Success is far from certain. Of the potential pitfalls, two stand out. One is the threat of supply outpacing demand, as it did pre-pandemic; do car makers really have the discipline to close factories and hold pricing, especially if a rival is discounting? And the other is the quality of the retail operations they set up.
Time and again, I’ve seen car makers’ bosses wrinkle their noses at the quality of their retailers. “You’re only as good as the people in the dealerships, and of course we have no control of them,” goes the line. But only a fool would underestimate the brilliance of the best and the difficulty of providing mega service across vast networks.
Last weekend, I ended up in West London’s Westfield mall, where Genesis has a new outlet. It was empty, but perhaps they get too many badly dressed browsers, because a brief walk-around solicited nothing more than a grunt from the salesman; and a return visit eventually a talk about everything from range to suspension set-ups that still didn’t end with him taking my details or offering me a test drive.
I manage 2 dealerships under agency terms in Slovenia and your article doesn’t even scratch the surface.