Reynolds and Reynolds drew record attendance to its fourth annual Amplify retail summit in Carlsbad, Calif., where dealers gathered to explore new technology, share operating ideas and get a closer look at the company’s expanding AI roadmap.
The two-day event put a strong emphasis on dealership productivity, connected workflows and practical applications for artificial intelligence, while also recognizing dealers whose own ideas are helping improve the customer experience and dealership operations across sales, finance and fixed operations.
Held Aug. 10-11 at the Park Hyatt Aviara, Amplify 2026 combined product demonstrations, hands-on workshops and dealer presentations with discussions about some of the operating pressures facing retailers on both sides of the border.
In an interview with Canadian auto dealer after the event, Chris Walsh, President and Acting CEO of Reynolds, said many of the issues he hears from dealers in the U.S. are equally relevant in Canada, particularly around labour costs, productivity, consumer expectations and the growing complexity of operating a dealership.
Staffing levels and expenses have increased at many stores without an equivalent increase in output, he said, leaving dealers looking for ways to improve productivity.
“How do I do more with less?” is a question Walsh said he hears frequently.
Artificial intelligence is increasingly part of that conversation. But Walsh said the goal is not simply to reduce headcount. Technology can instead take on repetitive or lower-value activities and allow dealership employees to focus on work that contributes more directly to the customer experience and the bottom line.
AI moves closer to the dealership workflow
One of the most talked-about products at Amplify was Rey, Reynolds’ agentic AI assistant, which is built on the company’s Spark AI Unified Data Layer.
Greg Uland, Vice-President of Marketing at Reynolds, said Rey consistently drew some of the largest crowds in the expo area.
“Rey was a huge hit,” Uland said in an interview. “There were constantly 20 people there trying to look over each other to see what was going on.”
More significant, he said, was that dealers appeared to quickly understand how the technology could apply inside their stores.
“It wasn’t, ‘This is neat,’ or, ‘I can see how this might work.’ It was, ‘Wow, this would have a big impact in my store.’”
Reynolds has designed Rey around a dealership-wide view of the customer rather than a series of isolated AI agents assigned to individual departments.
Uland said the company started with the data layer so its AI tools could work from a unified dealership data set. Rey can then draw context from multiple customer interactions, whether they are shopping online, sitting with a salesperson or interacting with the service department.
For dealers concerned about turning too much control over to AI, Uland said the technology does not have to be an all-or-nothing proposition.
Dealers should be able to decide where they want a human in the loop and where they are comfortable allowing more automation.
“The flexibility is another key point,” he said. “Every dealer’s going to be at a different place and we shouldn’t force the workflow.”
The company also showcased Relo, a parts delivery robot designed to move parts through dealership service operations. Uland said the hardware demonstration attracted considerable interest, including from dealers that are not Reynolds DMS customers.
Dealers sharing what works
Amplify also put dealers themselves on centre stage through the company’s Automotive Amplifiers Contest.
Walsh said the idea is to identify processes and practices dealership employees have developed themselves and give them an opportunity to share those ideas with other retailers.
“We don’t have all the answers,” said Walsh.
Reynolds will sometimes find customers using its technology in ways the company had not anticipated or taking a process further than expected.
The contest helps surface those best practices and, more importantly, demonstrate the impact they can have on a dealership, its customers and overall productivity.
Two dealers received awards this year.
Chris Lasko of BMW of Pittsburgh received the Innovation Award for developing a fully remote finance department, an approach that challenges the assumption that an F&I manager needs to be physically located in the dealership.
The model helped the store address coverage gaps caused by vacations, illness and turnover, while expanding its potential recruiting pool and reducing customer wait times.
Lasko said winning the award was meaningful because it validated work his team had already put into the process.
“It was really good to be able to show that the stuff my team worked so hard on does have value,” he said in an interview. “It matters. It’s neat to be in a position where other people can learn from what you do.”
Randy Carlton of Volvo Cars Bellevue, part of Swickard Auto Group, received the Impact Award for requiring salespeople to send a personalized video walkaround to every customer lead.
The idea is straightforward: establish a connection between the customer and salesperson before the shopper arrives at the store, helping make the transition from an online interaction to an in-person visit more seamless.
Carlton said he did not know much about Amplify before attending but came away impressed by the amount of information available and, particularly, what he learned from other dealers.
“This Amplify event was extremely impressive,” he said in an interview. “I was really impressed by a lot of the information that I was learning and getting from the other dealers, as well as just the amount of content they had.”
Carlton also returned to his dealership talking about what he saw from Rey. His team was interested in the possibilities, he said, particularly as the dealership is already experimenting with AI in areas such as vehicle pricing.
As a hands-on operator, Carlton said he sees considerable potential in using AI to eliminate repetitive tasks, although dealer input remains essential.
“It has to work,” he said. “And having the end user input is a key component.”
Lasko is also leaning into AI and said the capabilities demonstrated at Amplify reinforced his interest in adopting more of the technology.
For Walsh, those dealer conversations are a central part of the event. Amplify provides Reynolds with direct feedback on its products and relationships while giving dealers an opportunity to exchange ideas with retailers they might not otherwise encounter.
The next Amplify event will be held Aug. 19-20, 2027, at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. Registration is now open.
