Dateline NADA: Chrysler says Internet Really Makes Customer King!

1 February 1998

Dateline NADA in The Big Easy--Hey fellow Web Heads.  Were your ears
itching just a few minutes ago? If you felt them feeling strange, it's
probably because Robert J. Eaton ,the Chairman and CEO of The Chrysler
Corporation during his Keynote speech at the National Automobile
Dealers Association annual meeting was talking about you! He was
describing the power of our Internet as the tool of change, in the
purchase cycle of new cars,to an audience of automobile dealers from
around the US. Mr.Eaton used the metaphor of a raging hurricane to
describe changes in the automobile business.

"For the first time in the hundred years of this industry there are
some fundamental changes taking place in the way a car or truck goes
from the factory to the customer. Lets face it, the factory and the
dealer have controlled the process for a century--but along comes the
Internet. In a nut shell, what's HAPPENING IS THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME
THE CUSTOMER IS GOING TO CONTROL THE RETAIL SYSTEM. Not the
dealers. Not the factory. The customer. Everything will be out in the
open. The customer will have all the information about the vehicle and
its price before she walks into your dealership. She's not going to be
intimidated any more because of what she doesn't know. With a few
strokes of a computer keyboard, she'll know everything that your
salesman knows. And she'll have more options when it comes to actually
making the purchase. She'll have the traditional neighborhood
dealer, the superstore, the dealer three states away selling on the
Internet, and probably a half dozen other options we haven't seen
yet. She's now in charge. We'd better all get used to that."

He went on to say that a strong smart dealership will continue to
thrive as always but it won't be the slam dunk it was BI (before
Internet).  We'll I guess the Webs for real now that the head honcho
says it is. I also heard that Chrysler would put all their dealers
inventory up on the web--what's going to happen next? Keep on clicking
and see what else the traditionalists do. Go Webheads!

Bob Gordon,  CO-publisher of The Auto Channel reporting.