The DMS is the ‘source of truth’ for your information. It’s that system of record, and it connects everything

The Dealer Management System (DMS) is a ubiquitous term for anyone working in auto retail. What does it mean today?

In some ways, the modern DMS can be seen to resemble The Borg from Star Trek, absorbing and integrating every technology in its path, from desking to F&I to Customer Relationship Management, to parts and service, to digital retail systems; or it can be seen as a collection of discrete capabilities, working together to make selling cars easier for the dealer and buying cars easier for the customer.

Canadian auto dealer reached out to a group of leading DMS companies working with Canadian dealerships to talk about what they think a DMS should be, and what the future of the technology might look like. Some firms come from the position of having built a system from scratch, using their own engineers to update and add capabilities as they see the need, and some companies grow by taking a core system and buying specialty subsidiaries that add capabilities.

For dealers, this means that there are a large number of DMS solutions out there, whether they like to build a bespoke integrated system from different providers, or if they want one whole seamless package.

The most important thing with a DMS is that it works, and is flexible enough to evolve with the business and with the industry, said CDK Global’s Vice President Greg Wallin. “I think if you go back, let’s say 10 or 15 years ago, a DMS was sort of a ‘necessary evil’. They handled the core functions of a dealership only. That has certainly changed. Now, a DMS can be anything provided by the CDKs of the world. I don’t know if the DMS itself has evolved if you look at it from a core perspective. But the other pieces of the business that interact with the DMS are now probably more of interest to dealers.”

The evolution has been going on for decades, said Wallin. “When I started 30 years ago, it was really just core parts and service, and accounting. Then maybe you added a sales application. Twenty years ago, we moved into automating the shop. We moved into doing things like bar coding for parts and adding a CRM component for follow up. Now dealers have to evolve to be able to meet the clients where they want to be met. And we use the term ‘omnichannel’ or ‘modern retailing’ when we talk about doing that from the retail side.”

CDK Global has grown through both internal development, as well as searching out organizations that are doing something well, acquiring them, and integrating them into their DMS. Bruce Johnson, CDK’s Sr. Director of Marketing and Sales Enablement, offers a useful definition: “The DMS is the ‘source of truth’ for your information. It’s that system of record, and it connects everything.”

So what does this mean? “At CDK we talk about connecting the dealer to the industry,” said Johnson. “That’s what we look at as the DMS doing. It manages connections with integration points to all the major OEMs, manages connections to other industry partners, and manages credit and compliance connections. Ultimately, it’s the infrastructure that creates the financial information that the dealership runs its business on.”

Companies like Quorum offer dealers a product suite, where customers can buy the whole system, or pick the Quorum products they want to fit their business needs. “The question dealers have to ask themselves is, does my DMS do everything well?” said Quorum’s President and CEO Maury Marks. “Or am I better served by having best-of-class third party products that meet my dealership’s needs, knowing they will get deep functionality with the third party products but that they may not be as integrated as the solution they would get from their DMS provider?”

Quorum followed a strategy to provide dealers with a best-of-class product suite with a DMS at the hub. They started by putting their resources into building the best core DMS. “We took a different approach to the market, building a DMS, and we focused on that. Then we built our own Sales CRM, mobile Service Lane, text/email messaging and reporting solutions. Because we only focussed on a few solutions, we built a lot of features that are in many third party products, and our solutions cost less money, and they are all beautifully integrated.”

Quorum then decided to grow through acquisitions. “Over the last five years we have acquired four companies, all with best-of-class solutions, and we have integrated those solutions into one product suite,” said Marks.

This approach puts the choice in the hands of the dealers and they decide which solutions they need and the ones they don’t. “Generally, it’s better for dealers to select solutions that meet their needs, and know that the ones they select have best-of-class functionality,” said Marks. “If all you do is get an integrated suite from your DMS provider and it doesn’t really have very deep functionality it won’t meet your business needs, and will not help you grow and operate your dealership.”

Keyloop is a large international company that has been in super-growth mode recently, having just acquired Canadian companies Serti and Rapid RTC, among other capabilities. Keyloop Canada’s Vice President of Sales, Martin Jalbert, told Canadian auto dealer that in this unusual economic climate of low inventories, but high margins, a good DMS uses data to create the best customer experience. “To ensure that dealers and OEMs can capitalize on the opportunity in the situation, customer engagement needs to be a top priority,” said Jalbert. “In today’s blended physical and digital world, delivering personalized, seamless, and transparent experiences across all aspects of the journey is essential to drive customer loyalty”.

Reynolds and Reynolds just opened up new offices in Canada, and they have also revamped their website and rebranded their logo, marking a period of transformation and positive change for the company over the last 12 months. Greg Uland is Reynolds and Reynolds’ Vice President, Brand Marketing, and he said that having an integrated system can help protect from an uncertain economic time, by being flexible.

“It’s interesting when you look at the pressures that dealers are seeing now and the things that they’ve seen over time, too. We can look back historically and see a lot of those things are really out of the dealer’s control,” said Uland. “So what really needs to happen is to focus on what the dealer can control. And what the dealer can do, is to provide value all the way around from the consumer, to the OEM. We’re really focused on enabling dealers to work a single deal from the first chat interaction online to a funded contract, cash in the bank.”

A good DMS will shift to focus on the departments that can be profitable, whatever the economic climate, said Uland. “When there’s low inventory, a dealer can use the DMS to facilitate increasing capacity in their shop without extending their hours even further than what they already have. So they can serve customers at all times. So things like 24-7 remote check-in, and drop off of keys, and things like that which are important to include in a DMS.”

