Do We Really Need Car Dealers?
Chrysler and General Motors (GM) both took the initial steps to winnow their dealer networks this week. Altogether, nearly 2,000 dealerships were informed that the bottom two of the Big Three will be ending their franchise agreements. And there’s more to come: GM needs to make further dealerships cuts to meet the restructuring expectations of the auto task force.
Sounds like Armageddon for car dealers. Not entirely, but still a chance to recognize that the dealer business has been in state of transformation for more than a decade. Some industry observers have seized the moment to argue that it’s finally time to reinvent that way we sell people automobiles. Let’s treat cars more like consumer products. Let’s use technology to simplify.
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