In It for the Long Haul

CX Insights - Trend Watch - Automotive Industry (ICYMI October 2026)

Customers are keeping their vehicles longer, they're financing them longer and this month, the industry showed it's planning just as far ahead: Service lanes with a sense of humor, plants that open in 2030 and a connected service that just turned 30. Welcome to the long haul.

Let's dig in.

| THE LONG RELATIONSHIP

Start with the numbers. In July we noted that according to S&P Global Mobility, the average vehicle on U.S. roads is a record 12.8 years old. This month supplied the other half: Roughly a quarter of new-vehicle buyers who financed in the third quarter took a loan of 84 months or longer. Keep it for nearly thirteen years. Finance it for seven. That isn't a transaction … That's a relationship with a very long runway.

And a long relationship needs somewhere to happen. It seems the industry noticed, because the service lane had a busy month. Ford teamed up with comedian Nate Bargatze on a campaign to boost dealer repair services. Stellantis answered with "Mopar Knows," a humor-driven push to bring owners back to the dealer. And GM launched its first Service Technicians 30 Under 30 program, putting a spotlight on the young technicians who make those visits worth repeating. Service, it turns out, is easier to love with a punchline.

Behind the punchlines, the work is changing too. One Mercedes-Benz dealership, Benzel-Busch, uses AI behind the scenes to polish customer texts and draft warranty repair stories, while the customer conversation stays personal. Repair-order time fell from 6.5 days to 4.3. AI in the back room, and a person up front. It's the handoff we wrote about in September, working in real life.

| BUILT WHERE IT'S SOLD

If customers are in it for the long haul, the people building their vehicles clearly are too. Hyundai plans to add 500,000 units of annual North American production capacity by 2030 and raise local sourcing from 60% to 80%. Honda is reportedly in final talks on a hybrid plant in Ohio, its first new North American plant in roughly twenty years, with operations targeted for 2030. These aren't quarterly decisions. They're commitments to customers a decade away.

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa put the thinking plainly this month: the industry is becoming more regional. In August we watched handshakes become hard hats. Now the h

ard hats have local addresses. The closer the build, the shorter the distance between a customer's question and an answer, or at least that's how it seems from where I sit.

Build it nearby. Service it for years. Both are the same promise, kept at different ends of the vehicle's life.

| JUST FOR FUN: SIGNS OF THE TIMES

Speaking of the long haul, one connected-car milestone deserves a candle. In 1966, GM researchers built a connected car out of a CB radio, roadside magnets and punch cards. Out of gas? Dial the console, and a staffer at a communications center would call the car back to confirm help was on the way. Two cars and a test highway in Warren, Michigan. They called it DAIR, the Driver Aid, Information, and Routing System. It never reached production, but the idea clearly kept driving.

Thirty years later, in 1996, OnStar launched as the first automotive telematics system available to the public. This year it turns 30. Look at both systems and notice what they share: a person on the other end. The magnets are long gone. The instinct to put a real person on the line when it matters is not.

A personal note. Roughly twenty years ago, as part of the IBM corporate strategy group, I was researching telematics. OnStar had already been on the road for about a decade, and from where I sat, it was the only live product to learn from. Happy 30th. You were an excellent teacher.

CX REALITY CHECK

Which brings us back to people, because that's what every long relationship comes down to. Ownership is long. The service lane is the relationship. And relationships are built by the person on the other end.

Jennifer Briggs, a general manager at a Volkswagen dealership in Illinois, put it plainly at Digital Dealer, speaking about service technicians: "It's not a recruiting war; it's a retention war." It applies just as well to the people behind every customer interaction, the ones who answer the call and explain the feature that didn't activate. The best of those conversations feel like talking to someone who's been there for years.

September's blog made the case for knowing where the assistant's job ends and a person's begins. This month adds the follow-up: who is that person, and will they stay? Our newest whitepaper, From Candidate to Customer Advocate, makes the case that customer experience begins long before a customer calls, with who you hire and how you equip them. Technology improves efficiency. People create loyalty.

Here's to November: May your customers keep their vehicles a long time, and the people who serve them stay even longer.