For the First Time, Automotive Shares a Common Language for Operational Data
MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 27, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR) today announced the publication of its groundbreaking Automotive Retail Domain Model; a comprehensive and unified data architecture designed to both modernize and standardize data exchange across the automotive retail industry. By establishing shared semantic definitions and extensible patterns, the model helps organizations reduce fragmentation across dealer management systems (DMS), OEM platforms, and third‑party applications while enabling advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) use cases.
The project introduces multiple core domain schemas including Parts, Accounts Payable, Accounting, Payroll, Human Resources, representing the industry's first coordinated effort to capture and standardize the operational data structures that power both dealership and OEM systems. STAR's pre-existing Sales JSON schema and APIs have been included as a vital part of the Automotive Retail Domain Model. In addition to the new schemas, STAR's service standard has transitioned from XML to JSON and is included in the domain model, providing a complete representation of automotive retail.
"For the first time ever, automotive shares a common, modernized language for operational data," said Steve Zadoorian, STAR's Executive Director. "This model is not just a technical asset—it's a foundational milestone that enables cleaner integrations, more reliable APIs and Data products, and a dramatically more efficient ecosystem for everyone."
A New Era of Automotive Data Standardization
As automotive retail organizations pursue digital transformation and AI‑driven insights, many face persistent challenges related to siloed data architectures, proprietary schemas, and inconsistent data definitions. The STAR Domain Model was built to serve as the canonical reference architecture for all operational data in the automotive retail environment. Key advantages include:
- Unified Data Definitions: Consistent, cross-platform domain structures for core dealership and OEM processes.
- API-Ready Architecture: Domains aligned with JSON/OpenAPI practices to accelerate modern API development.
- Stronger Interoperability: Reduced integration complexity between OEMs, DMS systems, dealer technology vendors, and third-party platforms.
- Future-Ready Infrastructure: Designed to support analytics, governance tools, AI/ML systems, Agentic systems, and emerging retail technologies.
By publishing an open domain model governed by the STAR membership, the industry can advance more quickly without being constrained by proprietary data definitions or single‑vendor approaches. STAR members—including OEMs, dealer groups, solution providers, and cloud technology companies—are working together to bring open automotive retail standards into real‑world implementations across modern data and analytics environments. Member organizations assigned subject-matter experts to review the schemas, with participants dedicated to review sessions and structured feedback workshops.
"The success of this model lies in its ability to reflect the real needs and workflows of our industry," noted JP Garvey, Chairman of STAR and Dealer Principal of Garvey Auto Group. "Organizations lent their experts to ensure that this standard is robust, scalable, and widely adoptable. This project was a revolutionary rethink on how STAR operates and will help guide the development of new standards for years to come."
The following domains have been finalized:
- Parts
- Accounts Payable (AP)
- Accounting
- Payroll
- Human Resources (HR)
Each domain contains a full set of standardized data entities, naming conventions, relationships, and detailed definitions designed for immediate practical use as well as long-term industry alignment.
Path to Publication
Along with Version 1.0 of the published Domain Model, STAR provides:
- Detailed documentation
- Public repositories
- API-aligned component libraries
- Implementation guidance for OEMs, DMS providers, and software vendors
The STAR Domain Model is accessible to all automotive industry organizations, regardless of membership status. Documentation includes detailed entity definitions, relationship mappings, implementation guidance, and extension patterns. However, only STAR's member organizations are allowed to create pieces of the existing domain model or participate in future updates. STAR's 2026 General Session will review its Domain Model in depth for all member organizations. Organizations that are interested in learning more about becoming a member, or applying STAR's Automotive Retail Domain Model, should contact Paco Escobar at: [email protected].
About STAR
Standards for Technology in Automotive Retail (STAR) is a nonprofit organization whose members include dealers, original equipment manufacturers, retail system providers, and automotive-related industry organizations. STAR uses non-proprietary technology (IT) standards as a catalyst in fulfilling the business information needs of dealers and manufacturers while reducing the time and effort required to support related activities. Collectively, STAR develops industry standards and emerging technologies for the benefit of retail automotive dealers. Incorporated in 2001, STAR defines industry standards for automotive retail, standard architecture that supports global data interoperability, and standardizes the dealership IT infrastructure. To learn more about joining STAR, please visit starstandard.org or follow the latest updates on LinkedIn.
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Media Contact
Peyton Hoffman, STAR Standard, 1 7577484533, [email protected], https://www.starstandard.org/
SOURCE STAR Standard
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