The AI-First Assault on Car Dealerships Has Begun

What if buying a used EV was as easy as ordering pizza?

That's the bet Ever is making with its $31 million Series A round led by Eclipse. The startup calls itself the first "AI-native, full-stack auto retail business" for electric vehicles—and it's already processing thousands of transactions. But here's what makes this different from every other "AI-powered car buying" pitch you've heard.

While companies like Carvana and CarMax digitized the car-buying experience over the past decade, most recent AI startups have taken what Eclipse's Jiten Behl calls the "band-aid approach"—slapping voice agents or smart scheduling onto existing processes.

The Tesla Moment for Car Retail

Behl, who spent eight years on Rivian's leadership team, draws a telling parallel. Just as most automakers' first EVs were essentially combustion vehicles retrofitted with electric drivetrains, most "AI-enhanced" car retailers are just legacy businesses with chatbots bolted on.

Ever took the ground-up approach. CEO Lasse-Mathias Nyberg explains that a typical car transaction triggers "hundreds or thousands of different actions"—from appraisals to pricing to titling. "There's massive complexities or frictions on both sides."

The company's core technology is an orchestration layer that handles all these workflows in one unified system, rather than stitching together dozens of point solutions. Nyberg claims this makes Ever's sales team 2-3 times more productive than traditional approaches.

The Hybrid Reality Check

Unlike pure-play digital retailers, Ever operates both online and physical locations. Why? Because seeing and test-driving remains crucial, especially for first-time EV buyers who need to understand charging, range, and the different driving experience.

Early customer reviews have been mixed. Reddit users last year were split—some praised how Ever simplified EV purchasing, while others struggled to reach the team. Nyberg acknowledges these growing pains from their stealth-mode days.

The Bigger Bet on Electric

While U.S. EV enthusiasm has cooled somewhat, Nyberg remains laser-focused on electric vehicles. The reasoning? No retailer is dedicated exclusively to EVs, despite their unique considerations around charging infrastructure, battery health, and software updates.

Behl admits he's a "hopeless romantic when it comes to EVs" but believes the industry's electric trajectory is inevitable due to inherent benefits. His first thought during due diligence on Ever: "I wish Rivian was doing this."

The Market Opportunity

Here's the kicker: despite their decade-long head start, digital car retailers like Carvana still hold single-digit market share. Traditional dealerships continue to dominate an industry ripe for disruption.

Behl sees massive upside: "Customers are going to continue to gravitate towards better experience when it comes to buying cars, which means it is going to be a digitally-led customer experience which takes away all the friction."