Jonathan Smoke is chief economist for Cox Automotive.
Smoke leads Cox Automotive’s economic industry insights office. This office is tasked with leveraging data to expand Cox Automotive’s deep expertise in all aspects of the automotive industry. His focus is to connect the data from all of the company’s businesses and platforms and relate to economic, industry and demographic trends.
For more than 22 years, Smoke has focused on translating data and trends into relevant, actionable insights for the industries that represent the biggest purchases that consumers make in their lifetimes: real estate and automotive.
Prior to joining Cox Automotive, Smoke served as Realtor.com’s chief economist. Before that, he was the chief economist for Hanley Wood, a media and market intelligence company, and also served in a variety of roles at Beazer Homes, including senior vice president of strategy and innovation.
Smoke was named one of 21 Most Interesting People in Real Estate by Inman News and was the only economist to make the list in 2016. He is quoted in national news outlets and has published more than 150 original articles.
Smoke holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and religious studies from Rhodes College and a master’s degree in business from the University of Texas at Austin. he blogs regularly and tweets using the Twitter handle @SmokeonCars to share his industry insights.