The automotive distribution sector is gradually reinventing itself, particularly with the digitalization of customer journeys. Some manufacturers are experimenting with direct sales, bypassing dealers. At Hyundai, it is through a partnership with Amazon that we intend to review the purchasing experience. Thus, in the United States, the brand’s dealers can now list their vehicles in stock on the e-commerce giant’s website, which even manages the final transaction.
This strategy does not seem to appeal to its rival Toyota. When asked about the issue, Jack Hollis, executive vice president of sales for Toyota Motor North America, indicated with a simple “No” that he did not want to take this same path. He then explained that it would be too dangerous to part with the dealer model, reports Automotive News.
Toyota wants to maintain control over the customer journey
If Toyota wishes to digitalize its customer journey, the group prefers to keep control of the tools it provides to its dealers. In this sense, the Japanese has developed the SmartPath and Monogram platforms, respectively for Toyota and Lexus, which allow resellers of the two brands to list their stock in the United States online. “We worked with our dealer corps to really ask them to help create the system they want to use.”explains Jack Hollis, who highlights the possibility of taking into account dealer feedback as well as better control of personal data.
Following the partnership between Hyundai and Amazon, Automotive News had garnered mixed opinions from dealers, with more than half of respondents expressing a negative opinion on this strategy. Some fear that this is a first step aimed at purely and simply removing dealers from the purchasing process in order to move towards a direct sales model, as at Tesla in particular. Hyundai has nevertheless assured that dealers will remain an integral part of the distribution of its cars.