It seems that last year may have been the year when the automotive industry turned a corner, leaving behind a century of steady development, and entered a brave new world where its decades-old business model becomes increasingly irrelevant, thanks in no small part to the involvement of (or interference by, depending on your view) the technology sector.
Motor shows continue to be snubbed by big automotive brands, who are increasingly attending events such as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This year’s CES saw myriad automotive-related products and services launched, including important announcements from Faraday Future, Harman, TomTom and Delphi, while the keynote address was delivered by Carlos Ghosn (Chairman and CEO of Renault and Nissan, and Chairman of Mitsubishi Motors).
A fair few articles last year were based around imaging future shapes for car dealerships, and the consequent changes these adjustments might bring to the experience the real estate might provide. All the posts (I think) were predicated on keeping the cars. But what might happen to the places we’re building should the current usage […]
Prompted by an article forwarded to me today, in Autocar, where BMW were reported as speculating (as always) on the future shape (and even future of) the car dealership, I remembered the day before news about Shanghai studio Neri&Hu’s project, converting an old missile factory in Beijing into an office… …and car repair garage. The Garage […]
On first glance, I thought this was a comp from a pitch-deck by an ad agency or media co. …but no, it would appear that we have a new new-media opportunity, courtesy of the Ubernauts, using drones to fly messages to drivers; in this case, asking them why they’re stuck in a jam and not […]
A broadside from Phil Adams, regarding one agency’s contention that (c)ontent marketing is a young person’s game, according to JWT Singapore and so they’ve decided that the average age of the team will be 25. The notion that this type of activity needs people of a certain age was what enraged Phil, and rightly so, […]
So, perhaps not exactly hot off the press, but having dropped by the Hyundai store at Stratford’s Westfield complex (worth a visit in it’s own right), here’s the thing. It really isn’t any surprise that the place is doing as well as reported, given the simplicity of what it delivers – a straightforward and strikingly […]
This is a simple re-post from the Bank of England Bank Underground blog, but well worth a read, especially given the recent reports about the UK economic prognosis for the next year. Question is, is a predominantly finance-driven new car sales culture going to sustain the dealership business model? If not, what are the alternatives? […]
and apologies in advance if you’re lunching… Thomas Nagel wrote (in “Birth, Death, and the Meaning of Life,”) a short thought experiment The Spider in the Urinal. Apparently he was inspired(?) by a episode in his life on visits to the bathroom at the institute where he was teaching and “noticed a sad little spider […]
…thanks Yogi Berra for the gift of a headline for this post. The featured image, captured from Street View, shows one of the UK’s dwindling number of original car dealership operating models – where purchase, service and everyday running are all available under one canopy. Here’s another, and they usually sport a small market town […]
Was browsing and this caught my eye – mission accomplished for a piece of online advertising – and how could I resist? It wasn’t the meh headline, but the subhead, an invitation to explore a Mercedes via Amazon? Clicking through landed me on what appears to be Amazon’s site heading up a one-pager for the […]
