Welcome to the final day of AM Innovation Week 2026, where our focus moves to the dealership innovation culture needed to turn good ideas into lasting results.
Across the week, AM has examined how technology can improve dealership operations, marketing, sales and aftersales. Today’s coverage asks a fundamental question: who is responsible for turning an idea into a practical improvement?
Dealerships rarely lack ideas. Employees closest to customers and everyday processes can see where enquiries are lost, administration is duplicated or journeys become frustrating.
The challenge is giving those people permission to speak, assigning someone to test the solution and ensuring a successful pilot becomes part of normal business.
How dealerships can embed innovation
Our main feature examines how Athenea Automotive Group, Steven Eagell Group and Autotrader are building that chain of responsibility.
Athenea, created through the merger of Johnsons Cars and Brayleys Cars, encourages almost 2,000 employees to contribute through regular communications and cross-functional workshops. Proposals are assessed against strategic fit, potential impact, feasibility and return on investment.
Steven Eagell Group uses twice-yearly town halls to gather questions, criticism and ideas from more than 1,500 colleagues. Managers are also asked what they would “love to have”, “fight to keep” and be “keen to lose” – recognising that valuable automotive retail innovation can involve removing needless complexity.
Its smart repair pilot at Oxford and Birmingham demonstrates how an identified opportunity can become a controlled commercial test. With an estimated 60% of vehicles arriving for servicing carrying cosmetic damage, the project could improve customer convenience while creating an additional revenue stream.
Turning successful pilots into everyday practice
Autotrader demonstrates the next stage: transferring change into everyday dealership operations. Its performance team helps retailers diagnose problems, agree responsibilities and equip dealership teams to adopt improved processes independently.
That handover is crucial. Innovation only creates lasting value when a successful trial stops belonging to a specialist project team and becomes part of how the wider business operates.
Innovation starts with curiosity, not technology
In today’s Executive View, Keyloop vice president of global engagement Jacqui Barker argues that innovation starts with curiosity rather than technology.
Research commissioned by Keyloop found that 76% of customers had been frustrated by inaccurate online information, while 69% described buying a vehicle as a constant process of “going back and forth”.
Her message is that another tool will not repair a poorly understood process. Dealers should identify where customers and employees become stuck, simplify the process, listen to frontline teams and only then decide where technology can help.
It is a fitting conclusion to AM Innovation Week. The most valuable innovation is not necessarily the most dramatic. It removes friction, has a clear owner, delivers a measurable benefit and ultimately becomes the way the dealership works.
Explore AM’s complete Innovation Week coverage for practical examples of retailers turning technology, data and fresh thinking into stronger commercial results.