2014 mid-year report card
THE MARKET CONTINUES TO GROW AND MOST BRANDS ARE DOING WELL — BUT NOT ALL At the halfway point of 2014, new auto sales in Canada are 2.8 per cent ahead of where they were at the same time last …
Category: General
Smooth flow
HOW BOTH DEALERS AND OEMS CAN WORK TOGETHER TO DELIVER A CONSISTENT, HIGH QUALITY CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Take a step back. Think for a minute. When somebody steps foot into your showroom or drives into your service lane, what do you …
Bigger and brighter
LEAVENS VOLKSWAGEN’S NEW FACILITY IS A TESTAMENT TO HARD WORK AND CUSTOMER DEDICATION One day, while his parents were on holiday in Europe, a young Ed Leavens decided to trade in the family station wagon for an Austin-Healey sports car. …
Don’t follow the flock
LEARNING TO STAND APART FROM THE CROWD OFTEN PUTS YOU IN FRONT OF IT At Canadian auto dealer, we’ve done quite a bit of coverage on the used vehicle market in the last few years, especially as more dealers are …
The power of a “people” perspective
FROM DAY ONE, SEARCH OPTICS HAS TAKEN A PERSONAL, BOUTIQUE APPROACH WHEN WORKING WITH ITS DEALER CLIENTS In the digital age,it’s often all too easy to be seduced by the latest technology. Dealers are bombarded all the time about new …
7 steps to empowering your marketing strategy
PAUL POTRATZ SHARES SOME SIMPLE TIPS FOR GETTING THE RIGHT MESSAGE TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE I get a lot of emails every month with marketers and business owners asking me. “What should I be doing to increase leads and sales?” …
Pre-owned accommodation
WHY A THOROUGH FACILITIES APPROACH CAN PAY DIVIDENDS FOR YOUR USED-CAR BUSINESS One area that’s becoming increasingly important for franchised dealers concerns pre-owned vehicles. From a facilities perspective there are many approaches and variables that can help integrate a successful …
Big fish, small pond
WHY IT’S NOT ONLY MAJOR METRO MARKETS WHERE GREAT CONSOLIDATION OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND I’m often asked whether dealership consolidation really only applies to large markets. The truth is that dealership consolidation takes many forms and sizes and it occurs all across …
A positive outcome?
WILL A RE-ELECTED MAJORITY GOVERNMENT IN ONTARIO REALLY BENEFIT AUTO MANUFACTURING IN CANADA? Given a series of highly publicized scandals, it might seem odd that the Ontario Liberal party would not only be re-elected on June 12 but gain majority …
Anti-tax sentiment goes mainstream
GOVERNMENTS ARE INCREASINGLY WALKING A TIGHTROPE IN FACING THE ECONOMIC CHALLENGES AHEAD WHILE AT THE SAME TIME APPEALING TO VOTERS After the recent Ontario election campaign, in which the Liberals surprisingly returned with a strengthened majority mandate despite the burdens …
Satisfaction: more vital than ever
IN THE FIRST OF A THREE-PART SERIES THAT LOOKS AT CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ACROSS AUTO RETAILING FROM OEM, TO DEALER TO CUSTOMER, MOHAMMAD SHAHZAD DISCUSSES THE MANUFACTURER ROLE Customer satisfaction, customer service, customer relations and CSI are words that have been …
Safety spotlight
A RASH OF RECENT VEHICLE RECALLS SIGNALS A TIPPING POINT FOR THE AUTO INDUSTRY Safety recalls have been a fact of automotive life for almost half a century. But they’ve taken on a whole new dimension in 2014, which is …
