Meeting the consumer where they are at in their buying journey is expected today. From a dealer standpoint, you can’t afford not to go all-in on an omnichannel experience for your consumers. We sat down with Brian Skutta, Spireon's President of Automotive to discuss engagement through technology and it's importance on your ability to acquire new customers. Creating a car search, discovery, and deal process that is technology-centric will provide you with a leg up on your competition. 

Electric vehicles are nothing new.  In fact, the first mass-produced electric car was a Studebaker released in 1902.  In the past few years, electric vehicles have been gaining steam. But are they scalable?

A recent Deloitte study explored consumers’ changing automotive expectations and the evolving mobility ecosystem. Their main finding for their 2019 global automotive consumer study found that consumers in many global markets continue to move away from traditional combustion engines.

Consumer interest in EV’s has grown. In the U.S. 26% of people would prefer an EV as their next car. This interest increased from 18% in 2018.  Although interest in electric vehicles is trending up, it represents the lowest interest across all global automotive markets. For example, China represents that largest market at 65%.

Electric vehicles are starting to scale in Europe and Asia.  One of the reasons they haven’t scaled at the same pace in the US is gas prices.

In addition, the study finds that consumers are starting to slow their interest in autonomous vehicles over safety concerns and have become reluctant to pay more for connectivity. 

With shifting consumer interest into the EV market, it represents an opportunity for dealerships, and they will need to prepare to scale alongside the consumers’ interest. Demand is increasing, and Tesla has experienced a drop in consumer trust, according to AMCI’s Trust Study, due to their OEM pushing volume over customer experience.  Dealers who can scale and meet increased demand will have an advantage.

With all global markets slowly moving away from internal combustion engines and into EV’s it is clear that the U.S. is the slowest to adopt the trend. With the consumer beginning to scale into the EV market time will tell when that will be the majority of new vehicle sales in the U.S. but that time is not coming anytime soon.

Electric vehicles are nothing new.  In fact, the first mass-produced electric car was a Studebaker released in 1902.  In the past few years, electric vehicles have been gaining steam. But are they scalable?

A recent Deloitte study explored consumers’ changing automotive expectations and the evolving mobility ecosystem. Their main finding for their 2019 global automotive consumer study found that consumers in many global markets continue to move away from traditional combustion engines.

Consumer interest in EV’s has grown. In the U.S. 26% of people would prefer an EV as their next car. This interest increased from 18% in 2018.  Although interest in electric vehicles is trending up, it represents the lowest interest across all global automotive markets. For example, China represents that largest market at 65%.

Electric vehicles are starting to scale in Europe and Asia.  One of the reasons they haven’t scaled at the same pace in the US is gas prices.

In addition, the study finds that consumers are starting to slow their interest in autonomous vehicles over safety concerns and have become reluctant to pay more for connectivity. 

With shifting consumer interest into the EV market, it represents an opportunity for dealerships, and they will need to prepare to scale alongside the consumers’ interest. Demand is increasing, and Tesla has experienced a drop in consumer trust, according to AMCI’s Trust Study, due to their OEM pushing volume over customer experience.  Dealers who can scale and meet increased demand will have an advantage.

With all global markets slowly moving away from internal combustion engines and into EV’s it is clear that the U.S. is the slowest to adopt the trend. With the consumer beginning to scale into the EV market time will tell when that will be the majority of new vehicle sales in the U.S. but that time is not coming anytime soon.

According to a new article by Automotive News, young car shoppers are not ditching the dealership. Online shopping trends are continually growing but for large items like vehicles shoppers, even Millennials, want to shop in-store. Studies show that young car buyers (Gen Z and Millennials) visit more dealerships than Baby Boomers traditionally do. With the younger crowd visiting 3.8 dealerships on average compared to the older generation visiting 2.1 on average.

Trust and transparency have taken over. More than 80 percent of buyers say price influences their decision the most. With quality service, low-pressure sales and the overall experience following close behind. With the younger generation visiting more dealers in their car buying journey it is a clear sign to dealers to adjust their pricing transparency as well as their sales tactics to help meet the needs of their largest market, Millennials.

This underscores the value of the brick and mortar facility. Amazon is a perfect example, and you can see the convergence of them with Walmart.  One began as a discount store and the other an online bookseller. Now? They both understand the need for an omnichannel presence and a physical location.

