AI and car sales, October 16. A UK dealer gave handover booking to AI

It is Friday, and this is world news from the last day. Today I cover a UK dealer where AI runs the handover calendar, a US regulator that checks ad prices, and AI agents in Rivian cars. I also cover Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Australia and used car prices in the UK and Canada. I added what I think about each story.

UK dealer Hilton Garage uses AI to book customers for car handovers#

Hilton Garage sells used cars near Derby. The dealer opened a handover centre in a former Aldi store across the road from its main site. With the building, it cost a little under £3m. Car Dealer Magazine reported this on October 15.

AI sets the handover times. It looks at when salespeople sell the most cars and manages the booking calendar on that basis. AI also helps to source stock. Scanners from UVeye take about 1,500 photos of a car in five seconds. They find damage, tyre wear and problems under the car.

Architects asked £3m to £9m for the design. The dealer made the design itself with ChatGPT. This year, Hilton Garage is on track to sell 14,000 cars, and its goal is 3,000 cars a month. Revenue for the year to May grew from £160m to £175m.

My opinion. The handover is the last half hour of the deal, and the customer remembers it. If the salesperson is busy with a new customer at that time, both meetings suffer. Hilton Garage gave the schedule to AI and left people to the salespeople.

I would start with a small step. The agent looks in the CRM for free time and offers the customer two handover slots. One day before, it sends a reminder and asks what the customer wants to know about the car. AI prepares, and a person hands over the keys and is responsible for the experience.

Source Car Dealer Magazine

The US regulator asks dealers to report price violations by competitors#

On October 15, Steve Levine and Joe Allen from Ignite Dealer Compliance Group explained the FTC price FAQs in Auto Remarketing. The Federal Trade Commission published them in September. Mandatory fees, including document fees, must be part of the ad price. A discount only for military buyers or for one lender cannot be the main price for everyone.

The rule covers the website and also calls and text messages. A dealer cannot blame the ad agency, because everyone who controls the ads is responsible. In question 14 of the FAQs, the FTC asks the public, including other dealers, to report violations with documents.

The authors advise dealers to compare the ad price with the phone price. The call centre must give the same answer every time. They also advise checking finished deals and ad vendors, and writing down each step of the check.

My opinion. Now a neighbour with an honest price can report a dealer. The weakest point is the first reply to a lead, where the call centre or the salesperson gives a price from memory.

I would give the agent that answers leads one price from one source, with all fees. Once a week, I would compare the price in messages with the contract price for ten deals. No record of every message means no protection against such a report.

Source Auto Remarketing

Penske Automotive will leave the stock market in a deal that values it at $16.3 billion#

Penske Automotive Group is one of the largest dealer groups in the US. Penske Corp. and Japan's Mitsui are buying it out. They pay $212 per share, 8.84% above the previous day's close, for the about 28% of shares they did not own yet. CBT News reported this on October 15.

After the deal, Penske Corp. will own about 64% and Mitsui about 36%. The deal should close in the first quarter of 2027. Roger Penske called it "an important next chapter", and the article gives no other reasons.

Bloomberg adds the background. Cars are expensive and interest rates are high, but people keep their cars longer and visit service more often.

My opinion. A private company does not need to report to the stock market every quarter. It is easier for it to invest in things that pay back in two or three years, for example one lead process for all stores.

For a dealer near a Penske store, the lesson is clear. The neighbour will plan for the long term. I would not watch its discounts. I would watch how fast it answers leads at night and how it treats service customers.

Source CBT News

Rivian will let outside AI agents into its cars, but not the steering or brakes#

Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said at TechCrunch Disrupt that future Rivian cars will run AI agents from outside companies. He named Anthropic as an example. Rivian's voice assistant already controls the climate and seat heating and summarizes the news. TechCrunch reported this on October 15.

A model in the car handles simple requests, and hard ones go to the cloud. The agent will not control braking or steering. Scaringe said this area needs extreme care. He gave no dates, and Rivian promised more details at its AI and Autonomy Day in December.

My opinion. The car becomes one more place where the customer talks to AI. The owner will ask the agent in the car when the next service is due and how much it costs. The question is whose answer the owner hears, the dealer's or another company's assistant.

I would collect the store's answers to common owner questions in one place now. Service prices, booking, warranty, trade-in. When the brand opens the dealer's service to the agent, the store will have the answers ready. AI answers, and a person takes the car and does the work.

Source TechCrunch

Sales in Indonesia grew 28% in September, and BYD moved up to fifth place#

Wholesale figures from the industry association Gaikindo show 79,540 vehicles sold in Indonesia in September, against 62,090 a year ago. In nine months, the market grew 21% to 679,020 vehicles. Electric car sales more than doubled to almost 120,000. Chinese brands and tax breaks drive this growth. The report came out on October 15.

Market leader Toyota grew 9% to 197,809 vehicles. BYD grew 118% to 43,727 and moved up to fifth place. Honda fell 36%. Truck sales grew 52%, because the government buys them for rural cooperatives. This year, the central bank raised its rate by 1 percentage point to 5.75%.

My opinion. The market grows, but loans get more expensive. So the buyer asks about the monthly payment before asking about the model. And next door, there is a Chinese brand that doubled in a year.

As a dealer of a Japanese brand in Indonesia, I would teach salespeople to compare the payment with the nearest BYD in two minutes. I would give the first reply to a lead, with this payment, to an agent. A customer who gets the number at night comes for a test drive in the morning and does not go next door.

Source. Just Auto

Research#

Ten used models in the UK fell more than 20% in ad prices this year#

The research comes from the car listings site CarGurus, and Car Dealer Magazine published it on October 15. It compares average ad prices since the start of January 2026, not sale prices. The Kia Ceed fell the most, 26.6% to £9,343. The Land Rover Discovery lost the most money, £7,586.

