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What does the future hold for the car business?

There's a reason the "Family Sedan" is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Unless we have a repeat of the 70's where everything gets miniaturized, the $20,000 PRAGMATIC new vehicle is gone. I.e. -- the F150's and Silverado's and SUV's everyone wants will never be $20,000. Unless something happens that makes metal really, really cheap... god knows you can't use plastic anywhere anymore. I do believe electric will become the dominant powertrain, but too many economic factors are at play for any "flick o' the switch" adoption.

Completely agree. The supply chains need to be there first, and right now they're constrained even at low volume. Gains in technology are moving fast but the critical mass point is a ways away. I'd say we're about a decade away from that point.

I also think the driver of EV demand isn't going to be "green" as much as it will be "digital". The stuff Tesla is doing (giant touch screen, apps, games, dog mode, Autopilot, Summon, etc.) - that's the stuff people want and think is cool. The software is going to become a more important factor in selling features of the car. And that's one of the reasons I think tech titans are beginning to make larger investments here. They see the software playing a more critical role than ever.
 
How are you guys!? This is my first participation here in the blog.

I understand that with new battery technology, if the EV vehicles achieve 500 miles range, the car industry (new vehicles) is going to change a lot. Maybe in 10 or 15 years 60% of the new vehicles for sale are going to be EVs........... just guessing.
Now, the used car dealers with that golden price range between $2000 and $10,000 will be healthy and sound for another 2000 years! (sorry! 20 years :--)) There is a section in the auto sales market for those customers (big amount of customers) that everybody here knows, which are only looking to buy a $2,000 cash car or finance a $10,000 or less vehicle. Those customers won't disappear in 10 or 15 years with the "EV invasion". Think for a moment: We are still selling very very good in 2019 the amazing 2004 Ford Taurus!!!! even Nostradamus wasn't able to predict that, not to mention the 2002 Toyota Camry, 2006 Honda Ridgeline, 1999 Toyota T 100 (better with over 200,000 miles!!), the 2006 Chevy Silverado, etc, etc.

In my humble and unsophisticated opinion the small independent used car dealerships will be around for many years to come.
 
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Call me a visionary, but here's where I believe things will transition to by 2039.

On the Variable Operations side:

Dealers will begin to transition away from heavily commissioned sales staff. Replacing high commission with a high hourly rate, promoting pressure-less sales environments. Where customers may concentrate on their purchase, not having to defend themselves from sales sharks. Vehicular purchases will be made more digitally available.... However, I don't see transactions happening strictly online YET.

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People will always need to test drive vehicles - so until we can emulate the entire car buying process, from the showcase to the test drive, things will most likely stay offline.

On the Fixed Operations side:

As technological and mechanical milestones are made, cars will begin to last marginally longer, and servicing them will likely happen at longer intervals. Cause and effect, I'm certain the prolonging of a vehicles lifespan will increase the price of parts and service, normalizing the total margins made from servicing vehicles.

Dealers will likely transition to pickup and delivery services for vehicle maintenance and repairs, for those opted into said programs. Maybe even structuring maintenance into a small monthly package...?

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On the Vendor Side:

Advertisers will take things completely social. Augmented reality advertisements will become more prevalent, emulating Point-of-View driving experience, and showing in life size what a vehicle would look like in your own driveway.

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Vendors will concentrate on tracking a prospect, from Lead to Close. And will be more focused in on things closer to the end of a sales cycle, than things that initiate it. Like the generation of an Appointment versus the generation of a Lead.
 
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Call me a visionary, but here's where I believe things will transition to by 2039.

On the Variable Operations side:

Dealers will begin to transition away from heavily commissioned sales staff. Replacing high commission with a high hourly rate, promoting pressure-less sales environments. Where customers may concentrate on their purchase, not having to defend themselves from sales sharks. Vehicular purchases will be made more digitally available.... However, I don't see transactions happening strictly online YET.

giphy.gif


People will always need to test drive vehicles - so until we can emulate the entire car buying process, from the showcase to the test drive, things will most likely stay offline.

On the Fixed Operations side:

As technological and mechanical milestones are made, cars will begin to last marginally longer, and servicing them will likely happen at longer intervals. Cause and effect, I'm certain the prolonging of a vehicles lifespan will increase the price of parts and service, normalizing the total margins made from servicing vehicles.

Dealers will likely transition to pickup and delivery services for vehicle maintenance and repairs, for those opted into said programs. Maybe even structuring maintenance into a small monthly package...?

giphy.gif


On the Vendor Side:

Advertisers will take things completely social. Augmented reality advertisements will become more prevalent, emulating Point-of-View driving experience, and showing in life size what a vehicle would look like in your own driveway.

giphy.gif


Vendors will concentrate on tracking a prospect, from Lead to Close. And will be more focused in on things closer to the end of a sales cycle, than things that initiate it. Like the generation of an Appointment versus the generation of a Lead.
 
High commissioned salespeople? I retired after over 40 years in the car business. I can't think of a more miserable job than selling cars if there is no money in it. I have never met any successful salesperson that I would refer to as a "shark". You don't understand the most people are not their normal selves when they become car shoppers. In this day and time, I would not recommend anyone to go into this business.
 
Call me a visionary, but here's where I believe things will transition to by 2039.
Vendors will concentrate on tracking a prospect, from Lead to Close. And will be more focused in on things closer to the end of a sales cycle, than things that initiate it. Like the generation of an Appointment versus the generation of a Lead.

Totally agree with this. From a vendor side, we're already looking at how we can do this within our own company. It's only a matter of time before people start applying this logic to dealerships.