Consumers today have options at their fingertips and while the automotive purchase process has changed to meet these consumer needs over the past few years, what does this mean for the industry in the long run? Today on Inside Automotive, we’re pleased to welcome Jim Ziegler, automotive retail veteran, speaker, and President of Ziegler SuperSystems, to elaborate on a recent article he wrote called “Are Manufacturers Getting Ready to Dump Their Dealerships?”
Ziegler’s article takes aim at Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and other automakers that are going all-in on EVs and changing up their production/inventory strategies. Ziegler recalls back to the beginning of February during Ford’s investors call when CEO Jim Farley, perhaps accidentally, hinted at the EV/ICE split. The split wasn’t formally announced until early March of this year.
This was shocking to Ziegler and started wondering, does this mean possible separate franchises? Does it mean we’re going to sell directly to consumers on the EV side like Tesla does?
Read more and watch the video on CBT News here.