Three Land Rover models are in the top ten, including the Velar and the Evoque. The list also has the Volvo V90 and V60 and the Skoda Superb estates. The article gives no number for the whole market. Chris Knapman from CarGurus says lower prices help buyers get a bigger car for their money.

My opinion. This is good news for buyers and a risk for dealers. A trade-in bought in spring at the old price is now worth a fifth less.

Once a week, I would compare trade-in prices for these models with ad prices. And I would give salespeople a ready line for customers. "A premium SUV is a quarter cheaper than a year ago, so your budget now buys a Velar".

Source Car Dealer Magazine

Wholesale used car prices in Canada fell three times faster in one week#

These are numbers from Canadian Black Book for the week to October 10, and Auto Remarketing published them on October 15. Average wholesale prices fell 0.35%, after 0.12% the week before. In the same week in 2017 to 2019, the average fall was 0.19%.

Cars lost 0.41%, and SUVs and trucks lost 0.30%. Compact vans fell the most, 1.86%, and minivans fell 1.49%. The company says auctions have a lot of stock, and demand for cars in good condition stays strong in Canada and the US.

My opinion. When wholesale prices fall faster than usual, each extra day of a car on the lot costs money. Dealers with vans and minivans on the lot have it worst.

In such a week, I would review all cars older than 45 days on the lot every Monday. And I would ask the agent to message everyone who asked about a similar car in the last two months.

Source Auto Remarketing

In short#

Leapmotor takes over sales in Thailand and wants 100 stores by 2028. Leapmotor opened a local company and took the market from its importer, which stays a dealer with two stores in Bangkok. The brand has 12 stores with service now and plans 30 by the end of 2026 and 65 in 2027. It has sold about 450 cars so far and expects 3,000 to 5,000 by December. The number of stores grows faster than sales, so as a Thai dealer I would ask the brand who answers leads while stores are few. electrive

Suzuki prices its e Sky electric kei car in Japan below BYD and Honda. Suzuki set a starting price of 2.12 million yen, about €12,000. The range is 310 km, BYD supplies the battery, and sales start on November 16. The car may come to Europe in 2027. A cheap small electric car brings a new kind of buyer, so I would teach salespeople to talk about home charging, not power. electrive

Chery brings one more brand, iCAUR, to the UK in early 2027. Chery already sells Omoda, Jaecoo and Chery in the country. The first iCAUR model is the V27 SUV, and the number of dealers is not known yet. A fourth brand from one maker means one more sign next door. As a UK dealer, I would agree on lead terms before I sign. Car Dealer Magazine

Scottish dealer Cars4You went into administration, and all 26 staff lost their jobs. The group had sites in Edinburgh, Straiton, Dunfermline and Falkirk and listed up to 1,500 used cars. The administrators name cash flow problems and lower consumer spending. They will sell the remaining cars. A big stock without fast sales eats cash, so I would watch days on the lot first of all. Car Dealer Magazine

GWM in Australia got 1,500 expressions of interest in the new Haval H7 before sales start. GWM calls it a record for its models. The launch is next month, and the price will start below 50,000 Australian dollars. The interest came after a car show and a stand in a Melbourne shopping centre. A lead without a price goes cold fast, so I would let the agent message each person on the day the price comes out. CarExpert

Caterpillar is buying its dealer Fabick Cat, which has 37 sites in the US Midwest. Caterpillar announced the deal on October 15. The dealer has sold construction and farm equipment for about 100 years. The company says the goal is a change of owner with the same service for customers, and the price is not public. When the maker becomes the dealer, I would check as an independent equipment dealer if I answer customers faster than the factory. Powersports Business

Ford collects sign-ups for the Fathom electric pickup at $28,350. Ford asks for a name, email and ZIP code, and preorders open in early 2027. With delivery, the price is $29,945 plus dealer fees, and the range is not known yet. A ZIP code in a sign-up is a future lead for a specific dealer. I would agree with the brand now how these sign-ups will reach my CRM. CBT News

Google launched Universal Cart in the US, a cart that watches product prices. Google collects products from different stores into one cart in Search and Gemini. It tells you when a price drops or an item is back in stock, and it suggests promo codes. Checkout uses an open protocol for AI agents and stores. Buyers get used to an agent that watches prices, and I would check if AI sees my car prices and stock. TechCrunch

A CBT News column tells dealers to study customer conversations, not only numbers. Mark Cortez writes that the CRM and reports show what happened but not why. The reason is in conversations, where customers doubt, push back and ask about the payment. He cites a Cox Automotive survey in which 82% of dealers use AI in one form or another. I would start with one question to AI about last week's call recordings, which objection ends the talk most often. CBT News

Hype of the day#

These are headlines without a review. Most outlets write about them, or the source did not open.

• The Guardian. Meta releases Muse Spark Open, a new 'open-weight' AI model, 132 outlets
• Fortune. Eight states sue OpenAI saying ChatGPT hurt kids and lied to adults, 41 outlets
• The New York Times. Chinese carmakers, once a sideshow, take center stage at Paris Motor Show, 9 outlets
• Bloomberg. Chinese carmakers don't need to be the BMWs of Europe, 9 outlets
• Reuters. Stellantis testing new diesel-hybrid engine for vans, 4 outlets
• The Verge. Volvo will use Nvidia's tech for hands-free, point-to-point driving, 4 outlets
• Reuters. Global EV sales fall 2% in September, ending six-month growth streak, 3 outlets
• Automotive News. For Chinese automakers, the road to survival runs through Europe, 3 outlets