Full Throttle, a Presidio Podcast

Marsh Butler had never done a podcast. On his first one, he says his 15-store group is "a little behind" on AI, calls the last few years of acquisitions "a little too conservative," and explains why it took him and his brother to replace their father.

In Episode 76 of Presidio's Full Throttle, Jason Stein sits down with the co-president of Butler Automotive Group. His grandfather Milton opened the first family store in 1946, and his father opened Butler Toyota in Macon in 1970. Marsh talks about what's working across the group's stores in 2026, where affordability is breaking down, and how a third-generation family business plans to grow.

Inside this episode:
- The 2026 scorecard: new and used volume up, fixed ops solid, collision down, and the gross compression squeezing profit
- Too few cars at some franchises, too many at others, and how to manage both at once
- "It seemed like we were moving to EV too fast": why hybrids are where most buyers are landing
- $800+ payments and rising rates: why Butler steers customers away from 84-month loans and toward 36-month leases
- Who's getting priced out of new cars, and why a "$10,000 and under" page is the most-viewed page on one store's website
- A frank admission that the group is "a little behind" on AI, and why it's choosing to build instead of buy
- The baseball analogy for AI: give your best hitter more at-bats
- Co-presidents for 17 years: how Marsh, Morris and COO/CFO Dennis Botto settle disagreements
- Bringing the fourth generation into the business, and why it's harder than he expected
- Done being conservative: why Butler is ready to get aggressive on M&A, and why scale matters in the AI era
- "Time and transparency": rebuilding the guest experience for online buyers, in-store buyers and everyone in between
- Taking over on January 1, 2009, "with our hair on fire," and the piece of feedback that changed how he walks into a store

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
2:27 His first podcast, and how 2026 is really going
4:23 Why hybrids won the moment
5:23 Affordability: $800 payments, 84-month loans and who's priced out
8:24 "We're a little behind on AI": build vs. buy
10:54 Three generations of Butler
14:43 Co-presidents: how Marsh, Morris and Dennis decide
16:03 M&A: done being too conservative
17:35 Time and transparency: the guest experience
20:12 The 2027 risk, and his father's best advice

Full Throttle is the podcast of The Presidio Group, hosted by Jason Stein.

AI in the dealership is a main topic at the 4th annual Presidio Auto Tech Summit in Denver on October 14, 2026.

Subscribe for candid conversations with the dealers, operators and investors shaping automotive retail. New episodes every [FREQUENCY].

Listen on Apple Podcasts: [LINK]
Listen on Spotify: [LINK]
More from The Presidio Group: [LINK]
Connect with Jason Stein: [LINK]

#FullThrottle #AutomotiveRetail #CarDealers #ButlerAutomotive #FamilyBusiness #DealershipM&A #AutoIndustry #ThePresidioGroup

In 2018, Alex Perdikis started a luxury car subscription service as a hedge against his own business. COVID killed it in a weekend. What he built out of the wreckage now rivals his dealership group in value.

In Episode 75 of Presidio's Full Throttle, Jason Stein sits down with the owner and CEO of Koons Motors — and founder of inride — for the full story behind Trade Agent AI: how it started as an internal fix, why Ford became the first OEM to approve agentic AI for co-op dollars, and what actually happens when an AI agent works your database for you.

Inside this episode:

- The DC market in 2026 — record August, 30% revenue growth, and why today's interest rates are "the new normal"
- The Wednesday-morning pivot: how a 10 a.m. management meeting became an entirely new website by 1 p.m. that same afternoon
- Why Perdikis brought in his brother Nick — 40 years in SaaS — to build a consumer-to-dealer auction marketplace
- The beta test that started it all: texting a Ford store's service database to ask if they'd sell
- End to end, how Trade Agent AI actually works — database scrub, DNC and TCPA compliance, customer scoring, throttled conversations per hour, a real number served on the car, and zero human involvement until the appointment is set
- The numbers behind 1,000,000+ customer text messages: a 41.4% response rate, 35% engagement, 12–13% warm-to-hot
- "First and goal on the five yard line" — the lead-handoff analogy every - -- GM should hear, and why some dealers can't change their workflow to handle it
- Why an AI agent is a coworker, not a chat bot: "another manager at your desk" that works 24/7/365
- The claim that gets attention: not one person let go because of AI — and why the team got more productive instead
- April 1, 2026: the day Ford added inride's Trade Agent AI to its Tier III co-op dropdown
- Does agentic AI transform the economics of auto retail, or just make us faster? Perdikis answers

0:00   Intro
2:56   The DC market and a record August
5:23   What AI is actually changing inside the store
7:14   Origin: the 2018 hedge that became inride
9:50   The auction, the beta test, and the moment it clicked
13:05 One store to 15 — and Ford's co-op approval
16:10  How Trade Agent AI works, end to end
22:12  "First and goal on the five yard line"
23:29  The numbers — and why it's a coworker, not a tool
29:08  Does AI transform dealership economics?

