I know we’ve spoken on this over the years, but for the other readers and in line with your post, here are some existential questions for how car are sold (near and dear to all of our hearts):

1) Is here is a picture/video/VIN decode, now “call or email” as good as we can do in online auto?
2) If not 1), then what? Jeff, Alex, help me here if I cross the vendor posting line.
3) Mike Sayer… you are right… in the absence of any means to differentiate you, your brand, your dealership… your gross profit via Google, YouTube, the Internet goes to zero. If that doesn’t work for your profitability and sales commission model, what does?

I’m not trying to be a smart ass about it. I mean I can be a real ass sometimes (ask Jeff since we achieved true wisdom at the Ward’s Spring Training together), but here I am being serious. What you describe is a very real problem in the industry and behind a number of the very real shakeouts occurring right now.

In the words of Michael Dell, “the Internet is not going away, but flawed business models are.”

To date myself, the $24,000 question is “As an industry, how do we effectively harness the power of the Internet for PROFITABLE car sales?”

Low price? Low response rates? High effort? High technology costs? CRM response focused on “Get ‘em in to the showroom?”

I’ll hold my tongue so I don’t cross that vendor line that Jeff reminds me of all the time.

P.S. Alex, all I could think of as I read your post was if the sailors of yore were the explorers, merchants and traders, then us car dealer software entrepreneurs must be Vikings.

P.P.S. A Battlestar Galactica quote on a car dealer forum? I so have a crush on the actress who plays the hot blonde Cylon. HOT!

Thanks!

I struggle with the same stuff daily, trying too justify my reasoning or ideas to other people, educate them on what’s going on with online stuff.

It’s freakin exhausting tho, some get it 100%, most get it halfway – then need their hand held, and a few have no fkn clue, and the worst are the ones that don’t know shet and then say I’m a stoopid putz that doesn’t know anything to the owners, LOL.

We are in an information revolution, you’re right on. The whole fighting amongst ATT, Yahoo, Google, MSN, GE, APPLE, AOL, ADOBE, etc……… it’s all about the digital asset control online as i’m sure alot of us in the know, know.

Whoever holds the majority of the online content/data/assets/digital/media in the future has the nuts.
(a poker term not being crude, for any noobs out there:)

Google/Youtube has the nuts right now online, period.

I’m ok with that, but Googles needs too adjust their strategy a tad, quit setting ur base price @ zero just too starve off ur competition ~ while u dominate search and creep into other markets with ur free stuff?

No way in hell.

If that continues i’m calling the GOV and blogging my mind out, suggesting we ALL need to get our bailouts from Google.

Google has also hurt the car dealers, and the automotive market over the years, as well as craigslist.org imho!!

That’s a whole other subject tho, and I’m going to try and stay on topic here.

We all need too remember capitalism is the USA’s backbone. GOV has tamed the Bells phone companies, ATT, microsoft, etc.

If we all worked for Google someday would we be Americans?

I’m just curious.

-Sayre

We could certainly have a great philosophical debate on this whole thing.

Thanks for the comment!

Alex- you know your post was good if it is giving me an opportunity to quote the best show ever on TV…Battlestar Galactica!

Seriously- what a great post. I am a history maniac and truly believe the best way to figure out what’s going to happen is to examine what has already happened. It’s laid out in front of you (or behind!) like a roadmap.

I could down many a beer with you discussing some of your thoughts here…the transportation “evolution” vs. “revolution” concept and how it relates to the Information Revolution (BTW- for transportation, I would say it was evolution until about 100 years ago, then became revolution when mobility for the masses was introduced).

As for parallels between transportation and information, how about this? The info stage we are in now is where transportation has been for the past 50 years. Relative to cars, almost everyone (in the U.S.) was able to become mobile and afford more than one vehicle, etc. The concept of “transportation” became ubiquitous. Now, the concept of information is also becoming ubiquitous- it is available everywhere, on demand, via laptop, phone, etc. The parallel is the Transportation revolution made people mobile. The Information revolution made information mobile (mobile devices will become the primary way most of us get our information within the next decade…if not already).

Man, you put me up to some deep thinking while I was eating my lunch. Nice work!