For Uland, solving problems is the way they evolve their company and product. “You have a one-off problem that you’re solving, and if you solve it and it works well, figure out a way to incorporate it.”

Kevin Preston is the Vice President of DMS sales for PBS Systems, a successful and growing Canadian dealer tech company based in Calgary, and he agrees that a good DMS lets you nimbly move your business focus to the facets of operations that are most profitable at any given time. He said the EV transition will be one of those opportunities to be flexible. “So instead of coming in for an oil change, well, let’s talk tires, because EVs chew through tires, they’re heavy with lots of power. So, the tire conversation becomes a lot more active.”

A good DMS will let you easily change focus. “I have always felt we are well positioned because one of the strengths of PBS is the fact that  we’re not a separate CRM with separate desking, a separate F & I, separate DMS. It truly is one platform. So what, how we adapt and how we’ve been adapting is more on the coaching of dealership teams, coaching of our customers.

This goes back to what Bruce Johnson from CDK Global was saying about the DMS being the “source of truth.” Because a good DMS collects data, and many are using artificial intelligence to learn to use that data to anticipate customers needs and wants, and can also go farther, said Preston, way beyond just the selling of the car.

“So you really need to start thinking of your customer as an enterprise-wide guest and create a lifecycle of that guest. So we sold a vehicle. That’s great. ‘How’s that working for you, Mr. Customer? According to our records, you might be starting to think about some new tires right now’. But that’s the easy stuff. You get the new people moving to your area, So let’s create a lifecycle from service, right? They got an oil change, you can help them look at an EV or something. Well, let’s create another lifecycle where we introduce them now to sales.”

Tekion is a big new entrant in the DMS space. Founded by Jay Vijayan, who was previously at Oracle and then the Chief Information Officer at Tesla, Tekion was the result of Vijayan seeking to fill in the DMS gaps he perceived between the customer, the dealer and the OEM.

Tekion’s Director, Solutions, Pieter Van der Griend explained to Canadian auto dealer that, “Jay’s vision clearly understands the need for the dealer, the brick and mortar, and he understands the needs of the OEM to improve the customer journey in terms of buying and servicing a car. So that’s sort of the base of his vision and the platform that he built called Tekion today. He brought over his several team members from Tesla to build the platform.”

Van der Griend said that Tekion’s focus on real-time information helps create the “seamless customer experience” that everyone has been talking about, from the online shopping experience to the service department, where they have introduced a new Vehicle Location Tracker to streamline the process of moving vehicles in and out of the dealership.

Another Canadian DMS and digital solutions company is laser-focused on the customer-facing processes, and has found a way to create an interface that works efficiently to bring in customers and guide them through the whole buying experience. 360.Agency’s founder and CEO Louis-Yves Cloutier thinks his company’s success comes from the fact that they focus on one area, and they do it the best. This is particularly important right now, when the tide is turning back to a situation where dealers are going to have to make more effort selling cars.

“Some dealers were a bit overconfident, because they didn’t need to do anything to sell a car,” said Cloutier. “They were more order takers in the last couple of years. Now inventories are coming back up, but customers are not as eager to change their vehicle because of interest rates and the global economy right now. A good DMS can offer dealers ways to interact with customers in a more friendly way, in a more transparent way.”

Meeting the customer where they want to interact will be key for all dealers in the foreseeable future. “As DMS players, we have to help dealers by offering applications that can streamline the sales process and offer a good customer experience. All in all that’s gonna be the word for the next couple of years, as in enhancing the customer experience using technology and the digitalization of the retail function of a dealer.”

All the DMS players interviewed were optimistic about the future, and value the role of evolving retail technology in the auto industry. Keyloop’s Martin Jalbert explains, “The pace of change within the automotive industry is incredibly fast. Therefore, products need to have the ability to evaluate data in real-time and provide dealers with an analysis that allows them to understand their customers more deeply, provide services to match, and access focused insights that can lead to better decision-making across the business”.

“We really value our dealership partners,” said Greg Uland. “We value our partnerships we have with manufacturers and we value our place in the automotive ecosystem.”

The post What does DMS mean in 2023? appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

There’s been a lot of discussion about efforts to recruit more women to the auto sector, and a lot of progress has been made.

Canadian auto dealer reached out to one of the largest automotive education institutions in BC to see how things were moving along.

Jacqueline Craig is the coordinator for the Automotive Diploma Program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and she works to bring together industry partners and co-op students who need experience in the field.

The program has been very successful facilitating dealerships and other automotive businesses to find new technicians, but it’s been challenging to attract women to the program, said Craig in an interview with Canadian auto dealer. Despite that, the program  is very popular. “We haven’t had any issues with getting applicants to the program,” said Craig.

Despite this popularity, there’s a real lack of representation for women, reflecting the state of the industry as a whole. “I’ve been with the automotive program for almost a year now,” said Craig. “So from my experience with the students, the about a hundred students I’ve worked with in the last year, I’ve only had one female.”

Craig said that the lack of women in the program has actually been a deterrent on its own. “I’ve had emails from potential female students and this is their main barrier. One particular student at least was curious about the program, and asked what the ratio would be from male to female. And I was honest with her and said, ‘you know, we haven’t seen a female yet. I, You’re most likely gonna be in a classroom with mostly men. And the industry is mainly dominated by men’. She never enrolled in the program and I never heard from her again. So it’s definitely a barrier.”

