The easy money is gone. Double-digit front-end gross on new vehicles isn’t coming back — so where does dealer profit come from now? In this six-month market checkup, Presidio Group Director of Research Kevin Tynan joins Jason on Full Throttle to break down the pivot every dealer needs to be making right now.
Fresh off four state-association talks in ten days, Kevin lays out the real story behind the headline numbers: why he doesn’t want a juiced-up SAR, where average transaction prices are actually headed, why Carvana isn’t the used-car threat everyone thinks it is, and the ~55% gross-margin business most dealers are leaving on the table. Plus a clear-eyed take on China’s export surge, VW’s plant closures, and what it all means for the U.S. market.
If you sell, service, or study cars for a living, this one’s a roadmap.
Key takeaways:
- Grow the other business units or cut expenses — keep more of the gross pool
- Used vehicles are a feeder for F&I and service, not just front-end margin
- Recall/warranty work is quietly distracting dealers from the bigger customer-pay pool
- “Seven out of ten customers who bought from you aren’t coming back to your service base”
Every percentage point of parts-and-service market share is worth $6 billion to the dealer base — Kevin explains why that’s where the next decade of profit lives.