Roll.Tide Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 Interesting article in today’s Journal https://apple.news/AKewM3OCeS8mwAnHs2LR7xw 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordBuyer Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 2 hours ago, Roll.Tide said: Interesting article in today’s Journal https://apple.news/AKewM3OCeS8mwAnHs2LR7xw After seeing family farms and ranches bought out by conglomerates, looks like family dealerships are next. Either sell to a mega dealer or become a used car lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 20 minutes ago, FordBuyer said: After seeing family farms and ranches bought out by conglomerates, looks like family dealerships are next. Either sell to a mega dealer or become a used car lot. On the new car side, consolidation is only going to accelerate in the years to come as automakers like Ford encourage new car customers to do sold retail orders, and dealerships pivot to being logistics specialists that coordinate vehicle deliveries of orders placed online, rather than as a "storefront" with huge lots filled with dealer stock new vehicles. This was mentioned by the head of AutoNation in the article Roll.Tide shared. "Physical inventories do not need to be what they were in the past," AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson said. "The industry carrying four million vehicles in inventory on parking lots across America was highly inefficient." On the used car side, competition from online used vehicle sellers like Carvana, Vroom, and Carmax is going to be intense. While used car lots aren't going away completely, like the trend with new car dealerships, logistics expertise will be a key success factor for used car retailing and being a "storefront" will become a lot less important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 38 minutes ago, rperez817 said: On the new car side, consolidation is only going to accelerate in the years to come as automakers like Ford encourage new car customers to do sold retail orders, and dealerships pivot to being logistics specialists that coordinate vehicle deliveries of orders placed online, rather than as a "storefront" with huge lots filled with dealer stock new vehicles. This was mentioned by the head of AutoNation in the article Roll.Tide shared. That’s not at all what is planned. They just want to reduce stock inventory to a lower level not eliminate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, akirby said: They just want to reduce stock inventory to a lower level not eliminate it. Nobody said that new car stock inventory at dealerships will be eliminated. As mentioned earlier, large new car dealership groups such as AutoNation have the capability to revamp the logistics and end-customer experience aspects of their business to align with automakers' newfound emphasis on retail sold orders rather than dealer stock inventory. This is one reason why AutoNation, Sonic Automotive, Penske, etc., are buying up family owned dealerships. The new car shortage right now is accelerating this trend. Edited September 13, 2021 by rperez817 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1TonOFun Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 We are an instant gratification society. People want to go down to a dealership when they have the urge and drive home in a new car. While a larger percentage will custom order I don’t see them being able to get away from having product for immediate consumption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 3 hours ago, 1TonOFun said: We are an instant gratification society. People want to go down to a dealership when they have the urge and drive home in a new car. While a larger percentage will custom order I don’t see them being able to get away from having product for immediate consumption. They will still have it, but they also won't have all sorts of incentives on that said product either. Once you take away the 10K rebate on a 65K pickup, people are going to be hopefully smarter and option out their $45-50K pickup instead and Ford will still make a nice profit on it, instead of jacking the price up to cover the baked in incentives in the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 15 hours ago, 1TonOFun said: We are an instant gratification society. People want to go down to a dealership when they have the urge and drive home in a new car. While a larger percentage will custom order I don’t see them being able to get away from having product for immediate consumption. Customers who wish to purchase a car or light truck from a dealership they can drive home the same day would be better off getting a used vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe771476 Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 There's a car on a lot somewhere that fits the need of any consumer. They don't need to order it and have it built. It's already built! Do you see how many cars there are on lots that never get sold?! They could close the factories for 2 years! This doesn't count the chip shortage, but in general. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 31 minutes ago, Joe771476 said: There's a car on a lot somewhere that fits the need of any consumer. They don't need to order it and have it built. It's already built! Storing new vehicles "that fits the need of any consumer" on dealership parking lots is incredibly inefficient and a major reason why retail new car sales is not as profitable as it could be for automakers, and in many cases not profitable at all for dealerships without things like floorplan support from automakers. In most regions of the world other than the U.S. and maybe Canada, new vehicle sold orders (rather than buying a new vehicle in dealer stock) are the norm. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 1 hour ago, rperez817 said: Customers who wish to purchase a car or light truck from a dealership they can drive home the same day would be better off getting a used vehicle. Huh? Glad you made that decision for everyone! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 16 minutes ago, rmc523 said: Glad you made that decision for everyone! Huh? I didn't make any decisions for anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurtisH Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 1 hour ago, rperez817 said: Customers who wish to purchase a car or light truck from a dealership they can drive home the same day would be better off getting a used vehicle. Uh, no. I’ve ordered my last two Mustangs. My wife, however, prefers to buy off the lot. We’ve never been as happy with the used cars we’ve purchased, so neither of us will ever buy used again. We’ve always been better off buying new. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1TonOFun Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 I order all of my vehicles, my wife usually wants a make/model that doesn’t lend itself to that (she likes Acuras and they have few option choices). I don’t want a lot of the options dealers put on vehicles and usually want my trucks spec’d out in a way they don’t carry on their lots. When I try to convince friends and family ordering exactly what you want is the way to go they usually shrug and say they don’t want to wait that long. I just don’t see impulse buying giving way to the delayed gratification of ordering just what you want. I think the custom order process will grow if that’s what manufacturers push but people want what they want, and they want it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted September 14, 2021 Share Posted September 14, 2021 1 hour ago, 1TonOFun said: When I try to convince friends and family ordering exactly what you want is the way to go they usually shrug and say they don’t want to wait that long. I just don’t see impulse buying giving way to the delayed gratification of ordering just what you want. I think the custom order process will grow if that’s what manufacturers push but people want what they want, and they want it now. What I think they’ll do (or should do) is have 2 or 3 standard trim levels in stock in multiple colors. A dealer stock Explorer XLT has the same options at all dealers with color being the only option. But if you want to order an Explorer XLT then you have more options to choose from. Same with Platinum - includes every option and the biggest engine. If you don’t want all those options you can order. So you can still find something on the lot but you may have to compromise on wanted or unwanted features to get it today or wait to order. When I bought my 2016 MKX reserve there were 3 standalone option packages (which is ridiculous). No dealer within 3 states had the color and engine we wanted with all 3 options. Most had one or two of the options and a few had none. We ended up going with the 3.7L (which is fine for the wife but I hate it) and did not get the technology package including adaptive cruise because we didn’t want to wait 8 weeks. This would solve those problems. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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