Matt Muilenburg on AI’s Next Chapter in Automotive Retail

Matt Muilenburg, Chief Product Officer at Impel, explains how artificial intelligence is moving automotive retail beyond fragmented technology and toward more connected, efficient dealership operations.

In this episode of Inside Automotive, Muilenburg explores how AI can unify dealership data, automate routine work and improve customer engagement across sales, service and F&I. He also discusses the emerging role of AI leaders within dealerships, the importance of establishing clear employee policies around AI use, and how centralized platforms could replace disconnected point solutions.

Key discussion points include:

• AI and dealership technology: Why AI may finally deliver on the promise of decades of CRM and lead-management investments.
• The “AI quarterback”: Why dealerships will need people responsible for training, managing and overseeing AI systems.
• Service-lane opportunities: How AI can identify high-value customers and potential trade opportunities in real time.
• Technology consolidation: The shift from multiple point solutions toward centralized AI platforms.
• Customer experience: How AI can make the vehicle-buying process more informed, responsive and welcoming.

Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick is powered by CBT News, your go-to source for the latest news, trends, and insights in retail automotive. Subscribe for more interviews with top industry leaders, dealership innovators, and experts shaping the future of automotive.

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Transcript

Why Dealers Are Chasing AI Now

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:07

Welcome to Inside Automotive with Jim Fitzpatrick. As more AI tools hit the market, dealers are looking for technology that makes business easier for their teams and customers. Joining us now is Matt Mullenberg, who is the chief product officer at Impel to discuss where AI is creating real value and where the industry is headed next. Welcome and thanks so much, Matt, for taking the time into your busy schedule.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Hey Jim, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me today.

Jim Fitzpatrick 0:35

Yeah. So, Matt, you've been in the automotive industry for 30 plus years now, Col Bolt and uh and and the AI space with Marche X, Call Data, and now Impel as the chief product officer. When you look at how fast this technology is moving, and it's moving pretty fast, what what feels uh different about it right now?

From Shoebox CRM To Real Automation

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Well, you know, Jim, I have been in this industry a long time, 30 years almost. Uh and it's been an interesting journey because when I first got into this space, we didn't have CRM systems and we didn't have lead managers, not in a technology sense. Of course, dealers had CRM systems. A lot of them were using shoebox and note cards and things like that. Uh yeah, yeah. We all remember those days, I'm sure. Yep. You fast forward a few years into that journey and suddenly we had lead management tools and we had CRM systems that were developed, and we brought this technology into the store. And it it came with this promise that this long-going ratio of a one to ten salespeople to uh vehicle sold ratio could be disrupted, that you could have fewer salespeople doing more with the leads you were getting. Well, fast forward 30 years later, and the average dealer I talked to still has this 10 to 1 ratio in their dealership. Yeah. And that's amazing to me because we bought all these tools. There's hundreds of them now. Any dealer can go look at that invoice and see what they're paying for. And we're finally at the verge, Jim, where the AI is actually making it possible to deliver on the things we thought were going to be possible as a result of those tools that were developed over the last 30 years.

Jim Fitzpatrick 2:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

That's what's exciting to me about the face of change.

Jim Fitzpatrick 2:07

Yeah,

The Single Customer View Problem

Jim Fitzpatrick 2:08

for sure. So um a single view of the customer and uh and orchestration. I know that's something that you guys are passionate about um at Impel. Um we've been chasing it since the first CRM. Why hasn't the tech delivered?

SPEAKER_01 2:24

Yeah, it's problematic. It goes back to what I just said. We have uh dozens of systems that we use in our dealership, and every one of those systems collects its own set of data. And for the dealer, the real challenge is how do you get that data connected to a single customer record so you understand what that activity means, what's happening with it, how does how does this all transpire? Yeah. Uh up to this point, that's not really been possible because you would have to orchestrate literally hundreds of vendors that operate in this ecosystem. AI makes it possible because AI is like hand hiring additional people that do work for you. And those people don't tire and they can work 24 hours a day. And oh, by the way, they work about a thousand times faster than the human does. And so you can start to build those integrations either through MCPs or through APIs or through uh RPA that sits right on top of it and interacts with the tool as though you're an employee in the store, it unlocks the possibility to bring that data together into a common view of the customer so that you can truly do the type of one-to-one marketing and deliver an exceptional customer experience that we've always wanted to deliver.

