🚗 What Netflix Just Proved About Dealerships

TOGETHER WITH

Our friends at Porsche Tysons Corner are doing what dealers do best—showing up with compassion and community.

In honor of World Prematurity Day, Neal Rife shared on LinkedIn that his team partnered with the March of Dimes to assemble and donate care bags for families with newborns in the NICU.

It’s a beautiful reminder: sometimes the best thing we can do is step back and let the medical experts provide direct care—but there is always a role for someone willing to help.

Parents, siblings, caregivers, and even the nurses pulling long shifts all need support. And time and time again, dealers prove they are some of the most supportive professionals we know.

Great work, Friends.

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

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THE NEWS

Profits Are Still Great…But Not for Everyone

Haig’s latest report says the quiet part out loud:

• Average pre-tax profits at publics are up 13% YOY.

• Blue sky values? Still hovering near record highs.

• 149 rooftops traded in Q3.

Translation: this is still a very good time to be a strong operator. Or a seller. Or both.

But baked into that good news is a reshuffle: under-performers like CDJR and Nissan are showing up as value-entry plays, while high-performers are still getting near-peak multiples. The market is rewarding clarity, not hope.

Automakers Are Playing Musical Chairs

Quick hits from the factory front:

• Nissan is cutting more production at Kyushu thanks to chip issues tied to Nexperia. Not ideal when your domestic retail sales are already down.

• Honda is resuming normal production in North America as its chip supply stabilizes. Light at the end of that tunnel.

• Toyota just dropped $912M into U.S. plants to expand hybrid production and jobs across the South. While the industry debates EV vs. hybrid vs. ICE, Toyota’s quietly saying: “We’ll build what actually sells.”

If you’re a dealer, the signal is clear: product and production risk isn’t theoretical. It’s your future inventory, your service drive, your buy-sell math.

Affordability: The Customer’s Check Up

Cox Automotive’s affordability index says October got a little worse… again.

• Average new-vehicle payment: $766.

• Weeks of income needed: 36.43, inching up.

• Incentives dropped, rates stayed high-ish, and prices barely eased.

Your customer is doing this math long before they meet your desk manager. If your strategy assumes “they’ll figure it out,” that’s not a strategy.

Service Is the New Plot Twist

Slate Auto’s move to rely on independent shops (via RepairPal) for EV warranty and high-voltage work is… bold.

On one hand: convenience, local access, lower overhead.
On the other: if the experience is inconsistent, the brand pays the price.

Here’s the dealer takeaway:

• Service still builds the relationship.

• Whoever owns that relationship—dealer, startup, or indie shop—owns the next sale.

You already have the facilities, the techs, the trust. Now’s the time to lean into it, not coast on it.

TOGETHER WITH VAUTO

Not All Inventory Is Created Equal

Used inventory is coming in from more places than ever. But let’s be honest—not every car on your lot is pulling its weight.

Some channels deliver volume. Others deliver margin. A few just deliver headaches.

Join us TODAY, November 19th at 2:00PM EST as Derek Hansen (vAuto) and Drew Hall (Cloninger Auto Group) walk through how Cloninger fine-tuned their sourcing data, tied it to store-level outcomes, and built a system to buy smarter, appraise better, and stay on course.

Register now to discover what each channel is really doing for your dealership.

(Can’t make it this afternoon? No worries! Register anyway and we’ll deliver the video right to your inbox after it airs.)

EVERYTHING ELSE

Netflix House Wins?

We talk all the time about the allure of online shopping, the “death of brick-and-mortar,” and the idea that physical retail is an old-world drag on a digital future. But then Netflix—the company that killed Blockbuster—opens a 100,000-sq-ft Netflix House in a former Lord & Taylor and proves the opposite: people still want a place to go.

And here’s the kicker: critics are comparing the staff to Disney and Universal. Not the décor. Not the tech. The people.

Because you can build the prettiest, flashiest, most Instagram-ready space on the planet—but if the humans inside it phone it in, customers won’t come back.

This is the lesson for every retailer and every dealership:
Experience is built by people, not architecture.
And intentionality costs $0 compared to a remodel.

If Netflix gets that, we should too.

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

Coming Soon

• TOMORROW, November 20: Automobility LA at the LA Auto Show, Los Angeles, CA

• February 3-6: NADA Show 2026, Las Vegas, NV

• May 12-15: ASOTU CON 2026, Hanover, MD

Today in History

Ford pulled the plug on Edsel on November 19, 1959, after massive costs, overhyped marketing, and a lackluster public reception. Despite a flashy 1957 debut, its polarizing design and shared Ford components doomed it. The brand lost millions, ending after just 118,297 cars and three troubled years.