This article and the accompanying slide deck are part of a series exploring how companies in specific industries can adopt the mindset, expertise, and ambition required to win in an AI-first world.
The automotive industry is undergoing one of the most profound transformations in its history. Global competition is intensifying, electrification is on the rise, and new entrants are challenging the traditional order.
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Against this backdrop, automakers are using artificial intelligence to reshape how they design, build, sell, and service vehicles—touching every link of the value chain. But for most automakers, these efforts remain scattered. Manufacturers are experimenting rather than transforming, seeing flashes of innovation without realizing meaningful financial returns.
Focus trumps fragmentation. AI starts to pay meaty dividends when it is deployed end to end in workflows and within functions. Marketing and sales is a good place to apply that focus.
AI starts to pay meaty dividends when it is deployed end to end in workflows and within functions.
A Broken Customer Journey
Marketing and sales have a large and direct effect on an automaker’s bottom line. We estimate that an AI transformation of these functions could add two to three percentage points to earnings before interest and taxes. Along with customer service, marketing and sales account for nearly 40% of AI’s potential value in the industry.
Marketing and sales make sense for another reason: the car-buying experience today is broken. Half of consumers report being dissatisfied with the process, citing opaque pricing, poor recommendations, unhelpful advice, and a lack of personalized options. At the same time, third parties such as car-selling platforms and tech companies are trying to muscle in on the automakers’ relationship with their customers.
This is where AI can kick in. Imagine an always-on product advisor that knows your needs, scours the market, and configures the optimal vehicle within your budget. Pair that with a deal finder that locates financing options, calculates trade-ins, and even closes the transaction on your behalf.
Those scenarios are around the next bend in the road. Increasingly, the first question a prospective buyer will ask isn’t typed into a search engine or directed at a salesperson—it’s posed to ChatGPT, Gemini, or another AI assistant. Over the past year, customer traffic from large language models to automaker and dealer websites has jumped sharply.
If automakers aren’t participating in these conversations, they risk losing their connection to the customer and potential sales.
Cooler, Smarter, Faster
AI promises to make marketing and sales cooler by reinventing the customer journey into one that is more personal, engaging, and seamless; smarter by enabling data-driven offers, pricing, and volume steering; and faster by automating support and internal processes, cutting manual tasks, and improving efficiency. Together, these shifts will revolutionize how cars are bought and sold.
AI promises to make marketing and sales cooler, smarter, and faster. These shifts will revolutionize how cars are bought and sold.
Deploy, Reshape, Invent: A New Playbook for Automakers
To capture this opportunity, car companies need to pursue three complementary plays: deploy, reshape, and invent.
Deploy. The deploy stage delivers quick wins by using off-the-shelf tools—in this case, GenAI chatbots. Answer engine optimization is the new search engine optimization. Automakers must make structured, accurate, and up-to-date product and pricing data available to AI models. If a buyer asks, “What’s the best family SUV under $40,000?” your brand needs to be part of that answer.
Reshape. Reshape goes deeper, redesigning existing processes and relationships, such as multibrand marketplaces. These platforms are no longer just listings; they are evolving into trusted, AI-powered advisors that combine reach with credibility. OEMs must partner closely and share structured data so their vehicles surface in unbiased comparisons and deal finders.
Invent. Invent is the most transformative stage, where companies create entirely new business models, products, and services. The boldest play is to build your own branded AI assistant. With customer relationship management data and vehicle data, a branded assistant can anticipate a driver’s needs, recommend the right upgrade at the right time, and guide customers throughout their ownership journeys. Done right, a branded assistant becomes both sales channel and loyalty engine.
The Moves That Matter Now
Automakers, dealers, and sales platforms each have different steps to take.
Automakers. Be visible. Show up in third-party AI assistants, partner with marketplaces, and build branded assistants that let you own the customer journey, the data, and the loyalty that comes with it.
Dealers. Capture leads. Ensure inventory, pricing, and promotions show up in AI-driven discovery. Explore group-owned assistants to understand and convert buyers directly and to strengthen the role of dealers as the only physical touchpoint in the customer journey.
Platforms: Orchestrate. Integrate into AI ecosystems, continue to build trust with unbiased recommendations. Build platform-level assistants that combine inventory, financing, and service into seamless, AI-enabled journeys that are influenced by customer knowledge.
The Bottom Line
AI will eventually reshape every corner of the automotive value chain, from R&D to aftersales. But the most immediate transformation lies in how cars are marketed and sold. The stakes are high: early movers could see as much as 20% revenue upside, while laggards risk a 15% decline. AI-first automakers will define the future of the car-buying journey. Those that hesitate will watch others capture customers, data, and profits.