Jim Fitzpatrick 3:30

Yeah. So is the answer fewer vendors? I mean, one vendor to run everything.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

I mean, certainly not one vendor to run everything, Jim. I know there are uh entities out there that think that's possible. There's a few big aggregators that roll things up and have for decades tried to bring it all together. It's interesting looking at that ecosystem today because I think one of them remains committed to that strategy, and the other two have woken up and said, hey, we want to play in this ecosystem because we know that we specialize in this piece of the software. Right. And it's really important that we secure that business. So I think, yeah, there will be fewer vendors, but it'll be fewer vendors because the AI will get more out of the other tools that you're using. So the overlap you have in tools can go away. Uh, that gets exciting, but it's not about replacing all the vendors. It's about bringing automation and AI employees to the table that can use the tools to get the most out of them and then making smart decisions about your business and where you're going to spend your budget on which tools do you need to really advance the objectives.

Policies, Risk, And Service Lane Wins

Jim Fitzpatrick 4:29

So, from your perspective, how should dealers be thinking about AI in their stores today?

SPEAKER_01 4:36

I mean, here's the first thing I would tell dealers about 50% of dealers I talk to right now, general managers and dealer principals, tell me that they're not formally using AI in their stores. They haven't signed up with a vendor to do anything. Uh, but the reality is if you go walk around your showroom and talk to your salespeople or you go back to any customer-facing organization inside your store, they're all using AI. So dealers need to be asking right now Am I creating an exposure uh point for myself by allowing my staff to use tools that I haven't approved? The first thing I would tell you to do, go think about your employee manual, go think about your policies and have guidelines in there for what appropriate use of AI is just to protect your business. Yeah. From there, every dealer needs to be doing this, Jim. Like the opportunities in the service lane with AI right now are off the charts. Dealers who are adopting that capability for their service department, they're seeing tremendous success in win backs on customers they haven't seen in over a year. Uh, they're driving a better customer journey and customer experience. And the technology is moving so fast now that it's starting to touch every one of the communication channels your customer might use to contact you.

Jim Fitzpatrick 5:44

Yeah, nice. What's the biggest thing standing between dealers and getting real value out of AI?

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I think it's a learning and understanding moment, Jim. I'm gonna go back to my cobalt days again. We were in this place where nobody knew what to do with internet leads, and the salespeople were typing in all caps because the CRMs were still green screens. I'm sorry, not the CRMs, the DMSs were green screens. Yep. And they didn't know how to take that cap's lock key off, right? So we taught dealers to hire an internet sales manager. Fast forward to today, we're four years, five years into this AI journey. It's real, and we're at that same moment in time. And what I see happening in stores is dealers are starting to identify specialist roles that deal with the AI. Somebody who's responsible for training it, somebody who's responsible for ensuring compliance, somebody who's responsible for making sure that it has access to the data that it needs. Those roles are the things I think dealers need to start talking about. And we're so excited to partner with them and share with them our view on what those roles are and what those job descriptions look like. But it's gonna change how the dealership operates. And I think that's an exciting

The New Dealership AI Roles

SPEAKER_01 6:52

moment in time.

Jim Fitzpatrick 6:52

Yeah. So if uh if a if AI becomes a first-class citizen, the org chart changes. What are the new roles that you see coming into the dealership?

