I’m currently on my bi-annual work trip to America and wanted to bring you first hand news of current dealerships impression from this side of the Atlantic.

As in the UK, manufacturers are still hyping up the benefits of going electric, but US retailers are confirming that the buying public just isn’t behind it.

First adopters in urban homes, where location permits, are running two ‘main’ cars having an extra model on the driveway, a petrol for the longer trips and an electric for the commute.

A huge difference in incentive – Over here there seems to be a real mixed bag covering what drivers can get charged for –

Purchase Tax on the car varies state to state and can be as little as 0% right up to 7% of the cars value. Obviously if you live near one of those 0% state borders, it is probably worth making a weekend of it and driving some distance to pick up the car.

Emission Tax? well, no. Not really.  There is a gas guzzler tax aimed at the economy of the car itself but not the amount of CO2 that comes out.  This is apparently changing in the future, but many owners are sceptical.

MOT.  Again, it varies State to State, but even the states that do have a vehicle test, that test is mainly limited to the time the car is sold from a retailer and isn’t comparable to the UK test.  For the rest of the States it is definitely buyer beware.

As one owner put it. “Why do I need to buy electric if no one is checking?  Sure, I want to help save the planet, but not at that cost.”

This is echoing the message we are hearing back in the UK through our enquiry follow up calls.

The calls are designed to improve the conversion rate of all the enquiries that land at a retailer, which it most certainly does, but the – ‘reason for not purchasing your car’ – response is very enlightening.

The number of customers that don’t really like the hands off, on-line only option is very high in the UK, outside of those customers that will always choose the latest thing, and its the same in America. A lot of disbelief that it will work at all, despite Hyundai ramping up their plans to sell new cars through Amazon.

More and more customers are waiting to see what the future is bringing, some very cheap Asian cars, hydrogen or yet another change in the rules. If Ford America can pull back from building a new electric battery factory in Europe, “there must be something in it”, is their reasoning.

The resale value of EV’s after 7 years is worrying many customers, driving down the used car value and PX prices.  Some of the depreciation reported is frightening potential buyers.

One both sides of the pond. We really need to keep an eye on what customers are thinking. Sure, to sell more cars, but also to get a better idea of what our customers are really thinking.

Give me a call.

Have a look > Cymark Enquiry Follow Up