So what are some ways to let young women know about the variety of good-paying jobs in the automotive industry? There’s a possibility that girls and young women think about grease-covered mechanics when they think about jobs as technicians (which will no longer even be a stereotype when electric engines become the norm), and they don’t know all the varieties of jobs in the industry, from the parts department, to marketing, to management, to working with OEMs.

Craig does currently have one woman enrolled in the program, which is encouraging. “I’m glad to see the one female student I do have right now in the program, she really wants to advocate for other females to join.” Craig thinks information about industry opportunities for girls needs to be available in high school, or even earlier. “So if we can show girls in high school, or even younger, that there are women in this industry and there are great career opportunities available, I think that’s where we really need to see it.”

Craig thinks that there are good role models in the Canadian auto world for women, and that visibility is great, but not the total answer. “The automotive industry is doing a good job at supporting women that are already in the industry, and I see a lot of women at automotive events and things like that, which is great. But I think we need to start a little bit earlier than that, to really support young women and girls even wanting to get into the industry from the beginning.”

The post Attracting more women to auto careers appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

So far 2023 has been the year that keeps on giving. Giving us optimism, as well as learning, reconnecting and entertainment opportunities that are getting the auto industry excited about what we do again.

In January, the Canadian auto dealer team rode into Dallas for the huge and exciting NADA Show. February was chock full of long-awaited industry events, including the Montreal International Auto Show, the CADA Summit and the Canadian International AutoShow. All of these events were well executed and well attended, with the Summit being sold out, and both of the auto shows breaking visitor records in their first few days. Canadian auto dealer was at all of these events and you can read all about it in our coverage in this issue.

This year we’ve seen some well-needed emphasis on the need for more diversity in the industry, and for our company boardrooms and showrooms to look more like Canada’s communities. Accelerate Auto has been doing a great job of encouraging opportunities for Black talent in car dealerships, manufacturers, the aftermarket and suppliers—”while tackling the systemic racism that is hampering progress” through awareness, mentorship, education and partnership.

Another initiative working toward more representation in auto is the Scotiabank Women in Auto Accelerator, which aims “to attract and retain more women in the automotive industry by helping them access and excel in leadership positions”. This program has just finished its first year in Quebec, and has announced the names of the young women enrolled in the second year. The program has had such a positive impact on both the mentors and the mentees that there are plans to expand Women in Auto Accelerator across Canada this year. We will make sure to cover this progress as more information gets released.

Speaking of women in auto, Kay Layne is a well-respected journalist in the automotive realm, and she was on hand to do the Green Carpet Interviews at the CADA Summit this year. While she was at the Summit she took some time to sit down and talk with a few women currently working in the industry, getting their insights on what their challenges are, what they love about their work and how they think the industry can be more accommodating to women.

Another way the industry is moving into the future is by embracing technology and social media in every new incarnation. Though it’s hard to keep up with the breakneck speed of big tech, there will always be those who take new inventions and adapt them to enhance operations in auto dealerships. In this issue, Perry Lefko delves into what is new and what is working for the early adopters among us, and gets an insider’s view of what might be coming down the pipe.

So we hope this issue puts some spring in your step and gives you insight and inspiration that will energize you and your business for the busy seasons to come.

The post Auto industry is back and evolving appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

The Canadian auto dealer team took Dallas by storm for three very busy days

From the moment we touched down in Dallas, The NADA Show was a flurry of activity for the Canadian auto dealer team. With a full schedule of exciting speakers and professional and social events, the convention had something for everyone in the auto industry.

This year’s show featured over 500 exhibitors, and more than 100 sessions in various formats, from workshops to more intimate roundtable discussions. The event kicked off in high gear on Thursday evening at country music mecca Gilley’s, with the NADA Show Roundup welcome reception featuring Grammy Award-winning country music superstar Brad Paisley. Denim and cowboy attire abounded in the appreciative crowd, some of whom even bravely took on the mechanical bull outside.

Friday morning was the opening of the Expo and the Main Stage, where distinguished speakers like former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley (and now U.S. Presidential candidate) and NADA Chairman Michael Alford spoke before the TIME Dealer of the Year, Gary Rome, was announced.

The Canadian auto dealer team was scrambling over the next two days, and met with more than 20 different companies for interviews, as well as stopping by countless other booths to see what was new and exciting in the automotive world. We talked with many DMS providers, including CDK Global, who talked about their new partnership with Hyundai; 360.AGENCY, whose President Louis-Yves Cloutier took some time with us to shoot a video and talk all about their brand-new DRX 360 consolidated product, which was announced live on Facebook at the show.

We also sat down at the huge Tekion booth, where Pieter Van Der Griend told us about their new vehicle locator, and how Tekion is poised to become one of the first global DMS platforms. 

At the Reynolds and Reynolds booth we heard about the company’s progress this year and their new branding, reflecting their renewed commitment to providing their customers with the most modern and efficient service. At family-owned PBS, Kevin Preston talked about the success of their under-the-radar approach, and their record-breaking year for new installations. The PBS client-appreciation cocktail party on Saturday night was a highlight of the NADA social scene.

Linda Nadon of Universus Media surrounded by the Keyloop team

Rounding up the DMS providers we saw, at the Calgary-based company Quorum’s booth, we talked about the modularity of their product and how it is standalone, but can also be perfectly integrated into existing systems. 

