AUTOMOTIVE

Buy Centers Part 2

David Long and the All Things Used Cars community picked up where they left off and got into buy center best practices. We assume by this point, you know how vital a buy center is for future-proofing your business.

Listen to last week's episode on Clubhouse for the full conversation and Jonathan Smoke's quarterly economic rundown. Let's get into the notes!

🤝 Hire buyers. Give somebody with no automotive history a process and role clarity and watch them take to and own the buy center work. Go get the people you need, even if they are not already employed by your dealership.

🙅‍♀️ Buying is not selling. This configuration of the last point comes up over and over again. You cannot operate a buy center between being a sales team.

💸 Make offers. Be on the offensive. Do not be defined or confined by the market. Define and create the market by making and sticking to a process that removes the emotions (gut-feelings) from your used car acquisition strategy.

💪 Create and maintain a positive culture. Everybody has to understand the buy center is an essential part of the business. It isn't a bolt-on and the people who work within it are part of the team.

💻 You gotta be online. Creating an online presence specific to your buy center will capture attention and potential favor as people shop for the best price and experience.

"Would you open a new business and NOT have a social media presence?" -David Long

Operators following the things discussed over the last two weeks are buying hundreds of cars a month directly from the community. Treating used car acquisition as a necessary and separate mission within the dealership is work. Nobody said once it was easy. Still, the work builds a stronger relationship with the people in your community and resilience to the changing market.

Telling it like it is - The relationship between dealers and OEMs is changing in ways dealers cannot always control. However, the relationship between dealers and private sellers can improve in ways dealers can guide through planning, discipline, and care.

TOGETHER WITH CAROFFER

Confidence + Platform = Peace of Mind

One less thing to worry about.

Isn't that often what we hope for when we invest in a platform? We want a tool to expand and enhance the impact we have. Of course, sometimes they become another worry.

CarOffer's PremiumXchange is quite the opposite. A tool that expands your reach even when you aren't looking. Over 12K dealers use the platform to move underwater inventory to more appropriate markets, which PremiumXchange can do based on dealer preferences, so you can trust it to be bringing in profits even while your attention is needed elsewhere.

Peace of mind is a click away. See what CarOffer's platform you can trust will do for you today.

AROUND THE ASOTU-VERSE

The Automotive Troublemaker Podcast
- Sony/Honda in NA, An OEM Goes Air Taxi, & Pickleball is All the Rage
ASOTU CON Sessions
- ASOTU CON Sessions Episode 10: Anthony Jingoli and Brendan Jackson

AUTOMOTIVE

Startup News and New Motto Suggestions

Nikola's Founder and Former CEO was found guilty of defrauding investors to increase the startup's stock. Apparently, a video that interested investors claimed a hydrogen semi was driving on its own, but was just footage of the big rig rolling downhill. Other fraud charges were heard, including misleading investors about battery sourcing and pickup truck development.

The case is not against the company, only the former CEO.

New motto idea: Nikola: Electric, Hydrogen, and Gravity powered vehicles.

VinFast is making quick moves to put Vietnam on the EV map. Maybe too quick? A sensor-replacement recall of about 1/3 of the company's sold EV has them calling back about 730 vehicles

Luckily, no customers have reported issues with the side crash sensors, and they caught it while sales were still domestic - which means before filling the 65K global reservations they are sitting on.

New motto idea: VinFast: Fast cars, Fast manufacturing. Oops, too fast, actually. Bring that back.

Polestar is showing off its new EV SUV (E-SUV?) and is not worried about the affordability Olympics. The 500-horsepower Polestar 3 will run customers $84K and come fully loaded.

The company says lower trim options will come along too, but suggest you buy a bike if you are scared of spending a little money. (not really, but wouldn't that be wild? 🚲)

New motto idea: Polestar: Can you put a price on quality? Because we did.

TECHNOLOGY

Ben Hadley On Drive360

SalesForce's automotive cloud, Drive360, goes live globally today. Our friend Ben Hadley has thoughts on the platform's spotin the retail automotive world.

As always, Ben should be read in full. However, we were able to grab a piece of his enthusiasm and curiosity ahead of the launch.

Enthusiasm! Structuring and normalization of data are routine in most industries outside retail automotive. Ben laid out a few examples of what a better relationship with data brings: increased market performance through insights, self-sufficiency, a better customer experience, and eliminating the glut of existing dashboards dragging the industry down.

Curiosity? So far, not even Ben can see the future, so precisely what Drive360 will do for the industry is unknown. It could be a profoundly customizable tool any dealership could use to realize data as a currency OR a new bolt-on for your existing slew of tools and widgets.

Telling it like it is - We aren’t saying Ben Hadley is always right… but only because sometimes we are not able to keep up with what he is sayin'.

QUICK HITS

Apparently, GIF popularity is dying on the internet. We know some are cool with that.
Musk says US should pay for Starlink internet in Ukraine, but backs off request.
She-Hulk on Disney+ wraps with a broken 4th wall.