SHOPSMART AUTOS – CUSTOMER INFORMATION – AUGUST 26, 2020
SHOPSMART AUTOS – CUSTOMER INFORMATION – AUGUST 26, 2020 3 Things We Learned from Dealership Disruptors (PT.1) How dealerships can win in 2020If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on – these are not boring times we live in. The pace of change shows little evidence of slowing, and with that comes uncertainty. As with any industry, this holds very true for automotive. There was no shortage of worrisome automotive headlines in 2019. While there were many to keep an eye on, things are far from the all-doom-and-gloom state of affairs some might have us believe. Though this isn’t an exhaustive list of happenings relevant to dealerships in 2019, here are three things that we found particularly noteworthy:
Attention dealership disruptors: You still need humans.
It goes without saying that we’re squarely on the side of dealerships as challengers to the traditional dealership model made waves in 2019. Even if we weren’t happily embedded in the dealership technology space, we could go forever without yet another dealership-dissing commercial from them. Fortunately for us, but not so much for Carvana, that could happen sooner than later. Attempts to remove dealers, more specifically people, from the car-buying equation is coming at a cost, year after year. Sure, they’ve gained some market share based on novelty. But it seems once that novelty wears off, customers have a less-than-stellar experience with Carvana. So removing the human element from the car-buying experience doesn’t work so well after all and we’re not surprised.
Similarly, ridesharing services like Uber are proving to have significant problems. Tesla continues to attract attention, but increasingly not the kind of attention a company might want. While Uber and Tesla have both certainly shaken things up, it’s questionable how long either can continue. Clearly the Carvanas, Teslas and Ubers of the world have disrupted the status quo in automotive, but there’s a silver lining: each has shaken things up just enough to move our industry out of complacency. The flaws in these alternate business models highlight the value only actual human beings at a real dealership can provide. We’re glad that these challengers to the dealership have brought various shortcomings to light. The car-buying friction points they purport to resolve can be seen as teachable moments, opportunities for moving towards a more customer-centric approach and a positive perception of dealerships as a whole. Buckle up. Electronic vehicles are definitely a thing.√√√ Speaking of Tesla, one thing they’ve gotten right is making electrified vehicles (EV) not just more mainstream, but desirable. Well…maybe not quite so much with the Cybertruck, but still. Q3 of 2019 was the first time that EVs outsold manual transmissions. That may not seem like a huge deal on the surface, but it’s a subtle indicator of a profound truth: EVs are here to stay. EVs may not replace combustion engine vehicles next week, but the writing is on the wall. Just as Ford celebrated the 55th anniversary of the original pony car in 2019, it also introduced a Mustang as their first all-electric vehicle, the Mach E. An electric F150 is in the works and Ford also introduced plans for the largest EV charging network in North America. Ford isn’t the only established OEM moving forward with electrification.
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Tags: 2019 Subaru Forester Touring, 2020 BMW iX3, 2020 Chevrolet Suburban, 2020 dodge charger, 2020 EQC, 2020 Ford Super Duty, 2020 Honda Pilot, 2020 Kia Optima, 2020 Kia Soul, 2020 Lincoln Aviator, 2020 Subaru WRX STI, Mercedes Benz
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