🚗 Stellantis Pulls the Plug

TOGETHER WITH

July 17th.

For a lotta folks, Sunday night is the best way to measure their career’s trajectory.

• Does Sunday night feel like the last solid ground before another week of chaos?

• Or does it feel like a satisfying end to the rest needed to launch us back into our work well?

That’s another thing about going beyond the buzzword of consistency:

Consistency in, consistency out.

Each and every member of a team brings to each and every customer the way Sunday night feels to them.

Wanna multiply your service to the community?
Serve the associates.

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

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SOMETHING FUN

Deadheads Built the Internet?!

Before Facebook or Slack, before forums were called forums, a group of Grateful Dead fans accidentally helped invent the internet.

The Well—one of the first online communities—was shaped by Deadheads who used it to swap setlists, sell tickets, and debate song lyrics.

The tools we use today to lead teams, connect with customers, and build culture, in some part, owe a little something to a band that believed in touring, storytelling, and bringing people together.

Turns out, community is the original tech stack.

Peace, love, and hyperlinks. ☮️ 

THE UNION

From the Automotive State of the Union

GM is hitting the brakes on EV plans at its Orion plant—pivoting instead to build gas-powered Escalades, Silverados, and Sierras by 2027. Paul calls it “a 180-degree turn,” and Kyle wonders aloud: Where are the hybrids? As the EV narrative gets messier, GM’s $4B move raises real questions about long-term strategy.

Also in the mix: the end of a 112-year chapter as Ohio’s oldest Ford store changes hands, and a look at how new AI tools like Claude and Perplexity are doing what Bloomberg terminals do—only faster, cheaper, and smarter. It’s not about replacing humans. As Paul and Kyle read, “It’s about giving them superpowers.”

Big shifts. Big questions. And a clear sign that tech, tradition, and timing are colliding.

From The News w/ ASOTU

Ashley Lopez Cavazos reminds us that leadership often happens after hours, but today’s big moves are happening right on the surface of the industry.

• Stellantis is pulling the plug on hydrogen vans, citing a lack of infrastructure and midterm demand.

• Renault faces a confidence crisis as its CEO exits and profits tumble.

• A heated Reddit debate over legally binding online pricing exposes the tension between transparency, flexibility, and consumer trust.

In a moment where technology, regulation, and consumer expectations are all shifting at once, one question looms large:

If your store had to honor the online price, no exceptions—what would change?

TOGETHER WITH TRADEPENDING

Almost Every Used Car Got More Expensive in June

With the exception of a couple brands, almost every brand of used car was more expensive this June compared to June 2024.

Which brands appreciated the most? Who saw the biggest declines?

Check out the full data set from TradePending, who know a thing or two about valuing cars.

SOMETHING ELSE

Keeping the Lights On

The One Big Beautiful Bill boosts oil and gas—but cuts wind and solar incentives just as electricity demand surges. For dealers, that could mean rising power costs over the next decade.

Service centers, EV chargers, and data-heavy tech stacks all pull serious juice. With fewer renewables coming online, some experts project a 13% spike in energy costs by 2035.

You don’t have to pick sides on energy policy to ask: What does this mean for my bottom line?

If energy becomes the new floor-plan interest rate… what’s your play?

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

How This Dealership Reached #1 in Retention

Why sell one person one car when you could sell them every car they (or their family) ever buy?

Patrick Abad talks about retention in the short clip above, and the full video here.

🥊 Quick Hits

• Demand for home loans dropped 10%. 🏘️ 

• The biggest piece of Mars on Earth was auctioned in New York for more than $5M. ☄️ 

• Robots can’t pick our crops or fix our plumbing, but they can apparently talk to the elderly. Maybe soon they’ll do our laughing and weeping for us, too. 🤖 

🔁 Today in History

• 1850: Vega became the first star (other than the Sun) to be photographed. ⭐️ 

• 1955: Disneyland is dedicated and opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, California. 🐭 

• 1985: The Ford Aerostar begins production. 🎩 

Y’all ready for the weekend? Take heart, Friend. We’re close.