🚗 Happy 4th of July!

PRESENTING

Friday, July 4th!

Today we had a special episode of The Automotive State of the Union podcast featuring Chris (that’s me). We talked about some holiday data, a fun story, and a lot of Bruce Springsteen.

Enjoy on Spotify or Apple.

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

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THE UNION

Pro Tips for the 4th

Our friends at Valley Hi are always making something cool. Brian Orteaga dropped this important reminder leading up to the 4th, and we just want to do our part in spreading the word.

People don’t buy cars on the 4th, they buy flags!

Sales Surge Early, Cool by June
Q2 new-vehicle sales came in hot but faded fast. Shoppers moved early to snag incentives and dodge tariff risks, pushing March/April sales above a 17M SAAR. But June cooled off—down 4.3% to 1.26M units and a 15.65M SAAR.

• GM saw a 7% Q2 boost, led by trucks and EVs (which more than doubled YoY).

• Ford jumped 14%, riding hybrid strength and employee pricing.

• Tesla dipped 13% as product fatigue and perception woes linger.
  As Ford’s Andrew Frick put it: “We blew the doors off the overall industry.”

Carfax: A Culture Worth Noticing
Carfax just snagged more “Top Workplace” awards—USA Today, Washington Post, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch among them. Employees praised the culture, leadership, flexibility, and shared values.
Bonus round: Rohrman Auto Group landed on the USA Today list for the first time.

Chuck E. Cheese, But Make It 21+
The arcade of your childhood just got a glow-up. Meet Chuck’s Arcade—a new concept blending retro titles like Donkey Kong with Halo and Mortal Kombat, plus pizzerias and beer/wine. With 10 locations open, it’s nostalgia with a twist, aimed at adults who grew up on animatronics and pizza parties.

🥊 Quick Hits

• Gene science is teaching mice to talk. 🐁 

• Beef prices spiked due to the 4th. 🍔 

• Del Monte has filed for bankruptcy. 🥫 

PRESENTING MORE THAN CARS

Love People, Sell Cars

ASOTU knows a secret: Dealerships are not only the best way to meet the mobility needs of consumers, but they’re outstanding places to work.

So we made “More Than Cars” a docu-series that goes behind the scenes in some of the nation’s top dealerships to hear stories from the people who make retail auto happen.

Stories about finding careers, stories about community, stories about stewardship.

Human stories.

It’s about a lot more than cars.

Check it out on Tubi, Amazon, or YouTube!

MORE THAN CARS MOMENTS

Ford, Freedom, and America!

When Marc Fogel, a Pennsylvania history teacher, was freed this February after three years in a Russian prison, the local bakery made cupcakes with his face on them.

But Richard Bazzy, owner of Shults Ford near Pittsburgh, had a different idea.

“I saw a local bakery made cupcakes and used his image,” he said. “I thought, ‘A bakery makes cupcakes. I’m a Ford dealer, I have Fords… what can I do?’”

So, he got Marc to Michigan under the guise of a plant tour and surprised him with a brand new 2025 F-150 SuperCrew hybrid. Antimatter Blue. First new truck Marc’s ever owned. Keys handed over by the F-150 chief engineer himself.

And yes, there's video of Marc kissing the hood and asking “Is this real?”

Because sometimes American freedom looks like a truck. And sometimes car dealers do things cupcakes could never dream of.

🔁 Today in History

• 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.

• 1845 – Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau's account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement.

• 1903 – The first female race car driver, Dorothy Levitt 🏁 

Until tomorrow, Friend…