Warren Buffett Just Modeled the Succession Plan Most Dealer Groups Never Write Down
Warren Buffett is stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway's chairman at 96, handing the role to his son Howard immediately, and closing out a transition that started when Greg Abel took the CEO title last year.
Ford Wants Dealers Selling Software. It Should Also Let Them Get Paid For It.
Ford now has 1.6 million paid subscribers across its connected-services business, and Mike Aragon, the executive running it, made clear this week that dealers are the plan, not an afterthought.
Volkswagen Wins the Service-Scheduling Fight Nobody's Watching
Pied Piper's second annual Service Scheduling Effectiveness study checked something most dealerships assume works fine until a customer proves otherwise: can someone actually book a service appointment without giving up?
🚗 GM Finally Shared Power Figures for Its New V-8s
🚙 The power numbers get customers in the door. Reliability is the question your team needs a real answer for before a customer who's already read the comments brings it up first.
Michael's Back from Istanbul. Here's What the Data Missed.
We covered the skepticism data out of Istanbul last week. Michael just got back and sat down with Paul this morning to fill in what the survey numbers couldn't show: what the room actually sounded like, who's really running the market over there, and one dealership doing something we don't really see here.
🚙 GM made a confident, forward-looking bet in both cases, on removing CarPlay and on skipping straight to EVs, and reality didn't cooperate with either one. CarPlay was fixable with a software update once GM admitted the miss. The hybrid gap isn't fixable that fast. It requires actual product GM doesn't have yet.
GM released a blog post Tuesday detailing the new infotainment system debuting in the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra, and buried inside the feature list is the real headline: Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are coming back.
The FTC Just Told Dealers Exactly What "Price" Has to Mean
The FTC published a full FAQ document on Sept. 15, following the warning letters that went out to 97 dealership groups back in March. This isn't new law, but it's the clearest the agency has ever been about how existing law applies to a car ad.
🚙 The first-ever West Coast ASOTU CON is live for ticket sales, and pre-release access already moved before the public sale even opened this morning. That kind of early movement on a brand-new market usually means one thing: don't sit on this one.
ASOTU CON West Tickets Are On Sale Now. Here's Everything You Need to Know.
ASOTU CON West lands in Los Angeles on November 18, our first time taking the event outside its usual home base. Public tickets are on sale now, with pre-release access already available to clients of our founding sponsors.
Carvana Turned a 30-Car Dealership Into Stellantis's Top Seller. Here's What That Actually Proves.
Carvana bought Casa Grande Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram in Arizona back in February 2025. It was moving 30 to 50 new vehicles a month. Today, per Automotive News, it's the highest-volume Stellantis dealership in the country, approaching 1,000 units a month, almost three times the next-highest store.
🚙 Insurance is climbing partly because newer vehicles carry pricier-to-repair electronics, and insurers price that risk directly into premiums. Most shoppers have no idea that connection exists until they're signing paperwork. A customer walking in already primed by a scary headline isn't a lost sale. They're a customer who needs real numbers instead of anxiety doing the talking.
