The Auto Market Brief

How much are higher interest rates adding to the true cost of a vehicle, even when its purchase price has not changed dramatically?

In this episode of The Auto Market Brief, host Erin Keating is joined by Chief Economist Jeremy Robb to explain why affordability remains under pressure. They cover rising auto loan rates, growing consumer credit strain, higher ownership costs, and what rebuilding inventory and new EV strategies mean for the market.

Borrowing Costs and Credit Strain Auto loan rates moved higher in October, and Jeremy shows what that means over time: interest on a used-vehicle loan has nearly doubled since 2019. Defaults are also rising across every credit tier, from subprime to prime-plus.

Ownership Costs Beyond the Sticker Price Inflation, insurance, and a 5.8% year-over-year increase in maintenance and repair costs keep adding to what consumers pay to own a vehicle. Meanwhile, wholesale values continue to soften through October.

More Inventory, Not More Affordable Choice Erin explains why rising new-vehicle supply doesn't necessarily give buyers more affordable options. She also looks at how Slate and Ford are betting on lower-priced EVs to help close that gap.

The episode also covers EV market share, incentives during the model-year changeover, Tesla's Roadster demonstration, and a new federal exemption for Level 4 autonomous commercial trucks.

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next.

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.

How is Toyota adapting to a customer journey shaped by digital retailing, AI-powered discovery, and evolving consumer expectations?

In this episode of The Auto Market Brief, host Erin Keating sits down with Toyota North America leaders David Christ, Group Vice President and General Manager of the Toyota Division, and Michael Tripp, Group Vice President of Toyota Marketing, to discuss how one of the world's largest automakers is approaching sales, marketing, and customer experience in a rapidly changing marketplace.

Dealer Relationships in a Digital World
Toyota's approach to modernization starts with a foundational principle: keeping dealers and customers at the center of every decision. Christ explains how Toyota works closely with its retail network to improve the customer experience while preserving the critical role dealers play in the buying journey. The conversation explores how digital tools and dealership operations are becoming increasingly connected.

Marketing, Brand Building, and Consumer Discovery
Tripp shares how automotive marketing continues to evolve as consumers research, shop, and compare vehicles across more channels than ever before. From brand awareness and consideration to purchase intent, the discussion examines why long-term brand building remains essential and how Toyota thinks about coordinating efforts across national, regional, and local marketing levels.

The Future Customer Journey: AI, Search, and Omnichannel Retail
The episode also looks ahead to the growing influence of AI-powered search and changing consumer expectations. Christ and Tripp discuss how initiatives like SmartPath help support a more seamless path from online research to in-store purchase, while highlighting the importance of accurate information, customer convenience, and a flexible omnichannel experience.

The episode also covers generative engine optimization (GEO), evolving shopping behaviors, sales and marketing alignment, leadership during industry disruption, and why customer focus remains Toyota's guiding principle.

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next. 

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.

How much is fuel economy shaping today's automotive market? More than ever. From wholesale values and consumer demand to product planning, fleet investments, and federal regulations, efficiency is becoming a defining force across the industry.

In this episode of The Auto Market Brief, host Erin Keating is joined by Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jeremy Robb to explore the latest economic and automotive market developments. They discuss stronger-than-expected GDP revisions, rising interest rates, evolving consumer behavior, and what new market data reveals about the growing impact of fuel economy on vehicle values.

A Stronger Economy, Higher Rates
Jeremy breaks down the latest GDP revisions, which point to a more resilient U.S. economy than many expected. The conversation also examines rising bond yields, increasing auto loan rates, and how financing costs continue to influence vehicle affordability and purchase decisions.

Fuel Economy's Growing Influence on Vehicle Values
New analysis from Cox Automotive's Manheim Market Insights team reveals a clear relationship between fuel economy and depreciation. As fuel efficiency increases, vehicles are retaining value more effectively, with some of the highest-MPG segments showing appreciation. The discussion also highlights continued strength in used EV values despite increasing off-lease supply and ongoing inventory growth.