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Yeah, the first one I think about is AI quarterback. The human on-the-loop activity is the most important thing you're gonna have to deal with, right, in this next stage. And that'll be answered through a couple of things. Everybody in your store is gonna walk around with a cell phone in their pocket that has an app loaded on it that is your AI assistant, and it's gonna prompt you a all day long on the work that you need to do. I'm really excited about that because that becomes orchestration. Yeah. I think about things like service lane car buying gym, right? And it's a heavy process-driven thing in the store. The best dealership I've ever talked to, they buy 35% of their inventory through their service lane. No kidding. Wow. It's pretty astonishing. Yeah. Yeah. The average dealer is probably doing 1%, 2% in the service lane. They just don't do it. With AI and with that uh app in your pocket, you're gonna get notices. If you've got a really high quality customer that's driving into the service lane, dealer principal is gonna get a notification on their phone that says, hey, Jim's pulling in. Go down and thank him for buying his last seven cars here. Nice. That's gonna make you feel good about doing business there, right? Same thing for service lane car buying. A valuable car rolls in, you've already softened the customer up to say, hey, you're in equity and we're looking for that car. We'd love to give you a value on it when you get here. Are you welcome? Oh, you're open to that. Most customers are gonna say yes. Oh, yeah, for sure. So that same app, yeah. That same app is gonna tell that used car manager, hey, Jim just pulled into the service lane, get down there and do that evaluation that's been promised. So we're not reinventing the processes, we're just putting in the missing pieces that allow the process to actually work. Yeah, and that's the transformation that I think dealers are experiencing.

Jim Fitzpatrick 8:38

Sure. Those are pretty cool pieces, though, that you're putting together. I mean, what you just described there.

Orchestrating Service Lane Car Buying

Jim Fitzpatrick 8:43

So let's talk about Impel specifically uh for a minute. You just touched on a couple of really cool things. What what else have you guys been up to lately? What what's what's new? And obviously, those items sound pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Yeah, those are all you know, point solutions or individual tasks that we're solving for. What I'm excited about now, Jim, is the AI technology has evolved to a point where it's possible to have a platform servicing your store. So for the last five years, dealers have bought a point solution. I I want a DVA, I'm gonna buy it from this company. I need something for my service lane, I'm gonna buy it from this company. Well, we're at a point in time now where the technology is a point where it's not about those individual products, it's about the core data elements and how you train your system. And you want to do that once. And so dealers are now beginning to select a platform provider that is the brain that powers their AI, and then the industry will evolve to provide a marketplace that taps into and has access to that brain. I really think about it like an operating system, like we have on our phones. Okay. Everybody walking around, not everybody, but virtually everybody walking around, they have Apple iOS in their pocket or they have Google Android in their pocket. I look at those companies, Apple, when they launched, they aggressively partnered with Google, even though Google was their competitor. Well, why did they do that? Because they wanted their operating system to be the best experience for their buyers. Sure. Same thing is happening to the automotive industry right now. For the first time, the need to train a central system of effort to understand your standard operating procedures, your stores fit in the community,

AI Platforms As The Dealership Brain

SPEAKER_01 10:21

the brands you represent, and the guidelines that go along with that, you're gonna have a chance to do that once and then say, Hey, I'm hiring this agent to communicate with my customers, all of the other tools I use, you're providing the input to that agent, and it's gonna orchestrate those conversations on your behalf.

