TRIPLE THREATS

Blame it on Tesla or Wall Street, or just the constant churn of change.
The technologies that are transforming the industry — battery-powered vehicles and online sales — threaten to disrupt dealers’ business model in three distinct but related ways. (And yes, Tesla’s surprising success plays a role in all three.)
At the risk of sounding an alarm for a modern, major catastrophe, the concerns examined in this three-part series are electrical, legal and digital. None is inherently fatal but all have potential to limit the scope of a dealership’s operations and thereby lower its future value.
For now, profits are high and so are valuations. But anxiety about the future may be driving the surge in dealership acquisitions that are reshaping the industry — yet again.