Ford believes the coronavirus will trigger a more permanent shift towards online vehicle sales across the United States but believes the industry will need some kind of government stimulus to get back on track.
While recently speaking with Reuters after the car manufacturer announced its quarterly sales results, Ford’s U.S. sales chief Mark LaNeve said roughly 93 per cent of the carmaker’s U.S. dealers are doing some or all aspects of sales online at the moment. They are also offering virtual tours and financing online while also providing home delivery.
“Good dealers have been doing remote delivery for the last 20 years, but it was maybe one a week,” he said. “Now they’re doing almost every delivery that way. This has just turbo charged the adoption of those processes by both customers and the dealers. To be honest, I think a big chunk of that stays with us even when we’re through the crisis.”
Ford’s sales fell by 12.5 per cent in the first quarter of the year. It didn’t provide sales details specifically for March, the month worst hit by the Covid-19 outbreak across the country.
Read More: Ford Wants A Cash For Clunkers Like Program To Boost U.S. Sales
LaNeve added that some kind of government stimulus will be needed to help the auto industry after the pandemic.
“It’s hard to determine how long and what the lingering effects of this will be but certainly we believe that some level of government stimulus post crisis to help customers and the auto industry to recover would be appropriate,” he said.
During the Great Recession of just over a decade ago, the government introduced a ‘cash-for-clunkers’ scheme that offered customers rebates of up to $4,500 for trading in older gas guzzlers for new cars. LaNeve confirmed Ford is “thinking over ideas” for government stimulus that it will discuss with its government affairs team.
