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Hey everyone,
Happy Saturday! As you’re getting caught up this weekend, take some time to check out the Buy-Sell tracker for the latest May/June transactions.
— CDG
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Welcome to The Weekly, a roundup of the top five auto industry headlines of the week.
Dealership close rates depend more on sales execution than market size, report finds
Sales process execution, not market size or lead volume, is the primary driver of whether dealerships convert prospects into buyers, according to a new report by Foureyes.
First things first: The report, which tracked 2.6 million leads from more than 1,150 dealerships across 48 U.S. markets through Q1 2026, found a 15.6-point gap between the highest- and lowest-performing close-rate markets in the country.
Hyundai GM alleges lower bonuses, a changed formula, withheld inventory
Last week, CDG News covered operational tactics for Hyundai dealers who felt frustrated navigating what they described as tough incentive policies and costly image requirements.
Some dealers who shared experiences with us felt uncomfortable speaking on the record. Others we spoke with shared how they’re finding success with the brand.
Why this matters: Following CDG's May 24 report on Hyundai dealer frustrations, an anonymous source identifying as a multi-store Hyundai general manager sent CDG News a detailed account of four issues they said are affecting dealers in their region.
A quick word from our partner
Presidio exclusively advised Group 1 on sale of Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills to Fletcher Jones
The transaction marks Presidio's 23rd completed Mercedes-Benz dealership transaction and further reflects the firm's extensive experience advising dealers across the Mercedes-Benz network.
Rohrman Auto's Nick Ruffolo on communication, $50 oil changes, retention
At Rohrman Auto Group, the struggle isn’t getting techs to make MPI videos. It’s getting them to smash that send button.
Managers need to communicate the importance of sending them, according to Nick Ruffolo, who thinks dealers are losing service customers to independents for one main reason: Failure to communicate.
As fixed ops director for Rohrman, Ruffolo oversees 10 stores in Illinois and Wisconsin. And he’s working on making communications at all the rooftops more uniform.
Between the lines: Ruffolo aims for consistent and timely messaging. Then, of course, they have their ever-important video outreach.
Bozard Ford grows mobile service force to 47 vans
In the past few years, Bozard Ford in St. Augustine, Florida, has put four times the number of mobile service vans on the road and seen its repair orders grow past 2,300 in just the last month.
Driving the news: During a recent segment on Daily Dealer Live, Bozard Ford Lincoln’s Matt Norris (fixed operations director) and Jeremy Stephens (remote operations director) explained exactly how the dealership scaled its mobile operations and found a competitive advantage.
Norris said Bozard went from around 10 mobile units to 47 mobile units for the dealership group that sells 500 vehicles per month.
How fixed ops success is fueling growth for Kunes Auto Group
Missed calls were piling up for one dealership group’s region, but they didn’t even realize it.
Not until Mike LoCascio, regional director of fixed operations for Kunes Auto Group, created an email alert system to track them.
Phone fix: Some Kunes stores were missing 30-40% of incoming service calls. Now, that number has dropped to 8%. He did it with a simple process tweak.
Jason Pittack of Woodhouse Auto Family acquires Ferrari store from Lithia Motors, Inc.
