This week on our parent blog we announced a new promotion we are doing with CarGurus. The company recently launched a user conference called Navigate ‘19 to take place in Boston from October 22-23, 2019. The event is designed to educate attendees on solutions to major challenges that dealerships face today, including areas like digital marketing, strategy, and leadership.
CarGurus President and COO Sam Zales says that, “After analyzing the automotive conference landscape, CarGurus recognized the opportunity to create an event that combines industry knowledge with expert voices from other areas.” Zales goes on to say that, “[A]s an automotive retail and digital marketing leader, CarGurus is launching Navigate with a diverse set of speakers and panels to help dealerships tackle our changing market.”
Conversation with Ashley Karr, Head of B2B Marketing, CarGurus
To help build awareness of Navigate ‘19’s scheduled events and activities, we welcome CarGurus Head of B2B Marketing Ashley Karr this week as our Special Guest the Mobility Tech & Connectivity Show.
Karr is a strategic marketing leader in the SaaS space, bringing strong brand and general management experience from CPG and robust analytical skills from management consulting. Her experience includes building and leading a team of over 20 marketers in demand generation, product marketing, customer marketing, operations, design and more.
She has been with CarGurus since March 2015.
The Mobility Tech & Connectivity Show
Aired Wednesday October 9th, 2019
Save $300 on Registration to Navigate ‘19
CarGurus is extending a $300 discount off registration for anyone watching today’s show. This includes live viewers, podcast listeners, and those viewing a recording of the show. But hurry! The show is less than two weeks away.
Tickets are priced at $695 each but as a viewer of today’s show your price is only $395. Simply enter promo code AUTOCONVERSE upon registering. This is a 43% savings just for being subscribed to AutoConversion.
Other News and Current Events
Toyota’s New Augmented Reality Shopping Experience: A Shift In The Car Buying Journey?
Toyota’s immersive AR experience will bring virtual vehicles to consumers across the United States so they can experience them up close and person. And they’ll do this without requiring users to download a specific app to their mobile device. Instead, the AR experience will be delivered at scale through digital media.
For instance, users can simply click a banner ad on a social media page, and Toyota’s AR experience will launch. “This innovative AR technology allows Toyota to engage with guests like never before,” says Cynthia Tenhouse, Vice President, Vehicle Marketing and Communications, Toyota Motor North America. “It creates a highly engaging online vehicle experience, and highlights Toyota models in a personalized way for each guest.”
The 7-year Auto Loan – America’s Middle Class Can’t Afford It’s Cars
Walk into an auto dealership these days and you might walk out with a seven-year car loan. And car loans that are increasingly stretched out are a pronounced sign that some American middle class buyers can’t afford a middle-class lifestyle.
Incomes have risen at a sluggish pace in the past decade, but car prices have grown rapidly. New technological and safety features, such as larger and more sophisticated multimedia displays, have made even the most basic cars more expensive. U.S. consumers have also veered toward pricier rides such as sport-utility vehicles that tend to dominate auto showrooms. The result is that consumers are seeking bigger loans than ever to purchase a car.
The Implausibility of Intelligence Explosion – Let’s Discuss
Will first “seed AI” will be created in the near future with general problem-solving abilities slightly surpassing that of humans, designing better AIs, initiating a recursive self-improvement loop that would immediately leave human intelligence in the dust, and overtake it by orders of magnitude in a short time?
Join Terry and I in this conversation inspired by Francois Chollet’s article on Medium.
About the Show
The Mobility Tech & Connectivity Show is a live weekly webcast that explores, people, ideas, and technologies that influence how we are connected and the way we get around. The show is streamed live on YouTube and then featured on the AutoConverse Mobility Tech & Connectivity Podcast.
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Let us know in the comments section below what your thoughts about this week’s agenda leading up to the show, during the live event, or even afterwards if you’ve tuned in later.
