accomplishment? 2025 marks the fourth year in a row that Napleton Automotive Group achieved the top score in the annual ILE Auto Dealer Group study. Napleton improved their average score by four points for 2025, reaching an average ILE score of 91, the highest average ILE score on record and becoming the first brand or group to achieve an average ILE score in the 90s. How Did the Industry Perform Over the Past Year? Average dealer group performance increased only slightly – up one point - over last year, but performance has improved substantially over the past three years. Nine groups achieved average ILE scores over 70 in 2025, while three years ago in 2022 only two groups achieved ILE scores over 70. Despite the improvement, there remains a large 50-point spread in ILE score performance in the 2025 study, with nine dealer groups improving their ILE score over the past year and seven groups declining in overall score. Dealer Groups that Improved: Nine of the 26 dealer groups studied in 2025 improved their ILE scores over the past year, on average increasing by 5 points, with two groups improving by 10 points. The most notable improved behaviors of these nine dealer groups were more appointments offered, more questions answered by texting, and answering questions faster on average than last year. Dealer Groups that Declined: Seven of the 26 dealer groups in the 2025 study had lower ILE scores than the previous year, with an average decrease of -4 points and two groups declining -8 or more points. Dealer groups that scored lower in 2025 were less likely, compared to 2024, to 'do both fast,' less likely to respond by phone, and less likely to use texting to answer questions. Comparing Top Dealer Groups to the Overall Auto Industry Using the '80/40' Rule: Compared to the overall auto industry, top performing dealer groups tend to be much quicker and more effective at responding to online customers. In this year's ILE studies, 73% of the dealerships from the top five highest scoring dealer groups scored above 80 (providing quick and thorough personal responses), compared to only 40% of the dealerships for the auto industry overall. Similarly, only 6% of the dealerships from the top five dealer groups scored under 40 (failing to personally respond to website customers), compared to 19% of the dealerships throughout the total auto industry. 'Identifying a brand or group's dealerships scoring under 40 and over 80 is an efficient way to determine where improvement efforts should be focused,' said Cameron O'Hagan, Pied Piper's Vice President of Metrics and Analytics. 'Historically, we have found that dealerships that improve their ILE performance from scoring under 40 to scoring over 80 on average sell 50% more units from the same quantity of website customer leads.' 2025 Dealer Group Performance Compared: Response to customer web inquiries in the 2025 study had large variations by group, as shown by these examples: Why Was This Study Conducted? 'Modern customers visit dealership websites first, and today's sales success is driven by how the dealerships respond,' said O'Hagan. 'The difficulty is that the website customer experiences are often invisible or distorted by traditional dashboards, which makes this portion of dealership performance easy to overlook.' For more than 15 years, Pied Piper has independently published annual industry studies that rank the omnichannel performance of brands and dealer groups. These studies track how industry performance changes over time and let clients understand how their own performance compares. Pied Piper clients order ongoing Prospect Satisfaction Index ® (PSI ® ) measurement and reporting – internet, telephone or in-person – for their dealerships, as tools to improve and maintain omnichannel sales and service effectiveness. Pied Piper clients have found that the key to driving dealership improvement is showing what sales and service customers are really experiencing – which is often a surprise. About Pied Piper Management Company, LLC Monterey, California - based Pied Piper helps brands and national retailer groups improve the omnichannel sales & service performance of their retailers. Pied Piper's PSI process applies data science analytics to determine the omnichannel sales and service best practices most likely to drive unit sales and loyalty. PSI then uses a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning and human actors to measure and report how effectively retail locations follow those best practices. Examples of other recent Pied Piper PSI studies include the 2025 Internet Lead Effectiveness ® (ILE ® ) Auto Industry Study (Subaru was ranked first), the 2024 Service Telephone Effectiveness ® (STE®) Auto Industry Study (Honda's Acura brand was ranked first), and the 2024 Telephone Lead Effectiveness ™ (TLE ™ ) Pontoon Boat Industry Study (BRP's Sea-Doo brand ranked first). For more information about Prospect Satisfaction Index ® study results or to apply ongoing PSI measurement and reporting to improve performance, go to View source version on CONTACT: Pied Piper Ryan Scott [email protected] (831) 648-1075 KEYWORD: UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: MARKETING ONLINE RETAIL RETAIL COMMUNICATIONS AUTOMOTIVE GENERAL AUTOMOTIVE SOURCE: Pied Piper Management Company, LLC Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/05/2025 12:01 AM/DISC: 05/05/2025 12:01 AM