We also saw the Keyloop team out and about, as they met with their loyal customers and talked all about their exciting new expansion, including the acquisition of Rapid RTC and Serti. We have a great interview with the Keyloop team in this issue.

DMS providers were far from the only exhibitors at the Show. There was a strong contingent of F&I companies as well, and the very first booth we visited for an interview was AutoVerify, where Randy Price told us all about the new digital retailing tool they are showcasing, called Car Media. This new vehicle image capture software now includes a new 360 media player tool that allows dealers to create their own custom photo, video, and condition hot spots. It includes Car Media’s proprietary editing and background replacement which ensures 100 per cent brand compliance.

We dropped by the SiriusXM booth, where we learned that SiriusXM is now available in over 80 per cent of all new vehicles sold, and SiriusXM subscriptions are available to customers buying New, CPO and Pre-Owned vehicles nationwide. 

We also made a visit to Market Scan, where Carsten Priesz talked about his company’s B2B reselling tool, and how Market Scan’s data helps retailers determine exactly which models are selling where, and which models may need to be incentivized.

Equifax was next on our F&I journey, where Russell Wicks explained Equifax’s evolution from being a simple credit filing company, to the holistic data provider that it is for retailers and software suppliers today. 

Data and research providers were also showing off their products at the convention. Patrick Olsen at the CARFAX USA booth talked about how they were signing up dealers to their popular service, but mostly they were teaching current customers how to use their product better, particularly focusing on their new Vehicle History Reports functionality. 

J.D. Power was there in full force, with an Old West-themed booth that was very busy with dealers learning all about the company’s Power Information Network (PIN) program. J.D. Power Canada’s Robert Karwell gave us a look at the useful new dealer-facing tool, PowerDealer, which the company provides to dealers in exchange for access to the dealer’s sales data. It is a very useful tool for dealers to help make marketing decisions, and is at no cost to them.

“This year’s show featured over 500 exhibitors, and more than 100 sessions in various formats, from workshops to more intimate roundtable discussions.”

Innovative digital marketing solutions also abounded on the show floor. We got to chat with PureCars’s Kate Colacelli about their AutoMiner customer data platform, which gives dealers access to leading-edge advertising technology for sales, service, or parts. PureCars has also just partnered with Spotify for a new type of advertising.

The Carbeeza team of Michael Dunham and Nick Samaha was there, talking about their tools that use fintech to help Carbeeza harness the power of A.I. to accurately predict a shopper’s best financing scenario, and directing them to a dealer that can sell them that vehicle. 

DAS Technology, formerly known as Digital Air Strike, had a booth that you could not miss, with each team member wearing fluorescent orange runners that they were also giving away at the event. Alexi Venneri chatted with us about how DAS began as a way to enable dealers to monetize social networks organically, but evolved to include over 30 touchpoints to nurture and improve the customer journey. DAS has continued to build out its data integration partners to 189, including Amazon, Google, and many top OEMs, plus 35 CRM and dealer software systems. As usual, DAS Technology had the most exciting and fun after party, which featured Nelly and the Sugarhill Gang.

We stopped by the Podium booth and talked with Jack Mata about Podium’s customer communication strategy that uses one single tool. Texts, webchats, social media messages, and now phone calls—all in one easy-to-use inbox. We also chatted with LESA Canada’s Dan Paras, a Canadian Hyundai dealer who was so impressed with the LESA automotive video sales platform that he partnered with the company to bring it to Canada.

On the equipment side of things, we got to visit the huge Hunter Engineering booth, and see the always engaging John Peron, who talked about the launch of the new tire changer called Maverick, and the updates to Hunter’s wheel balancing software. He also introduced us to the HunterNet2 software, which tracks equipment use, to give dealers the precise return on investment for their machines in each store. This service comes with the equipment and supports the most profitable centres in the service department.

At the end of the day Sunday, we got on airplanes home, full of new information, having met new colleagues and reconnected with old ones, looking forward to NADA 2024 in Las Vegas!

Dave Bradley, president PBS Systems and Kevin Preston, Vice-President DMS Sales

The post NADA Roundup from Dallas 2023 appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

In honour of International Women’s Day, we decided to take a look at young women entering the auto industry, so we reached out to one of the largest automotive education institutions in BC.

Jacqueline Craig is the coordinator for the Automotive Diploma Program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, and she works to bring together industry partners and co-op students who need experience in the field. The program has been very successful facilitating dealerships and other automotive businesses to find new technicians, but it’s been challenging to attract women to the program, said Craig in an interview with Canadian auto dealer. Despite that, the program  is very popular. “We haven’t had any issues with getting applicants to the program,” said Craig.

Despite this popularity, there’s a real lack of representation for women, reflecting the state of the industry as a whole. “I’ve been with the automotive program for almost a year now,” said Craig. “So from my experience with the students, the about a hundred students I’ve worked with in the last year, I’ve only had one female.”

Craig said that the lack of women in the program has actually been a deterrent on its own. “I’ve had emails from potential female students and this is their main barrier. One particular student at least was curious about the program, and asked what the ratio would be from male to female. And I was honest with her and said, ‘you know, we haven’t seen a female yet. I, You’re most likely gonna be in a classroom with mostly men. And the industry is mainly dominated by men’. She never enrolled in the program and I never heard from her again. So it’s definitely a barrier.”

