Automotive State of The Union

Q2 Sales Up (With an Asterix), Carfax Best Place To Work, Chuck E. Cheese Grows Up

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Episode #1086: Today we unpack Q2’s early sales surge and late slip, celebrate CARFAX’s workplace wins, and wonder about Chuck E. Cheese’s nostalgic new venture for grown-ups.


Show Notes with links:

  • U.S. new-vehicle sales in Q2 were front-loaded, with consumers acting early to capitalize on incentives and avoid potential tariffs. The momentum faded by June, signaling possible headwinds ahead.
    • Roughly 173,000 additional vehicles were sold in March and April, pushing the sales pace above 17 million SAAR.
    • June sales fell 4.3% to 1.26 million units, with SAAR dipping to 15.65 million.
    • GM posted a 7% gain in Q2, with trucks, crossovers, and EVs all showing growth, with EV sales more than doubling YoY.
    • Tesla deliveries declined 13%, amid an aging product lineup and reputational challenges.
    • Ford reported a 14% increase, supported by employee pricing programs and strong hybrid performance.
    • “We blew the doors off the overall industry,” said Andrew Frick, Ford Blue and Model e President.


  • CARFAX has once again earned recognition as one of the best places to work in the U.S., sweeping multiple national and regional Top Workplace awards for 2025.
    • They were named a USA Today Top Workplace for the fourth year in a row and also honored by the Washington Post (11th time) and St. Louis Post-Dispatch (4th year).
    • The awards are based on anonymous employee feedback regarding culture and practices.
    • Carfax received additional recognition for leadership, benefits, flexibility, innovation, and values.
    • “Being part of a team… committed to the same playbook, has made my experience… rewarding,” said Angela Coyle, Director of Marketing Operations.
    • Also a special shoutout to our friends at the Rohrman Auto Group, who placed on the USA Today list for the first time ever.


  • Chuck E. Cheese is growing up — literally. The company has launched "Chuck’s Arcade," a new concept aimed at adult fans of retro gaming and childhood nostalgia.
    • Chuck’s Arcade features classics like Donkey Kong and Mortal Kombat alongside modern games like Halo.
    • Locations include St. Louis, Tulsa, El Paso, and St. Petersburg, with 10 now open across U.S. malls.
    • Each arcade features unique artwork and iconic animatronic mascots from the original brand.
    • Some locations include pizzerias and limited beer/wine service.
    • CEO David McKillips calls it a “natural evolution” to attract lifelong fans and a new generation.

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.

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Paul J Daly:

Good morning. It is Thursday, July 3. We all know what's happening tomorrow. Today. This is the automotive State of the Union. If you didn't know, I'm Paul Jay Daly. It's calm out here today. We're talking about q2 sales up with an asterisk. Carfax be the best place to work and listen. Can't wait already. We're gonna say it. We get to talk about Chuck E Cheese growing up. It's like a little chocolate at the end of the Olive Garden dinner.

Kyle Mountsier:

Remember those, man, literally the best. I want to go to Olive Garden, just to get the little

Paul J Daly:

memory for Kyle. I mean, like, look, no offense, but I do you what was the last time you went to Olive Garden. Yep, you should go again.

Kyle Mountsier:

No, it's been in the last three years. I know I remember the last time I went to Olive Garden because I was, I was at a, like, mini conference. I think it was a cane event, and it was like the only restaurant within earshot of the hotel I was staying and it was like, we just walked on over that. That's a nice experience. It was in Arizona. It was in Phoenix. Where's your go

Paul J Daly:

to? What's your go to at Olive Garden. I mean, look, everybody knows the best way to execute Olive Garden is spread six with the breadsticks

Kyle Mountsier:

and salad, right? Look, it the the Italian wedding soup that with the little

Paul J Daly:

sauce bread sticks, you're done. It's amazing. Mint and it's over,

Kyle Mountsier:

and it's over. I love the chicken parmesan and the chicken marsala. It just depends on the vibe that I'm feeling. You know, whether I want the fried or the grill of

