A recent study indicates a shift in how consumers are discovering cars online as artificial intelligence drives traffic to dealer websites. 

The study by automotive AI and customer data platform Fullpath found that total traffic to dealer websites from generative AI platforms grew more than 15 times year-over-year in January despite a roughly 2% drop from December. 

It identified the most dominant traffic source to be OpenAI’s ChatGPT with about 89% of all AI referrals. However, Google’s Gemini had the strongest monthly surge, up 50% from December.

Brand-wise, dealer website traffic showed positive movement across almost all OEMs. Stellantis had the strongest performance at around 29% year-over-year growth and up 18% month-over-month. Hyundai and Honda also showed strong growth year-over-year with 34% and 23%, respectively. 

“AI is quickly becoming the new front door to automotive retail,” said Fullpath co-founder and CEO Aharon Horwitz. “A 15x increase in AI referral traffic in a single year isn’t just a trend, it signals a fundamental behavioral shift in how consumers begin their car-buying journey.”

The report also found uneven inventory supply recovery across brands. The average new-vehicle days' supply remained flat year-over-year, but it rose about 17% month-over-month. 

“Days supply tells you who holds leverage in the market. As inventory rebuilds unevenly across brands, pricing power, incentive strategy, and marketing investment will increasingly diverge,” Horwitz said in a press release. “Dealers who monitor and align their digital strategy with real-time inventory conditions won’t just capture demand, they’ll protect margin in a more competitive environment.”

Dealership marketing budgets also shifted across OEMs in January, according to the report. Toyota dealers increased their budgets roughly 24% month-over-month and 27% year-over-year. Daimler dealers had the single largest monthly jump at about 58%. And Jaguar Land Rover budgets more than doubled year-over-year.