Steve Rowley, President of Cox Automotive, joins Jim Fitzpatrick for an exclusive interview with CBT News at the 2025 NADA Show to discuss the company’s latest innovations and strategies for dealerships. He highlights their advancements in AI, a positive economic outlook for 2025, and the company’s growing focus on fleet services to meet dealer needs.
Key Takeaways
- Rowley emphasizes Cox Automotive’s long-standing commitment to artificial intelligence, revealing that over 65% of its products already integrate AI. The company has utilized AI to enhance both customer and dealer experiences, such as improving vehicle condition reports through computer vision, offering better fraud prevention with AI-powered credit protection, and automating communications for more targeted advertising. This helps dealerships save time and resources by ensuring their messaging reaches customers when they’re most likely to convert.
- Rowley also shares a promising outlook for the retail automotive sector in 2025, attributing much of this optimism to the efforts of economists like Jonathan Smoke. Rowley believes the economy will remain strong, with greater affordability for consumers and increased inventory levels. Additionally, dealers are in a better position to achieve profitability, with Cox Automotive forecasting a solid year, which includes a slight increase in the SAR and used vehicle sales exceeding 20 million units.
- Rowley also illuminates Cox Automotive’s strategic push into the fleet business. He explains how Cox grew from zero revenue in fleet services five years ago to a billion-dollar business. This growth is backed by a network of 32,000 service partners and the integration of AI to improve customer service and operational efficiency. The fleet business has become an essential part of the Cox Automotive portfolio, helping dealerships optimize their service offerings and grow their bottom lines.
Catch all of CBT News’ coverage of the 2025 NADA Show here.
