Car yards can ride out net threat – industry
While some say the traditional car yard will soon be extinct, the Motor Industry Association says there’s life in the industry yet.
Car reviewer Clive MatthewWilson, in his magazine The Dog & Lemon Guide, said the small car yard had become largely irrelevant because of online sales.
‘‘The wholesaler can simply sell direct to the final customer without involving the car yard at all,’’ he said.
Only showrooms with the top-end cars would remain, he said.
While rejecting the claim that the internet would kill off car yards, MIA chief executive Perry Kerr admitted several factors had hurt some players. These included the internet, a dramatically ageing car fleet nationwide and the demise of some finance companies that provided easy finance to car buyers.
Data this month showed the number of registered traders was 2320, fractionally up on last year but 400 lower than four years ago. Industry publication Autotalk also said dealer numbers had edged up, despite the closure of some traditional yards. That reflected car buyers using the internet for researching and buying vehicles, it said.
‘‘Many dealers swear by the effec- tiveness of their large established yards – provided they can use online marketing to get internet shoppers on to their sales sites to close the deals,’’ Autotalk said.
Kerr said the national fleet was ageing ‘‘quite dramatically’’ because of a mass of used imports that were bought about a decade ago. Those cars now had significantly lower value and were unlikely to be sold through established car traders.
But there was nothing to indicate dealers in near-new vehicles would disappear. In Auckland substantial money had been invested in new car showrooms. Those companies would be there at least for the next 10 to 15 years, he said.
Kerr estimated around 70 per cent of vehicles advertised on online auction website Trade Me were being sold by traders.
‘‘They’ve embraced it because it’s an opportunity for them to get their vehicles out there and either sell them on the internet or get people in their yards.’’
David Vinsen, chief executive of the Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association, believed there was a move away from traditional dealerships towards holding areas where vehicles were stored and displayed online.
He said the dealerships were changing, not dying off.