TOGETHER WITH:
Howdy, Fam!
Before anything else today, we want to ask you for something. A member of our community, Adam Gaedke, was seriously injured in an accident last month and is now working through spinal cord rehabilitation at one of the best facilities in the country.
His family is covering real, uninsured costs during all of it. If you've got it to give, even a little goes straight to Adam and his family, no cuts taken.
Okay, on to the news.
It's always good to hear from Ed Roberts. The guy's out here running 47 mobile service vans and somehow still finds time to hand us a leadership framework simple enough to actually use by lunchtime.
Also in today's email:
The leadership trick Ed Roberts uses before he ever asks for a hard change
A Texas dealer proved TikTok can outsell a five-minute meet and greet
The White House is rolling back fuel economy standards, and it changes what "efficient" means for the next decade of vehicles
Keep Pushing Back,
—Chris with Paul, Kyle & Kristi
Reading time: 4 mins 14 secs
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Bozard Ford Just Put 47 Vans on the Road, and Somehow That's Not Even the Impressive Part
"47 mobile service vans" is exciting on its own. But the real flex here isn't the fleet size, it's what Bozard Ford Lincoln did once they realized bigger wasn't automatically better.
Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
Mobile service units | Growing, unclear ceiling | 47 on the road |
BDC screens in use | 32 | 9 |
Customer visibility | Standard appointment window | Real-time, Uber-like tracking |
Transparency really builds trust.
Bozard rebuilt its BDC from 32 screens down to 9, and COO/GM Ed Roberts still thinks that's twice what's necessary. The flashy number gets the headline. The duplicate data entry nobody wanted to audit is usually where the real money's hiding.
Digital Hospitality Starts Here
Kia dealers just got a new way to speed up their websites.
Auto Genius’ Speed Layer is now available through the Kia Digital Program, giving dealers a simple way to improve site performance without rebuilding the whole thing.
Plus, next week Auto Genius CEO Ben Hadley is taking that conversation straight to the NCM Clients & Friends Digital Success Workshop.
On September 9th, he’ll join Ashley Cavazos for “Welcome Is a Performance Metric,” a fireside chat about something dealers already know matters: the digital first impression.
They’ll look at how fast your site loads, how smoothly it works, and how quickly it responds when shoppers click around—all the little things that can shape trust before a shopper ever fills out a form.
A better online experience starts with knowing where the friction is.
The Leadership Trick Ed Roberts Uses Before He Ever Asks for a Hard Change
Ed Roberts calls it deposits and withdrawals: build trust constantly, long before you need to spend it asking your team to follow you through something hard.
What's a "withdrawal?”
The moment you ask your team to follow you through something hard, a platform change, a role shift, a call they don't fully understand yet.
What happens if you only make withdrawals?
If we're only upsetting their apple cart, then we're not doing things to build the trust with that person.
What do you do with someone who just won't get on board?
Sometimes you have to promote them to customer.
🎙️ Listen to today's Automotive State of the Union episode for the complete discussion.
A Texas Dealer Proved TikTok Can Outsell a Five-Minute Meet and Greet
Payne Edinburg Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram GM Adrian Gonzalez converts 40 to 70 social media leads into sales every month, closing deals as far away as Ohio.
When customers come in, the first impression they have of a salesperson, I hate to say, is we're the scum of the earth. If someone's been following my platforms, I can build a rapport before they ever visit.
The store went from a top-five volume dealer in its region to outside the top 10 during Stellantis's rough patch, then rebuilt through content, not incentives.
The White House Is Rolling Back Fuel Economy Standards
New rules expected soon would drop the fleetwide fuel economy target to 34.5 mpg by 2031, down from 50.4 mpg under the prior administration's rules. NHTSA estimates the change cuts about $930 off the cost of a new vehicle, while increasing fuel consumption by roughly 100 billion gallons through 2050.
We want Detroit to build cars that Americans want to buy, not cars that Washington wants to build.
The retroactive 2022 baseline adjustment also gives automakers more compliance credit headroom heading into the new standard.
🚘 Car Stuff
Honda is asking suppliers for 30% cost cuts on key parts categories, part of a $9 billion push to compete with China's BYD and other low-cost EV makers, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters.
The Polestar 4 SUV launches at €57,900, and it brought back the rear window the original coupe famously shipped without, alongside more cargo space and Google Gemini as the new in-car voice assistant.
Ford's Super Duty production hit a 20-year high in August, recovering from a supplier fire that hammered aluminum-body truck output. Separately, Ford opened its first-ever public retail store at its new Dearborn HQ, selling branded merchandise, not vehicles, right across from the Henry Ford Museum.
💰 Not Car Stuff
Uber is cutting 10% of its workforce, targeting middle-management layers and "micro-teams," while also ending remote work for all but about 1% of employees.
Waymo and Zoox are both expanding into new U.S. markets, Waymo launching driverless rides in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa, Zoox testing in Houston and San Diego, just ahead of Tesla's expected Cybercab reveal event.
Anthropic released two new AI models, Claude Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1, cutting cache pricing by 75% and more than doubling a key science benchmark score. Mythos remains limited to vetted cybersecurity and life-sciences partners for now.
1995: eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar, launching what would become one of the world's largest online marketplaces and auction sites.
1967: Sweden switched from driving on the left side of the road to the right in a single coordinated day known as Dagen H, moving the entire country's traffic overnight.
1783: The Treaty of Paris was signed between Great Britain and the United States, officially ending the Revolutionary War.
Thanks for reading, Friend!
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