In over 125 years of the motorcar, the innovations have been rushed in at various times, declaring ground-breaking opportunities and push-push marketing exercises like they have been going out of style. As a studious observer and critic of the motor industry for more than a third of its existence, I can tell you that the number of ‘uniques’ is enormous but that excitement should be tempered for industry exponents suggesting that something else ‘totally novel’ has just been launched. It hasn’t…
During the mid-1980s, I was engaged on a task to develop the Citroen Fleet Dealer Programme. Installing a non-car person, paid on a non-commission salary basis, within a geographically select number of Citroen dealerships was certainly an innovation. Armed with a small fleet of dedicated demonstrators (both cars and light vans), the Fleet Centre Manager would present product to the small-to-medium business sector. Citroen registrations blossomed.
During the mid-1990s, I was engaged on a task to train Nissan Business Centre staff. Not dissimilar to the Citroen programme but funded heavily by Nissan, it whisked Nissan sales to new peaks essential to support its Sunderland production facility. Yet, both of these exercises were dealership intrinsic and offered only fixed term support.
Smart, the innovative German city car project, now owned 50:50 by Mercedes-Benz and Geely (the owner of Volvo and Polestar intriguingly), took retailing innovation to heart by creating unique ten-floor towers for its colourful tiddlers. The towers took the form of automated multi-storey car parks, which were highly visible landmarks in those locations adopting the costly philosophy. The premise had been launched originally (in 1933) by the Nash Motor Company in Chicago.
BMW promised a revolution, when it introduced its i-Series (i3 and i8) plug-in hybrid models from 2013. For a start, none would be sold, in a conventional sense, BMW preferring to extol the virtues of product leasing instead. It employed non-commissioned, salaried ‘geniuses’ at dealership level. They were not allowed to sell; only present. Like the Citroen and Nissan exercises, the methodology was allowed to slide and i-Series models are now sold conventionally, alongside regular BMWs.
When Polestar declares that it has opened a technology-first, city-centre located, non-commission manned, consumer-focused outlet in Oslo (its first such ‘Polestar Space’), in reality, it is little different to the outlet marketing model practised by Infiniti, when it attempted (unsuccessfully) to change the face of motor vehicle retailing. It is definitely ego-boosting for a new brand and its excited management team but it has all been done before.
The reality of new car retailing lies in the hands of intuitive, specialist businesses like Forces Cars Direct and its sister operation, Motor Source Group. It relies on modern technology, with a human touch. There are no hard-selling tactics, just full-on, customer-focused service. It is not just the reality but is also a signpost to the future.
