🚗 Clones?

Good morning, Fam!

Before we get into the good, the bad, and the weird of today’s news, let’s check in with a pretty dope story from our friends down in South Texas.

Sames Auto Group kept it simple. Come in, take a test drive, and they’ll kick $10 over to Driscoll Children’s Hospital. No hoops, no pressure, just show up and drive.

They set a goal of 2,000 test drives, which puts them on track to send up to $20,000 to support care for more than 175,000 kids in their community.

That’s the kind of idea that just works. Take something you’re already doing every day, aim it at something that helps people, and invite folks to be part of it.

I love it.

Are you cooking up any cool ideas for spreading some goodness in your community? Hit reply and tell us how.

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

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Rising gas prices tied to the Middle East conflict are pushing consumers into EVs, just not how the industry expected. Rental demand is spiking, not showroom traffic. Hertz saw EV rental requests jump nearly 25% month over month, while Turo bookings surged as gas crossed $4 per gallon.

From the podcast side, the takeaway is sharper: rentals are acting as a trial funnel. People who would never commit to an EV purchase are trying one for a weekend to save money, then realizing they like it.

Meanwhile, new EV sales are still down 25% year over year. Used EV pricing and rental demand are rising instead, creating a split market.

Dealers should read this as exposure, not conversion. The test drive is happening off your lot.

Nearly one-third of trade-ins now carry negative equity, averaging over $7,000 rolled into the next loan.

JD Power confirms the same trend: 31.3% of vehicles are underwater, with average monthly payments hitting a record $812.

Longer loan terms are masking the pressure. Over 90% of these deals stretch to 72 months or more, with some pushing even further.

In response, incentives are climbing. Average incentive spend is up over 11% year over year, helping keep deals moving despite the weight.

This is not a pricing problem. It’s a structure problem.

Cox Automotive is acquiring Fullpath, bringing an AI-native customer data platform into its ecosystem.

The goal is clear: unify fragmented dealer data and automate marketing at scale. Fullpath’s system stitches together CRM and DMS history into a single customer profile, enabling personalized campaigns with attribution from click to purchase.

With 40,000+ dealer relationships and assets like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, Cox can deploy this broadly and fast.

This is less about a new tool and more about control of the data layer.

If your data is scattered, someone else will organize it for you and charge you for access.

AI-generated dealership clones are stealing tens of thousands per victim while damaging the reputation of real stores.

Scammers are building full fake sites with listings, staff photos, and even video testimonials. They often promise things like a “14-day buy-back guarantee” to build trust.

Victims only realize the fraud when the car never arrives, and many leave negative reviews on the real dealership’s profiles.

If you are not actively managing your digital identity, someone else might already be.

Rivian has started production of its more affordable R2, aiming to broaden its customer base and move toward profitability.

At the same time, Honda is taking a $15.7 billion hit tied to EV restructuring, including canceling planned U.S. models due to weak demand.

And Stellantis is exploring bringing European models into Canada if regulations loosen, looking for flexibility as global markets diverge.

The throughline is simple: no one is fully committed to a single path.

Flexibility is becoming the strategy, not the backup plan.

No one trusts the guy who says he can replace a transmission in an hour, because in this industry, confidence comes from knowing the work was done right.

The same applies to AI.

While most AI tools promise faster answers, if your data lives in silos across systems and departments, it will work from an incomplete view of your dealership. That leads to inconsistent numbers, extra manual work, and decisions based on guesses. That’s why context matters.

Spark AI is the industry’s only unified AI data layer. It connects your systems, cleans your data, and gives every AI solution a complete, accurate view of your operation.

So, your team gets answers quickly. Answers you can actually trust.

Join Reynolds & Reynolds at ASOTU CON, May 12–15 in Baltimore, and experience innovative solutions powered by intelligence worth trusting.