Amazon Can't Sell a Single Car Without Dealer Inventory. That's the Whole Point.
LaFontaine Automotive Group runs 43 stores across Michigan, and this summer it joined Amazon Autos instead of treating the platform like a threat. Carlos Mojica, the group's senior manager of retail development, joined Auto Collabs to explain why.
Duffy's letter, made public Tuesday, accused Ford of "actively intertwining its future with Chinese state-backed enterprises." He argued American companies should "out-innovate competitors" rather than rely on them. Farley's response left little room for ambiguity:
🚗 VW Puts a €16 Billion Price Tag on Its Restructuring Plan
🚙 That's on top of a reduction of 50,000 more positions than VW had already planned. Four German plants are now on the table for closure once their current models run out over the next decade, with Volkswagen framing the move as an existential fight against Chinese competitors, steep tariffs, and years of overcapacity.
Being Friendly Doesn't Move Dollars per RO. Here's What Actually Does.
Widewail CEO Cuyler Owens walked ASOTU CON attendees through a study matching six months of customer reviews at 350+ franchise dealerships against the actual repair-order revenue behind them. The headline finding is the kind that reshapes how a store trains its team: being friendly isn't the behavior that shows up in the numbers.
Two AI Executives Say the Old "Wait and See" Strategy Won't Work This Time
Traylor and Adomitis joined the show to make the case that AI adoption in dealerships isn't following the same timeline as past shifts, and that the dealers waiting for a settled "right way" to do this may not get the runway they're expecting.
🚗 The White House Just Called Ford's China Strategy a "Troubling Picture"
🚙 Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent Ford CEO Jim Farley a letter this week expressing "profound concern" over the automaker's ties to Chinese companies, specifically its CATL battery licensing deal, its dealings with Geely and BYD, and Farley's own comments floating Chinese joint ventures on U.S. soil.
The White House Just Called Ford's China Strategy a "Troubling Picture"
Ford has been building its America-first credentials for years, more hourly workers in the U.S. than any other automaker, its own battery plants, its own workforce. The Trump administration just publicly said that story doesn't add up.
Mobile Service Just Crossed From "Early Adopter" to "Everyone's Doing This"
Curbee CEO Amit Chandarana joined the show to unpack what's actually driving that jump, and why the harder problem now isn't convincing dealers mobile service works, it's helping them execute it well.
🚙 The next three to five years are expected to separate the leaders from the laggards, according to Gartner's Pedro Pacheco. On the factory floor, AI vision systems are already catching defects human eyes miss consistently. In dealerships, chatbots have occasionally gone rogue, one reportedly offered to sell a Chevrolet Tahoe for $1.
Used EV Prices Should Have Crashed by Now. They Haven't. Here's Why.
100,000 EVs came off lease in the first half of this year. Another 200,000 are landing in the second half. Every instinct says that supply wave should have crushed used EV prices. It hasn't, and Plug CEO Jimmy Douglas says he knows exactly why.