Visiting the dealership is not dead. 83% of young car buyers say they would never buy a car without test driving it. 89 percent said that the test drive would influence their purchase the most, followed closely by online reviews. Learning how to market to the younger audience is definitely a task, but when done effectively, will bring more people into your dealership. What is your store doing to make sure it is attracting the young buyers into your dealership?

We’re coming up on a three day weekend thanks to Labor Day, America’s 3rd favorite holiday! Behind Christmas and Memorial Day, Labor day excites most Americans with its end of summer celebrations and an extra day off of work.

According to wallethub, 25 percent of Americans will travel for the last holiday of summer. Seven percent will fly, and the rest will travel by car to their preferred destination. On average each person will spend about $58! But, that doesn’t count the thousands of people that will buy cars this weekend.

Starting on the Friday before Labor Day, August 31st, Drive Motors predicts between two and three cars sold every working hour, “Based on current growth trends, we predict dealers will sell more than 3 cars per hour on the Friday before Labor Day and more than 2 cars per hour throughout Labor Day weekend (Friday through Monday).”

Answering our questions over email, Aaron Krane, CEO of Drive Motors isn’t really surprised by the large numbers of cars that are expected to be sold.

“It’s one of the biggest sales holiday because it also happens during peak summer sales,” Krane wrote. “Labor Day is a big sales event, because the extended holiday allows buyers to progress through the whole “click-and-mortar” cycle: visit dealer website to browse inventory, visit the showroom to get the fit and feel, and either complete the deal there or complete it back at home.  This is turbocharged by the fact that it’s at the end of a month, which means even steeper discounts layered on top of OEM promotions.”

August 31st really seems like the day dealerships should focus on. If you take a look at the stats of the last few years on Labor Day, the Friday before presents big numbers.

“Last year, sales spiked +47% the Friday before Labor Day compared to the September 2017 daily average. In fact, the Friday before Labor Day was the biggest day for online car orders in September, with more than two cars sold every hour. Sales continued to be strong through the weekend. Many consumers may be ordering online so they can save time in the dealership when they pick up their car on Saturday or Monday.”

Krane also says every dealership will NOT see these numbers. Only dealerships who have a working online sales tool will reap the benefits of this great American holiday, “Online sales are critical; 85% of modern car buyers prefer to visit the dealership that has transparent online checkout,” He said. “Dealers can skip the flashy kiosks and microsites. They should invest in “native” technology that leverages their own sales team and website.”

Check out Drive Motors' prediction on the 2018 Memorial Day sales. Does it reflect your dealerships sales??
 

The traditional 12-step "Road to the Sale" guidelines are out, and the Path to the Customer Purchase is in.

In a DrivingSales Webinar, MaxDigital says the reason the 12-step road to the sale doesn’t work is because it focuses on the way dealerships sell cars rather than the way consumers buy cars.

"If we think about the way a consumer does a lot of commerce today online, It's they way they want to do business. We need to think differently too about the customers road to the sale. Or what we (MAXDigital) call the Path to the Purchase."

The Path to Purchase should replace the Road to the Sale according to Patrick McMullen, SVP of Strategy and Innovation at MAXDigital. The main ingredients for the “Path to Purchase” model are two things.

"They (successful dealerships) infuse trust and confidence at every point of the car buying process."

To really be succesful, your store needs to bring trust and confidence into 6 different “P” steps: Your people, your process, your product, your pricing, your payment and your protection.

"Using trust and confidence in every single one of these elements is how they (successful dealerships) get to those great results."

By embracing the Path to the Purchase McM

ullen says your dealership will see an increase in profit, "Using the Customers Path to Purchase is how you create the experience customers want. AND the sales and profit that you want in your dealership."

This has been a quick recap of our most recent webinar. you can click HERE to watch the MAXDigital webinar in its entirety.

And you can click HERE to join us in our next FREE webinar about using artificial intelligence ads and social media to ramp up your sales.

While electric and autonomous vehicles remain in development, Germany is pushing the envelope when it comes to futuristic tech: exploring the possibility of flying cars.

The German government signed a letter of intent with Audi and Airbus SE executives to “test air taxis” in and around Audi’s hometown of Ingolstadt.

