Speaking last week at the online Reuters virtual automotive summit, Scott Keogh, CEO and president at VW Group of America, said that along with improved margins and liquidity, Covid-19 had pushed the adoption of digital tools. 

“We were in a constant debate on digitising the sales process [but now] dealers have moved on that aggressively,” he said.” If there is any one thing about an independent franchise, they move quickly when there is a challenge. I think they have cut their costs and the move on digitisation has meant their profitability is better. These are longer-term healthy things.”

Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, said the impact of Covid-19 on the retail of its vehicles was a gift both for the carmaker and its dealers. The forced closure of showrooms because of the pandemic forced dealers to use digital tools to complete remote sales and changed the ratio of sales operatives per vehicle for the first time in 20 years, he said.