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Napleton Auto Group Achieves Record Score in 2025 Dealer Group Study Measuring Response to Website Customers
Overall industry average score improved: faster email and phone responses and more use of texts to answer customer questions Large variance in dealer group performance: 50-point spread in average scores, with 9 groups improving and 7 declining from the previous year MONTEREY, Calif., May 05, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Napleton Automotive Group dealerships ranked highest in the 2025 Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness® (ILE®) Auto Dealer Group Study, which measured responsiveness to internet sales leads coming through dealership websites. Following Napleton were Ciocca Automotive, Herb Chambers Auto Group, and Berkshire Hathaway Automotive. Pied Piper submitted customer inquiries through 2,105 automobile dealership websites representing 26 of the largest USA auto dealer groups. Each inquiry asked a specific question about a vehicle in inventory and included a new customer name, email address, and local telephone number. Pied Piper then evaluated the speed and quality of dealership responses sent by email, telephone, text, and chat over the next 24 hours. Each group's overall ILE Score is a combined average of their individual dealership ILE performances. ILE evaluations consist of over 20 differently weighted measurements, based on best practices that are mathematically most likely to generate sales, combining into an overall ILE score ranging from 0 to 100. Napleton Achieved Highest Score on Record, What Behaviors Drove This Accomplishment? 2025 marks the fourth year in a row that Napleton Automotive Group achieved the top score in the annual ILE Auto Dealer Group study. Napleton improved their average score by four points for 2025, reaching an average ILE score of 91, the highest average ILE score on record and becoming the first brand or group to achieve an average ILE score in the 90s. Reliably Answering Customer Questions Fast: In this year's study, 90% of Napleton customers received an answer to their question by email/text within one hour; a five-point improvement over last year and 30 points higher than the 2025 dealer group industry average. Large Increase in Use of Texting to Answer Questions: Napleton in the 2025 study answered website customer inquiries by text 73% of the time on average, a large 19-point increase over their performance last year that significantly outpaced the overall industry's 3-point improvement in texting behaviors in 2025. Quicker Average Phone Response: 96% of Napleton website customers in the 2025 study received a phone call within 24 hours, with 3 out of 4 receiving a call within 15 minutes. "Did Both Fast" for More Inquiries: Answering an inquiry by email/text and also phoning, all within one hour, greatly improves the odds of reaching customers. Emails can land in spam/junk and be missed, customers often ignore calls from an unknown number and don't listen to voicemail, and even texts can be lost or ignored among the large volume of messages many people receive per day. Napleton "Did Both Fast" 82% of the time on average, three points higher than last year and 42 points higher than the total dealer group average. How Did the Industry Perform Over the Past Year? Average dealer group performance increased only slightly – up one point - over last year, but performance has improved substantially over the past three years. Nine groups achieved average ILE scores over 70 in 2025, while three years ago in 2022 only two groups achieved ILE scores over 70. Despite the improvement, there remains a large 50-point spread in ILE score performance in the 2025 study, with nine dealer groups improving their ILE score over the past year and seven groups declining in overall score. Dealer Groups that Improved: Nine of the 26 dealer groups studied in 2025 improved their ILE scores over the past year, on average increasing by 5 points, with two groups improving by 10 points. The most notable improved behaviors of these nine dealer groups were more appointments offered, more questions answered by texting, and answering questions faster on average than last year. Offered More Appointments: Dealer groups that improved in 2025 attempted to set an appointment 7% more often than in 2024 on average. More Effective Use of Texting: Texts sent by dealer groups with higher scores in 2025 were on average 6% more likely to answer a customer's online inquiry. Answered Questions Quicker: On average, dealer groups that improved over the past year had a 9% increase in the rate of answering internet customer questions within 1 hour. Dealer Groups that Declined: Seven of the 26 dealer groups in the 2025 study had lower ILE scores than the previous year, with an average decrease of -4 points and two groups declining -8 or more points. Dealer groups that scored