Automotive News Canada - April 2022 - 11

* APRIL 2022
11
TRANS-CANADA NEWS
5,000 KILOMETRES OF STORIES
plans to build a new global corporate
headquarters in suburban
Burnaby, home to a number
of tech firms.
Marsim expects to open its new joint Hyundai-Genesis store
in late 2023. SUPPLIED RENDERING
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
stretch of Highway 401.
The $20 million to $25 million
store, which is expected
to cover about 37,000 square
feet (3,500 square metres), will
house the group's Toronto
Hyundai and its Genesis
Yorkdale showrooms. A service
area will serve both
brands, which will relocate
from an existing site.
Marsim broke ground on
the new location at 151 Billy
Bishop Way March 31, though
construction is not scheduled
to start in earnest until the
fall. It anticipates opening in
late 2023. Marsim also owns a
Kia store. -David Kennedy
Program aims to make
AVs better in the cold
TORONTO-BASED STARTUP
Betterfrost Technologies Inc.
and Toyota supply chain affiliate
Toyota Tsusho Canada Inc.
(TTCI) are teaming up to commercialize
technology to make
autonomous vehicles (AVs)
work better in cold weather.
The $344,000 program,
which includes $100,000
from the government-backed
Ontario Vehicle Innovation
Network, will build on
Betterfrost's energy-efficient
de-icing technology to quickly
clear windshields, windows
and sensors of ice and snow
buildup, allowing AVs to operate
safely in harsh climates.
-Steve Mertl
EV maker recommits to
Canada with new HQ
VANCOUVER -
ElectraMeccanica Vehicles
Corp. (EM), which produces
the single-seat Solo threewheel
electric vehicle, says it
The Vancouver-area head
office recommits EM to Canada,
and comes despite most of the
firm's operations shifting to
the United States or overseas.
The company's Solo commuter
and commercial delivery EVs
are built in China and it is constructing
assembly, research
and development facilities in
Arizona.
The new 14,000-square-foot
(1,300-square-metre) headquarters
will feature expanded space
for EM's engineering, finance,
human resources, logistics and
operations departments, allowing
them to operate under one
roof for the first time.
- Steve Mertl
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The new ElectraMeccanica
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despite no production or
sales of the company's
vehicles in this country.
PHOTO: ELECTRAMECCANICA
Platform offered via subscription
ACE MARKTPLACE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
Kimoby from Quebec, a cloudbased
business instant-messaging
company that purchased
ACE Marktplace in February.
Financial details were not disclosed.
Kimoby
said it will refine
and offer the platform via subscription
to dealerships across
the country. The Policaro
Group will serve as its innovation
partner, providing a test
bed for product development.
A team of 12 people and two
third-party software companies
were involved at various stages
of ACE's evolution, said Dan
Robinson, who steered design of
the platform.
" They put a lot into this, "
said Robinson, who left the
Policaro Group in February
to become Kimoby's senior
vice-president of strategic partnerships
in North America.
SURVEYS: TOOLS ARE COOL
Results of satisfaction surveys
conducted by the manufacturers
and provided to the dealership
group, as well as customers'
comments about the ease
and convenience of the service,
indicate that the tool was an
instant success, Robinson said.
Text-based systems that
enable customers to arrange
services, learn when their car
is ready or determine when
a vehicle on order will arrive
at a dealership are particularly
helpful to address customers'
expectations as dealers
face ongoing supply challenges,
Chris Sutton, vice-president of
automotive retail at J.D. Power,
Services that are in the
works include:
* A self-service test-drive
module that will enable
dealerships to track
customer activity
* A system with real-time
vehicle-delivery tracking
* A tool that provides live
updates on service progress
* An inventory-management
system that instantly informs
dealerships of critical
problems such as potential
theft or battery failure
* Instant inventory audit reports
on vehicle location and status
* A module to turn a dealership's
loaner fleet into a revenue-generating
subscription
and rental service
* A fleet management module
that provides real-time tracking
of where a driver is going and
what he or she is doing
said in its March Customer
Service Index (CSI) study.
" Proactive communication
with customers is one solution
for dealerships to mitigate
a disruptively tough situation.
Simply implementing
text or email alerts can greatly
improve customer satisfaction. "
The Policaro team, in consultation
with software develRECOUPING
COSTS
The Policaro Group is seeing
" thousands and thousands "
of dollars in cost recoveries,
Robinson said. For example,
highway tolls and fuel charges
accrued when a customer is test
driving a car or using a loaner
are tracked and quickly recovered
from the driver, whereas it
was more difficult to do so in the
past.
The Porsche dealership recovered
$6,500 in one month alone,
primarily in tolls and fuel costs,
Robinson said.
The ACE Marktplace also
makes it easier to manage car
rentals in-house and has the
potential to find more efficiencies,
such as creating a pool of
drivers for a group of dealerships,
thereby cutting the overall
number required, Robinson said.
Under Kimoby, the introductory
ACE Marktplace product
is a valet service called ACE
mobility. Kimoby is refining
other services before rolling
them out in the coming months,
said Robinson, adding, " We
want dealers to be blown away
when they see this. "
Pricing for ACE Marktplace
will be announced in May and
be scaled so that any size dealership
can afford it, he said.
- ANC
SPO TLIGHT ON :
ECONOMIC TURMOIL
AND GLOBAL UNRES T
opers, decided that customers
wouldn't want another app
on their phones. Instead, the
group's dealerships receive
customers' service requests
through the automakers'
apps, such as Porsche Connect
or BMW ConnectedDrive,
Robinson said.
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Automotive News Canada - April 2022

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