While on the hunt for the top 5 global automotive trends…
This is what I came across. Most interesting of all is point 5 on digital retailing. If you think I’ve missed something or have a comment. Reach out to me on Linkedin, Twitter or FaceBook on these top 5 global automotive trends – looking forward to hearing from you!
Autonomous vehicles are closer than ever.
Reading the latest automotive study by McKinsey, it was clearer than ever it won’t be long now until fully autonomous cars become a significant percentage of the market – up to 15% by 2030. If you’re interested to know more, check out this video.
Mobility on demand will likely affect sales growth.
I find it interesting that KPMG’s Global Automotive Executive Survey 2018 highlights that 50% of car owners will no longer want to own a car by 2025. This change in behaviour could be down to living circumstances and cost of ownership, among other factors. As a result, we should expect vehicle unit sales to grow at a much slower rate.
I’m expecting to see less physical retail outlets.
I had to include this one in these top 5 global automotive trends. While I believe the physical dealership won’t go away anytime soon. All the major global automotive studies agree. The number of physical retail outlets as we know them today are likely to be reduced by 30 – 50% already by 2025. While this is a global view, we all know that the impact on South Africa usually comes later. I see this as a direct consequence of exponential digital growth throughout the entire car buying journey.
I don’t foresee a drivetrain technology taking the lead globally for many years.
There are still too many existing differences in market maturity, economic wealth and national interest. Until this changes – if it changes – we’ll likely see major differences in the distribution of traditional internal combustion engines, hybrids, battery electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles. This has a stronger possibility for South Africa.
Digital Retailing will become more and more of a focus area for dealerships
Car dealerships will continue to focus on taking each step of the consumer car shopping journey online. I mentioned this many times in our dealer masterclasses. In that the next thing would be the deal calculator and brining the Point of Sale (POS) of car shopping online. Well, it now has a name – “Digital Retailing”, and it goes further than merely the deal calculator. Here are the top 3 tips on how to prepare for digital retailing as a car dealer:
- Deeply understand the consumer car shopping journey and nuances that apply to your dealership. What does the car shopper do before he reaches your showroom and then what happens on your showroom floor
- Build out your dealership website using a provider that has online automotive experience (Not all website providers are equal)
- Future proof your website so that it has all the elements that set you up for integration with software providers
