For those of you who think that social media is just a fad that will disappear in the years to come, well … uhhh … you might have another thing coming.  In the car business you often get a mixture of old school thought vs. new school.   Yesterday, this really seemed really apparent when we asked one of our senior salesmen to help provide us with a customer of his that we could interview for the blog.  His response was: “No.  Actually, I can’t wait ’til that thing (the blog) goes away.”  In the past couple years, social media has become what it is and at Runde’s we have tried to embrace it for the positive.  We run a good business and word of mouth has always been one of the cheapest and best forms of advertising.  So we figure, we’ll interview customers and ask them what they thought of their experience at Runde’s.  It’s [...]

Aside from the 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350 and the very first 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 ever made, Jay Leno has lots of toys that do things that you probably never even thought were possible … especially his new 3D scanner. What if I told you that I could clone almost any object under the size of about a yard? Better yet, what if I told you that I could, without any sort of assembly, make the cloned object fully functional as soon as I cloned it? “Bust out the straight-jacket and lock him away?” you say?  Well, FYI, all of this is possible and is actually happening at Jay Leno’s garage. Jay has this nifty little scanner called a Faro 3D Scanner which will scan an object based on thousands of points and create a 3D model of it on your computer. From there, the Dimension 3D Printer takes the image data given to it by the scan [...]

According to the title, this blog post is about fuel cell vehicles.  Not sure what they are?  Ok.  Fine, then let’s start with a conversational detour. Ever wish someone would walk up to you and hand you the keys to a new vehicle? The closest I’ve ever come to hearing about something like this, I previously mentioned when I wrote the anecdote about Doug in our Field of Dreams blog post last year. There’s also that scene from Pay it Forward, where some guy hands Jay Mohr the keys to his new Jaguar S-Type car in an effort to … you guessed it … pay it forward. I was looking at GM’s Project Driveway a little today and I checked it out to see if I might qualify to drive a new state-of-the-art Chevy Equinox fuel cell vehicle. Project Driveway is the first large-scale market test of fuel cell vehicles with real drivers in [...]

ZR1 Corvette vs. The Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter jet Blue Devil vs. Blue Angel $117,000 vs. $25,000,000 Motor City’s best vs. The U.S. Navy’s finest Click the play button below to find out who wins … You’ve got a car with a top speed of 205 miles per hour and a jet plane with a top speed of 1190 miles per hour.  Granted, the Blue Angel was going to win … even with a head start, the jet fighter was still going to win.  But it sure made for a great photo opportunity and it was great publicity for the new Corvette ZR1.

I noticed this commercial online on the American Idol website.  Thought it was pretty cool.  It starts out with a Ford Fusion sedan, which I must say is an awesome looking car.  It’s equipped with SYNC — the voice activated digital music system that Ford currently makes use of in cars like the ford Fusion sedan and Focus (you might recall the famous Focus commercial where one guy is trying to embarrass his friend by saying “Play Michael Bolton” into his friend’s SYNC system.)   Anyhoo – getting back to the Idol commercial … the lady in the Fusion says “Play artists American Idols” and then the commercial shows Adam Lambert, Danny Gokey, and Kris Allen getting into a bit of a jam, but escaping in a Ford Mustang.  It’s a little hokey (Gokey gettin’ hokey), but that was sure a sweet-lookin’ Mustang that they [...]

Below is a customer testimonial that was sent to our Runde Buick store from the Persons family from La Farge, Wisconsin. They recently purchased a Buick LeSabre Ltd from Runde’s and they after they returned home, they wrote a letter to our owners to express their gratitude and to let everyone know about the wonderful experience they had at our dealership. To the owner of Runde Auto Group:   On Thursday, March 19th at 4:30 p.m. we were near Boscobel, WI on our way to Cuba City.  We were driving our Buick LeSabre and started noticing that we were having some problems.  By the time we reached Platteville, we weren’t sure if we could make it to Cuba City, but decided to try and did make it.  Our next problem was that at 6:30 the next morning, we were leaving for [...]

The 2010 Ford Taurus made its debut at the Detroit Auto Show and it was an instant hit.  And this chic design may just be what the doctor ordered to resurrect Ford’s flagship model.   It will be heading to the Chicago Auto Show next and is sure to turn heads. Once upon a time (in 1985), Ford introduced the Taurus and it was immediately ridiculed by some critics who said that it resembled a jelly bean or a flying potato.  Nevertheless, the car’s popularity took off as Americans were eager to buy this mid-sized, unique-looking, front wheel drive car.  For five years straight in the 1990’s this aeronautical spud of a car outsold all other cars on the market as sales were in excess of 400,000 Taurus sedans annually.  During the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Taurus sales steadily declined until they discontinued production of the Taurus altogether in 2006.  Some blame the conservative designing [...]

Chrysler buyers and the American Auto Industry got a shot of adrenalin earlier this week.  Because of the U.S Treasury’s recent move to provide Chrysler Financial with up to $1.5 billion in loan dollars, the lender will now offer 0% financing on select Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge models. Qualified new vehicle buyers can apply for 0% interest for up to 60 months on ’08 and ’09 model-year Jeep Grand Cherokee, Commander, Wrangler, Chrysler Town & Country, 300,  Dodge Grand Caravan, Charger, Magnum, Ram 1500 Pickup, Ram HD, and Challenger. Chrysler vice chairman and president Jim Press had this to say about the announcement, “From both a customer and dealer perspective, it is exciting news that the Treasury Department is providing funding to Chrysler Financial. Now our customers, including those with scores in the 620 range, will be able [...]

If you’re a television buff, you’ll have to pay close attention this fall as Ford goes Hollywood.   As the new seasons of America’s hottest TV shows quickly approach, Ford Motor Company is feeling much anticipation of Ford’s small screen debut. This year, Ford vehicles are featured in one of the most-watched dramas on television, “Desperate Housewives”, as well as new series’ “Fringe” and “Knight Rider”.   Wisteria Lane has become one of the most famous street names on television, and this year it will extend it’s popularity to the newest crossover of the Ford family…the Flex. Tom Scavo, Lynette’s husband, will be cruising around the suburbs in the 2009 Flex in this season. Bob Witter of Ford Global Brand Entertainment said, “A lot of people drive a car because it’s an extension of their personality, and in the world of Hollywood, that’s one of the ways that they develop characters. We work together with [...]

It’s always nice to talk to our fantastic customers while they’re waiting on their vehicles to get serviced.  I sat and talked with Tony Fritz for a few minutes in our Chevy store, and he had nothing but good things to say about us…(we like hearing that!!) Runde Auto Chat: What kind of vehicle are you having serviced? Is it just a routine service appointment? Tony Fritz: I brought my Chevrolet Impala in for an oil change and tire rotation. RAC: Did you buy your Chevy Impala from Runde’s? TF: Yes RAC: Is there any feature it has that you will look for on your next vehicle purchase? TF: No, it’s a pretty standard package. RAC: Have you bought other vehicles from us? TF: Yes, probably 3 or 4. RAC: What is your favorite thing about Runde and how they do business? TF: They have straight-forward prices and the salesmen don’t pressure you. RAC: Do [...]