The rules of automotive retail have been rewritten. Consumer expectations have shifted faster than most of the industry has been able to respond, and Cox Automotive has been at the forefront of that shift — building the tools, experiences, and data infrastructure that help dealers not just keep up, but stay ahead.
Cox Automotive has appointed Jeff Jones as Senior Vice President of Product & Engineering, Consumer & Marketing Solutions, effective April 13. Jones brings more than 30 years of experience building large-scale eCommerce platforms, AI-driven personalization systems, and the data ecosystems that make connected consumer experiences possible.
Jones’ leadership of the Consumer & Marketing Solutions team reflects a clear strategic priority. Car shoppers today arrive at dealerships having already done most of their homework online. They’ve researched inventory, explored pricing, estimated trade-in value, and formed real opinions about what they’re willing to pay. And when they walk through the door, they expect all of that context to carry forward with them. Dealers who can deliver on that expectation build trust and close more deals. The eCommerce and digital retail tools and experiences that bridge that gap are exactly what Jones has spent his career building.
That work spans the full consumer journey. Buy Online, powered by Accelerate My Deal Elite, handles the complete transaction from financing and trade-in valuation to contracts and compliance — all within a single experience that works alongside the dealer systems already in place.
On the consumer discovery side, Cox Automotive has been investing in generative engine optimization (GEO) — ensuring its brands show up as the answer in AI-generated search, not just a listing. Autotrader currently holds the number one position in automotive sales AI answer visibility, and Kelley Blue Book has reclaimed the top spot for overall LLM visibility. Additionally, both brands are now accessible directly within ChatGPT. When a consumer turns to AI for help finding or valuing a car, Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book are already there to provide the answer.
Each of the steps in Cox Automotive’s digital retailing journey reflect a consistent pattern of showing up wherever consumers are making decisions about buying a car. With the consumer touchpoints, the dealer relationships, and the data ecosystem already in place, the consumer marketplace opportunity is about connecting what exists in ways that tangibly change the experience for everyone involved in the transaction of buying a vehicle.
Jones joins at a moment when Cox Automotive is deepening the connection between its marketplace and dealer tools as part of a broader AI-first strategy. With an unmatched data advantage and a pragmatically aggressive approach to implementing agentic capabilities, his focus is clear: take what already exists across Autotrader®, Kelley Blue Book®, and Dealer.com and connect it in ways that create more seamless experiences for shoppers and more actionable intelligence for the dealers who serve them.
The gap between where a consumer’s digital journey ends and where the in-dealership experience begins is one of the most consequential challenges in automotive retail today. Cox Automotive is already at the center of that work — with the data, the platforms, and the dealer relationships to make a real difference on both sides of the transaction.
