The Big Idea: “People want to buy their cars like their shoes” has turned out to be wrong.
Electric Vehicles (EV) are changing the needs of customers.
Instead of the dealer being a sales point, the modern dealer will need to expand their value to include:
- Education facility to teach people about EVs.
- Charging station to help people charge EVs.
- Distribution point for direct sales and franchise sales.
Out of disruption comes opportunity.
In the case of EVs, this opens up a new business model for dealers, if they are willing to embrace it.
Examples:
- Less EV maintenance opportunities means that dealers need to rethink how to use their charging networks as opportunities.
- More need for education during the purchase means that dealers have an opportunity to teach customers about the power of an EV. (When I bought my Tesla, the dealer was helpful in showing me things that I might not have purchased straight away.)
- Acting as a distribution point for various sales gives the dealers the opportunity to build relationships that can help drive used car sales, maintenance and service, and upgrades.
Go Deeper: Sustainability in general could be a key to the auto dealer of the future.