AI Search Is Rewarding Transparent Dealers. Are You One?
AI search engines are increasingly citing objective, auditable pricing data over customer reviews when answering "where should I buy a car." Most dealers doing things right are already positioned to win that visibility, they just haven't checked the boxes yet.
Ken Garff Just Proved Data Infrastructure Isn't Optional
A 70-store dealer group rebuilt its data backbone and immediately clawed back 400 hours of employee time a month. That's a number every dealer group can benchmark against.
Slate's $25K Truck Proves Its Own Point by Skipping Canada Entirely
A record share of buyers are signing 84-month loans to make today's payment work. Dealers are the ones who'll feel it when those customers don't come back.
84-Month Loans Aren't a Payment Solution. They're a Can Being Kicked.
A record share of buyers are signing 84-month loans to make today's payment work. Dealers are the ones who'll feel it when those customers don't come back.
Last week, some of our favorite data nerds dropped reports worth paying attention to. We could stitch them together into one big quilt, but considering half the country is under a heat advisory, maybe that's the wrong metaphor.
Nissan Is Trying to Buy Back Its Brand, Not Just Its Sales
Nissan's turnaround plan is about more than new models. It's an acknowledgment that the way you grow sales shapes how customers value your brand for years afterward.
Service Is Becoming the Showroom Dealers Cannot Hide
Customers no longer experience your dealership only in the showroom. Increasingly, they're judging your brand through the service lane, and dealers are redesigning their facilities to reflect that.
Honda and Nissan Are Chasing the Scale Dealers Already Feel
Honda and Nissan's growing partnership isn't just about building future EVs. It's about finding a faster, less expensive way to compete in a market where complexity has become a liability.
A Smaller Market Would Make Better Retailers More Valuable
Affordability continues to weigh heavily on the industry. Monthly payments on new vehicles have climbed roughly 30% over the past four years, and nearly one in five new vehicles now carries a payment exceeding $1,000 per month.
Amazon Autos Just Became Another Door Into the Dealership
Amazon didn't replace the dealership. It added another place for customers to begin the buying journey, and that's a model more dealers should be paying attention to.
Deep Texas Is Becoming the Market Automakers Can’t Ignore Wide
As Texas closes in on California’s retail sales lead, dealers should watch how national product, pricing, and consumer assumptions start shifting with it.
CarGurus Just Raised the Bar for Price Transparency
Beginning July 14, transparent pricing won't just help build trust. It will determine how visible your inventory is on one of the industry's largest marketplaces.
One Dealer Got Tired of Arbitration. So He Built the Tool He Needed.
After managing arbitration across six Indiana dealerships that source roughly 70% of their inventory through auctions, Baldwin created a single place to file claims, track status updates, and document outcomes. If an arbitration is successful, the vehicle's history stays with the platform, giving future buyers visibility into past issues, repairs, and seller responses.
Our conversation with Yossi Levi covered everything from marketing and conversion to AI and hospitality. Three themes surfaced repeatedly: dealerships need to invest in people as much as platforms, AI is only as useful as the knowledge it's built on, and the stores creating the best customer experiences are combining hospitality with technology instead of choosing between them.
Slate Auto Thinks America Still Wants a Simple Truck
The startup says its electric pickup will start at $24,950 and generate positive gross margins. The truck features hand-crank windows, no built-in radio, a phone mount instead of an infotainment system, and a modular design that allows owners to customize it over time.
Tesla Tops the American-Made List Again. The Real Story Starts After That.
Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y once again claimed the top two spots on Cars.com's 2026 American-Made Index, extending the company's streak to six straight years at the top.
Shawn Fain's Next Challenge Isn't the Strike. It's the Future of Work.
At the UAW's constitutional convention in Detroit, Fain pointed to major wins from the 2023 labor negotiations, including gains against the Detroit Three and expanded organizing efforts at companies like Volkswagen. He also laid out an ambitious vision for the union's future, including restoring pensions and expanding the UAW's reach beyond automotive.
Consumers Trust Capri-Sun More Than AI. That's Actually Useful.
Business Insider highlighted the findings, which suggest consumers are gravitating toward familiar brands as technology and everyday life continue accelerating around them. Google's Gemini was the only major AI platform to improve its trust score. Everyone else got a reminder that adoption and trust aren't the same thing.
