As more auto shopping moves online, automakers and dealers must work together to preserve their place in the market. The alternative? Giving up more business to disrupters such as Carvana, Vroom and Tesla.
Vroom's 2021 Super Bowl commercial, which depicted a dealer holding a customer hostage until he buys a car, vexed dealers. It seemed like a cheap shot, especially after customer satisfaction with the shopping experience jumped to 72 percent in 2020 from 60 percent a year earlier, according to a Cox Automotive survey.
But reputations change slowly. To fend off new entrants, automakers and dealers need to make the buying process easier and more digital.
General Motors this month announced the launch of CarBravo, an online used-vehicle shopping platform for dealers to list GM and non-GM vehicles. The automaker will also offer company-owned vehicles and lease returns that dealers didn't purchase.
It's a step in the right direction that's both respectful to dealers' businesses and fair to customers with transparent pricing.
CarBravo and other automaker programs, such as Ford Blue Advantage and [email protected], can help ensure that more vehicles are kept within the dealership network rather than sent to auctions for Carvana, Vroom, CarMax Inc. and the like.