Jim Fitzpatrick 10:38

Yeah, sure. So we we hear so much about voice AI right now, and the whole industry is rushing to put voice assistance on the phones right now. What separates the ones that work from the ones that don't work from your perspective?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Oh, I love that. I love that question, Jim. That pulls on all of my experience from March X and the work we did in the early days of AI in this space. Dealers are rushing to deploy DVAs. It's primarily driven because they recognize and their OEMs have been working for years to help them recognize that they do a bad job answering the phone. And when you don't answer the phone, you're creating a negative customer experience. It's rolling over to voicemail. So, how do you solve for that? Well, the tendency is to say, well, I could have an AI answer that and have that conversation with that customer. Well, sure you could, but put yourself in the seat of that customer for a minute. What's that experience like? Why is that customer calling your dealership? They're calling because they want to talk to a human. Yeah. So what I coach dealers on is DBAs, uh, agentic voicemail, systems that are answering with a computer where somebody's expecting a human to be, you better be really thoughtful about how you deploy that. And it's possible to be thoughtful, right? I talked to a Toyota dealership down in this down in the southeast, I don't remember which one, uh, but they had implemented a process where when they did delivery on a car, they gave their customer a business card with a toll-free phone number on it that was their service scheduling number. And that phone number, they pre-coached the customer to say, This is a this is a digital concierge, it's AI that's gonna answer this call for you, but it knows how to schedule your appointment. So you're not gonna have to wait in line, you're not gonna have to deal with anything else. You'll be able to call in and just book your appointment.

Jim Fitzpatrick 12:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Well, that's a great implementation because now I've got a specific number, I'm creating a concierge experience for my consumer. I've instructed them on what's gonna happen when they call that number. And when they call it, they get a great experience. Right. So if you're thoughtful about what's my journey and which ones do I want to use a DVA for, you can have real impact. Yeah, for sure.

Voice AI That Helps Without Hurting CSI

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Challenge I see, yeah. The challenge I see is that dealers turn these DVAs on to answer 100% of the phone calls that are coming in, primarily to their service department. And about 60% of those customers want to know what's the status of my car that's currently in your service bay right now. Yep. And you know what that AI can't answer? What's the status of that car? And they can't answer it because the dealer doesn't update their systems to put that information in in real time. Uh-huh. Most dealers batch that information at the end of the day.

Jim Fitzpatrick 13:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:07

Yeah. So you got to be thoughtful. That's my advice. DVAs are great, they can certainly accomplish meaningful goals, but if you just uh spread that like butter across your dealership, your CSI scores are going to tank, your sales are going to tank, your customer experience is going to tank.

Jim Fitzpatrick 13:21

Totally agree. When you look at uh where we are in the industry and where it's headed, what are you most optimistic about?

SPEAKER_01 13:29

Yeah, Jim, I'm so excited. I took this job at Im Bell, not because I wanted to get on airplanes and fly all around the country again. I thought I was done with that when I left March X. Uh, but the value proposition here uh was so clear to me and the possibilities were so real that I felt like I needed to do this. I have six kids, four of them are girls. Wow. I've uh for 30 years wanted those kids to be able to walk into a car dealership, especially my girls, and feel comfortable buying a car. Yeah. And the honest truth about our industry is most women go into a car dealership, don't feel good about that experience.

Jim Fitzpatrick 14:01

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

They may feel threatened, they're often mistreated.

Jim Fitzpatrick 14:05

By the way, the guys don't feel much better than the girls.

The Bigger Goal: A Better Buying Experience

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Yeah, guys don't feel much better than the girls. That's right. So let's transform it all, Jim. That's what we want to do. And AI is gonna make that possible because the quality of the communication, the quality of the information provided, the quality of the experience before you get to that store, it's already being impacted. And the next set of tools I'm seeing are all of these in-store assistance for the salesperson that make that experience better as well.

Jim Fitzpatrick 14:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

So I took this job, I'm doing this because I'm so passionate about creating that awesome car buying experience for the end consumer that allows dealers to still have a great business and a great life and a great industry to live in. There's an intersection there that's a win-win-win for everybody, and I'm so excited about it.

Jim Fitzpatrick 14:50

That's great. That's fantastic. The very happy, very excited Matt Mullenberg, Chief Product Officer at Impel. Thank you so much for stopping by CBT News. I know that our dealer audience will get a lot out of your visit with us. And uh, you guys are uh on the cutting edge of a lot of this AI technology. You have been since your inception. So again, thanks so much for taking the time with us.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Pleasure, Jim. Always great to be here. Talk to you soon. Thanks.