Doug Firby

Dealerships across Canada are gearing up for increasing sales of electric vehicles, but the changes they face are coming on many fronts and sometimes at significant cost that could burden their franchises.

Bruce Hyundai’s general manager saw an emerging trend that awakened the group to take action.

Ford has told dealers they must decide by Dec. 16 whether they will enroll in the Certified Elite program or Model e Certified program, which will begin in 2024.

Destination Auto Group receives “clear insight” weekly on its stores’ performance and has been able to make inventory and tactical adjustments much more quickly than it had in the past.

These family retailers have seen a century of highs and lows and offer their perspective on achieving staying power.

Buyer frustration poses a huge challenge to dealerships that can’t get vehicles as quickly as buyers want. But proactive retailers are relying heavily on customer relationship management (CRM) and other tools to keep them up to date on their orders.

The era of leaner vehicle inventories “is not going to go away. This is how Apple and Tesla have become so profitable," says John Bardwell, an automotive product strategist at Bond Brand Loyalty in Toronto.

Empty lots and customers holding for months — even a year or longer — to get their vehicles are commonplace now. No brand is immune, and dealers are caught in the middle.

While established platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are widely used by dealers, TikTok is the new kid on the block. It’s a platform that retailers are using to push the creative envelope in the never-ending quest to stand out.

Automobile dealers need to get better at aligning the online and in-person purchasing experiences for customers as digital retailing rapidly gains traction in Canada, industry experts said during an Automotive News Canada Congress online panel discussion.

Volkswagen is asking Canadian franchise owners to build the new locations in underserviced portions of the country, said Michael Ricciuto, director of network development for Volkswagen Canada.

When an Ontario dealership group wanted a new communication platform to improve customer service and efficiency at its stores, it set out to develop exactly what was needed. But doing so yielded an unexpected result: The software was spun off to be sold to other dealerships.

After graduating in 2015 from Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, Jarred Pellat was looking for a job that would allow him to stay in that country. After a mysterious pre-interview, he discovered that he was being driven to Hyundai’s world headquarters.

What could be worse for customers than being on a waiting list for a new car? Also being in an information vacuum.

With mask mandates easing, dealers are left to navigate how they will disengage from rules that have been controversial at best and divisive at worst.