The dramatic growth and power of Internet technology have greatly reduced the cost of obtaining information on features, price and availability. Consequently, customers are better equipped to extract what they want from dealerships. The Internet offers new and better ways to perform many sales and marketing functions and makes it possible for manufacturers to have more and richer two-way communications directly with consumers. No one is suggesting, though, that auto dealers will disappear. Ironically, changes in cars and trucks themselves are making dealers more important.
Consumers have more choices of brands and models than ever before.
Improved durability and reliability and faster design cycles have narrowed the differences among competing products in the same category. Brand loyalty increasingly derives not from the product itself but from the total purchase and ownership experience. And it is the dealer that controls these levers today. This explains the intense efforts many vehicle manufacturers have made to set standards for, measure and even base some dealer compensation on customer satisfaction scores. Entrepreneurs with access to public capital have strategic designs to modernize auto distribution.