The more time I spend around automotive retailers, the more convinced I become that they operate one of the most unusual business models in the economy. Most businesses control the products they sell. They determine what those products look like, …
For years, our industry has done a remarkable job of collecting customer feedback. Surveys, call centre logs, online reviews, open-text comment fields — the data has piled up at both the OEM and retail levels. In many respects, that’s a …
There are two things I want to touch on. Both deserve much deeper discussion. For now, I want to get them off my chest. The 150,000 problem A lot of space is being given to the idea of bringing new …
There’s something unmistakable happening on the auto show circuit this year—and it’s hard to ignore when you’re standing in the middle of it. From Montreal in January to Toronto in February, Vancouver in March and now New York in April, …
As I write this, the calendar has turned over to March 1. The CADA Summit and Toronto AutoShow are in the rear-view mirror. The Montreal AutoShow and the CCAM Summit a bit further back. Every year I find this a …
Every year when I sit down to write this editor’s note about the CADA Summit, I’m tempted to declare it the best one yet. I won’t say that this year. Even though it very likely was. It wasn’t just the …
There is no shortage of dramatic news going on in the automotive space in Canada. Having said that, I don’t intend to write about any of it. Instead, I’m going to give you a little change of pace. I’d like …
If you want a reminder of how quickly the automotive conversation can shift in this country, look no further than the reaction to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent announcement that Canada would allow up to 49,000 Chinese-built electric vehicles into the market. …
This is a big year for our team. Our baby is turning twenty. When we mailed the very first issue of Canadian auto dealer in late 2005, the world we wrote about looked and felt very different. The hot topics …
This year marks Canadian auto dealer’s 20th anniversary — a milestone that’s hard to believe when I look back at how far we’ve come, and how much the industry has changed in that time. When we started, the goal was …
I recently had a truly brilliant seven-minute experience. No, it’s not what you’re thinking. It was charging an EV at a public charging station. And it was brilliant. I’ve spent a good chunk of the past month in the U.K. …
There are a lot of things dealers don’t have control over. Their OEMs decide on the models and types of vehicles they will produce, set the MSRP, determine the inventory mix they will provide to the dealership, and even dictate …
