THE NEW MOBILITY: The coming challenge for dealerships

Automotive consultant James Carter says the automotive aftermarket will almost certainly have a very different experience than new-car dealerships do when it comes to what is being called “The New Mobility.”

“It is becoming clear that dealers are going to have major revenue challenges in the era of New Mobility,” he writes. “This at a time when they need to pay off their extravagant building investments. Clearly there’s going to be very significant industry upheaval in 10 years time.”

As for aftermarket automotive service providers, however, Carter suggests they’re not in a particularly bad spot.

Yes, electric vehicles will call for much less servicing, and there will be many more fleet cars than privately owned cars. But Carter believes there are three reasons why the aftermarket is well positioned for the future: They’re preparing now for the inevitable changes, their cost structures are much lower than dealerships, and the timing of the aftermarket’s ‘sweet spot’ lines up perfectly to allow them to take advantage of New Mobility trends.

It is the latest insight from Carter, the principal consultant at Toronto-based consultancy Vision Mobility.

Among other topics covered in this series, Carter discussed how autonomous vehicles are expected to change the repair landscape, the dominance of fleet business in the New Mobility era, how technology will create different mobility business models for ASPs, why fuel cells may begin to show the way forward, and how connected cars and forward-thinking ASPs will impact how consumers think about maintenance.

Check out Part 7 of the New Mobility series HERE, and look for additional articles in the weeks to come… only at AutoServiceWorld.com.

NEW MOBILITY: Coming changes will be a challenge for dealerships