Howard Cobham, Senior Vice President Dealer Services
Navigating a changing market
Howard Cobham, Senior Vice President Dealer Services
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GM Financial attended the NADA Show for the eight time as both a business in Canada and in the U.S., with a focus around the things that are going to help car dealers with their business.
“We have a setup where I can sit down with the dealers, with some privacy and confidentiality, to talk about their business — and this has been really helpful for us,” said Howard Cobham, Senior Vice President Dealer Services, GM Financial. “We worked hard ahead of the show towards getting the lists, contacting dealers and inviting them to our booth. And resoundingly they have come to visit us.”
The company is attending the show for the eighth time, and supports about 450 GM dealers in Canada. When asked about this year’s new vehicle sales projection and rising interest rates, Cobham said they are building a significant portfolio for GM and their dealer network that is helping to feed an annuity that was planned early on. “It’s worked out really well.”
“The market is slowing down a little bit. It was still around the 2 million mark for Canada, and I think the forecast, depending on what you look at for next year, it’s still within that range,” said Cobham. “It’s a battle out there and this is where everybody has to really get sharp and use all of the tools that the organizations have to earn the customer base.”
On the product transition side of the equation, GM launched a new pickup truck at General Motors that they anticipate will lead to a “significant sales opportunity.”
“We’ve got the new (Chevrolet) Blazer coming and there was the Traverse recently. These are just examples of some of the great new products that I think may be offsetting some of the concerns around (sales) slow down, because I think we can gain some incremental market share with a lot of these great new vehicles,” said Cobham.
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