🚗 The Sept to Oct Slowdown

TOGETHER WITH

Howdy, Fam!

Halloween is this week, and we’d love to know what you’ve got planned for your community!

Send pictures of your in-store events, trunk-or-treats, or otherwise wild and spooky times so we can feature them in an upcoming email. 🎃

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

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THE UNION

From the Automotive State of the Union

Destination Fees Jump (Quietly, A Lot)
Edmunds says average destination charges climbed 8.5% on 2025 models to $1,549—up 27% since 2021. Biggest movers: Porsche +48%, Ford +39%, Stellantis +35%. Call it what it is: a price increase that isn’t called a price increase.

EV Workforce Reset
Rivian is trimming ~600 roles (4.5%) across sales/service/marketing amid post-credit demand softening, while still funding the R2 mainstream push. GM confirmed 200+ white-collar cuts (design/CAD) and is managing $1.6B in EV write-downs and tariff costs—tightening to protect margins as adoption normalizes.

Dealer Takeaways
Prep your teams to explain destination fees transparently (none of it goes to the store) and watch EV/hybrid mix shifts as OEMs rebalance headcount and model cadence.

Also in the Episode

• Kazakhstan field notes: a young market scaling fast with Chinese brands—useful signal for product, pricing, and supply dynamics.

• Replay worthy: last week’s strategy sessions (fixed ops, marketing, EVs, tech) packed with actionable Q4 tactics.

From The News w/ ASOTU

Market Levels Off
Cox Automotive pegs October’s pace at 15.7M SAAR, down from September’s 16.4M as tariffs and expired EV credits nudge prices higher. It’s not collapse, just a cooler, more realistic Q4 baseline.

EV Sales Recoil
According to J.D. Power, EV deliveries fell 43% YoY, pulling overall SAAR near 15.1M. Before the drop, Q3 set a record with 438K+ EVs sold. Tesla still led, but the Audi Q6 e-tron cracked the top ten, signaling new premium-segment life. Hybrids gained share as buyers recalibrated.

Toyota Keeps the Engine Warm
Global output climbed 11%, U.S. production 29%, powered by hybrid demand. Nine straight months of growth make Toyota’s lineup look prophetic, not nostalgic.

Also in the Digest

• Thailand’s quiet BEV boom — why small-market surges can shift global pricing.

• Tesla’s trillion-dollar crossroads — a pay vote that doubles as a power play over AI’s future.

TOGETHER WITH TRIVIE

The Training Problem Costing Your Dealership Sales

Here's a fact that's hitting dealerships hard: Your sales team forgets 80% of training within a month. That's thousands in training costs and lost sales opportunities down the drain.

One major US automaker tackled this across their dealer network using Trivie's gamified microlearning platform. Trivie works alongside your existing training tools to help employees retain up to 90% of what they learn - without expensive retraining or pulling staff off the sales floor.

The results: 22% boost in product knowledge with just 7.5 minutes of weekly engagement per employee.

What could similar results mean for your bottom line?

See how Trivie works.

EVERYTHING ELSE

Quick Hits

• 🤖 AI: Nvidia is kinda a big deal in AI chips, but Qualcomm’s stock is spiking following a new chip that could be a worthy rival for Nvidia.

• 🛒 Retail: Amazon plans to automate up to 75% of operations, potentially replacing 600K U.S. jobs with robots by 2033. Executives frame it as “advanced technology,” while critics question motives and community impact.

• 💰 Economy: U.S. invests in rare earth to compete with China.

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

Apple Energy, Ford Reality

Preston Automotive Group’s JB Burnett is opening Ford’s first Signature 2.0 store—a wide-open, barista-first, iPad-powered showroom where advisors act like concierges and financing takes about 90 seconds. No cubicles. No “let me ask my manager.” Just a retail space built around how people actually buy.

From waiting tables at 20 to GM at 23, JB’s journey mirrors the transformation he’s now leading—hospitality before paperwork, clarity before pressure, experience before transaction.

Dealers, take note: physical retail isn’t dying, forgettable retail is.

Read the write-up here.

Today in History

• 1492: Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba on his first voyage to the New World, surmising that it is Japan. 🤷 

• 1942: Utah imposes the Patriotic Speed Limit. 🛑 

• 1977: Tokyo Motor Show opens. 🇯🇵 

Tell somebody “howdy” from us today.