Full Throttle is the podcast of The Presidio Group, hosted by Jason Stein.

Alex Perdikis will be on stage at the 4th annual Presidio Auto Tech Summit in Denver on October 14, 2026.

Subscribe for candid conversations with the dealers, operators and investors shaping automotive retail.

#FullThrottle #AutomotiveRetail #AgenticAI #CarDealers #KoonsMotors #inride #AutoIndustry #DealershipTechnology #ThePresidioGroup

David Hudson's grandfather opened one Chevrolet store in Providence, Kentucky in 1948. Today Hudson Automotive Group runs just over 60 dealerships across the Southeast — and Hudson says the goal was never a rooftop number.

In Episode 74 of Presidio's Full Throttle, Jason Stein sits down with the third-generation dealer and CEO for a candid read on where automotive retail actually stands in 2026: what's working, what's tightening, and which technology is worth the money.

Inside this episode:

• Why 2026 has outperformed Hudson's own January budget — and what he got wrong
• The SAAR range he'd "sign up for" for the next twenty years
• The K-shaped economy: why customers are getting approved and still walking away at the payment
• "We like to be on the cutting edge of technology, but not the bleeding edge" — Hudson's filter for vetting the vendors calling every week
• The AI use case with the clearest ROI: how his CFO turned a 3,500-line monthly DMS invoice into found money
• Whether AI truly transforms dealership economics — or just makes us faster at what we already do
• Where friction still lives in the buying process, and why the online-to-showroom handoff is the real gap
• F&I on an iPad at the sales desk: more speed, more transparency, still compliant
• Opportunistic M&A in a flight-to-quality market — and how you "buy the multiple down"
• What Hudson is watching heading into 2027

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro — David Hudson, Hudson Automotive Group
2:40 From one Kentucky Chevy store to 60+ rooftops
4:23 Why tier-2 and tier-3 markets have been the right playbook
5:22 "I was never going to be in the car business"
6:37 The year so far — and the SAAR he'd sign up for
8:45 The K-shaped economy and the payment problem
11:03 Cutting edge, not bleeding edge
12:35 The AI that audited a 3,500-line DMS invoice
16:23 Friction, transparency, and F&I on an iPad
18:58 M&A, valuations, and what could surprise everyone in 2027

Full Throttle is the podcast of The Presidio Group, hosted by Jason Stein.

Subscribe for candid conversations with the dealers, operators and investors shaping automotive retail. 

#FullThrottle #AutomotiveRetail #CarDealers #HudsonAutomotive #DealershipM&A #AutoIndustry #ThePresidioGroup

On this episode of Full Throttle, Jason sits down with Matt Leone, CEO of DriveCentric, at what he calls a true inflection point for retail automotive — turbulence at the micro and macro level, and the most exciting moment he's seen in nearly 30 years in technology.

Matt makes the case that the CRM shouldn't live only in the sales department. It should be the engagement platform for the entire dealership — sales, service, F&I, the cashier, the BDC — with one centralized customer card and one compliant, responsive voice across every touchpoint.

In this conversation:
- Why most dealership AI is overhyped — and the three flaws that got AI "canceled" in a lot of stores (bolt-ons, too many disconnected tools, and compliance gaps)
- DriveCentric's new Sales-to-Service Agent, powered by Genius AI, that spots trade potential in the service drive and turns repair orders into sales opportunities
- The rollout of autonomous agents across the platform in 2026 — after-hours lead response, proactive database outreach, and retention
- Why "optionality" is the key to building trust and loyalty with today's consumer
- How mobile, portals, and secure PII exchange are changing the way dealers connect
- Why consolidating your tech stack onto one platform can eliminate five or six tools — and actually save money
- What almost everyone still gets wrong about AI: it's not a widget

Matt Leone will be on stage October 14th in Denver at Presidio's 4th Annual Auto Technology Summit — where innovation meets capital. More info at https://thepresidiogroup.com

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
2:39 Why a CRM should be an engagement platform, not task management
5:16 The 3 flaws in the AI race — and why some tools got canceled
7:30 Inside the new Sales-to-Service Agent
9:43 Autonomous agents & knowing what to hand off
11:57 Hiring Michael Afronti from Salesforce — and why
14:07 The mobile & portal strategy
16:10 What the Service-to-Sales agent does to your pipeline
18:42 One budget line: the argument for DriveCentric
20:58 The one thing people get wrong about AI

🎙️ Full Throttle is a podcast from The Presidio Group.
🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with the leaders shaping automotive retail.