From Regulations to Product Strategy
Erin reviews NHTSA's finalized CAFE standards, developments in commercial fleet electrification and autonomous trucking, and the growing role efficiency plays in automaker decision-making. The episode concludes with insights from Hyundai's redesigned 2027 Tucson launch, including the company's expanding hybrid strategy and investment in U.S. production capacity.

The episode also covers compact vehicle performance, consumer adaptation in an affordability-constrained market, Tesla Semi fleet adoption, FedEx's commercial EV investment, battery-retrofit solutions for trucking fleets, and Hyundai Motor Group's competitive momentum.

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next. 

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.

How are unpredictable tariffs, the evolution of AI and evolving consumer expectations reshaping the future of automotive retail?

In this special episode of The Auto Market Brief, recorded live at Automotive News Congress 2026, Erin Keating is joined by Automotive News' Dan Shine, Larry Vellequette, and Molly Boigon for a wide-ranging conversation on the forces transforming the automotive industry. Drawing on expertise across retail, OEMs and technology, the conversation covers everything from market uncertainty and consumer behavior to emerging technology and the future of vehicle sales.

Tariffs, Trade Policy and Industry Uncertainty
Tariffs remain one of the biggest question marks for the industry, and manufacturers are still trying to determine what comes next. The group discusses how policy uncertainty is influencing product planning, pricing decisions and long-term investment strategies, while also creating new challenges around affordability and consumer demand.

AI's Growing Influence Across Automotive
Few topics generated more discussion than artificial intelligence. The conversation explores where AI is already showing promise, where companies are still searching for practical use cases and how leaders are thinking about everything from governance and security to measuring real business impact.

The Evolution of Auto Retail and the Customer Experience
Consumer expectations continue to reshape the way vehicles are bought and sold. From digital retailing and frictionless shopping experiences to Carvana's influence on the market and the ongoing debate over who owns the customer relationship, the group examines how retail is evolving and what it means for dealers, automakers and consumers alike.

The episode also covers affordability, vehicle technology, software-driven features, warranty expectations, service retention, competitive pressures, changing consumer preferences and the trends these industry experts will be watching in the months ahead.

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next. 

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.

In this episode of The Auto Market Brief, host Erin Keating is joined by Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jeremy Robb to examine the latest Federal Reserve updates, wholesale market trends, and the economic forces helping support continued vehicle demand. They also explore several significant regulatory developments that could affect dealers, lenders, automakers, and consumers in the months ahead.

Fed Signals and Consumer Impact
Jeremy breaks down the Federal Reserve's latest rate decision, what surprised markets in the Fed's economic projections, and how policymakers continue balancing inflation concerns against a resilient economy. The discussion also explores how higher interest rates affect vehicle affordability and how perceptions of higher borrowing costs can affect vehicle purchase decisions.

Wholesale Market Trends and Diesel Price Pressures
The conversation also explores the wholesale market, where the latest Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index shows prices softening modestly year over year. Jeremy explains emerging depreciation patterns, including the outsized impact of one-year-old vehicles and how elevated fuel costs are influencing full-size trucks, SUVs, and diesel-powered vehicles across the market.

Financial Assets, Consumer Wealth and Market Resilience
New research on the growth of financial assets and the increasing role of the wealth effect in supporting consumer spending. The discussion highlights how rising asset values, retirement demographics, and changing buyer profiles may be helping explain the resilience of the automotive market despite affordability challenges and economic uncertainty.

The episode also covers new FTC pricing guidance for dealers, finalized IRS rules surrounding auto loan interest deductions, minimum advertised pricing developments, and the latest legislative effort to require AM radio in new vehicles.

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next. 

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.

Consumer sentiment remains one of the most watched economic indicators, but it is only one piece of the consumer story.

In this episode of The Auto Market Brief, host Erin Keating is joined by Kayla Bruun, Head of Economic Analysis at Morning Consult, to examine why sentiment alone does not tell the complete consumer story. They compare Morning Consult’s Index of Consumer Sentiment with its Consumer Health Index, which combines personal financial sentiment with high-frequency labor-market data to provide a more grounded signal of real-time demand.

