Huntington Beach, California, was once again the hub for automotive marketers on April 16, 2026, as industry professionals gathered for the fourth annual Polk | Accelerate West at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort. 

Hosted by the Polk Automotive Solutions team, Accelerate West brought together marketing and sales leaders across the automotive retail space alongside subject matter experts from S&P Global Mobility for an afternoon of practical, data-forward sessions focused on the pressing challenges facing the automotive industry today: affordability, customer loyalty, the decline in electric vehicle (EV) demand, the growth of hybrids—and, most importantly, how to measure return on effort and investment in an increasingly complex customer journey.     

Jennifer Dodez opened the program with welcome remarks, setting the tone for an afternoon centered on actionable insights, peer-to-peer learning and alignment between OEM strategy and execution—from national media planning to dealership outcomes. 

Chief Product Officer of Sales Solutions Joe Kyriakoza laid out four core statistics to frame the discussion: 

  1. Monthly payments are up 32% over the past five years. 
  2. The non-Tesla EV market share has remained below 3% since November 2025. 
  3. Nearly one in four new vehicle loans now carry terms of seven years or longer. 
  4. More than one million return-to-market households purchased hybrids in 2025. 

He also outlined an "elongated disruption scenario" related to the Iran war, forecasting global light vehicle sales to potentially drop by as much as 800,000 units in 2026. For further insights and updates, attendees were encouraged to consult the Rapid Impact Analysis updates for the latest developments. 

Industry update: Macro trends impacting sales and marketing

Tom Libby (Director, Loyalty Solutions, S&P Global Mobility) brought the rich industry insights with a wide-angle marketplace overview on the macro forces shaping sales and marketing performance. He noted that while national monthly inventory levels have stabilized to a respectable 68–78 day range over the past 12 months, there is a significant gap in inventory depending on powertrain. EV inventory has increased steadily since the expiration of federal tax incentives last fall and hit 117 days in February. Over the same period, hybrid supply dipped to 50 days. 

Pictured: Tom Libby, Director and Principal of Loyalty Insights

As the industry continues to grapple with affordability challenges, Libby noted that monthly auto payments have surged by 32% over the past four years, and 84+-month loan terms account for more than 20% of all vehicle loans since March 2025, reaching 23% this past January. Monthly payments continue to be a driving concern in new vehicle consideration, and this issue is playing out in luxury-to-mainstream migration. Libby explained how 28% of luxury vehicle households that returned to market purchased a mainstream vehicle, while only 9% of mainstream owners migrated to luxury class. 

With respect to electrification (including hybrids and EVs), Libby focused on the impact the expiring EV credit has had on inventory, loyalty, pricing and fuel-type migration. He then presented the impacts on a regional basis, demonstrating how brand loyalty and fuel-type loyalty gaps can vary by market and offering insightful use-case considerations for conquest initiatives. To close, Libby provided an overview of production and vehicle launch impacts taking place right now: 69 gas vehicle programs that were scheduled to end production have been delayed, while 59 EV programs have been canceled (December 2024 versus December 2025). 

Hybrid appeal: How the hybrid surge is reshaping the new vehicle market

Next, Kent Chiu (Associate Director, Loyalty Analytics, S&P Global Mobility) dug into one of the most significant storylines in the market right now: the growing appeal of hybrid vehicles. 

Chiu shared how hybrid market share has grown sevenfold over the last 10 years, with growth remaining consistent across up-and-down market cycles. Hybrid vehicles are selling faster, with minimal discounting and growing consumer appeal—patterns that are reflected in return-to-market migration patterns.  Chiu also closed with a use case scenario for hybrid makes to conquest EV owners, showing that 49% of EV household defect to different fuel type. Marketers and dealers can focus on these households to convert them to hybrid buyers. 

From media to metal: Proving marketing’s impact on vehicle sales

The day’s largest session focused on what’s working well and what isn’t when it comes to campaign measurement and identity match rates.

Niti Ladva (Senior Client Partner, S&P Global Mobility) moderated a discussion with panelists Matt Gurreri (Vice President, Field Operations, Pivnet), Aqel Khan (Group Director, Analytics and Data Science, Innocean) and Ben Rice (Product Manager, Measurement Solutions, S&P Global Mobility) that addressed a growing challenge: in a fragmented media environment, marketers face pressure to connect spend to outcomes that matter—vehicle transactions, buy-through rates, conversion rates and downstream lifetime customer value.

Across perspectives—retail execution, tier one campaigns and CRM programs—the panel emphasized the value of offline datasets to measure the impact on sales lift and other key business outcomes.  

Continuing this theme, Kanchana Sundaram (Vice President, Strategy, Auto Retail, TransUnion) and Harmon Lyons (Vice President, Strategy, Marketing Solutions, TransUnion) explored how today’s customer journey demands modern measurement tools.

Their session reinforced the value of high match rates and the role this plays in understanding non-linear, cross-channel journeys and accurately connecting marketing exposure to real-world action.  

Inside the dealer marketing engine: Bridging OEM and dealer realities

To close the day, Madison Morgan Flick (Senior Client Partner, S&P Global Mobility) led a dealer-focused panel featuring Mark Oliver (Marketing Director, Rairdon Auto Group) and Alfonso Mora (Marketing Director, Car Pros Automotive Group). The conversation provided a practical view of what it takes to translate tier 1 strategy into tier 2 and tier 3 performance.  

The panelists discussed the realities dealer teams face daily—resource constraints, local market variation and the need for programs that are both brand-aligned and operationally executable. One of the key takeaways: recognizing the difference between what works nationally and what converts locally. 

Pictured (l-r): Madison Morgan Flick, Alfonso Mora, Mark Oliver

Closing the day

Accelerate West 2026 concluded with a reception at Offshore 9 Rooftop Lounge, hosted by TransUnion. With panoramic ocean views as the backdrop, attendees continued the day’s conversations, leaving with valuable knowledge to apply to their strategies moving forward. 

Thank you to all of our 2026 speakers and moderators for making the fourth annual Accelerate West a valuable forum for automotive marketers: Jennifer Dodez, Tom Libby, Joe Kyriakoza, Kent Chiu, Niti Ladva, Matt Gurreri, Aqel Khan, Ben Rice, Kanchana Sundaram, Harmon Lyons, Madison Morgan Flick, Mark Oliver and Alfonso Mora. 

Check out our Automotive Industry Trends site for the latest industry insights and rapid impact analysis.

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This article was published by S&P Global Mobility and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.

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