Changing attitudes of future car buyers will change the way dealers do business with their customers – that’s if they use dealers at all.
Pietro Gorlier, head of Fiat Chrysler’s parts and accessories division, Mopar, said: “Car buyers in future may only go into a dealer to pick up their car or take it for service and they will not want to have to deal with paperwork.”
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Mopar has just launched its Wi Advisor, a tablet based tool that will immediately download all customer and vehicle details when they arrive for a service. Gorlier said: “It cuts the whole process down from minutes to seconds – and there is no paperwork involved.”
The parts and accessories business, originally Chrysler’s aftersales service in the US, is now being fully integrated into the Fiat Chrysler business. It now has 27 call centres around the world, 50 distribution centres with a portfolio of half a million part numbers, employs 6,000 people globally and services 17m customers worldwide.
Accessories vary according to regions, said Gorlier. “In the US, side steps or running boards are popular while in Europe its roof rails. In South America we sell a lot of skid plates because of the poor road conditions while in China interior modifications are popular because making changes to the outside is difficult by law – you can’t even change the colour. Floor mats are popular everywhere!”
Accessories also give dealers the opportunity of another profit centre while Gorlier said that research has shown that customers who personalise their cars tend to stay more loyal to the brand.
