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Cox Automotive Buys Fullpath. The Dealer Tech Stack Just Got a New Landlord.

Cox Automotive signed a definitive agreement on April 23 to acquire Fullpath, the Jerusalem-based AI-native Customer Data Platform and marketing automation company, in a deal estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars. The transaction is expected to close within 30 days, and Fullpath's AI, CDP, and marketing automation tools will be folded directly into Cox's already dominant dealer footprint, giving Cox a unified data and AI marketing layer competing head-on with DriveCentric, Tekion, and the rest of the field.

Source: https://www.coxautoinc.com/insights/cox-automotive-to-acquire-fullpath-bringing-ai-native-data-and-marketing-infrastructure-to-the-industrys-largest-dealer-network/

Other Notable Stories

Tool Spotlight

Numa — AI Receptionist for Dealership Main Lines

Numa is an AI receptionist that picks up the dealership's main line, answers questions, books service appointments, transfers calls, and handles after-hours follow-up. Currently deployed at 1,200+ rooftops, it sits on the phone system with no DMS rip-and-replace required.

  • What it does: Answers every call, 24/7. Books service, routes sales, sends text follow-ups, captures leads from voicemails the BDC would normally miss.
  • Who it's for: Dealers losing money on missed calls and after-hours inquiries. The math is simple — if your store gets 50 missed calls a week and your average RO is $400, you're leaving real money on the floor.
  • Approximate price: Public pricing isn't disclosed. Industry chatter puts it in the $1,500 to $3,500 per-rooftop, per-month range depending on call volume and feature tier. Confirm with the vendor before quoting.
  • Source: https://www.numa.com/

Stat of the Day

AI usage among dealerships climbed from 28% to 39% year-over-year, and 100% of dealerships implementing AI reported revenue increases — 37% saw 20–30% growth, and 18% saw over 30%.

That last number is the one that matters. Not "we tried AI." Not "we're exploring." Actual revenue lift, in actual stores. The dealers still on the sidelines in 2026 are not being cautious. They are being slow.

Source: https://blog.jdpa.com/summit-blog/top-5-ai-imperatives-for-dealers-and-oems-in-2026 (J.D. Power 2026 AI imperatives) and supporting industry data via https://www.cbtnews.com/the-ai-gap-in-automotive-retail

Trend Watch

Three patterns are showing up across this week's coverage that point in the same direction.

First, consolidation is accelerating. Cox/Fullpath is the headline, but it sits inside a broader pattern of dealer-tech vendors getting absorbed by the platforms that already own the rooftop. Expect two or three more announcements like this before NADA 2027.

Second, AI is migrating from "chatbot" to "operator." The language across J.D. Power, Digital Dealer, and Tekion is no longer "AI helps your team." It's "AI runs the workflow and your team supervises it." That's a different org chart, and the dealers who reorg around it will out-execute the ones who bolt AI onto the existing structure.

Third, fixed ops is finally getting its AI moment. Sales got the first wave. BDC got the second. Service is wave three, and it's the one with the highest margin upside. Watch this category — it's the one where a single vendor with the right product can dominate quickly because most stores have no AI in the service drive at all today.

The dealer principal who reads this brief and forwards it to the GM with one line — "what is our move on this" — is the one who keeps a step ahead. The rest will be reading about it in next year's NADA recap.

Sources

Notes from this run:

  • All sources verified via web search. Numa pricing is estimated based on industry chatter and not confirmed by the vendor — flagged in the body.
  • Cox/Fullpath transaction value was not disclosed by Cox; "hundreds of millions" figure comes from Calcalist/Ctech reporting.
  • The AI usage 28%→39% stat is sourced from J.D. Power's 2026 imperatives blog. Worth re-confirming against the underlying study before quoting in a paid asset.

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Reading about AI won't train your team

The stores pulling ahead aren't the ones with the most tools — they're the ones whose people know how to use them. That takes a strategy, a readiness baseline, and real training.