Paul J Daly:

Italy. Guy myself, you're the tour of Italy talking about Olive Garden. More in the last 60 seconds that I have in the last six? Yeah, I was gonna say six years. All right, hey, just so you know, quick note before we get into the news next Wednesday, we're having a webinar on July 9. Go to asotu.com sign up. You'll get the recording, or you can be there, live with us, which we prefer, talking about smart customer, transportation management with our friend Steven Chapman from Uber for business. We're gonna unpack Uber for business a little bit, maybe come up with a few creative uses. I'm gonna try trip them up. They

Kyle Mountsier:

say that's what we do at our webinars. Let's try. That's our whole goal in life. Is to trip people you

Paul J Daly:

want people to be around you, people to want to be around you.

Kyle Mountsier:

Just trip them up. They love it. Yeah.

Paul J Daly:

I kid, I kid, I kid us. New vehicle sales in q2 were front loaded with consumers acting early to capitalize on incentives and avoid tariffs or potential tariffs. The momentum did fade by June, signaling possible headwinds, roughly 173,000 additional vehicles were sold in March and April, pushing the sales pace above 17 million Sar. June sales, though, fell 4.3% to 1.2 6 million units with SAR going back down to 5.65 GM posted a 7% gain in q2 with trucks, crossovers and EV EVs all showing growth. How about that? EV sales more than doubling year over year. So they're like, take that public narrative. Tested. Deliveries declined 13 admit, 13% amidst aging product lineup. And this is very polite way to put it. Reputational challenges for reported a 14% increase supported by employee pricing programs and strong hybrid performance. Andrew Frick blue, Ford blue and model E, president said We blew the doors off the overall industry.

Kyle Mountsier:

They really did. They came here strong. I'm telling you. They came strong with that employee pricing for all it was like that was a way to take all of of the tailwinds of the the tariff stuff, take, take it from a late March, early April, and just like steamroll all the way through the quarter, obviously, the 14% increases is proof of that. I think this is, this is the timeline where people are going. Qt was up, but June wasn't as exciting as April and May. So we'll see if July can continue some upward trend. But hey, look the years, looking looking up, looking bright for auto. We're gonna be fine.

Paul J Daly:

15.6 5 million star is not I mean, we've had, we want

Kyle Mountsier:

to get back to 17 as an average. But you know, we've had rougher rides in the we got to get better at trade, cycle management to get there. Speaking of getting better, segue,

Paul J Daly:

we love this story, come on, because it's a point where we get to celebrate a key retail automotive staple being named as a great place to work and a great culture. Carfax has once again earned recognition as one of the best places to work in the US, sweeping multiple national and regional top workplace awards for 2025 they were named a USA Today, top workplace for the fourth year in a row, and also honored by the Washington Post, 11th time there and St Louis Post Dispatch the fourth year on that list. The awards are based on anonymous employee feedback regarding culture and practices. Carfax received additional recognition for leadership benefits flex of. Innovation and values. Here's a quote from Angela Coyle, Director of Marketing ops. She says, being part of a team committed to the same playbook has made my experience rewarding. Also, a special shout out to our friends at the Roman Auto Group, who also placed on the USA Today list. Wow. The first time. That's

Kyle Mountsier:

crazy. It's wild. I mean, this is, it's always super cool to see companies, no matter where they're at, in retail automotive, recognized in cross vertical applications. You know, you always think about your, you know, the biggest companies in the world being listed in that. And to like, think, just to remember that auto has a place in that is, I think, super important kudos to Carfax for being, you know, one of the companies that is considering employees clearly, you

Paul J Daly:

know, we try to let a little bit of the cat out of the bag, and then we pull it back in. But we've, we've just kind of put a lot of thought and intentionality into our vision, mission and values. And, yeah, I mean, our vision is, is that retail Auto is somewhere you have to fight to get an interview. Come on, you better know somebody so this, this story, is so close to our hearts, because it moves us one little step in that direction. Congrats to our friends at carvax, CarFax and Roman Auto Group, speaking of Chuck E Cheese,

