Chevy: Keep the ball rolling with partnership, innovation

After a year of record-high returns on sales, Chevrolet dealers are setting their sights even higher.

"Let's keep that same momentum going," said Steve Hill, head of Chevrolet. "That innovative, entrepreneurial spirit turned what could have been a horrible year into our best profit year ever for Chevrolet."

Chevy's overall message to retailers during its make meeting at the NADA Show last week was clear: continue the partnership and innovation that the brand and its dealers strengthened in 2020, said Mike Bowsher, chairman of the Chevrolet National Dealer Council.

"We're not going to revert back to our old ways," said Hill. "We had a COVID shortage of inventory, and now we've got a semiconductor shortage of inventory. We've got to lean in on the learnings."

As Chevy introduces more EVs such as the freshened Bolt and a crossover variant, the brand will use more digital tools with its dealers, such as Chevy My Way, for training.

"We talked about the EVs coming and how much we have to get done before that, in terms of training technicians, sales, infrastructure. The retail go-to-market is going to be a little different, but we have a seat at the table," said Bowsher, owner of Carl Black Automotive Group in Kennesaw, Ga. The EV plan "isn't done, but we know where we're starting."

Dealer profitability in January was in line with a year earlier, before the pandemic hit the U.S., Hill said.

"As you string together a lot of very profitable months, you get increased franchise value," he said.

Still, some dealers expressed concern around how the global microchip shortage will affect inventory.

"We want to be the OEM that comes out of the chip shortage the best. We want to do that for our dealer partners," Hill said. "If that means we've got to do extraordinary things, like airfreighting and things like that, we're willing to invest."