Used Car Lots Transform into New EV Dealerships

It’s looking like the stereotypical neighborhood used car dealer (the modern equivalent of horse traders) may soon all be wearing green and blue hats!

According to Bill Erickson the head of sales for the North American Region of EMV Motors, said in a recent interview that “the largest percentage of new EV dealership/franchise inquiries which have been handled by his office as of late have been predominately from smaller auto dealers that had up until now only been in the preowned/used cars market”. On a related note he mentioned “there are also quite a few 2-wheeler scooter/motorcycle dealers calling about EV franchises and even a few bike shops looking to upgrade and expand their businesses that have decided that they are in the “transportation business” and not limited to what they were doing previously .”

The new worldwide “green revolution” that is taking place has given the modern horsepower trader the chance to reinvent themselves and their industry.  The reason for this is that for the first time in quite awhile there is currently room and opportunity for the little guy and smaller upstart EV manufacturer’s like EMV Motors, BYD and Wheego Electric Cars of Ontario California to fill the void, because many car dealerships closed in recent years when credit became difficult to find and the big automakers misjudged the speed at which demand might change.

Perhaps it was a combination of the latest spike in oil prices that preceded the GEC (Global Economic Crisis), growing climate change concern, the US federal government’s “Cash for Clunkers” campaign, or billions of dollars being dumped into EV research and manufacturing and/or the more recent BP oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that may have planted the seeds which started fueling demand for AFV (Alternative Fuel Vehicles). Whatever the cause it turns out that most auto industry trend experts were obviously asleep at the wheel when it came to predicting the current demand levels for electric and hybrid vehicles.

The demand for EVs is currently significantly higher than availability as witnessed by Nissan’s pre-orders of their Leaf EV. According to Nissan their sales target for the domestic Japanese market for the entire 2010 fiscal year was accomplished in only two months they even had 600 pre-orders in the first 24 hours!  A similar story occurred earlier with Mitsubishi with their i-MiEv which had 900 pre-orders in the first month. Even GM’s Volt will only be available in a few states at first: California, Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Texas and the Washington, DC area and current production plans call to produce a mere 10,000 units in 2011 and 30,000 in 2012.

Ken Burridge the Editor-in-Chief of EV.com says that “the smaller EV auto manufacturer’s are faster and more nimble than the reigning automotive giants of the world and thus can beat them to fill that expanding niche in the market”.  Mr Burridge also feels that “this is just the beginning as most trend experts have also failed to take into consideration the diminished resale value of fossil fuel vehicles once it becomes obvious that AFV’s will be the vehicle type of choice for future generations and the subsequent accelerated shift in the demand for EVs.  With that thought in mind it’s no wonder why used car dealers are moving into the new EV market as they don’t wish to get stuck with an inventory of petrol-powered vehicles when their value starts to plummet, which could easily happen if people start dumping them as if they were contraband!”.

Soren Damgaard the CEO of EMV Motors “welcomes the multitude of new albeit smaller volume dealers to the marketplace and sees overall sales from that segment of the automotive industry as having the largest potential for growth in the short term.”  He is also pleased (of course) that “EMV Motors is so well positioned to take part in that growth”.