So what are some ways to let young women know about the variety of good-paying jobs in the automotive industry? There’s a possibility that girls and young women think about grease-covered mechanics when they think about jobs as technicians (which will no longer even be a stereotype when electric engines become the norm), and they don’t know all the varieties of jobs in the industry, from the parts department, to marketing, to management, to working with OEMs.

Craig does currently have one woman enrolled in the program, which is encouraging. “I’m glad to see the one female student I do have right now in the program, she really wants to advocate for other females to join.” Craig thinks information about industry opportunities for girls needs to be available in high school, or even earlier. “So if we can show girls in high school, or even younger, that there are women in this industry and there are great career opportunities available, I think that’s where we really need to see it.”

Craig thinks that there are good role models in the Canadian auto world for women, and that visibility is great, but not the total answer. “The automotive industry is doing a good job at supporting women that are already in the industry, and I see a lot of women at automotive events and things like that, which is great. But I think we need to start a little bit earlier than that, to really support young women and girls even wanting to get into the industry from the beginning.”

The post International Women’s Day: Encouraging girls into auto careers appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

Though the 2023 BC Budget is ostensibly focused on “affordability”, it leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to increasing affordability for workers and families that rely on automobiles for their work and daily life, according to NCDA President and CEO Blair Qualey. It does even less for small business owners selling those vehicles. Qualey spoke with Canadian auto dealer on Monday about how he thinks this budget stacks up, and what it could have done better.

To start off with the positives, Budget 2023 contains a $44 million investment over three years to continue to support British Columbia’s transition to a zero-emission economy, $40 million of which is dedicated to the CleanBC Go Electric Commercial Vehicle Pilots Program (CVP). There is also an ongoing commitment to the CleanBC Go Electric Passenger Vehicle Rebate Program which is administered by the NCDA. “More than 85,000 ZEVs travel highways in this province today and the rebate program has been a contributing factor, along with increased support for charging stations,” said Qualey in an association press release on Friday.

But the rest of the 2023 Budget did nothing for British Columbians who need to drive, and less for BC auto dealers grappling with low inventories, high interest rates, and most importantly, a luxury vehicle tax that currently includes many new vehicles. Qualey said that he’s been hearing a lot of frustration from dealers all over the province. “Our members are very frustrated at the moment around the current status of the tax and other tax and regulatory burdens on them. And we recognize the luxury tax is just one of many frustrations for them, but a pretty big one because they hear it from their customers all the time.”

“I think the focus of the budget was pretty clear… there weren’t a lot of things in there to make life better for a business in the province,” said Qualey. “For, dealers, many of whom were especially waiting to hear what was going to happen with the British Columbia Luxury tax, it was pretty disappointing to see that yet again, the government hadn’t adjusted the threshold of $55,000, particularly when the average price of a vehicle in Canada now is, you know, $54,000-plus just for an average vehicle.”

This affects regular British Columbians, not just auto dealers. “There’s a lot of ‘soccer mom vehicles’, like family hauler vehicles, that get caught in luxury tax, which is crazy. I don’t think it’s really what the government intends.”

Qualey has experience working with governments from both sides of the aisle, and readily looks beyond politics to the big picture. “We just want to be one of the calm, steady voices saying, ‘look, if you’re concerned about affordability, you really need to look at some of these other things, including businesses who employ so many people in this province. For small businesses in particular, there was no relief in this budget. So we’ve got a lot of work to do to convince this government.”

The post No Luxury Auto Tax relief in BC’s Budget 2023 appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

Subarus are exceptionally safe, according to experts at the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada (AJAC), as well as the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS). The OEM was recently recognized by AJAC for the “Best Safety Innovation” for the new Wide-angle Mono Camera, part of Subaru’s latest version of EyeSight Driver Assist Technology; as well as IIHS’s “Top Safety Pick +” for three Subaru models.

“Subaru has a track record of continuous improvement in active safety systems,” said Graham Heeps, Chair, AJAC Innovation Awards, “With the latest step, it is pushing to increase safety not only for those inside the vehicle but outside as well. Accidents occur frequently at intersections and Subaru’s Wide-angle Mono Camera is an innovative solution to help reduce them.”

The Wide-angle Mono Camera debuted on top trims of the 2023 Subaru Outback and Legacy and is offered as standard equipment on the 2023 Ascent. This new three-camera system is more effective at identifying and preventing collisions with pedestrians and cyclists in low-speed situations such as intersections and crosswalks, thanks to its wider field of view. This new version of Eyesight has been announced as standard equipment for the all-new 2024 Crosstrek and Impreza, Subaru’s most affordable models.

“Safety is a core value and at the forefront of all of our products,” stated SCI chairman, president and CEO, Tomohiro Kubota. “With a push for pedestrian and cyclist safety alongside driver and passenger safety, we aim to make the roads a safer place for all who use them.”

Subaru saw accolades for its safety performance continue, with the release of the initial 2023 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) TOP SAFETY PICK (TSP) and TOP SAFETY PICK + (TSP +) awards. The IIHS strengthened its requirements for the testing, demanding better side crash protection and improved pedestrian crash prevention systems and eliminating subpar headlights from the field of qualifying vehicles.

“The number of winners is smaller this year because we’re challenging automakers to build on the safety gains they’ve already achieved,” said IIHS President David Harkey. “These models are true standouts in both crashworthiness and crash prevention.”

