For me, I agree much more with
@SeanWoodruff than I do the actual article.
I personally believe that there are way more obstacles for a customer to navigate on the internet than there ever have been in the dealership. Customers used to be in the market for 72 hours. That's right, statistically a customer was going to own a vehicle within 72 hours of their first dealership visit. Now, it takes MONTHS. Why does it take so long? Personally I believe it takes so long because customers don't know how to navigate all of these obstacles.
"Eliminate the idea that the road to the sale sells cars"? Are you kidding me? The road to the sale sells cars, builds relationships, insures positive ownership experiences, generates gross profit, establishes consistency, teaches new sales people how to do a better job, and the list goes on and on.
How the sales process takes place is certainly different, but by no means is it dead.