Podcast: AI, tariffs, EVs, compliance take center stage at AFS East 2025
Listen as AFN editors recap Auto Finance Summit East 2025
Uncertainty defined much of the conversation at Auto Finance Summit East 2025 last week in Nashville, Tenn., with auto lenders highlighting affordability, auto tariffs, EV dynamics and technology as top-of-mind considerations headed into the rest of the year.
Auto tariffs were a resounding theme throughout the event, as lenders discussed inventory and pricing dynamics, mixed consumer demand and the possibility of longer-term loans to address affordability.
Against the backdrop of higher vehicle prices and tariffs, Chase Auto and Santander Consumer USA are leaning into relationships with manufacturers to drive growth.
Auto lenders are also diving into AI and automation to improve customer experience, tap refinance demand and enhance underwriting processes.
Despite potential elimination of the federal EV tax credit, lenders are bullish on the sector as manufacturers remain committed to electrification goals.
In this episode of “Weekly Wrap,” Auto Finance News Editor Amanda Harris, Senior Associate Editor Truth Headlam and Associate Editor Aidan Bush discuss top takeaways from Auto Finance Summit East 2025.
Subscribe to “The Roadmap Podcast” on iTunes or Spotify or download the episode.
Find more coverage from Auto Finance Summit East 2025 here.
Editor’s note: This transcript has been generated by software and is being presented as is. Some transcription errors may remain.
This what happened at auto finance for the week ending May 16th, 2025. Last week we hosted auto finance summit East in Nashville, TN. Uncertainty defined much of the conversation at the show, with auto lenders highlighting affordability, auto tariffs, EV dynamics and technology as top of mind considerations headed into the rest of the year, we heard from lenders who are building their relationships with manufacturers to drive growth. Who are implementing AI and automation to improve efficiencies and tap into areas of growth and who are committed to Ev’s despite the likelihood of the federal EV tax credit being eliminated, there was a sense of cautious optimism. Despite the challenges facing the market with early 2020. 5 results showing strong vehicle sales and many lenders prepared for a potential dip in demand in the short term. Lenders have been here before and know how to weather market hills and valleys. With many leaning on strategies they implemented during the pandemic to guide their risk strategies into the rest of 2025, joining me today is Aidan Bush and Truth Headlam and I’m happy now to turn it over to Aidan to share some of his take top takeaways from. The show Aidan.
Aidan Bush 1:39 Thank you, Amanda. One key question kind of I thought was really important was this idea of how to navigate affordability issues and market uncertainty. So for example, Chase Auto’s chief executive, Leslie WIMP Morris, mentioned affordability as the sort of fundamental question that the bank was looking at across its portfolio.
And she says this kind of at a time when Kelley Blue Book is reporting new vehicle prices ticking up from last month and April last year. Credit standards also tightened in April, according to the senior Loan Officer survey on bank lending practices. So with that, auto dealerships are expanding their access to smaller lenders focused on these niche demographics. Which Morgan automotive groups Justin Buzzell said and then kind of for some other lenders like consumer portfolio services, there’s a solution here is to sort of identify which customer segments are most dependable.
So Robert De Jarnette, the company’s vice president of risk management, said at the summit that consumer portfolio services was looking for customers that showed resiliency in 2022 and 2023, following some of those historical market downturns. And then in the captive world meeting this. Credit demand can mean raising the terms of those loans, so stretching the terms of loans to 84 months or longer could be inevitable, which is something that Kevin Cullum, the chief executive and president of. Nissan Motor Acceptance Company said at the summit as well. And he noted that he’s seen auto loan terms hit up to 100 months in Canada’s market. So there’s kind of this expectation that those trends will continue to extend going forward. I’ll pass it over to truth. Truth Headlam 3:18 Thanks Aidan. So one of my biggest takeaways was the shift in compliance that auto lenders seem to have to worry about. Hush Blackwell’s, Chris Friedman mentioned that auto lenders would have to be extremely cautious, especially those that worked across state lines because of the fragmentation that they were likely to encounter when it came to various regulations. Amanda Harris 4:48
Absolutely yes. We’re gonna see that fragmentation really playing out. So thank you so much fruit for highlighting that and to Aidan as well. It was a great show. We look forward to our upcoming shows coming up in the fall as well and some other news last week. Growth in US retail sales decelerated in April as consumers pulled back spending on cars and imported goods amid tariff related price increases, the Commerce Department reported that the value. Of retail purchases not adjusted for inflation. Rose Point 1% after a 1.7% gain in March. Capital One also announced the completion of its acquisition of Discover Financial Services this week to come. This week, we’ll have more news from auto Finance Summit E 2025 S.
