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Welcome to The Weekly, a roundup of the top five auto industry headlines of the week.
Mark Miller Subaru launches Carvana-style purchase option
Chris Hudson, general manager for Mark Miller Subaru in Salt Lake City, and his crew assembled a digital purchase path that removes the salesperson and puts the human in total control.
"Promise Path is the name of the journey,” Hudson told CDG News. "It’s the path the buyer walks from first click to keys-in-hand.”
Driving the news: Promise Path launched Saturday on the group’s main website. They call it the "keep the dealership, skip the salesperson" option. Buyers go to the page and click that “skip the salesperson” button and then browse inventory with upfront pricing and can handle trade-in, financing documents, and set up delivery all online.
Trade war: Canada hits back with tariffs up to 50%
Canada announced Tuesday sweeping counter-tariffs on hundreds of American goods, matching the United States’ 50% tariffs on C$27.6 billion of Canadian goods, dollar for dollar, while keeping existing auto tariffs in place.
Driving the news: Starting Sept. 8, Canada will apply counter-tariffs of 15%, 25%, and 50% on products targeted by the U.S. Section 338 and Section 232 tariffs, with each product's rate matching the corresponding U.S. rate. Trade talks between the U.S. and Canada crumbled last week, driven largely by a last-minute spat about tariff relief for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles.
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August new vehicle sales to hit 1.35M
August new vehicle sales are expected to finish around 1.35 million, according to the new forecast from Cox Automotive.
Driving the news: August sales trailed last year’s robust sales of 1.47 million, which were buoyed by the expiration of the $7,500 Clean Vehicle Credit in September 2025, falling 8.5%. Sales still remained strong, keeping the seasonally adjusted annual rate of sales (SAAR) at 16.3 million, just 200,000 off August 2025. The pace has remained the same for the past two months.
FICO scores on new loans drop 7 points
The FICO score on new auto loans fell seven points over the past year. Meanwhile, a quarter of consumers said they'd shop elsewhere if a dealership's online rating didn't match what they expected.
Driving the news: The Fall 2026 FICO Score Credit Insights report shows that consumers with existing loans have a score of 704, which is at the same level as April 2019. The average is down just 1 point year-over-year.
Consumers demanding transparency: Another report from FICO found that a majority of consumers are expressing frustration about their credit scores at the dealership not matching the score from an online monitoring app, credit card, or bank. FICO noted 25% suggested they would shop around after that discrepancy, and 13% would walk away.
Lexus and Toyota of Montgomery stores set service records for five straight months
Bobby Perkins started at Lexus of Montgomery and Toyota of Montgomery eight months ago and immediately saw the stores set records in the service department for the past five months in a row.
The fixed operations director, with more than 30 years of experience, Perkins told Sam D’Arc during an appearance on Daily Dealer Live that it was a team effort delivered through high expectations, measurables, and accountability.
Driving the news: In arriving at the stores, Perkins knew there was potential, but work was needed to produce results. That started with personnel, and “just getting the right people on the bus,” Perkins noted. When bringing people, careful attention is given to creating the right culture and establishing expectations with measurables and accountability.