Chase Fraser, Founding & Managing Partner of FM Capital, returns to Full Throttle for his most wide-ranging conversation yet. Fresh off closing Fund Four at ~$240M — oversubscribed by 20% and his largest to date — Chase pulls back the curtain on what it actually takes to raise capital in today's market, why the barrier to entry for auto-tech startups has collapsed from $5M to $50K, and the "cleansing" he sees coming for an overcrowded vendor landscape.

He and Jason dig into where the real upside lives (hint: F&I and outbound AI calling), why humanoid robots may cut dealership labor faster than AI itself, and how FM Capital is building 36 of its own internal AI agents to triple the size of the firm without replacing a single person. Plus: the Impel double-down, the RockED bet, the Holman family partnership that unlocked Fund Four, and why Chase now invests in a founder's psychology above almost anything else.

⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Intro & closing Fund Four at $240M
5:14 Raising in a tough market & the coming vendor shakeout
8:49 What FM Capital looks for: betting on the mid-tier
12:03 Doubling down on Impel & the future of F&I
15:03 Outbound AI, humanoid robots & the dealership of the future
20:18 Building FM Capital's own AI agents & backing founders (RockED)
23:47 Valuations, M&A & what gets a founder to "yes"
27:03 What outsiders get wrong about AI + Presidio Summit (Oct 14, Denver)

🎟️ Join Chase and us at the Presidio Auto Technology Summit — Denver Art Museum, October 14.

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.

In this episode:
00:00 — Intro
03:07 — Four states in ten days: Kevin's main message to dealers
03:47 — The pivot: peak front-end gross is over, now what?
07:04 — SAR: why "boring" is actually the healthy number
09:46 — Average transaction prices near $49K — and why volume, not pricing, is the drag
11:04 — The used market: 38M units, and why Carvana is a smaller player than you think
14:44 — Fixed ops: the oldest fleet in history and a $6B-per-point opportunity
18:45 — China: 55M units of capacity, the export surge, and the U.S. stance
24:23 — VW plant closures & the political fallout

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.

🔔 Subscribe for more Full Throttle market insights from The Presidio Group.

💬 What's your take on the pivot? Drop a comment below.
#AutoIndustry #CarDealers #AutomotiveNews #PresidioGroup #FullThrottle #KevinTynan #AutoRetail #FixedOps #UsedCars #DealershipProfit

What separates a dealership that customers love from one they avoid? According to Ujj Nath, co-founder and CEO of MyKaarma, it comes down to three things: every interaction must be convenient, transparent, and contextual.

In this episode, host Jason Stein sits down with one of the sharpest minds in automotive retail to unpack why dealers still miss nearly half their inbound calls, how AI is about to transform both the front desk and the back of the shop, and why the best service experiences in the world have nothing to do with cars at all. From a $500 dinner at the Strand House to Amazon's 20-second returns, Ujj reveals the customer-experience playbook every dealer should be stealing — and how fixed-ops departments can win service work back from the independents before 2030.

If you run a service drive, manage a dealership, or build the tech behind it, this one's a masterclass in thinking backwards from the customer.

⏱️ Chapters
00:00 — Intro
00:48 — Where dealers and customers disconnect
06:13 — Killing friction with the single-number concept
09:31 — Fixed-ops economics: selling labor hours
11:06 — AI that captures the complaint, not just the appointment
14:10 — The technician knowledge graph (back-of-house AI)
17:15 — Seamless omnichannel: carrying context everywhere
19:19 — Why Amazon is the North Star
21:48 — 2030 & beyond: winning back the service bay

🎧 Full Throttle is Presidio's podcast on the cutting edge of automotive retail.

#Automotive #CarDealership #FixedOps #AI #CustomerExperience #MyKaarma #FullThrottle #AutoRetail #DealershipMarketing

He started with one Chevy franchise in a cornfield. Now he runs a $14 billion empire and NASCAR's greatest dynasty.

Rick Hendrick doesn't talk about culture — he builds it. Fifty years in the car business, 40 years in racing, 304 NASCAR Cup Series wins, and a people-first philosophy that has outlasted oil embargoes, 20% interest rates, a financial crisis, and a global pandemic. This is the story of how he did it.

In Episode 69 of Full Throttle, Jason Stein sits down with Rick Hendrick for a wide-ranging conversation about what it really takes to build something that lasts — recorded live at Hendrick Motorsports in Charlotte, NC.

🎧 What's inside:
- The COVID decision to pay every employee rather than lay anyone off — and what his CFO told him
- Why employee satisfaction always comes before customer satisfaction
- The cornfield Chevy dealership in Bennettsville, SC that started it all
- How Hendrick Motorsports almost shut down after six races
- Jeff Gordon as Vice Chairman and what he brings to the organization
- The GM Cadillac Formula One engine facility being built on his campus
- Rolling out AI across 135+ stores — from an admitted "old car dog"
- Why the Hendrick family committed to staying private for the next 50 years

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with the people shaping the future of the automotive industry.

