Buying a car used to involve walking into a traditional showroom in your local town – or perhaps browsing in a few over the course of a Saturday – and picking the best deal on the right product. If only life were that simple nowadays; this historic business model is suffering because of internet dealers who don’t have the high overheads of running a franchised operation.
A couple of stories I’ve written this week have opened my eyes to the innovative way dealers are fighting back. The first was on Chevrolet and its ‘Local Heroes’ scheme. This involves the dealer putting a salesperson, a car and some brochures in a retail park, garden centre or shopping arcade (pictured) and engaging with customers. Chevy bosses say a weekend of this usually results in 20+ test drive bookings and if one of those is converted into a sale it’s paid for itself. The scheme started in the UK two years ago, and is now being adopted Europe-wide as a way of boosting awareness of the brand.
The second story involves a Kia dealership in Doncaster which couldn’t find a site for a permanent showroom. It called in a specialist ‘temporary structures’ firm to build something for the short term.
That was 18 months ago; it’s been so successful the dealer has just applied for planning permission to stay for another two years. It’s got all the benefits of a normal dealership but none of the massive infrastructure costs. I imagine there’s a few dealers in the South Yorkshire paying very close attention to what’s going on there.
With everyone cutting costs, car buyers included, finding new customers then keeping them is absolutely key to a dealer’s success.
Hats off to people thinking outside the box… or outside the traditional dealership anyway.
Breakdown Cover from 
