I spent Monday and Tuesday in Dearborn at the Further with Ford #FordTrends event. It aims to present insights and examine trends related to future mobility. I am always thinking about how these changes will impact auto retail since you, dear reader, are always at the forefront of my thoughts.
Ford President and CEO Mark Fields said something that relates to dealerships as well as to the company as a whole:
It is no longer just about how many vehicles we can sell. It is about how many services we can provide.”
Two of the forces that will compel that change are autonomous vehicles and car-sharing.
We all know autonomous vehicles are on the way. It will take a while for them to represent a significant percentage of cars on the road. But Ford has pledged to deliver fully-autonomous vehicles in high volume for ride-sharing by 2021.
I rode in the back of an autonomous test vehicle, on public roads that included an unexpected vehicle backing out in front of us, pedestrians, four way stop signs, and many other complicated situations. The car performed flawlessly.
At another presentation, I asked Jim Hackett, chairman of Ford Smart Mobility LLC, about the role of dealerships in a future mobility world.
Hackett says people will still have cars in the future, but will also utilize car-sharing in some circumstances. Dealers should “remain optimistic,” he says. They are a distribution system, and that will still be needed in the future.
Even autonomous vehicles that are part of fleets will have to “go someplace to dwell,” he says. They will also need to be serviced, he says.
So, as you read this week’s stories about the current dealership environment, be thinking about your place in the environment of the future. Automotive Buy Sell Report is doing the same.
This week, Len Bellavia writes about Cadillac’s Project Pinnacle. Len, not unexpectedly, sees it as a violation of dealers’ state franchise rights and a ploy to get rid of some Cadillac dealerships.
Also this week, a profile of Stephen Dietrich, a partner at Greenberg Traurig. In the profile, focus on his insights into why, even though private investors and family offices were interested in buying dealerships nearly two decades ago, it didn’t work out.
But it is working out now, and will continue to do so, he says.
And of course there is Transaction News.
Enjoy!