0:00 - Intro
2:54 - The COVID Decision: Paying Every Employee
4:19 - "We're in the People Business"
8:14 - State of the Industry & Rolling Out AI Across 135 Stores
11:20 - The Origin Story: A Cornfield, a Chevy Sign & Linda's Push
13:11 - How Close Hendrick Motorsports Came to Never Existing
17:15 - The Formula One Cadillac Engine Facility Being Built on Campus
19:12 - The Car Collection: 130+ Corvettes & a Lifelong Obsession
20:49 - The Next 50 Years: Why the Hendricks Are Staying Private

#FullThrottle #RickHendrick #HendrickMotorsports #HendrickAutomotiveGroup #NASCAR #ThePresidioGroup #JasonStein #CarDealership #Automotive #Formula1 #CompanyCulture #Leadership

What does it take to run the most powerful brand portfolio in American automotive history? Duncan Aldred knows.

As GM's Senior VP and President of North America, Duncan oversees Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, and GMC — and he sat down with Jason Stein to break down exactly where the industry is headed, and how GM plans to lead it.

From the real state of EV adoption (the numbers might surprise you) to Cadillac's historic Formula One debut, next-gen full-size truck launches, the jaw-dropping Corvette ZR1, and why GM's biggest superpower has nothing to do with horsepower — this is a rare, unfiltered conversation with one of the most experienced executives in the global auto industry.

Duncan's story is as compelling as the products he oversees — from an internship on the factory floor in Liverpool to running Vauxhall, overseeing 30 European markets, and now leading all of North America for General Motors.
In this episode:

- Why EV adoption has plateaued — and what actually comes next
- How GM is expanding combustion engine capacity while keeping EVs as the "north star"
- The real story behind Cadillac's F1 entry and what it means for the brand
- Super Cruise, OnStar, and the software-defined vehicle revolution
- The Corvette ZR1 — 1,150 hp and a legitimate hypercar killer
- Duncan's leadership philosophy forged across 30+ countries

0:00 – Welcome to Full Throttle
2:52 – GM's Most Diverse Product Portfolio Ever
5:29 – The EV Reality Check: What the Numbers Actually Say
10:00 – GM's Adaptability Superpower (And Why It's Winning)
13:02 – From Factory Floor Intern to President of North America
19:18 – A Leadership Philosophy Built Across 30+ Countries
25:37 – Inside the Brand Portfolio: Chevrolet, GMC, Buick & Cadillac
32:21 – Cadillac's Formula One Moment
29:56 – Super Cruise, OnStar & the Software-Defined Vehicle Future
38:52 – The Corvette ZR1: GM's Hypercar Killer

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the leaders reshaping the auto industry.

#FullThrottle #GeneralMotors #DuncanAldred #Cadillac #Corvette #Formula1 #EVs #Chevrolet #GMC #Automotive

Adam Chamberlain came back to Mercedes-Benz at the worst possible moment — and that's exactly why he took the job.

After 3.5 years on the retail side at Lithia (the largest dealer group in the US), Adam returned to lead Mercedes-Benz North America on July 1, 2025 — walking into tariffs, Chinese EV pressure, a crowded luxury landscape, and a brand that had slipped to #3 in the US behind BMW and Lexus.

In Episode 67 of Full Throttle, Jason Stein sits down with Adam for a remarkably candid conversation about the comeback plan: 30+ new vehicles by 2029, a path to 400,000 US sales, holding the line on pricing while competitors raise prices, and what he learned about OEM bosses from the other side of the desk.

If you sell cars, run a dealership, or care about where the luxury auto business is headed — this one is essential listening.

🎧 What's inside:
- The 12 listening-tour dinners that shaped his entire 9-month plan
- Why dealers told him Mercedes had "over-complicated" the business
- Lessons from Lithia CEO Brian DeBoer ($9B → $40B)
- The CLA BEV at $55,900 — and why the math finally works
- Tariffs, war rooms, and the case for export credits
- The Chinese EV threat and the level-playing-field problem
- The new S-Class, the electric AMG GT, and the Brad Pitt F1 halo

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 — Intro - Back to Mercedes: The Listening Tour
3:51 — "We Over-Complicated the Business"
5:57 — The Lithia Years & Working for Brian DeBoer
11:31 — Why Return to the OEM Side?
13:09 — The Road to 400,000 US Sales by 2030
16:48 — Powertrain Flexibility: Letting Customers Decide
21:55 — Manufacturing, Tariffs & Holding the Line on Pricing
29:07 — The Chinese EV Threat
32:40 — The New S-Class & the Electric AMG GT
35:51 — F1, Brad Pitt & the Brand Halo

🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with the people shaping the future of the automotive industry.

#FullThrottle #MercedesBenz #AdamChamberlain #JasonStein #AutoIndustry #LuxuryCars #ThePresidioGroup #CarDealers #EV #FormulaOne