TOGETHER WITH:
Howdy, Fam!
EV lease payments nearly doubled between last summer and this one, and that gap is walking onto sales floors right now as a real conversation you need a talk track for.
A customer who loved their EV isn't necessarily loyal to "electric" or done with it entirely, they're often just priced out of repeating the deal they signed two years ago. That's a sales opportunity if your floor is ready for it, and a lost deal if it isn't.
Also in today's email:
VW's plan to fix its 4% U.S. market share, the very American way
Why rapid change is actually this industry's home turf, not its weak spot
Japanese automakers betting big on U.S. capacity, plus Dodge's Super Bee revival, a fresh AI funding round, and a lottery ticket rescued from the trash
Keep Pushing Back,
—Chris with Paul, Kyle & Kristi
Reading time: 4 mins
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EV Lessees Are Getting a Reality Check at Renewal, and Hybrids Are Winning the Rebound
Average EV lease payments bottomed at $538 in July 2025 and climbed to $707 by June 2026, compared to $607 for a non-EV. In California, hybrids captured 22.1% of new-car sales in the first half of 2026 versus 15.9% for EVs.
There is defection from that EV market. It is a mental hurdle to say, "Man, I used to be paying $200 a month. Now you guys want $500?"
Want the full conversation?
🎙️ Listen to today's Automotive State of the Union episode for the complete discussion.
Plenty of these customers genuinely loved their EV, they just got priced out of staying in one. A plug-in hybrid is the natural landing spot for someone who liked having a plug but can't stomach the new payment.
What This Means for Your Store
Build a specific talk track for EV lease returns, acknowledge the payment jump directly, and have a plug-in hybrid ready to show alongside the standard hybrid option.
No More Hopping
No more hopping from dashboard to dashboard. The IQ Advantage gives your team the right buyer insights right inside your existing CRM before the first call. Make every conversation start closer to customer needs and drive better outcomes.
The Future Is Moving Faster Than Ever
Automotive Ventures' Steve Greenfield makes the case that rapid technological change is opportunity, not just anxiety, and this industry has real receipts to back that up.
Consider this today
Remember that dealerships were early adopters of DMS and CRM tech, and the industry's 30-day sales cycle gives it a pivot speed most businesses would envy.
Use that speed on purpose this week, test one new tool or approach instead of waiting for things to settle down first.
VW Has 4% of the U.S. Market. A Pickup Truck Is How Every Underdog Brand Tries to Fix That.
Volkswagen is overhauling its U.S. strategy with new leadership and a U.S.-built pickup planned before the end of the decade. VW already has a $5.8 billion joint venture with Rivian sharing the same technology underpinning Scout's upcoming trucks.
Japanese Automakers Are Betting on U.S. Capacity, Tariffs or Not.
Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are each expanding or exploring new North American manufacturing capacity, driven as much by ambition and 12 years of near-full-capacity plants as by tariff pressure. Toyota's $3.6 billion San Antonio plant and Honda's exploration of an eighth North American facility are both worth watching as signals of where supply tightens or loosens next.
🚘 Car Stuff
July U.S. auto sales slipped even as hybrids powered several automakers to gains, continuing the same hybrid-over-EV pattern showing up across multiple markets this summer.
Black Book found wholesale depreciation running at twice the pre-pandemic average rate, while identifying three specific vehicle characteristics driving buyer interest as the calendar flipped to August.
Dodge is reviving the Charger Super Bee with a horsepower bump, continuing the muscle-car nameplate strategy already playing out with Ram's Rumble Bee.
STELLA Automotive AI closed a $22.1M Series B to expand its AI products for dealers.
Cox Automotive launched Secure Vehicle Transfer, a new tool aimed at fighting transportation fraud in wholesale and logistics.
💰 Not Car Stuff
A charity auction winner paid $9M for a private lunch with Warren Buffett and Stephen Curry, benefiting the Glide Foundation. Buffett's annual charity lunch auction has become a genuine philanthropic institution, this year's winning bid folds in an NBA legend for good measure.
An Italian waste collection company tracked down a $1.15M winning lottery ticket after a Bitonto resident accidentally threw it away, sorting through the trash to recover it before it was too late.
Consumer sentiment jumped nearly 12% above June's reading, according to preliminary University of Michigan data, with improvements showing up across every income, age, and education bracket. Five-year business condition expectations hit a 12-month high, though the overall mood still sits 11% below where it was a year ago.
1942: Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil received a patent for frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology, an invention that later became foundational to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and modern wireless communication.
1958: The nuclear submarine USS Skate became the first submarine to surface at the North Pole, breaking through the polar ice.
1992: The Mall of America opened in Bloomington, Minnesota, still the largest shopping mall in the U.S., spanning nearly 5M square feet with its own indoor theme park.
