On Wednesday, NFDA attended Auto Trader’s ‘The Road Ahead for Automotive Retail’ at 30 Euston Square. The event delved deep into the transformative forces shaping the automotive retail landscape.
The event kicked off with Ian Plummer, Auto Trader’s Commercial Director, setting the scene and ‘discussing the forces of change’ within the automotive retail sector. Ian introduced the acronym CASEDD (Connected, Autonomous, Subscription, Electric, Distribution and Digitisation) which would form the basis of discussions throughout the event.
The event then featured Alastair Cassels, Automotive Advisory Partner at MHA, Felicity Latcham, Associate Partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants and John Evison, Associate Partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants. Alastair, Felicity and John took turns to analyse the current landscape of the automotive retail sector and identify the trends and challenges on the horizon including:
Alastair spotlighted the customer experience, emphasizing the need for franchised dealers to realign their investments. He highlighted potential deficiencies in trust and transparency, echoing concerns raised by FCA intervention. As the EV market burgeons, he projected a substantial increase in dealership power requirements, urging proactive planning. Control overused stock acquisition costs was underscored as pivotal in combating online threats. The dealership of the future, he suggested, would pivot towards aftersales, EV readiness, and AI-driven personalisation.
Felicity weighed in on market projections, foreseeing a subdued outlook for new car sales while noting a flat trajectory for used cars. The digital age is here, yet physical dealership experiences remain integral to most buyers. The future lies in omnichannel strategies, seamlessly blending online and offline elements.
John tackled the evolving used car landscape, predicting a slower transition to EV dominance. He underscored Tesla's significant share in the used car market and highlighted opportunities for Chinese OEMs. As EV adoption grows, aftersales strategies must adapt to retain customers effectively.
The event then held a panel discussion which featured Peter Campbell, Global Motor Industry Correspondent at the Financial Times, as the moderator and key industry figures including Maria Grazia Davino, Group Managing Director at Stellantis, Andy Sinclair, Managing Director at Sinclair Group and Tom Carney, Retail Operations Director at Inchcape.
The panel discussion saw these key industry figures share how they see their businesses evolving in the coming years and topics discussed included electric vehicles, meeting the ZEV mandate targets, new entrants to the market as well as agency.
Glenn Mercer of NADA then came to the stage and provided a view from America sharing his view on the changing retail model in the USA and sharing what lessons can be applied to retail in the UK. Agency – franchised protection laws – do it state by state. Seeing agency being pushed in the USA is harder. Relatively less intra-brand competition with dealerships being spread apart. Germany has 1 BMW dealership per 100,000, USA has 1 dealership BMW per 1,000,000. He said that 2024 is the year electric grows up – help consumers. Retailers need to think about agency being delayed but not abandoned. Omnichannel has killed online, digital journeys, physical experiences, support over sales, and digitisation of retailers.
The event concluded with a speech detailing ‘the road ahead’ from Catherine Faiers, COO at Auto Trader who rounded off with the key themes discussed.
