What auto and AI leaders posted, October 11. One buyer for the whole group raised the car count

Sunday is about what shows up in the money right now. A dealer group stopped bidding against itself for the same car. BMW pulled ahead of Lexus in the US, and SaaStr says a junior with AI now beats a mid without it.

News from outlets is in this morning's issue. AI tips are in a separate post. I added my take to each post.

What dealers say#

One buyer for the group, and cars per month went from 120 to 154#

Car Dealership Guy shared a story about the Niello dealer group (10 stores). Dennis Gingrich, Platform and Group Executive at Niello, says the stores used to compete with each other for the same sellers. Buy leads got duplicated and lost between rooftops.

The group centralized acquisition into one person. Early result. Purchases moved from roughly 120 cars a month to 154.

My take. Any group with more than two stores loses money this exact way. A seller is one deal for the whole city, not a pin on a map for one store. If two managers call the same person an hour apart, that person picks whoever offered more. The group ends up bidding against itself.

What to do today. Check your CRM for two buy deals with the same seller from different stores in the last month. If you find one, put acquisition under one person for the whole group, not one per store.

Post by Car Dealership Guy on X

What automakers say#

BMW passed 100,000 US cars in a quarter and pulled ahead of Lexus#

Automotive News reported that BMW's US sales rose 3.4% in the third quarter and passed 100,000 for the first time (100,210 cars). Lexus had 93,056 in the same quarter, up 1.6%. BMW is widening its lead in the US luxury segment.

My take. A 7,000-car gap in one quarter is not about advertising. It is about stock. BMW has more of the cars a customer wants on the lot this week, not next month. The brand matters less here than the inventory.

Post by Automotive News on X

AI and sales#

SaaStr says a junior with AI now beats a mid without it#

SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin shared what Atlassian's Head of AI said. The company bolted AI onto more than 20 apps and almost did not ship its chat feature. After that it started hiring more juniors instead of mids. Lemkin's short line on it. "Juniors beat mids now."

My take. The same thing happens in a car sales team. A mid without AI answers a lead the old way. A junior with AI asks a question and gets an answer faster than they would wait for a mentor.

What to do today. Give a new salesperson an AI assistant for call prep in week one, not three months into their probation.

Post by Jason Lemkin on X