Supporting automotive brands during the COVID-19 ‘lockdown’ (and beyond)

By Jon Davies, Brand Partnership Director, Auto Trader

21/04/2020

The last ten years

In the autumn of this year I’ll have spent ten years in the automotive industry, and a few moments really stand out.

I distinctly remember my first time walking around the Nissan factory in Sunderland as a graduate and seeing the sheer scale of an automotive manufacturing plant. The complexity of the supply chain and nature of just in time production seemed (and still seems) incredible.

Another key moment that sticks in mind is a chance meeting with David Weir – the famous British Paralympic athlete – in a showroom in the plush surrounds of South Croydon. I was doing my monthly zone manager visit and happened to see him in the showroom with his family. He was in taking delivery of a new car but was keen to tell me how he found the car buying process quite intimidating. Bearing in mind that a couple of summers prior he had been racing his chair in front of thousands at the Olympic stadium (and millions on TV), the fact that he found it intimidating really stood out. His language has stuck with me ever since when I think about how some/many (?) customers view the buying process.

I’ll also add the last couple of weeks to the moments that stand out. The dramatic and far reaching effect COVID-19 has had on individuals, families, the economy and the auto sector is unprecedented. And yet, despite the significant headwinds, all parts of the sector have come together:

· Manufacturers have made ventilators (e.g. Ford and GE)

· UK national sales companies have provided NHS trusts with cars (JLR, MG)

· Dealer groups and brands are offering free of charge servicing for key workers & provision of car seat covers etc. (Arnold Clark, Simon Bailes Peugeot and TrustFord)

· F1 teams have developed breathing aids (McLaren F1 in concert with UCL)

·And plenty more great stuff is happening (e.g. hiyacar doing free car sharing for NHS workers etc)

I know its really challenging for many businesses out there, but I think we should all be incredibly proud of how our industry has adapted. It strikes me that we’re pretty good at adapting, and will continue to adapt together over the coming months.

Supporting brands

From an Auto Trader point of view, we’ve also taken a series of unprecedented steps to support retailers cashflow through this period (see here) and have also thought hard about ways in which we can support the sales pipeline (see here).

In that vein, we want to ensure we are helping our manufacturer partners navigate this period as best we can in a variety of areas.

Having spoken to brands over the past few weeks we know most brands are, rightly, focussing on cashflow, and ways in which they can support their retailers come through this period safely.

It’s also fair to say that many brands want to get a handle on what customers are doing and thinking. Many of the questions we received on the manufacturer focussed webinar we held last week hinted at this (e.g. ‘are we seeing a short term shift from sharing to ownership?’, ‘what trends have you seen in the LCV/PU market?’ etc).

Lastly, it’s clear that for many brands, the last couple of weeks has sped up thinking around digital retailing – especially given the uncertainty over the length of the current (and indeed any future) lockdowns. It’s no surprise that many of the world’s innovations occur during a time of crisis - we are challenged to rethink what we know.

As we covered in the webinar, our most recent data indicates that opportunities remain to successfully build a sales pipeline in the current climate, even if vehicle deliveries are delayed for the time being. Ensuring customers can do as many of their car buying jobs online is in everyone’s interest to ensure we exit the current lockdown at speed.

To support brands in these areas we are doing a number of things:

· We are holding a manufacturer and agency focussed webinar every two weeks to share with you the latest customer behaviour - we’ll be inviting various people from both Auto Trader and elsewhere to join us each fortnight

·The team have been sharing brand specific insight, focussed on new cars, on a regular basis with each brand – but if there are any more questions, let us know (brandinsight@autotrader.co.uk)

· We are going live with new car stock and finance feeds to ensure new car stock is presented with a monthly payment - just over a third of the UK marques, by market share, have approved finance to be shown on new car stock, with more on the way

· We are working up ways to enable brands to showcase their central stock during this period – to ensure that customers have visibility of a wide range of supply

· We are also discussing ways to deep link from our site to brands buy online platforms, and other more strategic discussions

We are cognisant of the real pressure’s brands are facing right now, and hope we can be there to support brands through this challenging period. Don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Tune into our webinar this week or catch up any time on demand by clicking here.