The electric circus
Will there be electric tears shed in our ZEV showrooms? Yes, we are moving to a zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) future, which is clearly the right thing to do for the planet. But what is the average consumer likely to see …
Category: The Road Ahead: Darren Slind
The eruption of EV disruption
With more shoppers tire kicking EVs, the industry has to be ready to provide accurate and useful answers Disruption is feeling like a highly overused word of late. The business media, as well as more than a few LinkedIn members, …
The Chinese are coming
Observations on the global changes that will impact Canada: Part 2 of 2 In Part 1 of our special report on the Global IAA Mobility conference held in Germany, we took a look at the major players and their ambitious global growth …
The Chinese OEMs are coming
Observations on global changes that will impact Canada: Part 1 of 2 The IAA Mobility conference held in Germany recently was deemed a success with more than 500,000 visitors coming to see new vehicles, brands, innovations and trends. Having moved …
Borrowing a page from hospitality
The automotive world can learn a lot from how other industries consistently deliver amazing guest experiences. Six years into my career, I made a significant pivot—from Xerox and the world of office printers to automotive when I joined the …
How can dealers continue to win?
Auto dealers who evolve, have a different, but bright future. In 2019, Forbes magazine offered one of the best descriptions of disruption I’ve read: “Disruption is rarely invited… it is almost always forced on us, particularly in a mature industry, …
Can an auto show have winners and losers?
What are the implications for dealers of brands that exhibit vs. those that don’t? Does an auto show deliver a return on investment for exhibiting brands? This was one of many questions that that Jason Campbell, General Manager, and his …
The order game has changed: have we adapted?
Order-to-delivery is going to be with us for a while, and we need to improve our approach for how we keep our customers in the loop. The rules of the game have changed. If you think back to the days …
The green dividend: cashing-in on EVs?
New streams of revenue are out there for those who are willing to adapt The future is green, or at least moving closer to zero emission in the coming decades. The recent new vehicle registration market share figures from S&P …
Practicing what I preach
I’ve never thought of myself as an early adopter. If my lovely wife had a dollar for every time she encouraged me to “try something new”—say other than navy blue sweaters or penne a la vodka when we go to …
Vehicle-as-a-Service is the new OEM mantra
How can dealers manage the new subscription-based upgrade model without alienating consumers? Herbert Diess, former CEO of The Volkswagen Group, commented at the end of June that global revenues for the automotive industry are forecast to reach circa CAD $6.5 …
From peak car to peak ICE: how near are we?
We are old enough to remember when economists, sociologists, and futurologists alike, predicted the end of the long hours culture in favour of a new utopia called the “leisure society.” The argument ran in the 1960s and 1970s that technology …
