TOGETHER WITH:
Howdy, Fam!
This week, we started a conversation about operations.
Somehow, we ended up talking about people.
The people behind the process. The people behind the customer experience. The people every dealership depends on more than they probably realize.
That felt worth spending a little more time with. 👇
Keep Pushing Back,
—Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi
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We covered the essentials with CDG
Our conversation with Yossi Levi went right to the center of dealership operations: marketing, AI, conversion, hospitality, and the people expected to make all of it work.
Here are a few main takeaways:
The stack got bigger. The team didn’t.
Dealers keep investing in platforms, but the people running them are often stretched thin.
Websites, CRMs, CDPs, ad platforms, attribution tools, AI, and vendors all need direction. One or two people cannot turn a growing tech stack into a better customer experience without time, support, and strategy.
AI only knows what you teach it.
Before AI can sound like your store, it has to understand how your store actually works.
Trade exceptions, escalation paths, service-to-sales handoffs, and manager judgment often live in people’s heads. That tribal knowledge needs to be documented before it can be useful.
Customers remember people.
Technology reduces friction. People create connection.
The best stores are not choosing between hospitality and tech. They are building both.
That was the real point: build dealerships that people want to work for and customers want to return to.
Check out the full conversation here.
Profit starts at the appraisal
Every car you acquire either builds profit or gives it away. That decision happens at appraisal.
But if you’re still managing inventory with metrics that force you to react by cutting prices and chasing the market — you’re giving up margin along the way.
This free ebook breaks down an appraisal-driven strategy built on four modern metrics so you can source the right vehicles, reduce risk, and protect front-end gross from the start.
If you’re ready to stop reacting and start building profit, this is where to begin.
American-made is getting more complicated
Tesla topped Cars.com’s 2026 American-Made Index again, but Honda and Acura landed four models in the top ten, while Ford and GM showed up later than many shoppers may expect.
Dealers should be ready for more sourcing questions. Customers are hearing about tariffs, reshoring, supply chains, and pricing. The store that can explain where a vehicle is built, what it supports, and why that affects value can turn a confusing headline into a trust-building conversation.
California’s connected-car law points to what’s next
California’s new connected-car rules are aimed at protecting domestic violence survivors by limiting remote access and location tracking in qualifying situations. Automakers support the goal, but warn the July 1 deadline could disrupt sales because some required tech is not ready.
For dealers, this is a preview. Remote access, app permissions, privacy, and data controls are becoming ownership topics, not just software topics. Teams need to understand how connected features work before customers arrive with questions.
Affordability may be more about the payment than the price
Axios reports that Cox Automotive sees vehicle prices, adjusted for inflation, as relatively stable over the last decade. The harder hit is financing, with higher interest rates pushing payments up.
Dealers can use this in the showroom. Help customers separate vehicle price from total ownership cost, monthly payment, insurance, and borrowing costs. That conversation is where clarity can win.
Toyota is closing the gap on GM
Cox Automotive forecasts Toyota at 1.25 million U.S. sales through the first half of 2026, up nearly 1%, while GM is projected at 1.33 million, down 7.2%. The big factor: hybrids are having a moment, while EV adoption remains uneven.
China’s EV influence keeps spreading
Ford says its new affordable EV platform can compete with China through efficiency, aero work, LFP batteries, and lower-cost production. At the same time, China’s EV exports hit a record $9.2B in May, led by Southeast Asia, while Chinese EV tech is entering India through supply and platform deals even as Chinese automakers remain largely blocked there.
The takeaway: China’s EV pressure is no longer limited to China. It is shaping cost, speed, battery strategy, and global product planning.
🚘 Quick Hits
Slate Auto is betting less is more. Slate says its simple electric pickup will start at $24,950 with hand-crank windows, no built-in radio, and a modular design. At $25K, the question is not whether people like cheap trucks. It is whether they will choose simple over familiar.
Honda may bring back the Element. Automotive News reports Honda plans to revive the Element in 2029 as a hybrid crossover built in Ohio. If true, boxy, useful, and a little weird may be back on the menu.
Meta wants in on prediction markets. Meta is reportedly building a standalone prediction market app called Arena, using play money instead of real cash and AI to generate and resolve questions. It is part social app, part betting-shaped engagement machine, and very Meta.
Wendy’s gets meme-stock attention. Wendy’s stock jumped as retail investors started treating the struggling burger chain like a turnaround bet. A new CFO may help the story, but Reddit chatter appears to be doing some of the lifting.
Trump wants DOJ to look at gas prices. President Trump accused oil companies of not lowering pump prices fast enough as crude costs eased. Gas prices have come down from last month, but remain higher than a year ago, keeping fuel costs in the political and consumer spotlight.
Supergirl opens to a rough review. Variety was not kind to the new Supergirl, calling the script flat and the movie too eager to prove its attitude. Superhero fatigue may not be over, especially when the cape comes with a “punk rock” label.
1998 - Microsoft launched its highly anticipated operating system, Windows 98.
1972 - a massive political and public panic erupted in Australia after a prominent motoring journalist published a front-page exposé warning about upcoming "bullets on wheels" sold to ordinary motorists.
2009 - triggered the first true global infrastructure stress-test of the modern web era.
Thanks for reading, Friend!
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