lower in 2025 were less likely, compared to 2024, to "do both fast," less likely to respond by phone, and less likely to use texting to answer questions. "Did Both Fast" Less Frequently: Inquiries sent to the dealer groups in decline this year were on average 5% less likely to receive a "did both fast" response, where both their question is answered, and they receive a phone call within the first hour. Responded by Phone Less Often: Dealer groups in decline on average were 5% less likely in 2025 to respond to an online inquiry by phone, with the rates of three dealer groups declining by more than 10%. Reduced Use of Texting: Dealer groups that declined in 2025 were on average 12% less likely to send a text, and their texts answered the customers question 6% less often than last year. Comparing Top Dealer Groups to the Overall Auto Industry Using the "80/40" Rule: Compared to the overall auto industry, top performing dealer groups tend to be much quicker and more effective at responding to online customers. In this year's ILE studies, 73% of the dealerships from the top five highest scoring dealer groups scored above 80 (providing quick and thorough personal responses), compared to only 40% of the dealerships for the auto industry overall. Similarly, only 6% of the dealerships from the top five dealer groups scored under 40 (failing to personally respond to website customers), compared to 19% of the dealerships throughout the total auto industry. "Identifying a brand or group's dealerships scoring under 40 and over 80 is an efficient way to determine where improvement efforts should be focused," said Cameron O'Hagan, Pied Piper's Vice President of Metrics and Analytics. "Historically, we have found that dealerships that improve their ILE performance from scoring under 40 to scoring over 80 on average sell 50% more units from the same quantity of website customer leads." 2025 Dealer Group Performance Compared: Response to customer web inquiries in the 2025 study had large variations by group, as shown by these examples: "Answered Question" - How often did the group's dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer's question? More than 90% of the time on average: Ciocca Automotive, Herb Chambers Auto Group, Napleton Automotive Group Less than 60% of the time on average: Ed Morse Automotive Group, Bergstrom Automotive "Phoned Customer" - How often did the group's dealerships respond by phone to a website customer's inquiry? More than 90% of the time on average: Napleton Automotive Group, Ciocca Automotive, Holman Automotive Less than 45% of the time on average: West Herr Automotive Group, Greenway Automotive, Premier Automotive, Bergstrom Automotive "Offered an Appointment" - How often did the group's dealerships offer to set an appointment for specific date/time? More than 50% of the time on average: Napleton Automotive Group, AutoNation, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, West Herr Automotive Group Less than 20% of the time on average: Serra Automotive, Premier Automotive, Asbury Automotive Group, Greenway Automotive, Bergstrom Automotive "Did Both" - How often did the group's dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer's question and also phone the customer? More than 80% of the time on average: Napleton Automotive Group, Ciocca Automotive, Herb Chambers Auto Group Less than 30% of the time on average: Greenway Automotive, Premier Automotive, Bergstrom Automotive Why Was This Study Conducted? "Modern customers visit dealership websites first, and today's sales success is driven by how the dealerships respond," said O'Hagan. "The difficulty is that the website customer experiences are often invisible or distorted by traditional dashboards, which makes this portion of dealership performance easy to overlook." For more than 15 years, Pied Piper has independently published annual industry studies that rank the omnichannel performance of brands and dealer groups. These studies track how industry performance changes over time and let clients understand how their own performance compares. Pied Piper clients order ongoing Prospect Satisfaction Index® (PSI®) measurement and reporting – internet, telephone or in-person – for their dealerships, as tools to improve and maintain omnichannel sales and service effectiveness. Pied Piper clients have found that the key to driving dealership improvement is showing what sales and service customers are really experiencing – which is often a surprise. About Pied Piper Management Company, LLC Monterey, California - based Pied Piper helps brands and national retailer groups improve the omnichannel sales & service performance of their retailers. Pied Piper's PSI process applies data science analytics to determine the omnichannel sales and service best practices most likely to drive unit sales and loyalty. PSI then uses a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning and human actors to measure and report how effectively retail locations follow those best practices. Examples of other recent Pied Piper PSI studies include the 2025 Internet Lead Effectiveness® (ILE®) Auto Industry Study (Subaru was ranked first), the 2024 Service Telephone Effectiveness® (STE®) Auto Industry Study (Honda's Acura brand was ranked first), and the 2024 Telephone Lead Effectiveness™ (TLE™) Pontoon Boat Industry Study (BRP's Sea-Doo brand ranked first). For more information about Prospect Satisfaction Index® study results or to apply ongoing PSI measurement and reporting to improve performance, go to This press release is provided for editorial use only, and information contained in this release may not be used for advertising or otherwise promoting brands mentioned in this release without specific, written permission from Pied Piper Management Co., LLC. View source version on Contacts Pied PiperRyan Scottrscott@ (831) 648-1075 Sign in to access your portfolio