So far, the Subaru Ascent, Subaru Outback, and recently released all-electric Subaru Solterra (built after October 2022) received a Top Safety Pick +, the institute’s top honour. Also recognized and recipients of a Top Safety Pick are Legacy and Forester, both consecutive winners for 18 and 17 years, respectively. Both models have been staples of the Subaru Safety brand pillar offering exceptional value, visibility, and versatility.

“It’s encouraging to see our models continue to be recognized by IIHS following the strengthening of its award requirements,” said Kubota. “We look forward to the rest of our lineup being tested throughout 2023 and our upcoming all-new models which were designed with safety at the forefront.”

The post Subaru Canada celebrates winning two top safety awards appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

While the sales figures released by AutoTrader in December recorded a slight decrease in new vehicle prices, in January that trend reversed, according to Baris Akyurek, AutoTrader Vice President in an interview with Canadian auto dealer. This bodes well for the coming year, or at least the next few months.

“So far in 2023, we are seeing a very strong market, both for new and used,” said Akyurek. “Our view of November, December, was that the market had been slowing down, especially for used vehicles, from July to the end of the year. But starting off 2023, it’s been very, very strong,” he said.

While manufacturing isn’t 100 per cent back to pre-pandemic levels, the conditions are slowly improving, and the pent-up demand from the past year will continue to push up sales on the new side. “Inventory’s been going up pretty steadily. The more cars there are, the more sales that happen,” he said. “Which indicates that there’s still quite a bit of pent up demand in the market. Yes, the inventory levels have been going up, but compared to where they used to be pre-Covid, they’re still on the lower side. So there’s a way to go. But we are seeing positive signs on the new side of things.”

On the used side, the average listing price of a used car in Canada at the end of January was $39,725. Average used car prices had been coming down since July of 2022, until the end of December, when the average price was $36,240. So why this increase all of a sudden? “There are two high level drivers for this,” said Akyurek. “One is seasonality. So we have been crunching our price index data going back to the beginning of 2018. And every single January we see this eight- to 10 per cent increase in average vehicle prices.”

The second driver is that when there’s a hot market, obviously, prices go up accordingly. Higher prices for new vehicles serve to push a segment of the buyers into the used market, and high demand translates to higher overall prices for the used market. “So these are the two main reasons as to what we believe is going on in terms of used car prices,” said Akyurek.

AutoTrader predicts that in the next couple of months the price increases will begin to plateau, but according to Akyurek, “We do not expect the prices to go back to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon.”

The post We’re having a “very, very strong start to the year,” says Baris Akyurek from AutoTrader appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

A stylish crowd gathered in the spacious Rocky Mountaineer Station space in Vancouver on Friday February 24, to witness the West Coast unveiling of Genesis’s newest electrified model, the Genesis Electrified GV70. The company, which currently does not have a showroom in the Lower Mainland, had several Genesis models for guests to experience, including the G70, recent award-winning Electrified G80, G90, and GV80.

“The Electrified GV70 represents a significant milestone as we continue on our journey toward full electrification by 2030,” says Eric Marshall, Director of Genesis Motors Canada. “We are pleased to be expanding our electric vehicle portfolio, particularly in a space where we see a significant opportunity for sustainable growth here in Canada.”

Roughly 340 people, a combination of current Genesis owners, buyers considering a Genesis, media, and a handful of Genesis Canada reps enjoyed canapes, sipped wine and watched some talented aerial acrobats before getting the first look at the Electrified G70.

The Electrified GV70 is the third electric vehicle from Genesis, following the launch of the GV60 luxury SUV and Electrified G80 sedan last year. Genesis has committed that starting in 2025 all new models launched will be all-electric, and that its entire vehicle lineup will be electric by 2030.

Built upon the award-winning GV70 platform, the Electrified GV70 features a spacious, well-appointed interior and refined performance with a host of technologies designed exclusively for Electrified GV70.

The post Genesis reveals new GV70 in Vancouver with fancy cocktail event appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

Being creative with your real estate can be a great business boost

One interesting intersection in the environment that many dealerships are now operating in is that of rising property values, at the same time that supply chain issues have caused a shortage in inventory. Adding to this situation is a growing acceptance by consumers of a retail model that operates at least partially online.

When you put all these factors together, you get a dealership business that often doesn’t require acres of space for hundreds of vehicles on site, leaving many dealers with excess space on their hands, and many dealers with real estate with a sky-high value that doesn’t justify running a dealership on it.

To optimize land value, some dealers have chosen to sell off some of their urban property, keeping enough to showcase the most current models, and keeping the rest of their inventory on a much cheaper rural lot. Other dealers have come up with creative mixed uses of their lands. Greater Vancouver and Downtown Toronto are globally well-known for having exorbitant land prices, and this has inspired some ambitious dealership/mixed use projects. 

Destination Auto Group was the first in Canada to successfully build and operate a full-service auto dealership on the podium with a residential condo tower on top, in Vancouver. “In context of fast-rising land costs and increasing densification, we worked collaboratively with our manufacturer partner and the City of Vancouver to do more with our redevelopment,” said Adil Ahamed, Managing Director at Destination Auto Group and 2022 CADA Laureate Award recipient, in an interview with Canadian auto dealer.

Destination Auto Group

Not only did the development make the city happy by including residential homes, it was a very good move for the business as well. “Despite the smaller land footprint of the project, the form of the dealership allowed us to expand our service facility from six to 15 bays, create an open-concept showroom with lots of natural light and high ceilings, and use the multiple levels more efficiently to offer a fully indoor service reception experience, underground parking, and car detail/wash bays,” said Ahamed.

