دانلود رایگان مقاله نمایندگی های خودرو و نقش آنها در نفوذ بازار خودروهای الکتریکی

Abstract

This paper explores the contribution of car dealerships in Electric Vehicle (EV) market up-take. Car dealerships play a significant role in EV market penetration where the most critical moments of the EV’s life happens, the actual sale process. The recent yet limited literature from the US shows certain issues during the sale process of EVs. The literature also indicates that the car dealers are not always qualified enough, lack knowledge to sell EVs, or in other cases they might even discourage potential customers from purchasing an EV. Furthermore, the paper presents statistical EV sales data from the Greek market and explores the literature findings through interviews that have been carried out on the only two existing EV distributors in Greece. The aim is to identify the validity of the literature review findings as well as to present the current state of the EV market in the country. Finally, policies and suggestions are made that can improve EV market penetration in Greece.

5. Conclusions

The interviews gave some interesting results that seem to verify most of the EV sales issues that have been identified in the literature review while providing a picture of the Greek EV market. One of the most positive results from the interviews was the fact that EV dealers and salespeople will not discourage a customer from purchasing an EV, based on their own motives, the lengthy sale process or the bonus they might receive. In fact, the bonuses for EVs seem to be the same as those of conventional vehicles. Overall, discouraging a customer from purchasing an EV was perceived as unprofessional both for the dealer and the salesperson while such an action would discredit the product itself. This means that the current players in the Greek EV market, despite the limited sales figures and the whole infancy of the market, present a high level of professionalism and believe in their product. This could be influenced by the fact that the people who were interviewed were both product managers and therefore responsible and accountable for the EV lines in the Greek market. A critical factor for the respect that the dealerships and the salespeople might show to their EV products, could be influenced by the fact, that the main Greek distributor for each automaker chooses the dealerships that will sell EVs in the market, based on the potential market as well as their credibility. Although the latter has not been mentioned in the interviews, the dealerships that sell EVs in Greece are the most reputable despite the fact that they are very few.

Furthermore, according to the interviewed managers gross profits from EVs could potentially be higher than those from conventional cars due to the fact that there is simply more competition from other vehicles and automakers that may force the dealers to lower their price. Therefore, the identified issue from literature that EVs do not generate enough profits for a dealership might be invalid. Instead Cahill et al.’s (2105) findings regarding higher gross profits seem to have more validity.