TOGETHER WITH:
Howdy, Fam!
Julie Kimes of O'Daniel Automotive Group told Automotive News that the thing that scares her about AI is someone taking it away from her. Losing a tool that cut her workload in half would be a tough adjustment, no doubt. But with all due respect, Julie, have you ever found a snake in your house?
Today, we're looking at how Julie and a few other dealers are keeping their AI helpful, safe, and firmly under control.
So tell us, fam: what AI tools are you leaning on these days, and which one would you miss most if it disappeared tomorrow?
Also in today's email...
How four dealer groups are building guardrails around their AI
Farley and Reuss say patience wins, but the clock keeps speeding up
a Mercedes-sized snag in the Chinese vehicle bill, GM's recycled batteries, and BMW's comeback plan
Keep Pushing Back,
—Chris with Paul, Kyle & Kristi
First-time reader? Subscribe Here!
Dealers Are Moving Fast on AI, With Guardrails Built In
Julie Kimes, marketing director at O'Daniel Automotive Group in Fort Wayne, Indiana, says AI has cut her workload by more than half. Her biggest fear about the technology? "If somebody would take my AI away from me."
She's not alone. More than 8 in 10 dealers now use AI in some capacity, according to Cox Automotive. And as developers warn about AI tools slipping their constraints, stores are building their own safeguards.
Here's how a few are doing it:
Ray Laethem Buick GMC, Detroit: President Jeff Laethem vets every vendor and limits who can access AI, aiming for the balance between "being innovative and being safe."
Dorsett Automotive, Terre Haute, Indiana: AI chat transcripts don't save consumer information, and prompts are written to prevent hallucinations.
Koons Motors, Maryland: Owner Alex Perdikis keeps strict data privacy rules and vets vendors' security. His hope is that AI helps employees "work smarter and faster, not necessarily harder."
O'Daniel Automotive Group: A nightly ChatGPT report audits the group's websites. When the agent recently started listing dead pages, Kimes caught the drift and got it back on track.
What safeguards do the experts recommend?
Himanshu Khandelwal of AlixPartners suggests three: assign an employee to approve AI recommendations on pricing or repair diagnoses before they reach customers, audit AI outputs regularly, and know exactly who's accountable when the tool gets something wrong.
The stores getting the most out of AI keep a person in the loop for every decision that touches a customer.
Make Every Appraisal Count
Your service drive is already full of used inventory.
Join us next Wednesday, October 7th at 2:00pm EDT as Scott Pettitt from Del Grande Dealer Group walks through the process his team uses to find and acquire vehicles across both service and sales.
He gets into appraisal consistency, customer conversations, and the operating habits that helped the process stick across multiple rooftops.
If your trade strategy changes depending on who is working, give this one 30 minutes of your time.
Farley and Reuss Say Patience Wins, but the Clock Keeps Speeding Up
At the Automotive News Congress, Ford CEO Jim Farley and GM President Mark Reuss made the same case:
stay the course. Farley credited Ford's rise to top mass-market brand in J.D. Power's 2026 Initial Quality Study to "a complete obsession with the details." Reuss said GM won't "whipsaw" on EVs, even after $11 billion in EV-related charges this year.
Farley also warned that it's "too late" for Europe to hold off Chinese automakers, whose share there jumped from virtually zero in 2020 to 12% in August. The US, he said, still has time "to be considerate."
Can a three-year plan survive an 18-month world?
On Wednesday's show, Kyle pointed out that Chinese automakers run 18- to 24-month development cycles, while legacy automakers still plan three to four years out. Paul added that US automakers also face policy swings with each new administration.
Commit to what your customers need, and build a store that can adjust when the plan changes.
For more on this, with Paul and Kyle:
The Chinese vehicle bill may carve out room for Mercedes.
The Senate bill would ban automakers with more than 15% Chinese ownership, and Mercedes-Benz has nearly 20% passive Chinese ownership. "What we're not going to do, obviously, is ban Mercedes-Benz vehicles in America," said Sen. Bernie Moreno.
Sen. Rand Paul, the bill's lone holdout, says it can move forward if the Mercedes issue is removed. Moreno hopes to win fast-track approval before the Senate adjourns until November.
GM is building new EVs with old EV batteries.
A pilot with Cirba Solutions turned 80 end-of-life battery packs into 12 metric tons of new cathode material made with 100% recycled nickel, cobalt, and manganese.
Cells made with it are now in Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC EVs headed to customers. Kyle called it an unlock for EV affordability, since battery cost remains one of the biggest hurdles for EVs.
BMW laid out its comeback plan, and its first electric 3 Series leads the way.
After three profit warnings in just over three years, BMW's automotive margin fell to 2.3%.
Bernstein analysts say BMW is targeting 3% to 5% by 2028 and 8% to 10% by the early 2030s, backed by a luxury SUV above the X7 and expanded M and Alpina lineups.
The new i3, the second model on BMW's Neue Klasse platform, charges from 10% to 80% in 21 minutes and is rated for up to about 567 miles on Europe's WLTP cycle.
🛰️ Radar Check
Tesla opened $30 billion in credit lines with Citi and Wells Fargo as it plans $25 billion in capital spending this year, up from $8.5 billion in 2025. It says it doesn't expect to draw on them this year.
America.gov put an AI front door on the federal government, answering plain-language questions from 29,000 government websites. One of its first suggested questions: how to book a national park campsite.
A new statue in Almaty, Kazakhstan, honors strangers who linked arms in 2016 to pull a dog and its owner out of a reservoir. Visitors can grab the outstretched hand and join the rescue.
1890: Congress establishes Yosemite National Park. (No word on whether booking a campsite was any easier back then.)
1908: Ford introduces the Model T, the car that put America on wheels.
1971: Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida.
Thanks for reading, Friend!
