Three days, one big dream, and a community that made UNLEASHED26 our best one yet.

This year’s UNLEASHED ran October 7-9 at the Loews Kansas City Hotel, marking our 4th annual user conference. 500+ dealers, partners, industry guests, and the brains behind VINCUE shared one room for 3 days. Together, we learned from each other, shared the road ahead, and found out in real time what happens when belief beats hesitation.

Just 3 years ago, CMO Michael Hopkins made up the very first UNLEASHED with a simple goal: bring our dealers together to humanize our work and connect deeper. He was floored by the first turnout of just under 50 dealers. Today, UNLEASHED26 is exactly what “Dream Bigger” looks like.

Here’s your full VINCUE UNLEASHED26 recap of everything you missed during our 3 most important days of the year.

This year’s UNLEASHED brought together 500+ dealers, partners, and guests, including 315 dealers and 30 sponsors, all there to connect, compete, and see what’s next for VINCUE.

Wednesday night started with our Office Open House. We had dinner and drinks, plus a local magician (sadly, aged inventory wasn’t one of the things that disappeared). This is where #TeamVINCUE got a behind the scenes look at our space and where the brains behind VINCUE operate everyday. Then came a victory toss, where the winner took home 50%. The rest went to Zuzu’s Petals, a Kansas City nonprofit that makes Christmas happen for local families.

Thursday opened with a keynote no one expected: Chiefs cheerleaders and Benjamin riding through the stage like it’s Sparta. Then all of #TeamVINCUE kicked off the day with a true #GAMEON chant. After that came the VINCUE First-Look with 9 new product and partner launches. Product feedback, Team Velocity on the main stage, and a day of breakouts filled out the day. Next up: the infamous Partners Expo and Happy Hour, and if you were here last year, you know the hype. Partner Dinners and Excursions followed at Arrowhead Stadium, Top Golf, Jack Stack BBQ (a VINCUE favorite), and Tom’s Town Distillery.

Friday was the cherry on top. Saul Blinkoff took the room through a story of belief into breakthrough. Then we broke into breakouts one last time and heard from XPEL and WOCAN on the main stage. After that, we rejoined to compete in the Best New Feature Challenge.

We say UNLEASHED is the most important 3 days for every VINCUE partner, and we mean it. UNLEASHED26 moved our team more than ever before.

Nine general sessions across two days gave dealers launches to act on, data to question, and talent to invest in.

We started with the biggest launches we’ve announced this year, you’ll want to read more for exactly what we dropped. We heard from partners like Justin Byrd on how unconnected systems take hidden profit out of a dealership, XPEL’s Chris Hardy on Protection as Profit and building vehicle protection into the dealership workflow, and WOCAN’s Ashley Cavazos on supporting underrepresented talent in our industry. We also had Hollywood animator, producer, and legend Saul Blinkoff to teach us how to draw mickey mouse. Weird, what’s mickey mouse’s connection to automotive? Nothing, and that was exactly the point. The lesson in real time was something we’ve been hearing about for weeks after the show.

The energy on that stage was something you couldn’t fake.

The VINCUE First-Look is the most valuable part of UNLEASHED every year, and this year? We showed the most aggressive product roadmap we’ve ever put on stage. Here’s everything that dropped:

Protos is the new foundation of VINCUE, and Protos Intelligence is what runs on it: AI built in from the ground up, not bolted on. Eleven agents read more than 2,000 signals per VIN while you sleep. That way, your Morning Report is ready when you walk in, with gross and turn decisions ranked first.

Then you talk to it. Ask which units are priced above market or why aging is up this month. You can even ask it to draft a note to your used car manager. Every answer comes from your own live data. The Launch Program is full at 100 rooftops. To get on the waitlist, talk to your Performance Manager, or schedule a demo if you’re not a VINCUE dealer yet. General availability is scheduled for February. Read the full release now.

Between main stage sessions, 23 breakouts ran across three rooms, Muse A, Muse B, and Leadership, led by the VINCUE Performance Management team and our partners. Dealers built their own agenda, and a few themes drew the biggest crowds:

Thursday afternoon, our partners took the rooms. FlickFusion covered turning your website into a digital salesperson. Foundation Data covered aligning marketing to a dealership’s three jobs. Tekion focused on unified data and conversational commerce, while RapidRecon made the case that recon belongs inside your IMS.

Ask a dealer what they’re taking home from UNLEASHED, and the answers get specific fast. They’re jumpstarting a vehicle acquisition program, stocking and marketing EV’s, using the ACE report better, improving loyalty, and rethinking their processes for AI. When we asked what they’re most excited to use, Protos was the answer we heard most. All 100 Launch Program spots are already taken, and hundreds of dealers are already on the waitlist.

One first-time attendee put it this way. “The bar is set high now, and I couldn’t have asked for a better first experience.”

A group of lucky dealers also got to take home their own bottle of VINCUE Reserve, their reward for winning this year’s Best New Feature Challenge. Want to see which feature won? You’ll have to come to NADA27, booth #721, for the live reveal.

UNLEASHED27 is October 11-13, 2027, back at the Loews Kansas City Hotel, and early dealer registration starts at $99 for the first 100 seats. Save your spot at vincueunleashed.com.

Until then, browse the photo gallery to recap this year. Session recordings are exclusively available inside of VINCUE. To the 500 dealers, partners, and guests who filled the room, and to #TeamVINCUE for building it: thank you. We’ll see you next year. #GAMEON