Business Wire
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- Business Wire
Napleton Auto Group Achieves Record Score in 2025 Dealer Group Study Measuring Response to Website Customers
MONTEREY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Napleton Automotive Group dealerships ranked highest in the 2025 Pied Piper PSI ® Internet Lead Effectiveness ® (ILE ®) Auto Dealer Group Study, which measured responsiveness to internet sales leads coming through dealership websites. Following Napleton were Ciocca Automotive, Herb Chambers Auto Group, and Berkshire Hathaway Automotive. 'Modern customers visit dealership websites first, and today's sales success is driven by how the dealerships respond.' Pied Piper submitted customer inquiries through 2,105 automobile dealership websites representing 26 of the largest USA auto dealer groups. Each inquiry asked a specific question about a vehicle in inventory and included a new customer name, email address, and local telephone number. Pied Piper then evaluated the speed and quality of dealership responses sent by email, telephone, text, and chat over the next 24 hours. Each group's overall ILE Score is a combined average of their individual dealership ILE performances. ILE evaluations consist of over 20 differently weighted measurements, based on best practices that are mathematically most likely to generate sales, combining into an overall ILE score ranging from 0 to 100. Napleton Achieved Highest Score on Record, What Behaviors Drove This Accomplishment? 2025 marks the fourth year in a row that Napleton Automotive Group achieved the top score in the annual ILE Auto Dealer Group study. Napleton improved their average score by four points for 2025, reaching an average ILE score of 91, the highest average ILE score on record and becoming the first brand or group to achieve an average ILE score in the 90s. Reliably Answering Customer Questions Fast: In this year's study, 90% of Napleton customers received an answer to their question by email/text within one hour; a five-point improvement over last year and 30 points higher than the 2025 dealer group industry average. Large Increase in Use of Texting to Answer Questions: Napleton in the 2025 study answered website customer inquiries by text 73% of the time on average, a large 19-point increase over their performance last year that significantly outpaced the overall industry's 3-point improvement in texting behaviors in 2025. Quicker Average Phone Response: 96% of Napleton website customers in the 2025 study received a phone call within 24 hours, with 3 out of 4 receiving a call within 15 minutes. 'Did Both Fast' for More Inquiries: Answering an inquiry by email/text and also phoning, all within one hour, greatly improves the odds of reaching customers. Emails can land in spam/junk and be missed, customers often ignore calls from an unknown number and don't listen to voicemail, and even texts can be lost or ignored among the large volume of messages many people receive per day. Napleton 'Did Both Fast' 82% of the time on average, three points higher than last year and 42 points higher than the total dealer group average. How Did the Industry Perform Over the Past Year? Average dealer group performance increased only slightly – up one point - over last year, but performance has improved substantially over the past three years. Nine groups achieved average ILE scores over 70 in 2025, while three years ago in 2022 only two groups achieved ILE scores over 70. Despite the improvement, there remains a large 50-point spread in ILE score performance in the 2025 study, with nine dealer groups improving their ILE score over the past year and seven groups declining in overall score. Dealer Groups that Improved: Nine of the 26 dealer groups studied in 2025 improved their ILE scores over the past year, on average increasing by 5 points, with two groups improving by 10 points. The most notable improved behaviors of these nine dealer groups were more appointments offered, more questions answered by texting, and answering questions faster on average than last year. Offered More Appointments: Dealer groups that improved in 2025 attempted to set an appointment 7% more often than in 2024 on average. More Effective Use of Texting: Texts sent by dealer groups with higher scores in 2025 were on average 6% more likely to answer a customer's online inquiry. Answered Questions Quicker: On average, dealer groups that improved over the past year had a 9% increase in the rate of answering internet customer questions within 1 hour. Dealer Groups that Declined: Seven of the 26 dealer groups in the 2025 study had lower ILE scores than the previous year, with an average decrease of -4 points and two groups declining -8 or more points. Dealer groups that scored lower in 2025 were less likely, compared to 2024, to 'do both fast,' less likely to respond by phone, and less likely to use texting to answer questions. 