Welcome back to the latest episode of The Future of Automotive on CBT News, where we put recent automotive and mobility news into the context of the broader themes impacting the industry.
I’m Steve Greenfield from Automotive Ventures, and I’m glad that you could join us this week.
I was back in Kazakhstan this week, this time for their first-ever dealership conference.
And this trip was a bit of a full circle for me. I brought with me my very first boss in the auto industry, as well as my last boss.
Back in 1999, I started working for Brad Hart at the Toronto Auto Auction, which was subsequently renamed Manheim Toronto. Brad was kind enough to hire me way back then, and I’ve always appreciated the fact that he encouraged me to move down to Manheim’s corporate office in Atlanta, when the opportunity presented itself.
10 years into my Manheim journey, I got a call from Chip Perry to join him at AutoTrader.com. He and I had quite an adventure together, first acquiring companies like Kelley Blue Book, vAuto and VinSolutions, and then later, working together out in Santa Monica at TrueCar.
So, it was a bit surreal to have a chance to travel with both Brad and Chip on this trip overseas, to lend a hand with the evolution of the automotive market in Kazakhstan
Their very first dealership conference was brilliantly executed. We had more than 600 dealers attend, and Chip and I had a chance to kick off the conference to outline the foundational elements that underpin any healthy used vehicle ecosystem. Things like odometer fraud laws, price guides, pricing, condition and description transparency, auto auctions and vehicle history reports.
During the conference they launched two new products for the Kazak market: auto auctions and vehicle history reports.
We got to witness the country’s very first auto auction, as they auctioned off five vehicles via a mobile app to dealer attendees in the audience. It was amazing to be there for this piece of automotive history.
Then Brad took to the stage to show how auctioneering is done here in North America. They had translated my first book, The Future of Automotive Retail, into Russian, so Brad auctioned off a signed copy to the highest bidder.
As I reflect back, I’m very appreciative to have had such great mentors in life, and even more appreciative for things to now come full circle to travel internationally to work with them yet again.
It’ll be a fascinating case study to see how the Kazakhstan auto market evolves with a little nudge from the knowledge we’ve learned from living through the evolution of the auto market here in the west.
So, with that, let’s transition to Our Companies to Watch.
Every week we highlight an interesting company in the automotive technology space to keep an eye on. If you read my weekly Intel Report, we showcase a company to watch, and we then take the opportunity here on this segment each week to share that company with you.
Today, our new company to watch is LoanBridge.
Loanbridge simplifies vehicle recovery by consolidating critical events into one platform.
They combine police impound data, private lot activity, and retail vehicle listings—making it easy to monitor assets without GPS, apps, or integrations.
Their VIN-only monitoring delivers actionable alerts that help you locate and prioritize vehicles across multiple recovery signals.
Loanbridge requires no hardware and no hassle. Just smarter recovery of your vehicles.
If you’d like to learn more about LoanBridge, you can check them out at www.loanbridge.ai
So that’s it for this week’s Future of Automotive segment.
If you’re an AutoTech entrepreneur working on a solution that helps car dealerships, we want to hear from you. We are actively investing out of our DealerFund.
Don’t forget to check out my first book, “The Future of Automotive Retail,” and my new book, “The Future of Mobility”, both of which are available on Amazon.
Thanks (as always) for your ongoing support and for tuning into CBT News for this week’s Future of Automotive segment. We’ll see you next week!