“With full-service car dealerships, this mixed-use development enabled us to meet OEM image and operational requirements, create more capacity and jobs through a more efficient design, leverage the air rights more effectively through permanent new residences in a market facing housing shortages, and create a brand-new experience for the customer; a fully-indoor automotive purchase and service experience that does not depend on the weather.”

Another notable dealership development is the DAG Autoplex in Toronto, the brainchild of Shahin Alizadeh, which was the first mixed-use development in Ontario that includes residential, commercial and automotive. 

DAG Autoplex

The idea took shape after he bought five acres of land in Toronto in 2011 next to his Downtown Toyota store. Now it houses 11 brands representing Toyota, Ford/Lincoln, Hyundai/Genesis, Nissan/Infiniti and Chrysler, Jeep, RAM and Dodge. He has a 120,000 square foot warehouse off site in which he plans to house inventory. He said the days of dealerships packed with automobiles on lots is a thing of the past.

“Our project, quite frankly, has become a talking point in terms of how things can be done. I think we’ve opened up some eyes to what is possible if you put a collaborative partnership process together to decide how we attack the next phase of our retailing in this country or this continent,” said Alizadeh in a July interview with Canadian auto dealer.

Jim Pattison Auto group recently finished one downtown dealership/residential/office development with their Toyota store in Vancouver, and has just announced plans of another large, exciting project in Victoria, which will incorporate five Pattison dealerships, residential towers and commercial space on an entire city block close to downtown.

The redeveloped Vancouver dealership, now the only dealership that exists in downtown Vancouver, was designed by Bing Thom and IBI Group. The new 120,000 square-foot dealership features three vertical showroom mezzanines connected through a Toyota-emblem shaped opening in the middle. 

Underneath are five floors of state-of-the-art auto services and parking, and above are offices that are already full, including eight floors of LuluLemon offices. The store is part of the One Burrard Place development built with Reliance Properties.

Canadian auto dealer sat down with Bill Harbottle, Pattison Auto Group President, to talk about the Pattison Group experiences and philosophies on working with real estate.

“In urban centres where the real estate is so expensive and so valuable it’s hard to justify the cost of the real estate to operate an automobile dealership on it. So if you want to be in an urban centre you need to look at more of a mixed use type of development,” said Harbottle.

“When you look at an urban situation in the centre of the city, you can effectively reduce your cost of land and building by building more density. This is done by utilizing the airspace and the underground as we’ve done, and Shahin [Alizadeh] has done in Toronto with the DAG Autoplex. This idea has been in practice for years in Japan and some major cities in China, because it just makes sense to vertically integrate a dealership, in my opinion,” said Harbottle. 

“You’re distributing your land cost over a much higher number of buildable square feet. For example, if your land cost is a million dollars, but you put 10 stories on it, all of a sudden your cost per story for land is only one hundred thousand dollars.”

The new Victoria project is more spread out, over one full city block. “Because in Victoria, land prices are very, very high,” said Harbottle. “So we’re looking to basically relocate five dealerships in one complex with service, and as well probably two residential towers, one with some commercial space, because that’s the only way it makes sense for these brands.”

The dealerships will have a limited number of vehicles on site, said Harbottle. “You won’t need, nor can you afford to keep all those cars there. You’re going to store them off site and bring them in as you require them. A lot of dealerships in major cities have done that. You know, the WEINS Auto group in Toronto has done that. O’Regan’s Automotive in Nova Scotia, they have vehicle processing centres where they ship their vehicles to, and they keep them there until they need them at the dealership itself.” 

There will still be room for used inventory on site in the Victoria plans. “We’re going to have rooftop parking for pre-owned inventory.”

This kind of plan is much easier to get by the municipal planning process as well, as cities like mixed-use buildings. “Now, in most cases, the city’s municipalities like mixed use developments and would prefer to see dealers located in a complex like we’ve done rather than have a standalone dealership,” said Harbottle.

D’Arcy Ronan owns Autopropertiers.ca, a real estate marketing and consulting firm specializing in automotive. As property values go up in Canadian urban areas, he’s seen one other trend that should have a positive impact on auto dealers who keep their urban dealerships. “If I have an independent repair shop in an urban building, say 5,000 square feet, on a main street, the land is now worth much more than the business, so I would sell. The dealerships at the end of the day will probably pick up the repair business in a downtown core because of this, within the next five to ten years.”

The post Realizing the potential of urban dealership real estate appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

While data seems to prove self-driving cars are safer, we’re still quite a ways away, says expert Chris Piche

While it would certainly be wonderful to have your vehicle pick you up at your front door, then take you safely to your destination while you work, watch a movie or have a snooze, it turns out that despite Elon Musk’s promises, we’re not there yet, nor very close. So how close are we to truly autonomous vehicles, and what can auto dealers tell customers about when they will be able to procure one, so they can give up the steering wheel forever?

Autonomy can be measured in levels. According to AI and autonomous driving technology-savvy expert Chris Piche, the Founder of Smarter AI, a leader in AI cameras and enablement software, “The most common definitions that people use are level two, level four and level five. So I think there are, there are many systems today which are operating at level two, and that’s basically, you know, some level of assistance for cruising and parking.” Piche, who owns a Tesla with Full Self-Driving mode, put Tesla’s autonomy level at a four.

“The degree to which it can assist you varies based on the complexity of the driving situation. You know, straight roads, left turns, right turns, simple lane changes it does perfectly, 99 per cent of the time. But if you’re talking about more complicated scenarios, it’s, it’s probably, only 50 per cent self-driving.”

