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Howdy, Fam!
ICYMI: CarGurus just announced a July 14 deadline that could affect how your inventory appears in search results.
Today, we're breaking down what dealers need to check, a four-question AI framework worth borrowing, and what this week's consumer spending tells us about selling in today's market.
Keep Pushing Back,
—Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi
Reading time: 4 min and 55 sec
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CarGurus Just Changed the Cost of Being Seen
Beginning July 14, dealers who don’t properly disclose applicable fees risk losing Deal Ratings and appearing lower in search results. Even if you’re already advertising all-in pricing, it’s worth confirming your inventory feed and CarGurus settings are configured correctly.
The bigger takeaway isn’t about one deadline.
It’s about where online retail is headed.
For years, digital marketplaces competed to help shoppers find the best deal. Now they’re beginning to reward dealers who make pricing easier to understand. We’d be surprised if CarGurus is the only marketplace moving in this direction.
Are Your VDPs Earning the Click?
In a market where shoppers are stretching every dollar, your listings need to answer every question before it’s asked.
93% of car buyers use auto marketplaces in their path to purchase — and when budgets are tight, a complete listing is often what separates a click from a pass. How you merchandise your vehicles influences every stage, from AI-powered search to the moment they pick up the phone.
Our merchandising guide gives you the tactics to make every VDP work harder and turn more views into qualified leads.
Before You Buy Another AI Tool
John Coles, VP of Data & Analytics at ACV, shared a framework this week that's worth carrying into every vendor meeting. Before investing in another platform, answer four questions:
What customer problem are we solving?
Who owns the outcome?
What barrier are we removing?
How will we know it worked?
Those questions help cut through the AI hype and keep the conversation where it belongs: improving the customer experience and helping your team do better work.
We spent time with John on Auto Collabs discussing why alignment, not software, is usually the biggest predictor of AI success.
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Connected Vehicle Rules Are Becoming Product Strategy
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Polestar will no longer sell new vehicles in the U.S. beginning with the 2027 model year after failing to receive approval under the Connected Vehicles Rule.
For most dealers, nothing changes on Monday morning.
The bigger takeaway is that software, cybersecurity, and vehicle connectivity have officially become part of product planning.
Government policy is no longer influencing only tariffs and manufacturing. It's beginning to determine which vehicles can even enter the U.S. market.
This feels less like the end of one EV brand and more like the beginning of a new chapter for the global auto industry.
Reuters reports Polestar will continue supporting existing owners while shifting its long-term growth strategy toward Europe after the Commerce Department denied authorization under the Connected Vehicles Rule.
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Customers Are Still Spending. They're Just Choosing Carefully.
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Consumers are telling us two things at once this week.
Holiday spending is climbing, even with grocery prices at their highest levels in years. At the same time, the new vehicle market continues to hold near a 16 million annual sales pace despite higher fuel prices and broader economic uncertainty.
Affordability has not stopped being a challenge.
People are just buying when they believe the purchase delivers value.
We're seeing it in grocery carts and dealerships. Customers are adjusting what they buy, considering hybrids more often, moving into smaller vehicles, and looking for monthly payments they can live with.
For dealerships, that's a reminder to sell confidence, not just discounts. The stores that clearly explain ownership costs, financing, and long-term value will have an advantage when every purchase feels more deliberate.
Retail Brew reported Americans will spend more this Fourth of July despite higher cookout costs, while Automotive News and Cox Automotive expect June sales to remain resilient as hybrids and value-oriented products continue gaining momentum.
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Volkswagen May Be Rewriting the Playbook
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Volkswagen is reportedly considering up to 100,000 job cuts and four factory closures. If approved, it would represent the largest restructuring in automotive history as the company responds to Chinese competition, tariffs, and slowing European demand.
Reuters says Volkswagen's supervisory board is expected to review the proposal in early July.
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A Smaller Market Means Tougher Competition
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Bain & Company believes the U.S. auto market could shrink by more than two million annual vehicle sales by 2040 as demographics, affordability, and longer-lasting vehicles reshape demand.
For dealers, the takeaway isn't to fear a smaller market. It's to prepare for a more competitive one, where winning customers becomes even more important than waiting for demand to grow.
CNBC breaks down the demographic and affordability trends behind Bain's forecast.
The Reddit comments were...predictably Reddit, but this one captured the conversation well:
"I used to buy new for 25 years. Now I'm looking for the best condition 2020-21's I can find."
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Fuel Prices May Stay in the Conversation
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Even when oil prices fall, gas prices usually take much longer to follow. If customers continue talking about fuel costs over the next several weeks, history suggests they're responding to a real pattern, not just headlines.
Axios looked at previous geopolitical disruptions and found that retail gas prices consistently trail falling oil prices by weeks or even months.
Ford bet on AI to improve quality. Now it's bringing veteran engineers back to teach the machines what they missed. 🧙
AI's demand for memory chips is finally hitting consumers where it hurts: Apple's price tags. 😢
The AI race is moving so fast that even Google can't give Meta all the computing power it wants. 🐌
Prime Day showed shoppers will still spend big, but only after retailers cut prices deep enough. ✂
YouTube says it wants to keep the platform human. Viewers are still trying to escape the AI slop. 😠
1932: Auto Union was formed, uniting Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer under the now-famous four-ring logo. The merger helped the four automakers weather Germany's economic crisis during the Great Depression.
2007: Apple released the first iPhone. Customers camped outside stores for days to buy the touchscreen device that reshaped communication, business, and eventually everything from mobile payments to dealership apps.
2010: Tesla Motors went public on the NASDAQ under the ticker TSLA, becoming the first American automaker to launch an IPO since Ford in 1956.
Thanks for reading, Friend! Bye for now.
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