At the moment, Sales of electric vehicles are slowing down somewhatDon’t get me wrong, The market is growingbut it is does not grow so fast as some may have predicted. We know that the car manufacturers (for the most part) Building electric vehiclesand we know that customers (for the most part) want to buy electric vehicles, but what about the third parties here: Car dealerships? Do they want to sell electric vehicles? Well, like so many other things, it depends on where in the country you are.
A new survey among 250 “Dealer Guides” from CDK Global sheds light on the enthusiasm of the traders Sale of electric vehiclesand as it turns out, the general mood is “not at all” with a few “mildly excited.” Overall, 49 percent of survey respondents said their sales teams were not excited about Sale of electric vehiclesThis must be worrying for car manufacturers who want to get the cars they have invested billions in on the road.
However, it is not the same story all over the country. Depending on where the dealer is located, enthusiasm varies widely. For example, 46 percent of dealers in the Pacific region said their sales staff was moderately to very enthusiastic about selling electric vehicles. In the nearby Mountain States, however, only 25 percent of respondents could say the same. Not surprisingly, the most pessimistic region was East South Central, where only 12 percent of dealers in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee And Kentucky They said their employees were at least moderately enthusiastic about selling electric vehicles.
Here’s why dealers outside of places that are traditionally EV-friendly just aren’t that excited about selling the damn things. By CDK Global:
Many concerns are simply due to geography. Whether due to extreme temperature fluctuations, mountainous terrain or large distances between communities, dealers in much of the country have significant reservations about selling electric vehicles.
One dealer in Montana put it bluntly: “We live in a rural area with long distances between towns… It’s just not a viable alternative to the internal combustion engine.”
Another dealer in North Dakota described the arctic climate as a death knell for electric cars. “It’s primarily about range, which is always affected when the heater is on full blast. If someone had to get off the highway because of bad weather, they would freeze to death at a rest stop.”
A large part of this reluctance to sell electric vehicles is also due to the lack of understanding people have towards them. Dealers just don’t do it know so much about electric vehicles, therefore, they are hesitant to sell them. According to CDK, only 44 percent of dealers surveyed were either “very well trained” or “extremely well trained” on electric vehicles. That means more than half of them know very little about the cars they are supposed to sell. That’s not a recipe for success.
For example, sales force training was particularly high in New England, with more than eight in 10 (83%) very or extremely trained. And New England ranked first (25%) when it came to high enthusiasm for selling electric vehicles. The East South Central region, which ranked last in enthusiasm for selling, reported only 24% of salespeople being very or extremely trained.
It’s difficult to make a direct connection, but it seems that training salespeople on how to handle electric vehicles leads to more passion for selling these vehicles.
These dealers should really pull themselves together, man, because Electric vehicles are coming, whether they like it or not. CDK claims that in the second half of this decade there will be a second – significant – wave of buyers ready to buy electric vehicles, and that will happen pretty quickly.
According to CDK, dealers and sellers must prepare as follows:
Salespeople must first understand how the technology works, what benefits their OEM-specific vehicles offer, how to deal with tax incentives, range, charging options and maintenance details. Customers will have questions, and a CDK study of current EV owners shows they trust the salesperson to give them answers.
Salespeople must first understand how the technology works, what benefits their OEM-specific vehicles offer, how to deal with tax incentives, range, charging options and maintenance details. Customers will have questions, and a CDK study of current EV owners shows they trust the salesperson to give them answers.
Sure, right now Ownership of an electric vehicle and the purchase is quite local, but as more of these cars come on the market and become more powerful, people in all regions of the country will want them. It is up to the dealers to be prepared for that, because our godforsaken car buying system works in the USA