'Did Both Fast' Less Frequently: Inquiries sent to the dealer groups in decline this year were on average 5% less likely to receive a 'did both fast' response, where both their question is answered, and they receive a phone call within the first hour. Responded by Phone Less Often: Dealer groups in decline on average were 5% less likely in 2025 to respond to an online inquiry by phone, with the rates of three dealer groups declining by more than 10%. Reduced Use of Texting: Dealer groups that declined in 2025 were on average 12% less likely to send a text, and their texts answered the customers question 6% less often than last year. Comparing Top Dealer Groups to the Overall Auto Industry Using the '80/40' Rule: Compared to the overall auto industry, top performing dealer groups tend to be much quicker and more effective at responding to online customers. In this year's ILE studies, 73% of the dealerships from the top five highest scoring dealer groups scored above 80 (providing quick and thorough personal responses), compared to only 40% of the dealerships for the auto industry overall. Similarly, only 6% of the dealerships from the top five dealer groups scored under 40 (failing to personally respond to website customers), compared to 19% of the dealerships throughout the total auto industry. 'Identifying a brand or group's dealerships scoring under 40 and over 80 is an efficient way to determine where improvement efforts should be focused,' said Cameron O'Hagan, Pied Piper's Vice President of Metrics and Analytics. 'Historically, we have found that dealerships that improve their ILE performance from scoring under 40 to scoring over 80 on average sell 50% more units from the same quantity of website customer leads.' 2025 Dealer Group Performance Compared: Response to customer web inquiries in the 2025 study had large variations by group, as shown by these examples: 'Answered Question' - How often did the group's dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer's question? More than 90% of the time on average: Ciocca Automotive, Herb Chambers Auto Group, Napleton Automotive Group Less than 60% of the time on average: Ed Morse Automotive Group, Bergstrom Automotive 'Phoned Customer' - How often did the group's dealerships respond by phone to a website customer's inquiry? More than 90% of the time on average: Napleton Automotive Group, Ciocca Automotive, Holman Automotive Less than 45% of the time on average: West Herr Automotive Group, Greenway Automotive, Premier Automotive, Bergstrom Automotive 'Offered an Appointment' - How often did the group's dealerships offer to set an appointment for specific date/time? More than 50% of the time on average: Napleton Automotive Group, AutoNation, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, West Herr Automotive Group Less than 20% of the time on average: Serra Automotive, Premier Automotive, Asbury Automotive Group, Greenway Automotive, Bergstrom Automotive 'Did Both' - How often did the group's dealerships email or text an answer to a website customer's question and also phone the customer? More than 80% of the time on average: Napleton Automotive Group, Ciocca Automotive, Herb Chambers Auto Group Less than 30% of the time on average: Greenway Automotive, Premier Automotive, Bergstrom Automotive Why Was This Study Conducted? 'Modern customers visit dealership websites first, and today's sales success is driven by how the dealerships respond,' said O'Hagan. 'The difficulty is that the website customer experiences are often invisible or distorted by traditional dashboards, which makes this portion of dealership performance easy to overlook.' For more than 15 years, Pied Piper has independently published annual industry studies that rank the omnichannel performance of brands and dealer groups. These studies track how industry performance changes over time and let clients understand how their own performance compares. Pied Piper clients order ongoing Prospect Satisfaction Index ® (PSI ®) measurement and reporting – internet, telephone or in-person – for their dealerships, as tools to improve and maintain omnichannel sales and service effectiveness. Pied Piper clients have found that the key to driving dealership improvement is showing what sales and service customers are really experiencing – which is often a surprise. About Pied Piper Management Company, LLC Monterey, California - based Pied Piper helps brands and national retailer groups improve the omnichannel sales & service performance of their retailers. Pied Piper's PSI process applies data science analytics to determine the omnichannel sales and service best practices most likely to drive unit sales and loyalty. PSI then uses a combination of artificial intelligence, machine learning and human actors to measure and report how effectively retail locations follow those best practices. Examples of other recent Pied Piper PSI studies include the 2025 Internet Lead Effectiveness ® (ILE ®) Auto Industry Study (Subaru was ranked first), the 2024 Service Telephone Effectiveness ® (STE®) Auto Industry Study (Honda's Acura brand was ranked first), and the 2024 Telephone Lead Effectiveness ™ (TLE ™) Pontoon Boat Industry Study (BRP's Sea-Doo brand ranked first). For more information about Prospect Satisfaction Index ® study results or to apply ongoing PSI measurement and reporting to improve performance, go to