Looking Beyond Consumer Sentiment
Consumer sentiment measures continue to receive significant attention from economists, investors, and business leaders, but Erin and Kayla explain why sentiment alone rarely tells the complete story. The conversation explores how attitudes, financial health, labor-market conditions, and real-world spending behavior can move on different timelines. Using Morning Consult's Index of Consumer Sentiment and Consumer Health Index as examples, they discuss why broader measures of consumer health often provide a clearer view of underlying demand than sentiment headlines alone.

A Consumer Economy Moving at Different Speeds
The conversation examines the continued divide between income groups and how those differences are shaping spending patterns. While higher-income households have experienced sharper declines in sentiment, they have continued supporting spending in categories such as travel and experiences, even as many become more price conscious and seek savings on everyday purchases. The episode also explores the evolving role of middle-income consumers and recent improvements among certain younger and lower-income segments.

What Price Responses Reveal About Vehicle Demand
Kayla introduces Morning Consult's new price-response indicators, which track whether consumers absorb higher prices, walk away from purchases, or trade down to lower-cost alternatives. For automotive leaders, the data reveals continued vehicle consideration despite rising price sensitivity and greater evidence of trading down. The discussion highlights how replacement demand, affordability pressures, and shifts between new- and used-vehicle purchases may influence automotive demand in the months ahead.

The episode also covers gas prices, inflation, consumer savings, labor-force participation, age-related spending trends, AI-related workplace concerns, vehicle affordability, new- and used-vehicle demand signals, and the indicators industry leaders should monitor over the next six to twelve months.

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next. 

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.

Diesel prices have reached record highs, credit availability continues to improve, and automotive leaders are facing new questions about where to invest for the future.

In this episode of The Auto Market Brief, host Erin Keating and Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jeremy Robb discuss the latest economic indicators, including credit availability, inflation, diesel prices, real wage growth, and vehicle affordability. While lenders continue to expand access to credit and support vehicle demand, rising fuel costs and inflation pressures are creating new challenges for consumers and the broader economy.

Diesel prices reach record highs

Diesel prices climbed above six dollars per gallon, driving concerns about transportation costs, inflation expectations, and the broader cost of goods throughout the economy. Erin and Jeremy examine why diesel remains one of the most important indicators influencing transportation costs, inflation expectations, and the cost of goods throughout the economy.

Credit availability continues to improve
While affordability challenges persist, lenders are showing a greater willingness to extend credit, helping support vehicle demand across the market. The discussion explores what's driving that trend, including lender confidence, improved financing conditions, and the relative stability of vehicle values in recent years.

The industry faces tough questions about investment and innovation
As technology investments become more expensive and competition intensifies, automotive companies are being forced to make increasingly difficult decisions about where to invest capital and how to scale new technologies. The discussion explores autonomous vehicle deployment, regulatory oversight, the rising cost of technology investments, and how manufacturers are evaluating where to allocate capital for future growth.

The episode also covers CPI inflation, real wage growth, rising transportation costs, vehicle affordability, Volkswagen's portfolio strategy, Tesla's Cybercab rollout, NHTSA oversight, and the forces shaping the future of automotive technology and investment.

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next.

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.

Is the industry's move toward more transparent pricing a response to FTC pricing rules, or a shift that was already underway?

In this bonus episode of The Auto Market Brief, host Erin Keating is joined by Erin Lomax, Vice President of Operations for Consumer Marketplaces at Cox Automotive, to discuss the growing focus on all-in pricing and why pricing transparency is becoming increasingly important for both shoppers and dealers. While FTC regulation enforcement has brought new urgency to the conversation, the discussion explores how consumer expectations around pricing clarity have been evolving for years, and how dealers may have already been adapting.

Transparent pricing builds shopper confidence

Shoppers are not simply looking for the lowest advertised price. According to Cox Automotive's marketplace data, listings with fee-inclusive pricing are generating stronger engagement, more leads, and more value actions, suggesting that consumers increasingly reward clarity and confidence throughout the shopping journey.

