Automotive News Canada - June 2019 - 8

* JUNE 2019

The real deal in a virtual world
Consumers know
more about what
they're buying and
they expect more,
which for retailers
means there's
no more sales
playbook

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS CANADA

JUNE BEST PRACTICES
SPOTLIGHT
rience is consumer expectations are on the rise. If Aldo
shoes will let you check inventory on a $100 pair of shoes,
fairly or unfairly, car shopping
is not immune to that expectation on a $20,000 purchase."

By KELLY TAYLOR

W I N N I P E G C O R R E S P O N D E N T

THE INTERNET HAS
changed how Canadians shop
for cars, but one of the most
important changes that retailers must make isn't in the
virtual world, it's in the real
world - when customers come
in to buy - says an executive
for a Saskatchewan dealership
group.
"There was a time when we
wouldn't let a customer buy a
vehicle until he has driven it,"
Michael Wyant, chief operating officer of the Saskatoonbased Wyant Group, which
operates 15 dealerships in
three provinces, including 11
in Saskatchewan.
"If he buys it [without driving it] and comes back a day
later, that's a whole lot of extra
work to unwind the deal.
"Today, it's all about finding out, in that funnel, how
much research the customer
has already done."
The internet has democratized car buying so much,

PRESSURE BRINGS PAIN
The strategy of Michael
Wyant of Saskatoon-based
Wyant Group is to closely
monitor website activity and
metrics as a means to adjust
strategy, rather than waiting
until "we're behind."
F I L E P H O TO

Wyant said, dealerships must
be careful about when they roll
out old-style sales techniques.
"Some customers come in
and say they found this F-150
on our website, they've driven
their buddy's F-150 and 'Can
I get it for the payments you
have listed?' " he said. "We can
do that transaction in 20 to 30
minutes."
Driving many of the online
expectations are the experiences consumers have on retailing websites in other industries, said Sean Claessen, executive vice-president of strategy
and innovation at Bond Brand
Loyalty in Toronto.
"What we know from expe-

Customers also know what
competitors are offering,
which means dealerships need
to refrain from the high-pressure sales techniques of old.
So, a customer who comes in
looking for a Honda Pilot LX
isn't going to appreciate being
pressured to help reduce a
dealer's overstock of EX models, Wyant said.
"We still have to offer it -
'Hey, I know you want an LX,
but we have this great offer on
EX models,' but if the customer says no, then you drop it.
It's not the customer's problem
that our inventory isn't where
it should be.
"If you pressure them,
you're going to pressure them
right out the door."
As for a dealership's website, Wyant said a plethora of
techniques can help the return
on the online investment.
For example, listings of

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We fuel dealerships!

Front plates losing out to
technology, vehicle design
New Brunswick
deletes, Ontario
balks, but the need
to find space for
new features could
lead other provinces
to change
By ROBERT BOSTELAAR
O T T A W A C O R R E S P O N D E N T

Scott Killen, general manager
at Audi Moncton, says the
dealership will save the
$560 it costs for a front plate
bracket for every car it sells.

AS A DEALERSHIP WITH
P H O TO C O N T R I B U T E D B Y
regional reach, Audi Moncton
SCOTT KILLEN
takes trade-ins from Quebec,
Prince Edward Island, and
explain to buyers that they
Nova Scotia. That means drillmust be installed.
ing holes, installing brack"In a perfect world we
ets, even changing fascias
would like to see them gone,"
to accommodate the front
Notte said.
licence plates required in New
Designer Anderson says
Brunswick.
he deals with the challenge of
"It's $560 for a front plate
front "plate pockets" almost
bracket on Audi vehicles," said weekly.
general manager Scott Killen.
"It sounds like an obscure
"It's not often we get to
little detail, it seems
recoup that cost."
like something you
Now, with New
never really think
Brunswick poised to
about much, but it
join the majority of
does cause a lot of
Canadian provinces
pain and agony for a
that require just rear
lot of designers."
plates, those bills will
Front plates almost
go away.
always ruin the face
Scott
But it isn't just the
of a car, he said, and
dealership savings that Anderson:
their requirement in
have Killen "extremely Front plates
only some jurisdicpleased" with the front a pain for
tions drives up costs
designers
marker's demise.
for manufacturers in
F I L E P H O TO
"I've seen some
added complexity and
of the prettiest front ends on
parts numbers.
vehicles in the world be ruined
What could ultimately doom
by a disproportionately-sized
the front plate is the frontal
rectangular bracket and
area needed for more air inlets,
licence plate."
radar and lidar units and radiCosts, aesthetics and
ator shutters. Front ends must
increasing competition for
also be aerodynamic to save
front-end real estate in techfuel.
nology-laden vehicles could all
VALUABLE REAL ESTATE
lead to the end of front plates
elsewhere. In three Canadian
"The grilles become huge
provinces and 31 U.S. states,
because you have all these
the traditional front plate
technologies that must now be
clings on.
placed in the nose of the car,"
"In our society, regulations
said Anderson, who predicts
die hard. Nobody wants to be
even bigger issues as vehicles
the guy that took legislation
become fully autonomous and
away if something bad haprequire still more sensors.
pens," said Scott Anderson, a
Industrial designer Miles
Ford Motor Co. designer and
Hammond suggests alternainstructor at Detroit's College
tives exist to ease police confor Creative Studies.
cerns about spotting suspect
Ontario, among the
vehicles.
Canadian holdouts, recently
"There's no reason why,
mused about dropping front
if it became law tomorrow,
plates to cut government costs. that every car could not be fitLegislators quickly backed
ted with an RFID (radio freaway when police warned
quency identification)," said
that the move would hamHammond, whose Ottawaper enforcement efforts. One
based Studio 63 works with
concern: fewer targets for the
companies such as BlackBerry
automated licence-plate readQNX to integrate technology
ers fitted to many police cruiswith vehicles.
ers to spot wanted vehicles and
To Hammond, licence plates
suspended drivers.
are an "archaic" form of communication.
NUISANCE ITEMS
But even as some provincNot consulted in the
es stay old school, Killen of
potential switch was the
Audi Moncton, part of New
Trillium Automobile Dealers
Brunswick's Lounsbury
Association (TADA), repreGroup, believes N.B.'s example
senting 1,100 new-vehicle dealcould help spur changes.
ers in Ontario. Government"As provinces that require
relations director Frank Notte
two plates switch to one plate,
said front plates are not a high
it makes less and less sense"
priority issue for TADA. Still,
for two plates, he said. "Your
he acknowledged they are a
argument holds less weight."
nuisance for dealers who must
- ANC

https://dsgauto.ca/

Automotive News Canada - June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News Canada - June 2019