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Zoinks Scoob! There's A Volkswagen ID Buzz Mystery Machine For Sale
The best part about Volkswagen's ID Buzz is its retro styling. From the brightly colored two-tone paint jobs to its front fascia and overall design inspired by the original Type 2 Bus, it looks great and unlike anything else on the road. If you really want to stand out, though, and think the Buzz could lean even harder into the retro look, one dealership is delivering with a Scooby-Doo–inspired wrap on one ID Buzz it has listed for sale. Napleton's Volkswagen of Urbana, Illinois has a 2025 ID Buzz done up to look like the iconic Mystery Machine from the Scooby-Doo franchise, and given the Buzz's styling, it works. In addition to the green and blue livery, the Buzz has been given the same orange flower graphics and 'The Mystery Machine' script covering the windows as the Scooby gang's van. (That wrap over the side windows does seem to make the second and third rows a lot darker inside.) I called the dealer to get more info and was told the wrap was a custom job, though they wouldn't tell me exactly who did the work. Whoever it was did a great job, because it looks like it could have come from the factory like this. Underneath the wrap is a plain single-tone Candy White paintjob, one of the Buzz's no-cost options. Sadly the retro customization doesn't go any further than the exterior. While the Mystery Machine from the Scooby-Doo cartoons and movies has an interior with colors and flower graphics to match the outside, this Buzz has its factory interior intact. All seven seats are covered in dark brown leather, while the door panels and lower part of the dash are dark blue, a color scheme VW calls Midnight. Whoever buys this thing should take it to the next level and Scooby-ify the interior, too. If you want the chance to drive this real-life Mystery Machine, you will have to pay a premium for it. This ID Buzz is a base rear-wheel-drive Pro S model, which starts at $61,545; with a charging cable and pre-paid maintenance thrown in, its MSRP came out to $61,980. The dealership confirmed to me that thanks to the cost of the wrap, along with an added market adjustment, it's asking $76,295 for the Mystery Machine — that's about five grand more than a fully loaded Buzz 1st Edition. Honestly, if I had the money, I'd probably go for it. For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
CBS News
08-02-2025
- Automotive
- CBS News
Chicago Auto Show hosting annual black-tie preview event for charity
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Chicago Auto Show was hosting its First Look for Charity event on Friday at McCormick Place. Several organizations will benefit from the preview of this year's show, including Lurie Children's Hospital, Advocate Health Care, Habitat for Humanity, and more. One non-profit is hoping the big night will have a big impact. Getting a reception room ready can get complicated, and Steve Napleton was doing his best on Friday. He admitted his job is easier than the setup downstairs at the Chicago Auto Show, the biggest and longest-running car show in the nation. "We're trying to get it done in an hour. They've probably been here for weeks," he said. But with help from his family, the room is almost ready for a big night. Of course, when the Chicago Auto Show opens, it'll be all about the cars, but the night before it's about the non-profits. The First Look for Charity benefits 18 local non-profits. In years past, ticket sales from the black-tie event raised almost $3 million in a single night. Napleton is founder of Violet Foundation for Pediatric Brain Cancer, a non-profit named for his late daughter, who he described as "sassy and funny and sweet." "My daughter, Violet, was 3 when she was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, which is an extremely aggressive form of brain cancer," he said. "We lost her almost three years ago. It will be three years on February 26th." The Violet Foundation raises money to fund cancer research and to support families with kids in treatment. "Since we started 2 ½ years ago, we've helped 149 different families across the country," Napleton said. Supporters are invited to a reception room at McCormick Place before the black-tie event; a night for nice cars and a good cause. "We're having a little pre-party in this room at 6:00," Napleton said. "I think we're really having a big impact."
