When it comes to capturing customer engagement, video is king.

But the busy world of a car dealership isn’t necessarily the best environment for consistently creating effective video content.

“Video sells. We’ve known that for years,” said Paul Hepp, director of marketing and internet sales for Illinois-based O’Brien Auto Team, which operates 10 locations in four states. “But the reality is that salespeople are stretched too thin, the timing rarely lines up, and the videos that do go out vary in quality.”

And that’s where technology can come in. Two companies — Impel and Phyron — have announced new artificial intelligence systems designed to automate the process of creating sales videos.

Impel’s upgraded Sales AI integrates automated AI video generation technology with configurable AI agents in a system the company said delivers “the most performant lead management capability available” for dealers and OEMs.

In a news release, Impel said its new offering, designed to provide “hyper-personalized” content and humanlike conversations to consistently engage shoppers, is part of the “transformative evolution” of its AI Operating System.

“Impel has long understood the value of high-quality digital merchandising and multimedia content in driving lead conversion and sales,” co-founder and CEO Devin Daly said. “As the company that created the conversational AI category for automotive retail, we’ve always believed the role of AI is to elevate the customer experience, not flatten it.

“Next-generation Sales AI is the first agentic AI system to bring together the two most powerful conversion techniques in our industry — intelligent, always-on responses and rich, personalized content in every engagement. It gives dealers a complete AI-native engine for variable operations and sets the direction for the entire AI Operating System.”

Impel said shoppers receiving a personalized video introduction are more likely to engage with the dealership and close than those receiving a text-only reply, but because of the time, effort and resources required, few leads are actually sent a video.

VinVision AI, is designed to close that gap. After each sales rep records one three-minute training video at launch, Impel said, the technology can generate realistic, personalized videos tailored to every customer and every vehicle inquired about.

Lead responses include a digital dossier containing everything needed for shoppers to take the next step, the company said, with the full window sticker, a Carfax vehicle history report, an interactive 360-degree vehicle walkaround, feature highlights, a payment calculator and more.

Impel said Sales AI creates personalized engagement by initiating outreach immediately, reading sentiment and behavioral cues (open patterns, response latency, language choice, question type) and adjusting strategy, messaging, channel, and timing in real time, then adapting tone, messaging, channel and pacing accordingly.

It’s also designed to act as a virtual assistant for the dealership sales team when it’s time for a human to step in, delivering conversation history, customer context and recommended next steps.

Impel said early adopters have raised engagement rates more than 150%, with a 300% increase in appointments set autonomously and a 40% jump in showroom appointments from all channels.

“Since deployment, we’ve seen a 44% lift in lead-to-appointment conversion across all channels,” Hepp said, “and a more than two times increase in AI-set appointments without human intervention. Our reps are spending their time with customers who are genuinely ready to buy.”

Phyron, meanwhile, has launched Video Message, a product designed to help dealerships respond to online inquiries with fast, personal video at the point where buyer intent is at its highest.

The system, available in the Phyron app, allows sales staff to record and send a selfie-style introduction and vehicle walkaround quickly, the Sweden-based company said, with clips edited together automatically and delivered through a branded landing page. The message includes dealership and salesperson details and a call to action, to give buyers a more direct and personal experience.

Phyron said the launch is the first step in widening its role in digital retail journey, extending its scope from helping dealers and OEMs with creating automated video and images that improve the presentation of vehicle stock into lead conversion by providing a way to add a human touch at the point where online sales opportunities are won or lost.

The aim is to make the first contact from the dealer feel less like a generic follow-up and more like the start of a sales conversation.

“Automotive retail has invested heavily in digitalization, but the moment after a customer inquires is still too often flat, slow or impersonal,” Phyron CEO Mattias Kellquist said. “Video Message gives retailers a faster, stronger and more human way to respond, using video to build trust earlier and move buyers closer to action.”

The tool also gives the dealership real-time notifications when a customer opens the email, clicks through and watches the content.

Phyron said more automation is on the way to help dealerships produce vehicle videos, optimize listings and manage large digital inventories, providing faster and more scalable ways to market vehicles online. The company said Phyron 2.0 is scheduled to roll out this year, as it builds a connected set of tools aimed at improving performance across the full buyer journey, from the paid ad and vehicle listing through to direct dealer contact.