Eric Ibara is the director of residual value consulting for Kelley Blue Book. He brings nearly 25 years of automotive industry experience to this role, which includes overseeing the company’s residual value forecasts. Additionally, Ibara regularly meets with vehicle manufacturers, finance companies and automotive fleet companies to provide consulting services.
The residual value information Ibara manages is offered as a syndicated data product and is utilized on Kelley Blue Book’s KBB.com as a component of Kelley Blue Book’s 5-Year Cost-to-Own information. Ibara analyzes historical auction data and works with in-house statisticians to build and refine forecast models that are used in developing residual values. He also is active in test-driving vehicles as additional inputs into the forecasting process.
Prior to joining Kelley Blue Book in 2006, Ibara dedicated more than a decade to Mitsubishi Motors, where he directed the financial planning department. In this position, he architected new ways of forecasting residual values for the lifecycle planning of vehicles and improved incentive cost forecasting, resulting in greater accuracy and better spending analysis for sales executives. Ibara worked closely with the remarketing group to assist with the setting of floors that achieved budget targets. He also provided analysis and support to the fleet business unit and assisted with contract negotiations. Additionally, Ibara collaborated with the pricing, marketing, and product planning teams on new vehicle debuts and product redesigns to achieve vehicle profit targets.
Prior to Mitsubishi, Ibara worked at Nissan Motor Corporation in financial planning. In this capacity, he handled long-range forecasts and strategic planning, including viability and profitability analyses for models under both the Nissan and Infiniti brands. He participated in the first studies that quantified the residual risk associated with Nissan and Infiniti lease portfolios. Ibara also has worked for Disney and served as a consultant for Price Waterhouse prior to his work in the automotive industry.
Ibara often appears as a speaker at industry conferences and is frequently interviewed on topics pertaining to residual values by media. Ibara holds a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from Purdue University, a Master of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.