“The degree to which it can assist you varies based on the complexity of the driving situation.”
— Chris Piche, Founder of Smarter AI

Tesla is not the only OEM working on autonomous driving capabilities, but the fact that it already has a beta version on the road is giving it a big advantage in terms of gathering data for its systems. “There are several companies that are working on autonomous driving. Tesla is much further along in terms of actual deployment of self-driving technology than any of its competitors. And that in itself, just being further along, is a competitive advantage because the more you deploy it, the more data you collect, the smarter it becomes.”

Cars are going to have to communicate with each other, as well as infrastructure for autonomous vehicles to really take time, and that is going to take more connected vehicles on the road. “We’re probably some number of decades away from level five,” said Piche. “It requires, in my opinion, some additional technology above what we have now in single vehicles—what are known as V to V or V to X technologies. So the ability for one vehicle to communicate with other vehicles and ability for vehicles to communicate with traffic infrastructure, like traffic signals, intersections, and vice versa.” 

So, we’ve heard quite a bit about Teslas in self-driving mode crashing on the news, and of course the resulting lawsuits. What impact is this going to have on the adoption of this technology?

“Self-driving is much safer than human driving,” said Piche. “The difference is, if you and I are driving our Fords or Chevys and we get into a little fender bender, that’s never gonna make the news. But when there’s a Tesla autopilot or Tesla full self-driving which is allegedly involved in an accident or responsible for an accident, it makes front page news. This is an instance where there’s a huge difference between the press coverage or the amplification of the media coverage and the actual number and severity of the collisions. Tesla has tons of data to support, and their competitors have lots of data to support that their systems are safer than human drivers.”

Safer driving means lower insurance as well—at least in the United States. “In Tesla’s case, they’ve even put their money where their mouth is, because customers, at least in the United States, can now buy their auto insurance from Tesla,” said Piche. “And the cheapest auto insurance that you can get in the United States by far is if you’ve subscribed to the Tesla full self-driving. And if you actually use it, based on my personal experience, your insurance cost is roughly half of what you would get from Allstate or somebody like that. And the reason why Tesla’s able to do that is because their system is involved in less collisions and less damaging collisions.”

Piche is obviously pro the technology. It does seem like if every car on the road was not subject to human whims and bad decisions we would have much safer roads. But while it’s still a mix, and it will be for some time, there are bound to be a few bumps.

“I think there’s fairly incontrovertible evidence that full self-driving even, you know, to the extent that it’s used today, those cars that use the full self-driving technology are involved in fewer accidents and they certainly cause fewer accidents than cars without the technology.”

The post How close are autonomous cars? appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

As I write this, the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac has just ended, with its turmoil and drastic highs and lows, and the Year of the Rabbit has just begun. The sign of the Rabbit is said to be a symbol of longevity, peace, and prosperity in Chinese culture, and 2023 is predicted to be a year of hope. After weathering the last couple of years, I think most in the auto dealer community feel confident that we can get through anything the pesky Rabbit may have in store for us.

With such an eventful year behind us, with a mix of circumstances that were both challenging and ripe with opportunity, what can we learn? Our intrepid reporter, Perry Lefko, tracked down a range of experts and prominent dealers to find out how they made the best of the year, and what lessons they are taking forward into 2023.

Also in this issue, I looked into some creative strategies that some auto dealers are using to maximize the potential of their real estate, by building up, not out. While skyrocketing land costs may be pricing some dealerships right out of urban areas in places like Vancouver and Toronto, Destination Auto Group, Downtown AutoGroup and Jim Pattison Auto Group have created developments that incorporate urban dealerships into residential and commercial spaces that make sense from a business perspective, a land-use perspective, as well as a city planning perspective.

2022 was the year that industry events came back into our lives, and this month I’m looking forward to the NADA Show in Dallas, Texas, where the North American industry will come together to showcase the newest and most exciting new technology, retail innovation, pathways to speed electrification, and expert advice and inspiration for success in all aspects of running a dealership. Make sure to read our March issue and our eNews to find out the wildest and most interesting things we saw and heard at this massive and comprehensive show.

Another major event in the Canadian auto dealer calendar is always the CADA Summit. This year, the fantastic line-up of speakers includes Sverre Helno, a Norwegian auto dealer who will be talking about Norway’s successful transition to electric vehicles, and  Walmart Canada Head of Innovation Lee Jeyes, who will share his experiences leading Walmart’s first-ever innovation accelerator and incubator, which is focused on “testing and scaling radical innovations in retail”. Our March issue will have a rundown of the highlights of the CADA Summit as well as the winners of the 2022 DSI Awards, which recognize the top ranked manufacturers in CADA’s 2022 Dealer Satisfaction Index Survey.

Auto shows have also come back, some in a traditional format, such as the Canadian International AutoShow and the Montreal International Auto Show, and some, like the Vancouver International Auto Show, are happening in a series of more dispersed and interactive events over the course of the year. Make sure you get out and support these great automotive celebrations, and learn about all the cool new vehicles, trends and tech from OEMs, and maybe even take a test drive.

I look forward to getting out to many shows and events this year and I hope to meet some of you out and about. Please reach out to me if your dealership has any interesting news, events or community initiatives. I’m always interested in hearing and publishing dealers’ stories from all over the country.

The post Moving ahead, while taking home the lessons from 2022 appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.