Trust may become a competitive advantage

As affordability remains a concern for many vehicle shoppers, unexpected fees can create uncertainty and disrupt purchasing decisions. This conversation explores why transparency is becoming more than a compliance requirement and how it can help strengthen consumer trust and create competitive advantages for dealers.

Operational consistency matters just as much as disclosure

For dealers, one of the biggest challenges is maintaining consistent pricing and fee information across inventory systems, websites, marketplaces, digital retailing tools, and other consumer touchpoints. The conversation examines how better fee management processes can simplify operations while improving the shopper experience.

The discussion also covers all-in pricing, dealer workflows, inventory management, digital retailing, marketplace engagement, fee-inclusive listings, consumer behavior, and how the industry is responding to evolving expectations around transparency.

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next.

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.

What happens when consumer spending slows, trade policy remains uncertain, and automakers begin reassessing where vehicles are built?

In this episode of The Auto Market Brief, host Erin Keating and Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jeremy Robb examine the latest economic indicators, including new Q2 GDP readings, personal income data, consumer spending, inflation, and used-vehicle market activity. While income growth remains positive and vehicle demand continues to show resilience, signs of softer consumer spending have raised new questions about the economic outlook.

Consumer spending slows for a second consecutive month

Personal income growth remained solid, but spending growth moderated again, highlighting the ongoing pressure many consumers face as affordability challenges persist. The discussion explores what these trends may signal for the broader economy and automotive demand.

Tariff uncertainty continues to influence business decisions

As discussions around Canadian imports, USMCA, and future trade policy continue, automakers are watching closely. The conversation explores why product and production strategy may matter as much as the tariffs themselves when companies make long-term investment and production decisions.

Manufacturers are rethinking production strategies

From Honda and Nissan to Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, and Jaguar Land Rover, several manufacturers are making decisions that reflect changing views on production, localization, capacity planning, and supply chain resilience.

The episode also covers inflation, Jackson Hole Symposium expectations, Manheim Market Report trends, used-vehicle demand, August sales expectations, and the broader forces shaping today's automotive market.

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next.

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.

How does the market adapt when shoppers expect one vehicle to deliver utility, efficiency, technology, comfort, and affordability all at once?

In this bonus episode of The Auto Market Brief, host Erin Keating is joined by Vanessa Ton, Senior Manager of Research and Market Intelligence at Cox Automotive, and Sean Tucker, Managing Editor at Kelley Blue Book, to explore the latest findings from the Kelley Blue Book Brand Watch study. The discussion reveals how consumer priorities continue to evolve as affordability becomes an increasingly important consideration, even among luxury shoppers. 

SUVs and hybrids continue to gain momentum

SUV consideration reached its highest level on record, while hybrid consideration also hit a new high. Despite affordability concerns, shoppers continue to prioritize space, utility, and flexibility, increasingly seeking vehicles that can offer fuel efficiency without sacrificing capability. 

Affordability is influencing more purchase decisions

Vehicle prices remain elevated, and affordability has become an increasingly important consideration across the market. While value-conscious brands continue to benefit, consumers are looking beyond price alone and focusing on the overall value a vehicle delivers.

Value means more than lower prices

Brands like Kia, Subaru, Lincoln, and Audi gained consideration by delivering strong value propositions, whether through design, quality, comfort, brand reputation, or accessible luxury. The discussion explores how shoppers are evaluating tradeoffs and redefining what value means in today's market.

The conversation also covers hybrid adoption, EV consideration, luxury and non-luxury shopper behavior, vehicle design trends, brand perception, and what Brand Watch reveals about changing consumer demand. 

The Auto Market Brief delivers timely data, clear context, and practical insight to help industry leaders make smarter decisions—what's happening now, and what's coming next.

The Auto Market Brief is powered by Cox Automotive. For more industry insights and expert perspectives, visit our Insights Hub at Cox Automotive Insights.