This is just a rant… maybe a discussion starter
Margins on 2nd hand and new electric cars are thin, gone are the days where you could get 25% off a new car, and thin margins mean lower commission.
Servicing costs are minimal so no kickbacks for selling the servicing plans.
People are wise to paint protection and alloy wheel cover that cost more than a refurb.
EV buyers tend to make better decisions and are more likely to be cash buyers or finance elsewhere, so no kickback for selling a finance plan.
Manufacturers still selling higher margin hybrid and ICE vehicles mean they are the real target for salespeople.
Manufacturers also want to shift their ICE inventories and new products so they are still pushing the FUD on electric, and myths like “EVs will be obsolete once Hydrogen cars come out, you may as well get an ICE car in the meantime.”
I’ve had a really bad customer experiences at Toyota, Honda and now Kia dealerships.
I know people will suggest the Tesla online sales model, but Musk is just ruining the brand to the point where I can’t buy or recommend one.
So now I’m going to do all my own research, find the exact car I want, and contact the dealer/seller directly while avoiding as much interaction as possible.
I heard that from a salesman perspective that EVs are harder to sell, because the customers tend to know less and have more questions. And there is not really an incentive for salespeople to sell more EVs.
A friend of mine who works in a Mercedes service department has a fleet of electric vehicles to loan out during repairs. Problem is, this being the US, nobody wants them. So he sits on a bunch of luxury EVs because people would rather wait for ICE cars to become available. You seriously can’t live with an electric Mercedes for a week? Maybe learn a little about it? Nope.
It appears that it is very hard to change peoples habits.
That’s another good point, fewer questions on ICE cars and fewer things for the salesperson to learn.