The Urban Air Mobility project was announced by Audi interim CEO Bram Schot, Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer, Airbus CTO Grazia Vittadini, Mayor of Ingolstadt Dr. Christian Lösel, and other representatives.

“We welcome the involvement of the city of Ingolstadt and support the development of the region as a test field for air taxis,” said Schot.

The trial is intended to counter clogged city roads and “unlock new growth potential” for Germany’s high-tech industry, the government’s press office said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.

“We would like to use our know-how to improve urban life, and aim to develop new mobility concepts for cities and people’s various needs with the Urban Air Mobility project,” said Schot.

While flying cars may seem far off in the future, they could become a reality sooner than you think. At the Geneva Motor Show in March earlier this year, Audi, subsidiary Italdesign, and plane-maker Airbus SE unveiled their mobility concept: Pop.Up Next, an “an all-electric, fully automated concept for horizontal and vertical mobility.”

Volocopter GmbH, a German startup backed by both Intel Corp. and Daimler, has built a “drone-like electric helicopter” that can ferry passengers across the city sky – and has already completed test flights. Volocopter GmbH hopes to offer the first commercial trips in the next three to five years.

“Flying taxis aren’t a vision any longer, they can take us off into a new dimension of mobility,” said Scheuer. “They’re a huge opportunity for companies and young startups that already develop this technology very concretely and successfully.”

Although official numbers aren’t in yet, new car sales for July are expected to be lower this year than they were last year.

The July LMC Automotive and J.D. Power Forecast  predicts sales are projected to reach 1,156,200 units. That is a 3.2% decrease compared with July 2017. July will also mark the 5th time sales have dropped this year.

Jeff Schuster, President, Americas Operations and Global Vehicle Forecasts at LMC Automotive, said that's not totally shocking, “With the first half of 2018 being slightly ahead of volume expectations, the second half is poised for a pullback from the robust second half of 2017. July’s expected performance is consistent with that notion.”

Even with lower July sales, there is a silver lining according to J.D. Power.

“While it’s disappointing for the retail sales pace to post declines again, it’s important to remember that July only has 24 selling days this year, the fewest for the month since 2012 and one less weekend than last year,” said Thomas King, Senior Vice President of the Data and Analytics Division at J.D. Power.  “More notable is that incentive spending is on pace to post year-over-year declines for the first time in 54 months.”

After 54 consecutive months of year-over-year increases, incentive spending is forecasted to fall by 5% this month. Incentive spending through the first two weeks of July was $3,665 per unit, down $204 from the same time last year.

Potential tariffs and taxes coming down the line could also be causing a fall in sales Schuster said, “Short-sighted tariffs—and retaliatory responses—are the most significant risk factor for the U.S. and global markets. In fact, significant escalation of tariffs could derail America’s strong economic growth and even push the market into a premature recession.”

But not everyone feels that way. Cox automotive has a different theory.

“The U.S vehicle market remains strong and all the talk of higher interest rates and trade tariffs are not chasing away buyers,” said Charles Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive. “In fact, the threat of higher prices on the horizon may be driving more shoppers to the showrooms now.”

Overall, July started strong with Fourth of July sales and soon after, sales dropped. Manager of industry analysis at Edmunds, Jeremy Acevedo,  says this will be the trend for the rest of the year, "Sales likely slowed down due to a dry-up of deals as automakers wrapped up Fourth of July sales," said Acevedo. "As consumer wallets get increasingly squeezed by rising prices through the second half of the year, holiday sales events may play an increasingly significant role in getting shoppers to the dealership."

For today’s story auto manufacturers are looking to track down its next generation of employees, as a key section of its workforce ages and retires. According to a recent report from MiBiz, Benteler Automotive Corp., a supplier for automakers will see 66% of the company maintenance technicians “retire out of the workforce over the next few years.”

The retiring group of about 60 employees works for automakers at various Michigan manufacturing facilities. The proposed plan to replace them is an apprenticeship program, which is a 5-year program that works in conjunction with Kalamazoo Valley Community College.

Speaking about the plan to replace the retirees, Moses, a manager at a Benteler Auto training facility said in a statement to MiBiz, “The guy I am looking for, someone else already has him…It really takes growing your own (workforce) now to have a sustainable long-term plan for the normal attrition of retirement.” The report indicates using the apprenticeship program used to be an auto industry norm, and is now getting more and more looks as top talent can be difficult to find.