🚗 28% Surge, Spring Optimism, and Smarter Videos

🚙 Market Shifts, Dealer Impact, and AI’s Role in Retail

March 13, 2025

TOGETHER WITH

If we ever get bored telling stories about dealers changing lives, pinch yourself because you’ve dozed off and are in a terrible, terrible dream.

Today, we’ve got some news, tips on making cameras work for you, and a lovely story about a dealer working with Vehicles for Change to get one young family on the road!

Keep Pushing Back,
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here!
Reading time: 3 min and 06 sec

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

🎉 ASOTU CON 2025!

Did you know that 85% of businesses use AI?

The 2025 Workplace AI Report from Teco says that number is up from 66% last year.

At this rate, we can only have two relationships with AI: Keeping up or Catching up.

So, at ASOTU CON 2025, we’re bringing humans who have done the messy work of learning how AI serves their team, community, and bottom line. Not just experts, dealers, collaborators, and people deep in the retail auto community who have built their experience through collaboration, innovation, and good old-fashioned trial and error.

Grab your ticket to ASOTU CON, and let the convergence begin!

Sales Surge, Infrastructure Changes, Recalls = Opportunities, and Spring Sentiment

⚡ EV Sales Surge Despite Market Shifts

U.S. EV sales jumped 28% this year as buyers rush to claim fading tax incentives and avoid looming tariffs. Despite the spike, automakers are shifting strategies, with some leaning back into hybrids.

Is all this industry movement thanks to Tesla? Check out the video above to see why Kyle thinks it just may be.

🔋 Charging Here, Struggling There

Swedish battery giant Northvolt filed for bankruptcy, setting back Europe’s EV battery plans.

Meanwhile, Google-backed Gravity is proving ultra-fast charging can work, hitting 40K sessions with its 500 kW chargers (200 miles in 5 minutes) and expanding to 20 more cities.

🔧 Millions of Unfixed Recalls = Service Opportunity

A tech tool tracking recalls has identified 7.2M unfixed repairs in Ohio alone, leading to 2M completed fixes. With 20% of U.S. vehicles still carrying open recalls, dealers have a prime opportunity to drive service revenue and build customer trust.

📈 Dealer Sentiment: Spring Optimism, But Profit Challenges Persist

The Cox Automotive Dealer Sentiment Index shows market confidence rising for the second straight quarter, but profitability remains a challenge. EV uncertainty continues, with most dealers expecting sales to decline in the next three months despite recent growth.

More

Read the full rundown of these stories and several more on here.

🥊 Quick Hits

  • Inflation cooled last month! 😎 

  • Dealership internet lead response is still improving. ⏲️ 

  • Spinal Tap 2 is coming this summer. 🎸 

4 Tips for Instantly Better Videos

giphy

Grab your phone, shoot a video, and send. It’s easy to make “just okay” personalized videos.

TradePending offers up four very easy-to-do tips for turning your average videos into excellent videos.

A Dealer’s Gift of Independence

KSLA

For many, a car is just a way to get from A to B. But for Harmony Alexander, it’s life-changing.

The 21-year-old single mom from Shreveport, LA, has been juggling college, working as a vet tech, and raising her 8-month-old son, Harmon. Until now, unreliable transportation made every day a struggle. That changed when Mark Hebert, a NADA board member and dealer at Hebert’s Town & Country Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, stepped in.

Through the Vehicles for Change program, Hebert provided Harmony with a 2013 Ford Taurus—not as a handout, but as an opportunity. With just $950 financed over 12 months, plus a six-month/6,000-mile warranty, she now has the keys to independence.

“Owning a vehicle will change our lives by giving us access to more opportunities and allowing me to rely on myself instead of others,” Harmony shared.

Since 1999, Vehicles for Change has helped put 8,000+ cars in the hands of families who need them most. Dealers like Hebert are proving that this industry is about more than just selling cars—it’s about helping people drive toward a better future.

One more lovely way to love people more than you love cars.

🔁 Today in History

  • 1930: The discovery of Pluto is announced by Lowell Observatory. 🧊 

  • 1947: The Maserati A6 1500, the company’s first production car, debuts. 🥇 

  • 1969: The Love Bug movie premiers. 🎦 

Reply

or to participate.