CDK Global

Why would a dealer group start talking about building its own DMS? Well, Josh has his thoughts, and they're bold.

Then Bruce, Bruce Johnson, VP of Product Marketing and Enablement at CDK Global, breaks down the 2026 W- Dealership Workplace Study.

80% of employees say they're satisfied, but that number slipped from last year.

What's quietly eating away at it, and what surprised even Bruce? Stick around for that one.

I, I agree.

All, all right.

Bruce Johnson, vice president of product marketing and enablement at CDK Global, thank you so much for being on Daily Deal Live, sharing your perspectives.

Thanks for being here.

Dealership employees are broadly happy at work, but the middle of the tenure curve is where satisfaction drops the hardest.

CDK's 2026 workplace study found 80% overall satisfaction compared with just 64% among employees with one to three years on the job.

So obviously it's being swayed by people with much longer.

The overall satisfaction only dropped two points year over year, but 91% of employees said they're motivated and 73% say they're proud of their job, which is a big deal for me.

Volkswagen's management is considering a drastic workaround to push its restructuring through.

And CDK Global's CEO is retiring.

We'll tell you who will lead the DMS giant next.

Plus, Informative's Theresa Bourdonnet talks about auto loan fraud in 2026, why it's getting harder to fight, and why the fraudsters are starting to look a lot like your best customers.

The plan would double job cuts to 100,000 and potentially close German factories.

A highly unusual move for Germany's consensus-driven corporate culture.

And CDK Global's CEO Brian McDonald is retiring.

The dealership management system giant says its new leader will be Sudhakar Ramakrishna.

But there were others, no.

CNA Financial in 2021 for $40 million, CDK Global in 2024 for $25 million, Change Healthcare 2024 for $22 million.

So yes, they've been substantial.

Collectively, more like $500 million,

Other than that, maybe they're always trying to take my money.

So today we'll have on Dave Thomas from CDK Global.

He's gonna get us up to speed on not just the affordability crisis for new cars, but on the growing negative equity problem, and surprisingly, why nobody seems to care.

All right.

You got it.

So I'm the director of content marketing here at CDK.

CDK Global is known as one of the largest software suppliers to automakers and car dealers in North America.

And so when we look at the content we produce, our audience is primarily that dealer network.

And so that's where the training, that's where understanding and, and being well-trained makes such a big difference.

Last week CDK reported out that the finance office, Ashley, has 90%, uh, positive rating, and then you go on the sales floor and it's way down.

And, uh, in talking with CDK, Ashley, we decided a big difference there is finance is well-trained, they're well-educated, and they understand the cost of the deal, and they're entrusted to make good decisions.

Salespeople turn more, and I think they're trained less in 2026.

Uh, putting on your WOCAN lens, uh, h- how does, how, how does building a stronger path for women of color into and up through dealerships connect to the performance gaps you're seeing as we wrap up today, Ashley?

And that is a very, very big reality check that hits you over the head like a sledgehammer because it, it scares the pants out of you.

We've got to maintain what we have and build upon what we have to continue giving customers what they want.

And Cody, to that point, Dave Thomas from CDK comes into the chat and says, "You know what? The United States is the only market big enough to offload all that capacity," speaking of the 50 million, 50 million manufacturing capacity.