Automotive News Europe - April 2020 - 16

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS EUROPE

AUTOMAKERS

Secret weapons
VW's 'e-Heroes' poised to play a key role in ID3's future
CHRISTIAAN HETZNER
chetzner@autonews.com

olkswagen is on the hunt for a savior
- actually 6,000 to be precise. Their
job will be to ensure Europe's largest
automaker sells enough ID3 full-electric
cars by year-end to ensure that parent
VW Group avoids EU fines that could
reach the billions.
"I call them my e-Heroes," said Silke Bagschik, the head of sales and marketing
for VW's ID family of electric vehicles. In
addition to catering to potential EV customers, their job will be to encourage
their co-workers to sell battery-powered
cars as well. "We are hoping to have two
[e-Heroes] for each of the 3,000 dealerships across Europe," she told Automotive News Europe.
She will need the persuasive powers of
the 6,000 EV believers even more now
that this summer's UEFA Euro 2020 soccer championship has been postponed
until next year because of the coronavirus
outbreak. VW, which sponsors the German national team, planned to use the
must-see TV event as a marketing platform to coincide with the ID3's launch.

3 hurdles

VW aims to have two EV specialists working at each of its 3,000 dealers
across Europe to help persuade customers to try the full-electric ID3.
tually did. It wasn't because of a dearth
of product, but rather concerns about
price, range and infrastructure. Experts
say the way to attack this problem is by
putting EV believers into dealerships.

Typically the industry speaks of three hurdles to achieving EV acceptance: their high
prices, their limited range and the patchy
public charging infrastructure. Now that
VW has gone all in with its bet on batterypowered cars, it has sought to systematically address these concerns. VW checked
the first two boxes by promising that its ID
family members would be affordable and
capable of driving up to 550 km on a single
charge. To address the charging dilemma,
VW invested in the creation of a superfast
DC charging network together with other
German carmakers. It has also established
a separate unit that installs charging wallboxes in homes and offices.

"You need these evangelical types, because they can help convert their colleagues and also persuade customers
shopping for a Golf that an ID3 might
make more sense for their needs," said
Steve Young, who is managing director
at automotive retail consultancy ICDP.
Young, who owns an EV, also argues
that the people in charge of selling EVs
at a dealership should, ideally, drive one
year-round. According to Young, VW's
success won't depend solely on removing the obstacles of price, range and
infrastructure: "You could argue a salesperson is a more important factor than
any of the three [hurdles]," he said.

One crucial element in the success of
EVs that is often forgotten, however,
is the dealer. According to a McKinsey
study published in January, half of all
German car buyers seriously considered
purchasing an EV, but only 3 percent ac-

Dedicated approach

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Along with making sure it has the right
EV-focused personnel at its dealerships,
VW plans to leverage existing advantages. For instance, the brand's retail

network beats anything a startup can offer. This means it has a vast number of
sites where it can provide potential buyers with opportunities to become familiar with its EVs. In the event of a crash,
VW has a far-reaching, well-established
repair network.
In addition, every VW dealer is now required to install at least one EV station
with two charging points for each showroom, financed at their own cost. "My
biggest task this year is ensuring all the
dealers in my sales region have charging
stations," one member of VW's German
staff told ANE.
Volkswagen has also incentivized its dealers in Europe via new contracts that took
effect this month ahead of the ID3's summer launch. "We have seen to it that all
dealers earn higher margins [for an ID3]
than for an equivalent Golf," Bagschik said.
To gain instant feedback about the preparedness of the retail network for the
ID3's arrival, Bagschik has even set up
a WhatsApp group so she can remain in
constant contact with the dealers. ANE

APRIL 2020

http://www.autonewseurope.com

Automotive News Europe - April 2020

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