Kyle Mountsier:

just speaking of being a kid again, come on now. Just stop. Just stop thinking

Paul J Daly:

one of the best places to work a world

Kyle Mountsier:

no. Chuck E Cheese is growing up. Quite literally, the company has launched what they're calling Chuck's arcade, a new concept aimed at adult fans retro gaming and childhood nostalgia. All right, so Chuck's arcade features classics like Donkey Kong, Mortal Kombat combat, alongside modern games like Halo, which I don't know. I guess that's still a modern game. Modern is crazy version of it now there's still some some people doing that. Locations include St Louis, Tulsa, El Paso and St Petersburg with 10 now open across US malls, reviving the malls. Fam the mall. So it's all arcades with unique artwork, iconic animatronic mascots from the original brand. Some locations have pizzerias and then you got beer and wine service. That

Paul J Daly:

was my question. Yeah, exactly.

Kyle Mountsier:

Mckillips calls it a natural evolution to attract lifelong fans in a new generation that basically they were like, You know what? I guess the kids don't care anymore. Let's get the adults that want to

Paul J Daly:

what do we do with all these old video games and animatronics laying around? No, I love this idea. I think it's a great reminder to everyone in retail, that as your customers grow up, you can continually tap on nostalgia and the things that were good about it and recontextualize it in a way that they want to experience it again. Sign me up for the mall arcade. I don't have any idea how a mall Arcade is going to survive without no whole lot of fanfare, like the arcades, right? You have Dave and Busters. You have

Kyle Mountsier:

there's well and David busters, you know, it stated it was, they recently are 9.4% down in same store sales, so they're struggling right now.

Paul J Daly:

And we have a place called apex in the big ball that we have here that has this massive arcade, but they also have, like, laser tag and bowling alley and all these things. So I wonder how Chuck E Cheese gonna pull this off without all the other stuff as well, especially in a shopping mall. But I'll tell you what, I love the idea of going to one of these chucks arcades and playing all these vintage video games and, Oh, fun the food, the food's gotta be elevated, I mean, but I like, I like the reinvention of a brand. We'll see if it works or if it doesn't. When you look at the picture of it, it kind of reminds me of the arcade from the movie Wreck it Ralph, that's

Kyle Mountsier:

exactly what it looks like, right? Which is legitimately

Paul J Daly:

exactly what it looks like, which is cool. But I think again, back to the thing. I think there's always a way to think about the place that your consumer is in, and how and thinking about, how can you top in, tap into the nostalgia of an experience they had when they were generational?

Kyle Mountsier:

Nostalgia is a thing. You can use it in your marketing. You can use it in experiences, all of those things, a little

Paul J Daly:

nostalgia in in automotive I think, yeah. How about a pop up arcade? Dude, if you did a chucks arcade, like a pop up Chuck E Cheese arcade

Kyle Mountsier:

store, in the store that would blow up, that would

Paul J Daly:

be, that'd be a thing. That'd be a thing, yeah, I don't know. Well, listen, tomorrow, we didn't talk about this. Tomorrow's the Fourth of July. Everybody, hey, so that means you're gonna be a big weekend. You may be selling a lot of cars on Friday, or you may have on Friday. Some people actually have off on the Fourth of July. Yep, yep, right. So a

Kyle Mountsier:

lot of dealers, what do you think? I think that's a 5050, split. Yeah, it's probably 40 or 40 are off 40% I

Paul J Daly:

will say, though it's a lot easier to close on the holiday, when Saturday and Sunday are on the other side. Yeah, that's exactly right. When it's on a Friday. Like we can do that, we'll be fine. We got Saturday's gonna be slamming. But look, a lot of people can be eating, hanging out, celebrating the freedoms that we have. Independence Day. If you don't get our daily email, get it@asotu.com and today's one of today's headlines is retention is hard. Just ask England.

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Paul J Daly

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