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- 🚗 Shawn Fein Ousted?
🚗 Shawn Fein Ousted?
🚙 OSS, New Talent, and Reliable Courtesy
TOGETHER WITH
August 7th.
GPT has a new tool, tariffs are in the headlines, and backpacks are back on the menu. Just another day in the dealership world!
Everything changes so often these days; it’s essential to invest in things that last.
Because in a business that never stops moving, your foundation matters now more than ever.
Keep Pushing Back,
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi
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MORE THAN CARS MOMENTS
This back-to-school season, TL-MODA partnered with Toyota, The Salvation Army, and Walmart to distribute over 16,000 backpacks filled with school supplies, 6,900 of them through dealerships. As Robert Hatchett put it, this is about investing in students and uplifting communities.
In retail auto, leading with care doesn’t slow down the business; it drives it forward.
From the Automotive State of the Union
On today’s show:
UAW Unrest: Shawn Fain’s own members are organizing to oust him, citing layoffs, retaliation, and spending concerns.
EV Record-Breaker: Chevy’s Silverado EV hits 1,059 miles on a single charge—yes, really.
Gen Z + AI = Retail Opportunity: As white-collar roles shrink, dealerships have a prime chance to bring in young, skilled talent looking for stability and growth.
From The News w/ ASOTU
Click to read the full digest.
Group 1 and Mercedes are on the Ups.
Group 1 continues to double down on luxury, acquiring Mercedes-Benz of Buckhead just as the 600,000th G-Wagen rolls off the line. The takeaway? Strong brands matter—but strong operators matter more.
Stellantis, Emissions, and the UAW
We cover more on Stellantis, layoffs, a $2.6B loss, and emissions-related legal issues are fueling internal pressure on UAW President Shawn Fain, as several locals begin the formal process of removing him from office.
Tariffs: Ford, Rivian, Lucid, and Honda
Meanwhile, tariffs are hitting everyone—from Ford to Rivian to Honda—with cost increases, profit drops, and pricing pressure making their way to showroom floors.
Every piece of today’s macro story affects the way you plan, price, source, and staff.
🥊 Quick Hits
Transform Your Dealership's Operations
Courtesy transportation isn’t optional anymore—it’s essential.
That’s why 80% of dealerships say offering Uber rides helps retain customers.
With Uber Central, you can book rides on behalf of customers—even if they don’t have the app. It’s a seamless way to elevate service, supplement shuttles or loaners, and streamline parts pickup and delivery.
Request one-way or round-trip rides, add multiple riders or stops, set spend and distance limits, and track trips in real time. Plus, you'll get monthly reports to keep track of everything.
Ready to cut shuttle costs and reduce loaner liability? Partner with Uber for Business today.
SOMETHING ELSE
OSS Models Are Breaking Free
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Yes, yes, apparently, the robot future we’ve all been hearing about will be downloadable.
Most AI tools today are rented, locked behind paywalls, APIs, and platforms. But that’s changing. OpenAI just released two new models, gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b, and they run on open weights.
Translation: no longer needing someone else's server to use them.
Here’s why that’s worth watching:
They run on consumer-grade hardware (even laptops).
They support real-world use cases, such as reasoning, tool use, and language tasks.
They’re open to full customization and don’t send data to the cloud.
What’s unfolding here is a new layer of autonomy in AI. Less dependency. More flexibility. As automation creeps into ops and customer tools, this could become one of the most significant technical culture shifts since the CRM.
Not because it’s flashier. Because it’s closer.
AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE
Your Shuttle Could Use Some Backup
Maybe your shuttle service works great…until it doesn’t. Like when a customer needs to get across town right now, or a single long ride pulls your driver out of rotation for hours. Then what?
In our recent ASOTU Edge Webinar, we unpack how dealers are using Uber to fill in the gaps without overhauling their entire operation.
Learn how with the replay here.
🔁 Today in History
1944: VW halts production due to WWII. 👨🏭
1944: IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator (the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, aka the Harvard Mark I) to Harvard. 🧮
1990: The first American soldiers arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War. 🪖
Ready for Friday?
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